LOGINAva“Somebody broke it on purpose.”I stared at Uncle Caleb.Then Dad.Then Alpha Walker.Then back at Caleb.“I feel like this is the part where somebody explains what that means instead of staring dramatically at each other.”Jace coughed into his fist.His father almost smiled.Dad didn’t.“The Guardian Accord wasn’t about marriage,” Dad said. “It was about bloodlines.”“Obviously, because apparently my family tree is now a crime scene.”“Ava.”“I’m listening.”Dad rubbed his forehead. “The four bloodlines were never supposed to be deliberately combined.”“But people could still date?”“Yes.”“Mate?”“Yes.”“Have children?”“Of course.”“Then how exactly were you preventing bloodlines from mixing?”Caleb answered. “They weren’t. The Accord prohibited arranged pairings designed specifically to strengthen old traits.”That made more sense.Unfortunately.“So nobody cared that Mom married Dad.”“No,” Caleb said. “Elizabeth’s guardian blood was already considered too diluted to matter.
JaceAva Peters was going to kill me.Not because I was a Walker.Not because my grandfather might have been involved in suppressing her wolf before she was born.Not even because half my pack apparently thought Lyra was some kind of threat to Alpha civilization.No.Ava was going to kill me because I kept stealing the puck from her.“Asshole!”I grinned as I skated backward. “You telegraph your pass.”“I do not.”“You look at Aaron every time.”“I hate you.”“No, you don’t.”She came at me harder.That was what I wanted.Practice had ended twenty minutes ago, but Ava had refused to leave. Coach told her she might dress Saturday, and apparently she’d interpreted that as a personal challenge from the universe.I stole the puck again.She growled.Actually growled.Onyx perked up.Lyra?“No,” Ava snapped. “That one was me.”I laughed so hard she finally got the puck away.“Ha!”She took off toward the net.I recovered and chased her, expecting her to shoot.She didn’t.At the last secon
Chapter 52AvaDear Moon Goddess,I would like to formally request a refund on my eighteenth birthday.I was promised adulthood.So far, I have received a mate, attempted murder, family secrets, poisoned vitamins, a long-lost uncle, and a wolf who apparently has four ancient bloodlines stuffed inside her.Oh, and her name is Lyra.I love her.I should probably start there.Her name is Lyra, and she talks to me now. Not always, and sometimes she communicates like a toddler who has just discovered nouns, but she’s here.She laughed.I don’t think anybody understands what that did to me.For eighteen years, I talked to someone I wasn’t even sure could hear me. I told her when I was sad. I begged her to wake up. I got angry with her. Sometimes I got angry with You too.Sorry about that.Actually, no. I’m still a little mad at You.Anyway, Lyra is here.She also likes Jace.Unfortunately.Even worse, she likes kissing Jace.Traitor.Jace can hear her sometimes now, which means I apparently
Chapter 51Ava“Absolutely not.”Caleb stopped.He’d already taken two steps toward the trees, apparently under the impression he could appear after eighteen years, tell me my wolf wasn’t the wolf everyone had been waiting for, say something ominous about what happened after my first shift, and then disappear again.I wasn’t having it.“You don’t get to do that.”His eyes moved to me. “Ava—”“No. I’ve had enough people giving me half a sentence and then acting like I should somehow understand the other half. Mrs. Whitmore did it. My parents did it. Now you’re doing it.”Jace squeezed my hand.I stepped closer to Caleb.“You wrote letters for eighteen years. You watched me at a hockey game. You kept a picture of me in some cabin, and now you’re standing here telling me you’re my uncle. So start talking.”For the first time, Caleb almost smiled.“You sound like your mother.”“Good. She’s terrifying when she’s mad too.”Jace made a choking sound beside me.I ignored him.Caleb looked tow
JaceMy grandfather might have helped poison my mate before she was born.There really wasn’t a good way to process that sentence.I sat on the bottom row of the bleachers while Ava stood on the ice with her parents and Coach Reynolds. Everyone was talking about Richard Whitmore, Silver Ridge, rare plants and eighteen-year-old secrets.I barely heard any of it.Onyx paced inside me.Not our family.We don’t know that.Not ours.I wanted him to be right.My grandfather, William Walker, had been dead six years. I remembered a hard man with a booming laugh who taught me to fish, yelled louder than anyone at my hockey games, and started calling me Alpha before I was old enough to understand what the word meant.He’d loved me.That didn’t mean he’d been a good man.That realization sucked.Ava sat beside me.“You okay?”“No.”“Good.”I looked at her.She shrugged. “I’d be concerned if you said yes.”Despite everything, I laughed.She bumped her shoulder against mine.“You aren’t your grand
AvaLyra.I said the name in my head once.Then again.Lyra.Warmth spread through my chest like she’d been waiting eighteen years for me to finally get it right.Jace was still kneeling beside me on the ice, staring like I’d just grown a second head.“Say something.”He blinked. “Your wolf just used your mouth.”“Yes, I’m aware.”“That was—”“If you say cool, I’m hitting you.”“I was going to say terrifying.”“Better.”His mouth twitched.Onyx wasn’t nearly as concerned.Lyra.The response came immediately.Onyx.His grin became ridiculous.“Oh, he likes that.”“Of course he does.”Mate wolf.Lyra seemed to consider this.Mine.Jace actually put a hand over his heart.“She likes me.”“She may be claiming Onyx.”His smile disappeared.“Rude.”I laughed, but then another tremor ran through my body.Jace caught my arm.“Ava?”“I’m okay.”I wasn’t sure that was true.My fingers hurt. My spine ached. Every inch of my skin felt too tight, like something underneath it was stretching.Lyra.







