Chapter 163: She Has A Criminal Record, LANDON

There’s never a dull moment in Thunderfang.

The evening had gone from Lightning Nectars and prank stories to lingerie-assassin Celeste holding syringes, the image forever burned in Nova’s retinas.

Celeste stood there in a short silk robe, slippers, and what looked like lingerie underneath. Who breaks into someone’s chambers to commit murder dressed like that? If you’re going to commit, then goddamn commit and wear pants.

Nova didn’t have the luxury of processing any of that because the whole chamber had gone sideways into something even more fucked. Celeste had a knack for turning things on people. Nova knew this. But it still surprised her when Celeste did exactly that.

"She FRAMED ME! I was INVITED here. Someone sent me a message from your holo-band saying you wanted to see me. I have the ping. CHECK IT. And when I arrived, she handed me those syringes and screamed. This whole thing was STAGED!"

"I d-didn’t, Alpha. I was asleep and heard a noise. I don’t know how those syringes—"

"LIES! She crawled in your bed, Landon. What would I gain from this?" Celeste cried. "Check the holo-band. That’s all I’m asking. If I’m lying, the ping won’t be there and you can arrest me."

For one horrible second Nova considered that she might be the villain, genuinely wondering if she had sent Celeste a message in her sleep because the act was so convincing. If she had, she had no memory of doing it and that would be truly impossible to explain.

"Ask her, Landon!" Celeste yelled. "Give her an Alpha command. Right now. See if she sent it. She had access to your holo-band. I didn’t. She has a history of being places she shouldn’t be. I have a history of being exactly where the elders assigned me. One of us belongs here."

Nova looked at the bed, the glass, the needles. "Then why are you in here?"

It slipped out of Nova’s mouth but was a genuine question.

Celeste’s wolf surged. "BECAUSE YOU FRAMED ME, YOU BITCH! This woman has a criminal record, LANDON. I heard all about that. Everyone knows."

Guards pried syringes out of Celeste’s fists, one from each hand, her fingers locked around them like a toddler denied candy.

Alpha Thunderfang looked at her with pure contempt. "You are spewing garbage and no one is buying it."

Nova let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Alpha Thunderfang had taken Nova’s word over Celeste’s, the ex-slave over the woman the elders paired him with. That math didn’t add up, and Nova wasn’t sure which number was missing, but a number was missing. Relief flooded her anyway. It was either the highest compliment Nova had ever received or the lowest statement about Celeste.

Nova knew Celeste wasn’t coming to drinks the night before, but that was all she knew. Maria had meant to ask Tavian about her last night, but the conversation had galloped off into another direction. If the universe had been trying to give them a warning, they were too busy laughing about stolen swords to hear it.

"You’re making a mistake," she shrieked, the sound clawing up an octave past anything human. "They’re coming for you, 7709. You have no idea what you’ve invited into this Keep, LANDON. Don’t say I didn’t warn you." Her glare swung to Nova like a turret. "I’m going to watch them peel you. I’m going to keep a piece."

Nova physically recoiled. Who the fuck says keep a piece. That was just plain old weird.

"Enjoy the Alpha’s bed like the little slut you are. When my father hears about this, and he WILL hear about this, you are gone. I told them where you were. I gave them some of your hair. Clock is ticking. When Thunderfang burns down, it will be because of you."

"SILENCE."

Alpha Thunderfang’s Alpha command worked immediately. Celeste’s mouth shut.

Another man entered. His Thunderfang uniform carried more decoration than the guards wore, braid and insignia stacked at the shoulder, so Nova could only assume captain, or something that outranked everyone else sweating in the room.

He had on protective gloves that Nova recognized because those were the gloves handlers wore when cuffing slaves. They were also what they wore at the station to clamp her and Maria. But yesterday’s cuffs had been diluted silver. Much different than slave cuffs.

The cuffs in the high ranking officer’s hand looked similar. Definitely diluted.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Celeste screamed in agony, the sound peeling the paint off the walls. The guards restraining her didn’t so much as flinch.

Nova jolted, not prepared for that.

"Get those syringes to Astra," Alpha Thunderfang ordered. "Full testing. I want to know what’s in them."

"Yes, Alpha."

"And how the hell did she get into my chambers?"

The high-ranking officer inclined his head. "I’ll look into it immediately, Alpha. What I can confirm right now is that there were at least four stationed at all times. No gaps, not even through shift change."

"Check the balcony footage."

"Yes, Alpha."

The door shut on Celeste’s fading shrieks.

Nova’s chest heaved like she’d sprinted up a thousand stairs. She didn’t notice she was shaking until she looked down and watched her own hands tremble, which was a level of out-of-body she wasn’t ready for.

Alpha Thunderfang was staring at her.

That was the moment she registered she was still standing on his bed like some demented sleepwalker.

"I sleepwalk," Nova offered, as if that explained the broken glass, the syringes, the screaming princess, any of it. "I have no idea how I got here."

Something rumbled under Alpha Thunderfang’s ribs, a low noise that sounded confused or amused, she wasn’t sure because she had never heard a wolf make that noise. Nova stared at him, waiting for subtitles that were not going to come.

"Come here," he said.

She walked toward him, unsure whether she was meant to climb down first, but he stood at the foot of the bed, so she walked across the mattress, overthinking the entire thing.

With zero warning, he picked her up and carried her, straight into his bathing chamber, setting her down on the counter.