Chapter 267

Damon

The envelope was soaked from the rain before I even opened it.

And though I deep down I did not want to open it, I knew that I had to. If I did not, there was a lot of mistake and I was not going to risk that.

The scout who brought it had nearly collapsed at the edge of our border, bloodied, bruised, and clearly terrified out of his mind. He hadn’t said a word. Just handed me the red-stamped letter like it burned in his hands.

His eyes my mind for a moment before he stepped back, afraid of what was to happen. He knew that the message was a forge of war.

I didn’t open it right away.

Because I knew what it was, I knew what all of this meant, and I knew that it was not going to end without a sacrifice.

I stood beneath the overhang outside the war hall, letting the rain batter the roof above us like a warning drum. My wolves had already started gathering, eyes sharp, ears perked. Something in the air told them the same thing my gut