e picked up a small stone and threw it into the water. "Every time I saw you, m

her heart spe

needed to choose someone who would make the pack stronger. Someone calm and sa

ose the pa

thought if I sent you away, you'd find s

t your choi

o look at her. "I've regretted

everything shiny and magical. Morgana could feel po

lse," she said. "Abo

ha

Someone." She touched the healed cuts on her side. "The Iron

y still. "Hunt

the forecast." Her voice got scared. "Their Alpha, Viktor

f hate. "He's been causing trouble for mont

." She looked at Dolph with scared eyes. "He wants to destroy all the old p

t. "We need to tel

council knows about the prophecy, they'll expe

iktor is plann

rn. To understand my power." She

ween them like lightning. Morgana could smell his scent - w

w?" His voic

ead. To be what the scri

d t

whatever com

ouched her face softly.

said honestly. "But ma

t time since she'd ret

stance, they heard a wolf howl. Then another.

ard something else. Other wolves, farther

r that?" sh

etting serious again. "W

of the moon followed them. And in that light, b

ng. And with it, the da

***

t on the edge of the bed, testing her strength. The deep cuts on her ribs were almost h

a tray of breakfast. Warm bread, honey,

Morgana said, taking the cup.

e sat down in her old wooden chair,

d mountains of Eastern Europe. She had learned to hunt alone, to fight alone, to

aid quietly. "Dolph. He sits outside

he put down her tea cup harder than she

ia

Morgana wanted to argue, but the old he

ixteen and stupid and in love with a b

d n

aid it, Morgana knew it wasn't true. The stupid part, anyway. H

the door. Spea

n," Run

hat always looked like he'd been running his hands through it. His eyes were the color of win

ou feeling

just to prove she could.

oss his face. Pain, may

matter

seeing him here, in this place where she'd spent so many

una. "Could you g

nd her. Now it was just the two of them, and nine

," Dolph

don't get to say my name like tha

ean someth

as dangerous. That I didn't belong here. That I was..."

ent pale. "I n

ed at me. I was the wild girl who couldn't control her wolf. The one

said quietly. "Your parents had just d

r wolf stirring under her skin, responding to her emotions. "Yo

is hands through his hair, that old gesture she remembered too well. "You don't understand.