The crowd parted as Lucien and i made our way, his Alpha aura radiating like waves. The three refugees stood in the middle of the clearing, their exhaustion evident in every line of their bodies, but their eyes flamed with the type of desperate determination born of being bearers of life-and-death news.The largest of the three, the one that bore a branded crescent moon burned into his forehead, stepped forward as soon as he saw Lucien approaching. His eyes, however, went right to me, and his weathered face altered with something that looked horrifyingly like awe."You," he gasped, kneeling in the mud. "You bear the mark. The true mark, not this fake they burned into my flesh."His pack members did the same, dropping to their knees in clear weakness. My pack members around me shared bewildered looks. Their formal submission was something they had never seen."Rise immediately!" Lucien barked, his tone conveying Alpha authority.The refugees slowly stood, but their gazes never wavered
Private training would have to wait.Lucien and I were walking towards a clearing when Vera emerged from behind a trees, her face scarred with urgency."Alpha," she called, coming to a stop before us. "We've got an issue. The scouts just returned from the northern territories."Lucien's expression snapped to full Alpha mode instantly, all trace of the warmth I'd seen there disappearing."What kind of problem?""The kind that requires an emergency council meeting. Now."I started to step back, expecting to be dismissed, but Lucien's hand clamped around my hand."You're coming with me," he said."To a council session? But I'm not...""You're pack," he interrupted, his voice final. "Pack members are owed the right to know what threatens them. Especially members who've proven they can be quite handy."The walk to the council hall took us through the heart of Haven's Rest, and I marveled at how so very different this town was from usual pack arrangements. Instead of one great fortress mean
awn crept in through my window in fingers of gold and amber, filling my small cabin with warm light that was a blessing to me after the previous night. I yawned carefully, testing every muscle and joint for damage done by the fight. My shoulder still ached where the rogue's claws had torn through the flesh, and my ribs creaked as I breathed in too deeply, but overall I felt different.Stronger. More solid, as though the savagery had burned off some underlying vulnerability that had clung to me all along.I got out of bed and walked over to the basin in the corner, splashing water on my face. My face looking back at me in the mirror, the same as it had always been, but my eyes were different. They were more assured than they used to be, with a sense of purpose that made me stand up straighter."Good morning," Nyra's voice came off, echoing warmth though my chest."Good morning," I replied, still surprised that our conversation came so easily now. "How are you?""Alive. Whole. Ready for
I sat on the edge of my cot in my small cabin and stared at my blood-stained hands.The silver light had faded from my tattoo, but I could still feel the heat of it on my skin. The ancient runes that had appeared on my skin when I'd awakened were gone, but somehow I knew they were still there, just beneath the surface like sleeping snakes.I flexed my fingers, surprised at how steady they were. A few hours ago, these very hands had taken three lives without flinching. I should have felt guilt, horror, disgust for what I'd done.Instead, I felt proud.The realization should have disturbed me, but it didn't. Those villains wanted to hurt children. Innocent cubs who had done nothing to deserve hurting. Protecting them had not been an option, it had been instinct. As natural as breathing."We did well tonight," I told the empty room.Nyra's response was immediate, as clear as if she'd spoken aloud. "We protected our pack. Our family. It was what we had to do."The ease of our conversation
The silence after the rogue's death was heavy.I stood over the corpses of the three rogues, my claws extended and dripping with their blood. My shoulder ached where the second rogue had torn muscle, and my ribs hurt so much. But I'm here. Alive. The kids are safe.And something inside me had been altered at its core.Nyra was not a whisper anymore. She was there, present there, her sense blended with mine in a way that felt old and yet completely familiar.The crescent moon on my neck pulsed with warmth, and I might have sworn I glimpsed silver light dancing at the edges of my vision."Aria!"Lucien's roar echoed out across the settlement as he burst into the clearing, Garrett and a dozen men behind him. They halted in their tracks at what they saw before them, gasps on their faces as they took in the carnage.Three dead rogues. One blood-soaked omega standing victorious in the midst of it all."What in the devil's name did you do here?" Garrett demanded, his enormous body stiffening
The howl shattering the darkness was wrong.I sprang up in my small cabin, my heartbeat thumping against my chest. That sound, low growl, heavy with malice, caused a shiver to run down my spine. It was not the cry of any wolf from Haven's Rest. There was something peculiar about it. Something that hunted.Across the settlement, pandemonium broke into action. Shouts rang out from every direction as warriors burst forth from their beds. Heavily loaded footsteps pounded upon my door, and I heard Garrett scream above the noise."Northern perimeter broken! All warriors to the north wall!"I quickly dressed and stumbled outside, nearly colliding with Finn as he ran by."Get inside," he yelled back over his shoulder. "Barricade your door and don't go outside until it's over."I had no choice, though. Not when I could hear the sound of fighting getting closer, the snarls and wails of wolves killing one another in bloody combat. Behind the trees to the north, I could see glimpses of movement,