Chapter 3: Regan

Footsteps sounded and I looked up a full ten seconds before Carter appeared. I knew it was him by the weight of his boots. My ears pricked at the sound of his familiar footfalls, and my mouth went dry. If Carter was back, it could only mean they’d found her.

I blinked and Carter materialized, his broad frame filling the office doorway. He looked at me first but his expression was fixed, unreadable. His light hair and blue eyes were striking, though not nearly as piercing as that cold stare he always wore when he faced my father. Even at seventeen years old, pack warriors were expected to be soldiers. And soldiers followed orders. No room for feelings or opinions.

Despite that, Carter had been my friend for as long as we’d both been alive. We’d been born a month apart—he never let me forget he was older. And despite our penchant for arguing like siblings, he was one of the few I trusted these days to see bits of the real Regan. But he also liked to mess with me and I knew he was purposely ignoring me now. Ass.

I bit my tongue as he turned to my father across the log cabin-style space.

“She’s here,” Carter said.

Those two simple words made my pulse accelerate. I looked at Dad, and he looked at me. My excitement was mirrored on his weathered face.

It felt like I’d been waiting for my sister to arrive for days, even though it couldn’t have been more than a few hours since the retrieval party left. That might have been because I really had waited for her my entire life.

I grew up hearing stories of her: Charlotte Vuk, the estranged pack member who had grown up around humans. They said I would meet her someday—never a specific date or anything, just a vague “someday” that could have been in a year or a hundred years. Until then, all I had of her was a description (“she looks a lot like you,” Dad said) and a photo I’d hidden from my mother. My chest ached as I realized even that had changed. I didn’t need to hide it so well anymore.

Sometimes at night, when I couldn’t sleep, I laid there and tried to imagine what this Charlotte was like. Was she as tough as me, molded by a childhood as a pack heir? Did she like hunting too? Was her favorite color red? With all of the bad blood between our elders, could we ever be friends? Could our shared DNA actually, finally mean I’d have a friend? Someone to tell secrets—even weaknesses—to? It was a lot to hope for.

Now I was finally going to meet her.

It was all I could do not to leap to my feet and hug Carter, who had delivered the news. But I kept my feet carefully rooted. Despite being one of the top warriors in the pack, Carter backed up when Dad stood, giving him the deference the alpha deserved, and kept his head down. I was the only person who didn’t have to show submission around Dad, since I would be his equal soon. Future alphas never bowed.

“Where did you put her?” Dad asked.

Carter replied with his eyes on the floor. “In the room we prepared. Just like you asked.”

“Good.”

The single-word answer revealed nothing. I didn’t know how Dad could react with such control. He marked his place with a bookmark, set the volume on the table between us, and strolled toward the door. His movements were unhurried—casual. Inside, I was dying with impatience.

As soon as Dad was far enough away, I jumped up. “What is she like?” I whispered.

Carter shrugged. “Unconscious.”

“How revealing,” I said and Carter grinned wickedly.

“Fine,” I said, “Don’t tell me anything. See if I help you next time your long list sibling returns.”

Carter snorted.

The door swung shut. I hurried through it to catch up with my dad. He walked into the fresh morning air and I stuck close to his back, trying to keep my expression schooled. The rest of the pack knew something was up. They got out of the way when Dad and I passed, hurrying to do their daily tasks, but I could feel them watching. I kept my expression blank as I walked; I couldn’t look nervous or excited. I had to keep my cool. That was what an alpha did, no matter what, and after everything that had happened in the past few days I knew my future was almost upon me.

Thoughts of my mother crept in but I shoved them out. I couldn’t think about her now, with everyone looking to me for the future. I couldn’t afford to break down. Maybe later—when I had some privacy. Dad said leaders never cried. Mom said they only cried in the dark.

Charlie’s room had been prepared in the main house, where we—the alpha family—lived. But Dad didn’t lead me to the bedrooms upstairs or even the guest room at the back of the first floor. Instead, he led me down to the basement.

The only thing down here was storage. A large room lined with books and trinkets given as gifts from various celebrations. And a small room off the east wall that was rumored to have been used as a prison cell before our jail was built.

Confusion tinged with dread washed over me as I descended the stairs. “What—?” I started to ask, but then I saw the guard at the bottom of the stairs and stopped.

They had put my sister in a locked room.

“Just a precaution,” said Dad.

This time, the lack of emotion in his tone made me wonder. Maybe he wasn’t as thrilled as I was after all. My dread flared into worry. Was there something they weren’t telling me?

“A precaution against what?” I asked.

Dad didn’t answer, but I guess he didn’t really need to. Our werewolf pack had been at war with a coven of vampires for over a century, and there was a lot of bad blood on both sides. We had faced assassination attempts more than once. This last one succeeded. My mother ... But I couldn’t think about that right now.

Maybe a locked room was a good idea. The basement was more secure than the rest of the house. But the guard Dad has assigned, a muscly ex-military guy named Brent, didn’t fill me with confidence. What was the saying … All brawn and no brains?

Brent snapped to attention when Dad stopped in front of him. “She’s awake,” he reported.

My heart skipped a beat.

“Don’t let anyone disturb us,” Dad said, and then he went in the room. I had to take a deep breath before following him inside. My pulse pounded in my wrists as my adrenaline spiked, like I was about to go into a fight instead of meeting my long lost half-sister.

I followed Dad into the shadowy space and stopped.

There she was.