Chapter 06

Evalina's pov

My heart was racing.

I had only known this man for two hours. Husband or not, I was not ready to share a bed with him.

I took a step back and looked down at my wet boots. "I'm not ready."

Magnus didn't move. He didn't say anything. I made myself look up at him.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I know we're married. I know that's what wives do. But everything is happening so fast. Yesterday I was getting ready to marry someone else, and now..."

"Don't apologize."

I blinked. "What?"

"You need time." He picked up a folded blanket from the arm of a chair. "I'll take the couch for now."

I stared at him. "You would really do that for me?"

"I'm your husband, Evalina." He tossed the blanket onto the couch. "I know this marriage is part of a peace deal between our packs. But you are not my prisoner here."

I didn't know what to say. Back in Redwater, everyone said Magnus was a monster. They said he had no heart.

But monsters didn't offer to sleep on the couch.

"I'll take your bag to the bedroom," he said, lifting my small bag from the floor. "Sit by the fire and get warm. Your lips are still blue."

"Thank you," I said softly.

He walked down the hallway and disappeared through one of the two doors.

I sat on the rug in front of the fireplace and held my cold hands up to the flames. Slowly, feeling came back into my fingers.

That was when I noticed it.

On the shelf above the fireplace sat a small glass wolf. It was about the size of my hand, and it was so clear it looked like it was made of ice. When the firelight hit it, rainbow colors danced across the wall.

"That's beautiful," I whispered.

"Mommy gave it to Daddy."

I jumped and turned around. Daisy was standing in the hallway in her nightgown, holding her crutch and her bunny.

"I thought you were in bed," I said.

"I couldn't sleep." She tapped across the floor and stopped next to me. She looked up at the glass wolf. "Mommy gave it to him for their last anniversary. It's Daddy's most favorite thing in the whole world." She paused. "Besides me."

I smiled. "Your mother must have loved him very much."

"She did." Daisy was quiet for a moment. Then she looked at me with big, hopeful eyes. "Can I hold it? Daddy never lets me. I promise I'll be really, really careful."

I hesitated. Then I looked at her sad little face.

"Just for a second," I said. I reached up and took the glass wolf down from the shelf. It was cold and heavy in my hand. I held it out to her.

Daisy leaned her crutch against the wall and took it with both hands. She smiled at it, turning it so the colors danced.

Then a log in the fire cracked loudly. Daisy jumped.

The glass wolf slipped from her fingers.

"No!" I reached out, but I was too slow.

It hit the stone floor and shattered into a hundred tiny pieces.

For one second, the whole house was silent.

Then I heard heavy footsteps running down the hall.

"What was that?" Magnus burst into the room. "What happened?"

He stopped. He stared at the broken glass sparkling on the floor.

Daisy was shaking. She grabbed my arm and hid behind me.

Magnus's face changed. His eyes went dark, darker than any eyes I had ever seen. Veins rose on his neck. His hands curled into fists, and when they opened again, long black claws had grown from his fingertips.

A deep growl came out of his chest. It filled the whole room.

My blood went cold. So this was the curse everyone had warned me about.

Behind me, Daisy was crying without making a sound. She was so scared she couldn't even breathe properly.

If this was one of his cursed rages, I had to protect her. Even if he tore me apart.

I stepped in front of Daisy and spread my arms wide.

"It was me," I said. My voice shook, but I kept going. "I dropped it. It was my fault."

Magnus's black eyes locked on me. He walked forward slowly. Glass crunched under his feet, but he didn't seem to notice.

"That wolf," he said in a voice that didn't sound like his, "was the last gift my Luna ever gave me."

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"You had no right to touch it!"

He raised his clawed hand.

"Don't!" I shouted.

His hand stopped in the air, just inches from my face. His whole body was shaking, like two different wolves were fighting inside him. His lips moved, and I heard a low, rough whisper that didn't sound like Magnus at all.

"Her... not her... she is ours..."

I didn't understand what it meant. All I could see were those black claws and those dark, wild eyes.

Now I could see the monster. Now I believed every story.

So why did some small part of me still believe he would stop?

Magnus stumbled back. He grabbed his chest with one hand. With the other, he pulled a tiny glass bottle from his pocket. The liquid inside was dark green. He pulled the cork out with his teeth and drank it all in one gulp.

He closed his eyes and breathed hard.

Slowly, the claws slid back into his fingers. The veins in his neck went down. When he opened his eyes again, they were gray. Tired and gray.

He looked at Daisy hiding behind me. Then he looked at me. I saw something in his face that looked like shame.

"I have to go," he said.

He turned toward the door.

"Magnus, wait!" I called.

He stopped with his hand on the door but didn't turn around.

"Stay away from the broken glass," he said.