4

On the day of the bonding, I sat beside the boundary stone at the edge of pack territory.

My release wouldn't take effect until the moon rose.

I only had to wait a few more hours.

At noon, the first crow came.

"Still throwing a fit?"

At dusk, the second arrived.

"Come back before moonrise, and I'll pretend none of this ever happened."

The third came in a hurry, its feathers ruffled.

"I'll overlook your little tantrum this once.

"But if you dare humiliate me in front of the whole pack, don't ever come back."

I looked at that last line.

Ten years ago, he had carried me out of the fire on his back and said he would protect me from then on.

Ten years later, the one he protected was standing on the altar in my gown, wearing his fang.

I didn't bother opening any of the messages that followed.

I untied the notes from their legs one by one and threw them into the fire.

Just before dark, one of Vera's followers, Silas, rode up looking for me.

He reined in his horse and looked down at me from the saddle.

"The Alpha sent me to bring you back.

"Vera's already up on the altar in your gown. The Alpha says if you don't come now, he'll bond with someone else."

He snorted.

"Vera says you're just copying us. You're faking a death and waiting for the Alpha to come beg you back.

"The Alpha thought that was hilarious.

"He says you'll crack soon enough and come running back to him."

He snapped his whip down at my feet.

"If you go back now and get on your knees and beg, it's not too late."

I looked down at the fire.

I threw the last note into the flames.

"Go back and tell him.

"When the moon rises, I'll give him my answer."

He swore at me, turned his horse around, and rode off.

The hoofbeats faded.

I placed my mother's wooden wolf on the boundary stone and rubbed at the shoeprint on its broken leg with my sleeve.

With one leg missing, it couldn't stand on its own. It rested crookedly against the stone.

Just like me.

Night fell.

Far up on the mountain, the fires around the altar merged into a single glow.

Faint drums and cheers drifted down to me.

The moon rose from behind the mountain.

The next moment, a wolf's howl swept through the whole forest, all the way to the border.

It was Cassian's wolf.

The year I turned 16, my wolf woke up inside me for the first time.

Cassian had brought me to this very cliff and taught her how to raise her head and howl.

"Whenever I call, this is how you answer me," he'd said.

For years, she answered every time he called.

Even when he was calling me away for someone else, she still answered.

Over the years, I had imagined that one howl on our bonding night more times than I could count.

I had imagined how my she-wolf would lift her head, how she would answer him with everything she had.

Now I pressed a hand to my chest.

There was nothing there.

Nothing stirred but my heartbeat. No whimper. No answer.

I tilted my head back, opened my mouth, and tried to imitate her howl.

But all I managed was a faint, raspy breath.

Humans can't howl like wolves.

The howl came again.

Longer than the last one, and more desperate.

Still no one answered him.

The third howl broke off halfway.

On the mountaintop, the drums stopped too.

The moon climbed high overhead.

I knew Marta had stepped onto the altar and crushed the echo stone before the entire pack.

"My wolf is dead. She died three days ago, when the moon set.

"Cassian, this isn't another test."

I picked up my mother's wooden wolf, crossed the pack border at the boundary stone, and didn't look back.