A THRONE OF SHADOW AND SOULMATES

gonna drown

he rain, low, teasing,

versity's quad into a sea of puddles, lightning slicing the sky above the old stone buildin

car, the kind that didn't belong anywhere near student housing. He looked l

k Cl

through the rain, she could see it - his eyes, faintly red. The firs

the pages had already turned to pulp. "I'm fine!" she shouted over

rough smoke. "Fiery. I like it. Are you always

she shot back, "or just with gir

toward her. "I've seen you in mythology class," he said, voice dropping just

ut because he'd noticed her at all. "What's you

low and rough. "Only t

loomed in her cheeks. She turned away. "Save

mirk she couldn't see. "In

in her mind, soft and ca

eading to the forest,

ion: Pack

iding behind human faces, but Skye had been born on the border

n't see the car until it

rs and sketches scattering like feathers. Ink bled into

creeched

r back. For a few seconds, all she could hear was the st

re

brighter-red, unmistakable now. For a split second, she swo

tting through the downpour. "

t, she almost let him. Then instinct -

g herself up. "Just try not

when Derek Clawson looked at them. Skye snapped

me fix this," he said softly.

says, crumpled and soaked. "Keep

e page - a sketch of a golden

a

alive. Her breath caught. Derek froze too, eyes wide, the same shock mirrored there. F

at's takin

gh everything. Shar

y rain, her heels clicking against the wet

lutching her ruined notes - and her smirk de

Derek muttered wit

park still burned under her skin, wild and confusing. "I

rned t

ad changed - lower, commanding.

ed. Slowl

our name?

ying. Then, for some reason sh

ky

into the storm before he

, her name echoing in his mind. Skye. It

r. She's nobody. A broke scholarsh

'd felt - that spark - wasn't huma

wed by thunder. Somewhere beyond the u

e expectations, the training, his father's shado

r plastered to her neck. She slammed the door

guard - pale face, wide eyes, and a faint go

ttered. "Now I'

er ruined notes lay. The golden wolf she'd sketched shimmered faintly benea

uzzed. A te

est. All good, lit

out there - but she didn't. She couldn't. Instead, she sat on her bed and st

istant, a w

er eyes didn't fade. It pulsed - faint, then str

end of the storm

der. The sound wasn't just w

e knew - this was