Chapter 1

The coffee shop was buzzing with gossip, and while I waited, I listened to the rumors.

“They found him in the forest, near the edge of the boundary. Silver, no doubt,” a woman said.

“No, not silver, they say it was a wolf. His heart ripped from his body and his entrails were ravaged! Imagine the size of whoever did this. Fenrir was the largest among us! What could have done that?” replied another.

“I’d love to rip the scoundrel’s throat out who did it. They say that he was in line to be the next alpha,” one of my father’s guards darkly threatened.

Hearing Fenrir referred to as Alpha-in-Waiting for my wolf’s attention. “No. I’m the next alpha. The first she-wolf in pack history to hold that title,” my wolf, Aurelia, huffed. As I sat, listening to the conversations happening all around me, I tried not to let my wolf’s irritation openly show. “Be still,”I told Aurelia. They don’t know that it is us, yet. They will soon.

Since they had found my father’s Beta, Fenrir, murdered near the edge of the human boundary not even two days earlier, it had been all anyone had been talking about. Whether I was back in the packhouse or out in our community, speculation was everywhere.

Some think he ventured too close to the human boundary or had even been running away. His mate had said she felt her connection sever sometime in the night, but we do not know if it was because of his death or an intentional choice, but we suspected that was when he was attacked. She was a known nag among the pack and often meddled where she didn’t belong, but they had seemed happy, so we don’t think he decided to run.

Rumors had long been circulating that he was going to challenge my father for Alpha, but my father’s Beta would have never turned on him. Fenrir had known the truth since I was eighteen, three years earlier, that I was to be our next Alpha. Still, I had to wonder if it was my father’s doing. It wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility and Fenrir, despite supporting my father’s choice, was concerned about a she-wolf becoming Alpha.

Others had disappeared or been ousted from our pack and sent to the rogues for lesser gossip or insubordination, and I shuddered at the thought that my father could have done that to his most trusted friend. Certainly, my father would have investigated to find the truth before acting on a rumor that he was going to usurp the mantle.

Others thought that it could be a pack of wildling rogues who had been seen in our fringes, but our warriors had been patrolling and ensuring they did not come into our territory or cross the human boundary.

“Katla!” a singsongy voice called, pulling me out of my thoughts, “The New Moon Ceremony is tonight? What do you think the big secret is? Is there news from the Alpha? How is the investigation going?”

Not only could I see Hekla’s sea blue eyes, wide in anticipation, the bright blue eyes of all of those she had been talking with turned in my direction, too. It is said that our ancestors looked into the ice, leading our pack to be identified by the bright blue hues of our eyes, like where a glacier meets the sky.

It was the most Hekla greeting ever. Her words were often several steps ahead of her mind going in multiple directions at once. A lot of people underestimated Hekla because of this, but I knew better, so I decided to skip to the topic that was fresh on everyone’s minds.

“None, yet, Hekla, but it seems that everyone here knows more than those investigating. The Gamma and those investigating are honestly all just stumped. It doesn’t make any sense. My father said they will hold a council later to discuss their findings, but since your father is Beta, now, we’ll probably be told at the same time.”

This was a fib on my part, I knew that I would be in the Council. While I was delighted that one of my oldest friends, one who I had known since we were pups together, was the daughter of my father’s new Beta, it also complicated what was in motion for my ascension. My taking on the helm as Alpha had been bound by secrecy, but she was clever. If she had been around the packhouse more, she would have noticed my being prepared to lead. “Hekla, do you have any intel?”

In addition to her cleverness, people told Hekla everything. Maybe it was her springy blonde curls, slight but strong frame, and features that held a youthful approachability on the cusp of adulthood. In short, she had a face you could trust. I knew Hekla well enough to know that once she knew something, the whole pack knew it, too. Helka stared at me, and deep in my soul she spoke. “Katla, there is something you need to know”, her wolf, Zinnia, linked to Aurelia. “Forgive me. There is a betrayal coming, and Fenrir knew.”

“Miss Katla,” I felt a hand on my shoulder, “Your father needs to see you immediately.”

Eyes wide and wild, Aurelia called back to her wolf, “What do you mean? Who?” Despite my efforts to connect, my father’s guards had ushered her away and begun pushing me back to the pack house.

“I was having an important conversation. You need to wait,” I ordered.

“Your father commanded it,” the guard’s wolf told mine. I felt ears flatten in submission.

“Will you at least allow me to get my coffee?” I snapped at the guard to my right, at which point he held out the brown paper to-go cup, complete with white lid. Of course they wouldn’t give me the chance to go back and finish my conversation. I gave one last pleading look over my shoulder to my friend, but she was nowhere in sight.