The moment Nicholas's hand closed around hers, he knew Maddox hadn't told her.
She jolted the second their skin made contact, and her shock flooded into him through their matebond. If the Keep weren't under siege, he would have laughed.
For three seconds, neither of them moved.
Then she looked away and pulled her hand free. The separation cost something she was going to pretend she did not feel.
"We need to move." Her voice was steady. The rest of her was a catastrophe.
The second she let go, his wolf started howling in his mind, demanding he shove her against the stone, and fuck her until the only word left in her vocabulary was his name. He locked his jaw and let the king version of himself take over before he did something unforgivable.
"The Keep is under attack," he said. "Wolf mindlink is down. I sent Damon and my men to find Maddox."
She should have been frightened but she wasn't. She didn't even blink, which made all of Nicholas's protective instincts fire at once.
