The house felt wrong without him. Too quiet. Too still.
Too damn empty for a place that had once held the weight of an Alpha.
Even with the Ashwood wolves and enforcers moving through the halls, the building felt hollow. Like the walls themselves were mourning.
I stood in the middle of my father’s study, the key clutched in my hand. Cold metal. Heavy. Old. Important. And, so far, completely useless.
“Nothing?” Cade asked from the bookshelves.
I slammed a drawer shut. “Nothing.”
River leaned against the desk, his quiet, intense focus making me feel like he could see every crack in my composure. My wolf liked that attention; I did not.
“We’ll find it,” Cade said, his voice radiating a calm certainty that almost made me believe him.
But my father had spent my life keeping secrets.
