Evander's POV
I didn't bother using the main gate. They'd see me coming, and I wasn't in the mood for a spectacle.
There was a smaller way in—a maintenance tunnel near the south wall that barely anyone used. It smelled of rust and damp earth, the kind of place that reminded you this whole empire was built on rot and bone. I crouched, slipped through the narrow opening, boots crunching against gravel as I came out behind the outer fence.
The air was too still. Too careful.
I could feel it before I saw it—movement, energy, tension in the air that didn't belong to my pack alone. When I looked up, I caught sight of shadows ahead. My men. And mixed among them… others. Strangers. The council's dogs.
My jaw tightened.
They were here. On my land.
There hadn't been a fight yet, which meant whoever had come had the audacity to talk first. That told me two things: one, someone inside had guts. Two, Rook was trying to be reasonable again.
Of course he was.
