Chapter 07

Evalina's pov

"Why did you do that?"

Daisy was sitting on the edge of her bed, hugging her bunny. I knelt on the floor and gently checked her bare feet for glass.

"Do what?" I asked.

"Take the blame. I'm the one who broke it." She sniffed. "Daddy should have been mad at me. Not you."

"No," I said firmly. "You're a little girl. It was an accident. And I'm your mom now. I will always protect you."

Daisy's face went hard. "You're not really my mom."

The words stung, but I understood them.

"You're right," I said softly. "I will never replace your real mom. Nobody ever could. But I married your father, and that means we're family now. Family looks out for each other."

She was quiet for a long time. She played with the ripped ear on her bunny.

"Vespera said you would hate me," she whispered.

"Who is Vespera?"

"A lady in our pack. She brings Daddy soup." Daisy didn't look up. "She said my new mommy would hate me because I'm broken. She said nobody wants a broken child."

My chest went tight. What kind of grown woman said something like that to a little girl?

I took her small hand in mine. "Daisy, look at me."

She slowly lifted her eyes.

"You are not broken," I said. "And I don't hate you. Not even a little bit."

For the first time, a tiny smile appeared on her face.

"You're nicer than I thought you'd be, Miss Evalina," she said.

"You're nicer than I thought too." I tucked her blanket around her. Then I hesitated. "Daisy, your daddy got really angry tonight. Is that normal?"

Her smile faded. "It's the curse. The green medicine helps keep it away."

I swallowed. "Is the curse the reason your mommy is gone? And the old Alpha too?"

Daisy rolled over and turned her face to the wall.

"We don't talk about that," she said.

I stayed beside her bed until her breathing became slow and soft. Then I sat back on my heels and looked around the dark little room.

A dead Luna. A dead Alpha. And a little girl too scared to walk.

What really happened in this house?

******************

Magnus's pov

The cold wind cut through my shirt, but I barely felt it. My hands were still shaking.

I had almost hurt her. I had raised my claws to my own wife.

"Alpha Magnus!"

Ezra, my Beta, came running up the path through the snow. He held a lantern in one hand and a dirty cloth bag in the other.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," he said, out of breath.

"What is it?"

"The old mine caves under the east cliff. The ones the last Alpha kept locked up. We finally broke through the doors like you ordered." He opened the bag and held it toward me. "Look."

Inside, under the lantern light, rocks sparkled yellow.

Gold. Real gold.

"There's more," Ezra said. "So much more. The walls are full of it, Alpha. More than any of us ever dreamed."

I picked up one heavy rock and turned it in my hand.

"So the last Alpha knew about this," I said quietly. "He kept it all for himself while our people starved every winter."

"He betrayed his own pack." Ezra's voice was angry. "With this much gold, Ironpeak is now the richest pack in the whole land. And you are the richest Alpha alive."

I dropped the rock back into the bag.

"Then the gold belongs to the pack," I said. "We share it with everyone. No child in Ironpeak will ever go hungry again."

Ezra smiled. Then his face turned worried. "But Alpha, if the other packs find out about this, they'll want it. They'll come for it."

"Then they won't find out."

"But..."

"I just signed a peace deal with the Redwater Pack," I said. "I didn't do that so I could start new wars. That's what the last Alpha did. I won't be like him."

Ezra bowed his head. "You're nothing like him, Alpha."

Behind him, an old woman stepped out from between the trees. She wore a long gray cloak, and she leaned on a twisted wooden stick. Her white hair blew in the wind.

Mother Agnes. The mountain witch.

"Ezra," I said. "Leave us. Now."

He looked at the old woman, then quickly nodded and hurried back down the path with his lantern.

Mother Agnes walked closer. She pulled a small bottle of green liquid out of her cloak and held it out to me.

"I made you more medicine," she said.

"Good." I took it and put it in my pocket. "I lost control again tonight."

She clicked her tongue. "I warned you, Alpha Magnus. That medicine only slows the curse down. It can't stop it. If you don't find your fated mate, the curse will eat you alive. You have less than one year."

"But I've found her."

Mother Agnes raised her white eyebrows.

"Evalina," I said. "My new wife. She is my fated mate. I knew it the moment I smelled her in the forest."

"Then why do you look so troubled?"

"Because she can't feel it." I stared up at the warm light glowing in the window of my house. "The last Alpha took her wolf in battle. Without her wolf, she can't feel our bond."

Mother Agnes leaned heavily on her stick.

"Then the curse will not break," she said. "Not until Evalina knows in her heart that you are her fated mate."

"There has to be another way." I turned to face her. "Tell me what to do. How can I make her see it?"

The old witch looked at me with her pale, cloudy eyes.

"You have to get her wolf back."