Chapter 4

The next morning, we traveled by carriage to the northern mountains.

The hunting lodge stood beneath a rocky slope, surrounded by snow-covered pines. My parents left the household staff at the Alpha House and brought only a few pack warriors to guard us.

Mother said that was the only way the trip would feel like a true family retreat.

After we arrived, she and Father took Brielle and Adrian to see the frozen lake nearby. I walked behind them and lost sight of the group more than once, following their tracks through the snow until I caught up.

By evening, the wind had strengthened and snow swept across the mountain.

One of the guards warned Father that the snow on the northern slope had begun to shift and that we should return to pack territory. Father studied the storm and decided it would be safer to wait until the weather eased.

After dinner, the fire burned low. I went to the storeroom at the rear of the lodge for more wood, but as I stepped down the narrow stairs, the floor lurched beneath me.

A deep crack rolled through the mountain.

Snow and stone struck the roof. The wooden wall split under the impact, and a heavy beam came down toward me.

I raised my arms to shield my head before the collapsing boards buried me.

Darkness closed in. The broken beam pinned my legs, while stone blocked the only exit. I tried to move the board across my chest, but my arms had no strength.

Footsteps and shouts sounded beyond the wreckage.

“Where is Brielle?”

“She is with Luna Eleanor on the east side!”

“Adrian is out. Find Alpha Marcus!”

They called one another’s names, but no one called mine.

Ignoring the pain, I reached beneath my collar and closed my hand around the moonstone pendant.

Adrian had promised that it did not depend on my wolf’s presence. Once I activated it, my parents and brother would know I was trapped.

I pressed the silver moon crest with my thumb.

The moonstone glowed red, and the blood-bound markings warmed against my palm as the distress signal entered the pack link.

The voices outside stopped for a moment.

“That is Ivy’s moonstone,” Mother said. “She may still be inside.”

Brielle answered immediately. “Ivy already escaped. Just before the slope collapsed, I saw her run through the back door and into the forest.”

“Are you certain?” Father asked.

Brielle nodded. “I called after her, but she ignored me. The storm is getting worse. We should find her before she goes any farther.”

Adrian felt the signal continuing through the pack link, and his expression hardened.

“If she escaped, why did she activate the moonstone?”

Brielle lowered her eyes. “She may have pressed it by accident while she was running.”

Adrian gave a humorless laugh. “On her first day home, she hid in a storage closet until the entire house searched for her. Then she lay in the conservatory waiting to be found. Now the whole family is here, and she is still using a distress signal to drag everyone’s attention back to her.”

Mother looked toward the ruins. “Have the warriors make certain no one is inside.”

Several pack warriors removed the outer boards and pressed their palms against the broken stone wall, searching for a living presence beneath it.

My wolf was too faint to sense clearly, and the thick rock smothered what little presence remained. They could not tell whether anyone was below.

Hearing them directly above me, I gathered the last of my strength and struck the moonstone against the board beside my head.

A young warrior looked up at once. “There is a sound below us. Someone may still be inside.”

I tightened my fingers around the stone and forced out a third knock.

The warrior followed the sound and knelt beside the rubble. “It came from here. Lady Ivy may truly be underneath. We should keep digging.”

Adrian listened for a moment, then looked at the glowing distress signal. “The slope is still moving. Falling stones make noise. Brielle saw Ivy enter the forest, so she cannot be here.”

The warrior stayed beside the wall. “The sound came three times at even intervals. Loose rock does not fall like that.”

“Can you sense a living presence?” Adrian asked.

The warrior pressed his hand to the stone again before shaking his head. “Not yet, but the rock is too thick for me to be certain.”

Adrian severed the moonstone’s blood-bound signal. The red light in my palm flickered twice and went out.

Mother glanced at the place the warrior had marked. “Brielle, did you truly see Ivy enter the forest?”

Brielle leaned against her and nodded through her tears. “I saw her. She was running so quickly that I could not follow.”

Father looked toward the forest, already disappearing behind the snow. “If no one can sense a living presence, we cannot waste more time here. Search the forest.”

The young warrior tried to object, but Adrian ordered him to obey the Alpha.

The warriors stopped digging. I tried to lift the moonstone again so the one person who had heard me would know I was alive, but my fingers no longer closed around it.

Their footsteps faded toward the forest. The young warrior looked back once before Adrian called him away.

After everyone had gone, the beam across my chest sank lower. The moonstone slipped from my hand without making a fourth sound.

Seconds later, the ruins became completely still.