Alana's POV
I searched every corner of the chamber, tossing aside furs and overturned crates with a rising storm in my chest. The dagger was gone. The ceremonial blade, the Marked Blade gifted to me by the Phantom Pack that was capable of severing bonds, of cutting through the threads that tied me to Adrian, to this place, to all of it. Missing. I knew it hadn't vanished by chance.
My instincts screamed one name: Thorn. He must have taken it back during the battle, while chaos reigned and I had shifted into something no one had ever seen before. He'd been close enough. Close enough to steal, and now... he had the one weapon I wasn't ready to use but couldn't afford to lose.
I stood there, chest heaving, staring at the empty space where I'd hidden it. I thought about asking Pack, but I couldn't face him, not after what had happened.
Not after my ny wolf… no, something more than my wolf had awakened and with it came memories I had locked away in the deepest vault of my heart.
