Chapter 4

“The Eclipse Wolf…”

The priest’s whisper barely left his mouth before Lucian stepped forward.

“What does that mean?”

The priest said nothing. Lucian’s patience snapped.

“I asked you a question.”

“And I told you nothing that can be explained in front of this many people.”

The priest’s gaze moved across the witnesses. Fear had replaced confusion on their faces. Everyone was staring at me.

At my wrist, at the broken bracelet lying on the floor. I pulled my sleeve over my skin.

“Then explain it to me.”

The priest looked at me.

“I will. But not here.”

Lucian turned toward one of the guards.

“Find Cressida.”

My stomach tightened.

My aunt? Of all the people in the world, Cressida was the one person I had never questioned.

She had raised me after my parents died. She had dressed my wounds, held me through nightmares, and sat beside my bed whenever I was sick.

She had also been the one who gave me the bracelet. Twenty-four years of trust suddenly felt very fragile. Less than an hour later, the Sanctum doors opened again.

Cressida hurried inside. She stopped when she saw me. Then she saw my wrist. Her face changed. It lasted only a second.

But I saw it, the color drained from her cheeks.

Her lips parted and she looked afraid.

I stared at her.

“You knew.”

Cressida shook her head immediately.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

My laugh came out quietly.

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“Merryn”

“You knew.”

The room had gone silent again. Cressida glanced toward the priest.He didn’t help her. I stepped closer.

“You told me never to remove that bracelet.”

“It was for your protection.”

“Protection from what?”

She looked away.

My chest tightened.

“You knew.”

Her silence was enough.

I swallowed.

“What was it?”

Cressida’s eyes returned to mine.

“It wasn’t ordinary jewelry.”

“I figured that out when it started glowing.”

“Merryn, listen to me. You weren’t supposed to know yet.”

“Know what?”

Her mouth opened. Nothing came out. I felt something hot behind my eyes.

“You let me believe there was something wrong with me.”

Cressida flinched. I kept going.

“For years, I thought I was too big. Too awkward. Too difficult. I thought maybe if I changed enough, people would finally look at me differently.”

My voice cracked.

“And you knew there was something else inside me.”

“Merryn, I was trying to keep you alive.”

“By lying to me?”

“Yes.”

The answer came so quickly that I froze.

Cressida closed her eyes.

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“You always had a choice.”

I stepped back.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t recognize the woman standing in front of me.

Lucian moved between us.

“That is enough.”

I looked at him.

He was already giving orders.

“Everyone leaves. Now.”

The witnesses began filing out.

The priest remained.

Cressida stood near the altar, pale and shaken.

Lucian turned to me.

“You’re coming back to the estate.”

I almost laughed.

“No.”

His expression hardened.

“Merryn, whatever happened here, we don’t know whether you’re dangerous.”

“Then stay away from me.”

“You don’t understand what you’re dealing with.”

“Neither do you.”

“You’re staying at the estate until we find out.”

I shook my head.

“I’m leaving.”

He stepped closer.

“You can’t simply walk away.”

“I just did.”

I turned, his hand closed around my wrist. Pain shot through me, not mine but his. Lucian staggered. His face twisted. He released me instantly and grabbed his chest.

“What!”

I stared at him.

His wolf.

I could feel it. A massive presence inside him had been thrown backward as though something had struck it. I could feel its confusion.

It's painful.

It's fear. I took a step back. Lucian stared at me.

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

But I could feel him.

Not his thoughts.

Not exactly.

Something deeper.

The bond between us.

For three years, I had thought the silence between us meant there was nothing there.

I was wrong. There was something. Something old. Something locked away. Then another presence brushed against my senses.

I turned. Selene stood near the doorway. She was watching me. Her face was strangely calm.

No fear, no shock but recognition.

My eyes narrowed. She knew something. Before I could ask, Lucian moved toward her.

“Selene, leave.”

She didn’t move.

Her eyes remained on me.

Then she looked away. I didn’t know what frightened me more. The fact that I could feel them or the fact that Selene wasn’t surprised.

I left.

By the time I returned to the estate, my suitcase was already waiting outside my room.

Apparently, someone had decided my departure could be made easier.

I didn’t complain. I packed the few things that mattered to me.

Clothes, books, a photograph of my parents and nothing else.

Lucian appeared in the doorway while I was fastening the suitcase.

“You’re making a mistake.”

I didn’t look at him.

“Probably.”

“You can’t leave without knowing what that power is.”

“I’ll find out.”

“Where will you go?”

“Somewhere that doesn’t belong to you.”

His jaw tightened.

“Merryn.”

I lifted the suitcase.

He stepped aside.

I walked past him.

He didn’t stop me.

Maybe he finally understood that he couldn’t.

Or maybe he simply believed I’d come back.

Either way, I didn’t look behind me.

I walked through the front doors.

Down the stone steps.

Past the gardens where I’d spent three years trying to make a home out of a place that never wanted me.

The gates were already opening when I heard the growl.

I stopped.

A patrol wolf stumbled through the entrance.

Blood covered its side.

One of the guards rushed toward it.

“It’s been attacked!”

The wolf collapsed.

People gathered around.

“Get the healer!”

“Don’t touch it!”

“It’s too badly wounded.”

I looked at the animal.

Its breathing was shallow.

Its eyes were barely open.

Something inside me pulled.

I didn’t think so. I dropped my suitcase.

“Merryn, don’t!”

I knelt beside the wolf. Someone grabbed my shoulder.

“Stay away!”

I pushed his hand off.

“I can help.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing.”

Neither did I.

But I placed my palm against the wolf’s side anyway. The moment I touched it, warmth rushed through my hand. Silver light spilled beneath my fingers. The wolf jerked. I gasped. The wounds beneath my palm began closing.

Slowly at first.

Then faster. The torn flesh knitted together. Blood stopped flowing. The wolf’s breathing steadied. Nobody spoke. I pulled my hand away. The silver light vanished. The wolf opened its eyes. Then it stood.

A murmur swept through the guards.

I stared at my hand.

It was trembling.

“What did I just do?”

No one answered.

A quiet voice came from behind me.

“So the stories were true.”

Every wolf around the courtyard suddenly lowered its head.

I turned.

A tall man stood beyond the gates. Dark clothes. Broad shoulders. Silver eyes that seemed almost unnatural in the afternoon light. He hadn’t raised his voice. He hadn’t moved toward us. Yet the entire courtyard had gone silent. 

Even the wolves seemed to recognize something in him. His gaze settled on me. Not my dress. Not my body. Not the broken woman who had walked out of Lucian’s estate. He looked at me as though he’d been searching for me. 

Then his eyes dropped briefly to my glowing wrist. When he looked back at me, something unreadable crossed his face.

“The last Eclipse Wolf survived.”