By the time I deemed it had been long enough that I could check back in with the kitchen, I was nearly starved. I still needed regular food, but it didn’t fill the void that would eat at me until I sated it, so I had to have blood several times a week—whether from a hunt, or from what the cook would set aside for me. Animal blood wasn’t quite satisfying, but it worked.

I crept through the streets and into the back of the manor, retracing the same route I’d taken earlier. I made it into the kitchen and got what I needed without a hiccup until I was almost past the door that led to the dining hall.

I’d been so thirsty, and the hall was deserted, so I’d thought it would be okay to take the edge off.

Wrong. The door opened, and the servant bringing in a tray full of empty dishes ran directly into me, spilling the blood and glassware everywhere. The servant and I went down in a tangle and landed in front of the open door in direct view of the table.

The servant raised a hand to slap me, but my trusty glow kicked in, burning her everywhere it touched. Her shrieks brought more attention, and then the yelling started. I had to consciously pull the light back as others tried to assess what was happening. At first, they didn’t catch on that the blood was from a deer, not from either of us sitting amid the sea of broken glass.

All of that would have been bad enough except we’d caught the attention of the elders. Or one of them, at least.

“Alpha Larimer, you said the Silverlight Heir was dead!” The shout came from a man I didn’t recognize. He had some gray strands in his dark hair, so I knew he was older. The aging process was very slow, which made age hard to figure out unless you knew the person, which in this case I didn’t.

The alpha glared in my direction, and I saw Corbin rushing toward me with a panicked expression on his face.

“This is not Mariana. She did indeed pass on,” the alpha was quick to say, conveniently leaving out that he was the cause. Bastard.

Corbin reached for me while other servants helped the girl up and started to clean the mess.

“Come on, Stella. You know you shouldn’t be here.” He spoke low enough that his voice wouldn’t travel in the room of wolves with their excellent hearing.

I nodded and let him lead me out, booking it back to the house and leaving him to go back in and face the crowd alone.

Angela was going to kill me. Or try, anyway.