“Get out of here!”

Brennan didn’t know if that growl was coming from Aidan or from Akela, but he felt himself being pushed down one of the side corridors until he tripped on the stairs and rolled down fifteen steps.

“Go away!”

“I’m not leaving you!” said the Beta as he made an attempt to climb up the stairs again, but a look from his Alpha stopped him.

“She’s only going to hurt me, but she’ll kill you, you know that! Go, get help!”

The door leading to the stairs creaked open, and Brennan leapt to the foot of the stairs, bolting for the lower floors while Aidan just closed his eyes, praying to the Goddess to allow his Beta to escape unscathed.

He didn’t know if it had been hours, days, or just minutes when he opened his eyes again. He smelled smoke and singed fabric, so it didn’t take him too long to realize he was somewhere in the royal house that had been set on fire the night of the coronation.

He tried to remember what had happened before he got there, but all that went through his