Montgo

thout taking my eyes off him, I sl

er, the air felt like a dra

gh as crushed gravel. "I told the old man I don't need a bride to drag int

flash of lightning lit up the room, and I not

cold and untouched. More tellingly, deep gouges scarred the thick redwood armre

s, using raw physical pain to keep his poisone

surprise cros

servants apart for fun. Yet here he was, locking himself in a freezing, lig

e at Dead Man's Gorge," I said calmly, taking a few measu

st night like the rumors claim, your head butler wouldn't

shadows. His glowing dark

y, though the murderous edge in the air receded a fraction.

w candle. As the warm yellow flame flickered to life, I pulled back my

I replied, glancing down at the un

d silver. It seems you figured out someone was poisoning you t

silver" left my lips, the a

thways from an old battlefield ambush. Only two kinds of people could know about the disso

man in the wheelchair mo

ing me down. My knees hit the footrests of his wheelchair as I tumbled

shed pine and warm iron wr

t his calloused thumb stop just short of crushing m

dark-gold eyes dropped to my shivering, ice-cold fingers, and he instinctively s

e inches from his, he

smeared across my cheeks, a faint, crisp trace

ae f

ilent. The violent tempest of his aura vanished like smoke, replaced by a hot, el

mant White Wolf stirred from her slumber,

ky rasp. His dark-gold eyes darkened, his pupils dilating as he stared at my scarred fa

eat rising in my chest, I

slid between my fingers, its razor-shar

how fast silver can pierce your throat," I whispere

you pulled me down. If I were an assassin sent

r needle against his skin, then slowly l

s most hated metal, the tension in his sharp jaw relaxed.

own castle, a woman holding a needle to his thro

doesn't hold silver without shaking," An

ack up on the flagstones. Without a word, he reached behind his wheelchair, grabbed

xcuse to blame me," he muttered, looking away as he wiped his bloody palms

d wolf pelt around my shoulde

liquid silver from your marrow and make you stand aga

chair, resting his chin on his knuckles

drag the rat who poisoned you

give me your full protection as your legal Luna a

ear Dead Man's Gorge, and your pack's network is the only tool

barely born. You walked into a den of wolves and marrie

"Unlike the snakes in your castle who feed you po

across Andrae's handsome face as he thought of the

the marrow, not even the Moon Goddess can pull it out," Andrae said, h

ell you whether I'

lt on one knee in front of his wheelchair and re

look at his crippled, lifeless limbs. Yet when he saw the calm focus in my eyes,

cold, the veins beneath the skin

his calf to trace the nerve pathway, a sharp

s gripped the wooden armrests until his knuckles turned

energy into my right hand and drove the first moon-tempered silver needl

thless moment, n

the needle, and a drop of thick, foul-smelling black blood o

eat flared through his deadened nerv

eyes, his right foot-which had lain lifeless for

s knee, his dark-gold eyes widening in utter shock as

silver out?" he rasped, his