“The castle.” Hibla pointed to the far right, behind us. I turned. An enormous stone castle crowned the top of the mountain, its stone walls rising like the natural extension of the living rock. Wide rectangular towers soared under pale blue roofs. The long narrow flags flying on the thin spires from the huge building of the main keep caught the last rays of the setting sun and glowed as if they were on fire.

“How old is the castle?” Mahon asked.

“We celebrated its twenty-year anniversary last fall.”

Wow. Post-Shift. The amount of labor this structure took had to be staggering. How the hell did they even get that much stone up the mountain?

“Please.” Hibla invited us with a sweep of her hand. “Up this road.”

We went up the mountain at a brisk pace. Any faster and I’d have had to start running. The path was steep and the light was dying fast. Ten minutes later I broke a sweat. The shapeshifters around me seemed fresh as daisies.

“It must be very tiring for the Consort,” Lorelei said next to me.

That was a bit unexpected. Was she actually concerned?

“The road is steep and she doesn’t have the benefit of night vision.”

She was looking at Curran. No, she wasn’t checking if I was okay. She was talking about me as if I weren’t even there. The way one would say, Is your little dog thirsty? Does she need a bowl of water?

“Perhaps a mount could be brought . . . ?” Lorelei suggested.

Out of a corner of my eye I saw both Barabas and George freeze. Yes, I know I’ve been insulted. Settle down. “Thank you for your concern. I can manage.”

“Please, it’s no trouble at all. You could hurt yourself. I know that even something minor like a twisted ankle would present a big problem for a human . . .”

Do not punch the pack princess; do not punch the pack princess . . .

“We wouldn’t want you to struggle to keep up.”

Okay, she went too far. I gave her a nice big smile.

Curran’s face snapped into a neutral expression. “We just got here, baby. It’s too early for you to start killing people.”

Lorelei’s eyes widened. “I didn’t mean any offense.”

Yeah, you did.

“I’m so sorry. I was only concerned. Please forgive me.”

And now anything I said with any hint of hostility would make me look like an ass. She’d outmaneuvered me. Fine. There was always the next time. “Don’t worry about it.”

We rounded the bend. The castle loomed in front of us, shockingly huge. You could pack at least two Keeps within its walls. Thick walls, too. Had to be more than a couple of feet deep.

Hibla raised her head and howled, a high-pitched ghostly jackal howl. The sound rolled past us, streaming to the sky. Other howls answered. Metal clanged and the massive gates swung open.