The dark sky, the moon, the warg—all of it. There was a reason for this.
She took slow steps towards the beast.
It sniffed in her direction as it lowered its head. It approached her.
A deep growl vibrated against Rem’s skin as charcoal fur flooded her vision, Ronan taking a step in front of her. His growl was like the warg's—otherworldly and monstrous, echoing deeply in his giant chest.
An urgency bubbled into irrational anger at being cut off from the action. The warg wanted something from her, the draw of its mystery begging Rem to come closer. Maybe it had the secret as to why she was a Silver.
She almost touched Ronan to let him know that she was going to near the warg, with or without his permission, but a hand grabbed Rem’s right arm and spun her around. She gasped, the cold air of night filling her lungs. Nia pulled her back once more.
"This is the last time I am pulling you away."
"I wanted to talk to it," Rem muttered, still in a trance, stuck between walking and lightly jogging to keep up with Nia.
"It can't talk to you," Nia replied, stopping once they were far behind the two wolves of Warden. “This thing is still wild, Rem. Control, connection, whatever you have with it… This is so dangerous it’s not even funny. You’re not a full Silver yet, which means the warg could kill you on accident, even by a flip of its tail. What if you make it mad and it juts you in the gut with its head? That would lead to serious injury. You’re too squishy, and it might not know that.”
Rem’s sanity was stuck between two realities: common sense on agreeing with Nia, or the whimsical hold that the warg had on her. “But the Elders…”
Nia shot Rem a harsh glare, her eyes glowing amber. “Perhaps they are right. And perhaps they aren’t. Perhaps you have to develop a relationship with one as a pup. This isdangerous—”
She heard it before she saw it, starting with the sound of immense creatures releasing grating sounds from their throats. The warg attempted to jump its way over Ronan and Suna to get to Rem.
Ronan transformed into hisvarúlfurstate.
His body doubled in size, leaning out and turning into a bipedal beast that was thickly muscled with a dense mane around his neck. It was like a man and wolf merged, except this one stood on its hind legs. A clawed hand, the size of Rem’s head, grabbed the warg by its scruff in midair. As Ronan pulled on its skin, the warg's mouth tightened from being stretched by the weight of its body. Ronan threw his entire weight to the side, so the warg slammed into the ground, the impact shaking all the way into Rem’s feet.
Ronan’s shoulders, the width that was the same as Rem’s height, heaved back before he released a war cry.
Rem’s eyes were so wide that they were nearly popping out of her skull, unable to look away. Ronan had just grabbed the beast and tossed it like a hunter slamming a hare into the ground. Suna stood behind her brother on all fours, hackles raised and snarling.
The warg rose as if it had merely been smacked in the snout, its interest waning, and it slinked off back into the woods.
Ronan’s body shrank, the fur smoothly retracting like the claws of a cat until a built human in such a seamless transition. He turned towards her and Nia, his eyes amber before slowly returning to the blue that was nearly hidden by the night.
With heavy command, he spoke in his native tongue. His jaw clenched and his eyes darted between Nia and Rem. The tattoos on his exposed chest were stressed by the heavy rise and fall of his chest.
Nia responded to him, a long dialogue exchanging between the two.
Ronan was not pleased.
He seemed to scold Nia, who bowed her head low, then he faced Rem and spoke harshly.
"What's going on?" Rem asked, Suna watching in the background.
Nia said, "He’s mad that we took so long, and he was not happy that you tried to go near it… He also says that you smell different, and that it clearly attracted the warg, and that we should have been more careful with such an important change."
“Well… That’s not fair. I couldn’t help it! It was basically calling out to me… And is it a bad smell? Do you notice it? Also, not trying to start a fight, but it washiscommand that made us come out here,” Rem countered, keeping her attention on Nia.
“It doesn’t matter—it’s… Well, it’s a part of the problem. I didn’t notice the change… And that’s why he’s mad with me. And I won’t comment about the warg stuff because itwasreckless to go near it.”
Rem looked away, crossing her arms as she looked into the woods where the warg disappeared. She shook her head, wishing the others knew what she felt.
“It’s not like I have any idea what’s going on, either.”
“And yet, you still tried to go near it,” Nia mumbled, looking down with raised, judgmental brows.
“I—”
