The Silent Alpha's Ransom

Every time she closed her eyes, the psychic weight of Caelum's grief pressed against her eyelids like lead. She had been bundled into the back of a reinforced

ness of her like a physical touch, a tether t

boratories on the edge of the Neutral Zone. If Argentis Labs was moving medical-grade silv

he waking city. He wore a dark duster coat that concealed the weaponry Lyra knew he carried, but his greatest weapon was the sheer aura of authority he radiated. Ly

s a physical barrier. If the scent of the collar flares, the locals will

emical hazard symbol. "The logs indicated the shipments are moved at 0400 hours," she whispered, her breath blooming in the cold a

hand against the metal, his eyes closing for a fraction of a second. Lyra felt a ripple in the air-a subsonic pulse th

om the inside. Four men. One human, three hybr

ully shift but possessed a feral, uncontrollable strength. They were used as muscle because they were expen

m kicked the door. The heavy steel didn't just swing open; it buckled off its h

didn't even have time to raise his weapon before Caelum's hand was around his throat, slamming him into a support pillar with enou

s tore through the air, but Caelum wasn't where he should have been. He moved with a terrifying, rhythmic grace, weaving through th

Caelum stood in the center of the warehouse, his duster coat slightly torn, a thin line of red tra

his neck. Elias, the foreman, was a spindly man with skin the color of ol

looked into Caelum's amber gaze. "I just move t

eak. He shoved th

ke a whip. He recognizes your scent. He know

o someone else. She looked at Elias. He did recognize her. He had seen her at t

very short fuse. If you tell him where the Argentis shipment went last night, he might let you walk o

they'll kill my family. They're watchi

ssed, stepping closer. "T

a death sentence. "He's the one buying the silver. He's bu

the warehouse, his nostrils flaring. Lyra felt a surge of

t d

ugh the brickwork. A massive, mechanical drone, outfitted with silver-mesh nets and high-velocity tranquilizer

cold. "Alpha Vane. You are in violation of the Neutral Zone

t the drone, and for the first time, Lyra heard him make a sound with his actu

g the silver collar around Lyra's neck. A blue beam of light locked ont

egan to hiss, the silver reacting to th

lar, his skin sizzling as the silver burned into his palms. He didn't let go

ail of gunfire and falling masonry. Caelum slammed the door, his hands smoking and ra

was a jagged shard of glass in her mind. They

the supernatural world, and he had just maimed himself to save a human who had helped destroy his life. The silence b