Chapter 5

I opened the door and found two teenagers looking very eager to be done with the errand so they can go play. Eyes both anxious, posture anything but stiff.

They resembled a kid with a sugar rush.

One myth humans always got wrong about shifters was our first shift. It usually happened around six months. We kept the pups in the Den with their parents until they were atleast twelve. So we knew they wouldn’t shift and hurt anyone accidentally

These two, Kellan and Cole were around fourteen, so they went to shifter school or the human one not too far from the pack.

Kellan held a rolled scroll sealed with red wax—the kind only used for official summons out to me.

“You’re late,” Kellan said, pushing his shaggy dark-blonde hair out of his face.

Cole elbowed him. “Don’t say it like that. She’s gonna bite your face off.”

“If she was gonna bite someone’s face off,” I said, crossing my arms, “it’d be yours. But lucky for you, I’m in a good mood.”

“You don’t look like it,” Kellan muttered.

They exchanged a glance before Cole cleared his throat. “Elders sent us. You’re being summoned.”

My eyebrows shot up. “And they sent you two?”

“They said if you scared us, we’d learn respect,” Kellan said, not at all thrilled about it.

“Ash, you in so much trouble. Nana Jane said you gonna get it good this time,” Cole blabbered, voice clipped as Kellan nudged him.

“By the order of the Elders of the pack and Valley you are summoned to the Den,” Kellan said in a rehearsed voice. If the sudden urge to shift wasn’t so potent I would’ve laughed and made fun of the pup but the pain in my chest reminded me this was no laughing matter. I’m about to go through immense pain. A severed mate bond didn’t strike me as a run in a mud pit kinda gig.

“Yeah, yeah, grab some snacks in the fridge quick.” I muttered, tying my boots on and grabbing a jacket that didn’t have blood on it.

“Let’s get this over with.”

I was not changing my shorts. John was an asshole and I hoped Desiree made him miserable for years to come. The dickhead deserved it.

The path to the Den twisted through Questorian Valley, a deep cut of earth surrounded by the arms of a sharp hill and overgrown ridges. Trees grew thick and feral here, roots cracking through what used to be the old railway lines, long abandoned but still visible in rusted curves beneath the moss. Most were now filled with houses and caravans or smaller dens belonging to the pack but it wasn’t close to developed as some of the other packs up north.

The Lion packs were known for their extravagant cities and towns. Nothing close compared to the Panthers on the west, a couple hours drive from us and our allies against the Lion shifters. I once went to the panthers territory.

It was filled with tree houses and big dome mansions made of concrete. Their city was bustling with activity and so many humans visited their territory it was marked as one of the top ten destinations to visit in New America. Seven hundred years have passed since shifters made themselves public and seven hundred years since the treaty between the shifters and humans were signed. We don’t get involved in their business they don’t get involved in ours.

Kellan was a lot more in control of his wolf compared to Cole. I noticed it on our way to the Den. The closer we got the more antsy Cole became.

The Den entrance was hidden in plain sight. It was an old maintenance tunnel carved under the railway bed, swallowed by ivy and stone. Unless you were born into the pack, you'd never guess there was a living network of wolves beneath your feet.

The deeper we went, the colder the air got. Damp. Still. The kind of quiet that made you feel like the mountain was listening.

We stepped into the main corridor and Kellan and Cole immediately changed directions.

Cowards. I snorted shaking my head just as a huge bout of pain hit me solid in my chest. The bond.

“You’re on your own from here,” Cole called, not even looking back.