“I’ve got you.”
I cling to Ryker, blinking up at him, shivering. His heartbeat thunders beneath my cheek, faster than I’ve ever felt it. His voice is steady, but his arms are tight around me, too tight.
“How long?”
He glances at the sky through the open ceiling. “Hours.”
I swallow, squirming to be let go, but he ignores my weak struggles and pulls me from the pool to lower us both to the floor. Ignoring my protests, he settles me in his lap as if I weigh nothing. His hands tremble—barely—but I feel it.
His hair is mussed, like he’s been running his fingers through it over and over, the way someone does when they’re trying not to panic. There’s tension in his jaw, and a faint crease between his brows.
He’s trying to look calm.
But I know better.
He was scared.
“What did you see?” he asks, voice soft—too soft for Ryker.
I’m shaking, the images still burning behind my eyes. “He’s planning an attack during the new moon. They’ll use silver dust to try and cloud our detection. He’s amassing an army of hundreds from multiple packs.” I take a steadyingbreath. “And there’s something else. Something I don’t understand.”
His arms retighten around me. “Tell me.”
“I saw you standing over his body,” I whisper. “I saw you kill him.”
Ryker goes utterly still behind me. Through our bond, I feel a complex surge of emotions—satisfaction, vindication, but also unease.
“The prophecy,” he says finally.
I turn in his arms, needing to see his face. “Yes and no. There was a shadow wolf that moved independently. It struck him, weakened him somehow.”
“Shadow-walking. It’s an ancient ability of those with shadow blood.” His hand comes up to touch my cheek, his expression intense.
“You have that?”
He shakes his head. “But it could be a metaphor for being stealth-like. Or it could be something else entirely.”
I nod slowly. “I guess that makes sense. It wasn’t clear.” The trembling in my limbs increases as reaction sets in. “There was so much blood, Ryker. So much death coming for us.”
His expression hardens with determination. “Then we prepare. The new moon is fourteen days away. We have time.”
“Against hundreds? From multiple packs?” Fear makes my voice sharp. “Even the Shadowmist can’t stand against those numbers.”
“We won’t face them alone.” His thumb brushes my lower lip. “We’ll unite the other packs and use your visions to anticipate their movements. Set traps. Fight in the shadows where we have the advantage.”
The confidence in his voice steadies me slightly. “And if it’s not enough?”
“It will be.” He presses his forehead to mine, our breathmingling. “You and I together—sight and shadow. We’re what Thaddeus fears most.”
Through our bond, his certainty flows into me, pushing back the panic that had begun to take hold. This isn’t the reckless bravado of an alpha who’s never known defeat—it’s the calculated assessment of a strategist who’s survived against impossible odds before.
“Come on,” he says, lifting me in his arms as he climbs to his feet. “Let’s get you washed and rested before tonight’s ceremony.”
Fuck.
A different kind of nervousness replaces my fear. Tonight, I’ll be presented to the pack as Alpha Female—officially acknowledged as Ryker’s mate before all the Shadowmist wolves.
And I’ve never felt less prepared for anything in my life.
