Chapter 23. Unexpected Consequences

Ainsley

As the fighting grows louder, so too does my pulse, pounding so hard in my head that it feels ready to explode.

I don’t know when it is I shift, right as I meet the edge of the treeline or little ways into it, but by the time I’m coming upon the brutal battle, I’ve got my claws drawn, and my lips curled back into a snarl.

Liam is being dragged by the scruff by another shifter, a man I know well from Redmoon—Eli, my father’s top enforcer. The enforcer’s face is marred badly, a long set of claw marks having been racked down the right side of his face, scarring over from how poorly it’s healed.

To his credit, Liam is doing his best to fight back. With how bad he recently was, coupled with the exhaustion that no doubt plagues his body from healing, he’s losing this fight.

Badly.

I take no time to debate with myself before I jump in and join the fray. Eli is a strong and formidable enforcer—one of my father’s top soldiers and loyal to a