Chapter 87

The assassination attempt came on an ordinary autumn afternoon, which somehow made it more unsettling than if it had happened during some dramatic moment.

Arianna was visiting one of Ravenwood's southern settlements, conducting routine inspections and meeting with local wolves about harvest preparations. Nothing dangerous, nothing that should have required extensive security. Just normal Alpha duties in her own territory.

The attack came during a communal meal, when guards were relaxed and Arianna was surrounded by her own wolves in what should have been the safest possible environment.

The poisoner was a young male wolf who'd joined Ravenwood three months earlier, accepted as a refugee from a collapsed...