Chapter 346

SILVIA Not that I didn't love Xenois. Not that I didn't trust him to mount a brilliant tactical operation. But Samuel and I had reputations to maintain. We were former alpha and luna who'd survived the territorial wars, who'd built a pack from blood and ash, who'd established peace through overwhelming force and strategic brutality. Being rescued like helpless victims would diminish that reputation. Our peers—the other former alphas and lunas who remembered those days—would never let us forget it. We'd lose aura points, as the young people said these days. Become the cautionary tale instead of the legendary warriors. No thank you. The first lock clicked open. I felt the chain loosen around my wrist and had to suppress a triumphant grin. One down, three to go. "How's it going?" Samuel whispered. "Almost there," I confirmed, moving to the second lock. "How's your back?" "Terrible," he admitted. "These chains have me sitting at the worst angle. I'm going to need a massage and possibly phy