Chapter 11. A Lady from the West

Thoren POV

I followed the guards down to the cellars, my boots echoing against the cold stone steps as we descended deeper into the mansion’s underbelly. The air grew heavier with each step, thick with dampness and the lingering scent of iron and old earth. Every other person brought in from rival packs had already been processed—those deemed useful were sold off or hired out, while the rest had been moved to the dungeons to await whatever fate awaited them. There was a system to these things, an ugly but efficient one, and I had long since stopped questioning it.

The woman the guards had referred to was the only one left in the cellars.

That alone made her interesting.

The guard in front of me held a torch high, its flame flickering and casting distorted shadows along the stone walls. The corridor narrowed as