Page 52 of Mane Rival in Store by Milly Taiden

She buried her face against his shoulder. Her shoulders shook. Laughter—full, warm, unstoppable—vibrated against his ribs. He stood in the wind on the rooftop in a purple villain cape with a woman laughing against his heart. I am keeping the cape.

He did not know why.

His lion knew why.

TWENTY-ONE

RUNE

Aspen arrived at the den at seven with a carry-on, two garment bags, and the velocity of a woman who had booked a transatlantic flight over a photograph.

Rune was in the kitchen on the top floor, standing at the counter with a cup of coffee and the carefully maintained composure of a man who had kissed someone on a Brooklyn rooftop just hours ago and had not slept since. His hair had eventually flattened around four, which he was choosing to interpret as progress.

The elevator chimed. The front door opened. Heels on the marble foyer—fast, purposeful, the stride of his sister covering ground.

“WHERE IS THE CAPE?”

She appeared in the kitchen doorway. Five-eleven in heels, tawny-gold hair loose and artfully wild from six hours in business class, ice-blue eyes that were identical to his and currently operating at maximum intensity. She dropped the garment bags on the island. The carry-on hit the floor.

“Good morning, Aspen.”

“The CAPE, Rune. I saw the photo. Your hair was—it was PRESENTING. In a CAPE. At a COSTUME PARTY. I had to see this with my own eyes, or I would never recover.” She braced both hands on the island. “Where is the woman?”

“Her name is Lark.”

“I know her name. Dekel sent me a dossier. Including the group chat screenshots, the vault date analysis, the mane-touch incident report, and the architectural floor plan of the shared wall.” She seized his coffee. Drank half of it. “Tell me everything.”

He told her approximately twelve percent of everything. Aspen filled in the remaining eighty-eight from Dekel’s intelligence briefing, which was apparently more comprehensive than any operational report Rune had received in twelve years as alpha. By eight, she had extracted the relevant emotional data, formed seventeen opinions, and declared her intention to meet Lark that afternoon, which Rune countered with the observation that perhaps his sister should recover from transatlantic travel before ambushing his⁠—

He stopped.

“Your what?” Aspen’s eyes locked on him over the rim of his coffee cup. “Finish that sentence.”

“My neighbor.”

“Your NEIGHBOR. You kissed your neighbor on a rooftop in a villain cape and your lion presented and you flew across the kitchen to avoid finishing a sentence. Rune.” She set down the cup. Leaned forward. “You’re bringing her to the den.”

“That’s not⁠—”

“You’re bringing her to the den because Dekel told me the evening gathering is in a few days and Mother has already added a place setting and the council has been informed that the alpha will be accompanied. Yara has requested a formal introduction.”

His coffee was gone. His sister had consumed it. His evening plans—the careful, measured approach he’d been constructing, the gradual introduction, the controlled environment—had been dismantled in ninety seconds by a woman in travel-wrinkled Acne Studios who hadn’t cleared customs three hours ago.

“I was going to manage the introduction.”

“You were going to overthink the introduction for two weeks and then deliver it with the emotional warmth of a trade negotiation. I’m here to prevent that.” She picked up her garment bags. “I’ll be in the guest suite. I need to change. And shower. And text Dekel, who has been INVALUABLE, by the way. That man deserves a raise.”

She vanished down the hallway. Her voice carried back: “Friday, Rune. The cape woman. At the den. And tell Mother to use the ceremonial service, not the everyday china. This is an EVENT.”

Rune stood in his kitchen in the early light with no coffee and no plan and the dawning comprehension that his sister and his beta had been running a parallel operation for weeks, and he was the last person in his own Pride to know it.

His phone vibrated.

Dekel: She landed?

Rune: You sent her a DOSSIER.

Dekel: She asked. I’m thorough. That’s why you hired me.