Chapter 21: The Marker

Jonah's POV

I knelt by the empty cage with my nose a hand's width from the lock.

Under the iron and the old blood, I found cream wool and a sweet cold perfume.

Bree.

Under hers I found two more scents, and I stood up.

"Two men did this," I said. "Not Dane. His scent's on nothing here."

Ivy stood across from me with her arms crossed and her father's ring on her finger.

She had not yet slept, and she looked like she would stand there until she dropped.

"Dane's in the cellar," she said.

"He was this morning."

"The two cousins brought him his meals."

I had seen their faces at her long table, and I had liked neither.

"Where are the cousins now?" I said.

Her old Beta, who leaned on his stick by the well, cleared his throat.

"They aren't here, Alpha."

Ivy's jaw tightened.

"Of course they aren't."

A guard came running from the cellar stairs with the door key in his fist.

"Alpha. The cellar's open. The silver's cut off him. The cousins went in with the bread and didn't come out."

The cage guard sat on the steps with a wet cloth against his skull.

"They hit me from behind," he said. "I never saw them. I heard her whisper, though. She said, 'Quick, before the wolves come back from the gate.'"

"She was in the cage when they cut it?" I asked.

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