243 The Letter That Failed
Mara
I lunged for the wolf’s neck, jaws wide.
He dodged, but not fast enough. My weight slammed into him, knocking the wind from his lungs. Before he could recover,
I spun and sank my teeth into his throat, ripping out a chunk of flesh. He dropped with a strangled yelp.
I didn’t stop.
I was done holding back. I was on a killing spree, rage in motion. My claws tore, my teeth shredded. I wasn’t just fighting, I was cleansing. Every enemy that fell was one less threat to my child. To my home.
Then Vander joined me.
We moved together with instinctive precision, shoulder to flank, kill for kill. His wolf was massive and fast, and we fought
like we’d trained side by side for years. He trusted me. Knew I could handle it. That trust made me stronger.
They should’ve never attacked us. Lucian and Darian weren’t here, but we were. And they underestimated us.
Big mistake.
Then something flew through the air, a smoke capsule, maybe. A distraction. The last five intruders turned tail and fled,
limping into the shadows, bleeding and broken.
I started after them, ready to finish the job.
“Let them go, Luna,” Vander linked me, his voice calm but firm. “They’ll never challenge a Nighthorn again.”
If he were in his human form, I knew he’d be laughing.
Austin and Jason returned, fully dressed, carrying robes for us. They’d shifted back and fetched clothes while we held the
line.
Vander shifted first. I turned away quickly, he might’ve been my mate’s father, but the man was still in his prime. Lucian
got it honest.
“Mara,” Vander said gently.
I didn’t move.
“I don’t want to shift back,” I admitted. “It hurt.”
He chuckled, walking toward me. “You’re tough. You’ve got this.”
I braced myself. Then I shifted.
It was worse than the first time. My bones cracked and contorted, grinding back into place. It felt like being crushed and remade at the same time. I screamed. Couldn’t help it. It tore out of me raw and ragged.
Almost two minutes passed before I was fully human again.
Longest two minutes of my life.
I collapsed onto the cold ground, panting, every limb shaking. Austin rushed forward and covered me with a robe. Vander didn’t wait, he scooped me into his arms like I weighed nothing.
“Lucian’s going to kill me,” he muttered. “For letting you fight tonight.”
I laughed through the pain, breathless.
243 The Letter That Failed
“But the truth is,” he said, quieter now, “I needed you out there.”
That made me smile. He wasn’t wrong.
He carried me back to Darian’s room, refusing to let me walk. I linked Tiffany to meet us there, and my heart eased when
she responded, safe and coming.
Martha arrived first. Vander sat with me, still holding me in his lap on the couch. I’d told him I was fine, but he wouldn’t
budge.
He really did care for Lucian.
And in his own quiet way, I realized… he cared for me too.
“If Lucian were home, he’d be here,” Vander said quietly. “Alaric is my mess, yet it’s my children who keep bleeding for him. This… is the least I can do.”
I looked at him, truly looked. The regret was real. Heavy. Earned.
“Thank you,” I said softly, and I meant it. My body still ached, my bones humming with the memory of the shift, but I was
stable now. Healing.
“Mara… are you alright?” Martha’s voice broke through, uncertain and brittle.
It was strange hearing concern from her. I couldn’t connect the sound to anything familiar. But I nodded. She was trying. That was something.
Tiffany entered, Emma curled up peacefully in her arms. Jason followed behind, his expression tight with purpose. He held something in his hand, a stone, crudely wrapped in a letter bound by an elastic band. He handed it to me.
“From Chase,” he said.
The bastard still insisted on that name.
I looked at it, disgust curling in my chest. Coward. He didn’t even have the decency to face me.
“Let me open it,” Jason offered.
I hesitated, then handed it back. I knew why he was asking. If it was a trap, he’d take the blow. That quiet, protective
instinct he always carried, I respected it.
He peeled off the band, dropped the stone, and opened the envelope. Inside was a single folded letter. He passed it to me
without a word.
I unfolded it, and read it aloud:
“Mara Thornridge,
You have refused to heed my warning.
I know your story, how Vander forced your parents to sell you to him so he could marry you off to his son. I truly sympathize and commend your ability to make it work.
But bloodlines shouldn’t rule the world just because they can.
I’m offering freedom, to those oppressed for their breed, their rank, their blood. The reign of the overprivileged Nighthorns
is over.
I implore you: switch sides before you burn with them.
I have the Military. And, as you’ve discovered, I also have people inside your home. I instructed them to spare you, to give
you a chance.
<243 The Letter That Failed
This will be my last message.
Rest assured: Martha, Tiffany, and her bastard are in good hands. Don’t waste time trying to find them.”
I finished, and silence followed, then laughter.
Not the kind that eases tension. The kind that tears it apart.
+ Points 7
Chase had written this in advance, fully expecting to win tonight. He thought we’d be dead or on our knees. That letter
was meant to be a dagger.
Instead, it landed like a joke.
Those wolves who threw it and ran? They’d seen what we were capable of, and they panicked. I doubted they’d be crawling back to him. If anything, they’d scatter. And Chase would be left alone with his illusions of power and revolution.
Vander chuckled beside me, shaking his head. Even Martha let out a weak, shaky laugh. Some of the weight lifted from the room. It was clear now: they hadn’t come for the mansion.
They had come for us.
Martha. Tiffany. Emma.
That worker I’d killed? He’d been stationed outside Darian’s room for a reason. Chase’s people thought the males were
away, that we were vulnerable.
They had no idea what kind of monsters we could be when protecting our own.
I glanced down at the letter again, then crumpled it in my hand.
Let this be his last message.
Because next time, he wouldn’t be sending letters.
He’d be running for his life.
