He circles me slowly, like a wolf inspecting prey. “Show us your gift, seer.”
Fear claws at my throat. “I-it doesn’t work like that.”
“Try,” he says, and it’s not a request.
I close my eyes, reaching for the currents of possibilitythat sometimes wash through me. Nothing comes. Only darkness.
“I’m sorry, I?—”
His hand shoots out, gripping my chin with bruising force. “Look at me.”
Our eyes meet, and the world falls away. My body goes rigid, my head snapping back. The familiar burning starts behind my eyes, spreading through my skull like wildfire. Someone gasps, maybe me, maybe the crowd. When I speak again, it’s not my voice that comes out, but it’s a feminine voice far older and deeper, as though the Moon Goddess herself speaks through me.
“The crown will fall, the throne will shatter. You shall kneel, throat bared to the prince with eyes that pierce truths. Some howl in rage, others in triumph, but all will bow to the new order when darkness claims what was promised.”
Blood trickles from my nose, metallic on my tongue. The ground sways beneath me as the vision releases its grip. The grove has gone deadly silent, every wolf frozen in shock.
Thaddeus’s face has gone pale. “What does it mean?” he hisses, his hand now trembling against my skin.
I blink, confused. “I... I don’t know. That’s not how a vision works.”
Murmurs ripple through the crowd. A prophecy spoken aloud cannot be taken back. The Moon Goddess has declared a truth that will come to pass, no matter what any wolf might do to prevent it.
“Who?” Thaddeus demands, his voice cutting through the ringing in my ears.
I shake my head, trying to clear it. “I didn’t see any one wolf. Just... shadows. Fragments.”
Thaddeus studies me, suspicion in his eyes before tossing me away. “You must run tonight, but know this—our business is not yet complete.” He turns, dismissing me in thesame movement as he approaches Varick. “Now. Your offering?”
Varick ducks his head. “I offer my vote on the Alpha Council to the Grand Alpha’s appointed heir and double tithings for two years. In exchange we ask to run four wolves.”
A low murmur ripples through the gathering.
Varick’s offering is no small thing. Giving up his Council seat and promising double tithings will cripple the pack for years. It’s a sacrifice born of desperation, not honor.
Thaddeus smiles, slow and sharp. “I accept, but in punishment for concealing the seer, you may run only one wolf.”
A muscle in Varick’s jaw twitches but he nods, accepting his punishment.
The wind brings me the scent of the wolf meant for me, and once again, the bond in my chest tugs—harder this time—a reminder that somewhere among the gathered is my mate.
May they be strong and kind.
My wolf nuzzles me, reassuring me that they will be everything we’ve hoped for.
Thaddeus turns to the Shadowmist alpha. “And what do the Shadowmist wolves offer?”
Ryker’s laugh is as dark and humorless. “We offer nothing. Our debt has already been paid in the blood we’ve shed in your great war, old wolf. We will run five wolves, one for each of the lives given by my pack.”
The air crackles with tension. No one speaks to the Grand Alpha this way. But Thaddeus merely nods, though his eyes narrow dangerously.
“The old debt is honored... one final time.”
Mara, an unmated female, shifts beside me, her golden wolf already rippling beneath her skin. “Ready to run, littleprophet?” Her smile is cruel. “Or should I say, ready to stumble?”
My fingers tremble as I stand naked among the other females, watching as they shift into their wolf forms. I might not be able to change, but I refuse to show fear. “I can still run.”
“Not fast enough,” she laughs, then throws back her head as her wolf bursts forth.
