Pain

Alaric blinked, dizzy from the pain and trying to piece together just how badly he had miscalculated. "Alpha, I—I sent her because she would draw the least suspicion. I thought—" He coughed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I thought she would be invisible."

"Invisible?!" Herod bellowed.

With a dramatic flourish, Herod tossed a letter at him. It flopped onto the floor in front of Alaric's face. The seal had been broken.

Alaric picked it up, squinting through the blood in his eye as he read.

'I have been informed that you want my mate for yourself. I've never eaten a king's heart before. I'll start with yours. Zoe is under my protection now. Thank you though. She will make a great general.

— Alpha Lucas Raventhorn'

Zoe's seal was used to sign off.

Alaric's soul left his body for a moment.