The Vicious Vixen: Mother To The Panther Lord’s Pups Chapter 06
The 4 AM Alarm
That night, I tucked Liora into bed. She grabbed my hand as I was leaving.
“Are you going to stay?” she whispered. “They won’t make you go away?”
I squeezed her fingers. “Pup, the only way I’m leaving this house is in a box. And I’m hard to kill.”
She smiled. Sleepy.
Down the hall, Cassian’s door was open. He was sitting up in bed, reading. When I passed, he looked up.
He didn’t smile. But he nodded.
From Cassian, that meant everything.
I nodded back and kept walking.
Before I touched Isolde’s records, I needed to break her hold on this house first.
At three fifty-five a.m., I walked to the alarm panel in the east corridor.
At four a.m. sharp, I triggered the emergency alarm.
The alarm sounded through Nightfall Hall. Red lights flashed in every hall.
I stood in the main hall with my arms crossed and waited.
Isolde came first, stumbling down the stairs in a silk nightgown, no makeup, hair wild.
Her face was white. “WHAT’S HAPPENING? ARE WE UNDER ATTACK?”
Octavia came next, gripping the banister. Her hand shook on her cane. Two guards flanked her, half-shifted with claws out, checking every corner.
The staff came in from every direction. Cooks still wiped sleep from their eyes. Housekeepers were half-dressed.
Lucien ran out crying, hiding behind his mother.
I waited until every soul was there.
Then I shut off the alarm.
Everyone stared at me.
“Good morning,” I said.
Isolde’s terror turned to fury. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?”
“This was a security drill.”
I walked in front of them, hands behind my back.
“The Nightfall territory has real enemies. Raiders outside these walls would love to get in. And what did I just learn? This house needs four full minutes to assemble. Four minutes means dead.”
“This is insane!” Isolde started.
“From now on,” I continued, “when the alarm sounds, everyone moves. No questions. The guards take the doors and shift if needed. Everyone else gets to the main hall. No one hides in their room.”
Octavia slammed her cane against the stone floor. “You have no authority to—”
“I have every authority. I am Lady Nightfall. Since none of you respect that during the day, we practice in the dark.”
I pointed at the staff. “Kitchen. Now. Breakfast for everyone. You have twenty minutes.”
Nobody moved.
I lowered my voice. “Eighteen minutes.”
They ran.
Isolde stood shaking, fists clenched. “Lord Darian will hear about this.”
“Tell him. Tell him his Lady runs four a.m. drills because his house cannot move under pressure. See if he gets angry at me or at you.”
She had nothing.
Octavia lowered herself into a hallway chair, cane across her knees.
She did not speak. But she was starting to understand me.
Breakfast was served in nineteen minutes. Eggs. Toast. Coffee. Nothing fancy, but hot and on time.
I made everyone sit. The guards. The staff. Isolde. Octavia. Lucien.
Cassian and Liora sat on either side of me.
Cassian ate steadily. For the first time since I met him, his hands did not shake.
Liora leaned against my arm, still half asleep, a piece of toast in her small fist.
When breakfast was done, I stood.
“The alarm will sound again. Random nights. Random times. Until this house can handle a real attack. Until every soul under this roof earns the Nightfall name.”
“Dismissed.”
Everyone scattered. Isolde stormed upstairs without a word. Octavia stayed in her chair, watching me.
“You are either very brave,” she said quietly, “or very stupid.”
“Both,” I said. “That’s what makes me dangerous.”
She almost smiled. Almost.
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