Chapter one

The irons were too weighty for my wrists.

The scraping sound grated against my nerves as I dragged it across the stone on my way to the door. Every step had a ponderous, echoing quality in the hallway, as if to count off seconds until I would die or not my death but someone else’s.

My brother walked beside me.

“Elara,” Kian whispered. With hands that gripped, tho' did not grasp for me, a guard thrust him before I felt his sleeve.

"Eyes down," one of them barked.

Kian did as he was told.

At the end of the hall was the Alpha Council..the five leaders crafted from power and age, seated beneath the black banners of the Shadow Pack. And in front of them stood the one person whom everyone was afraid of.

Alpha Silas Vane.

The Blind Alpha.

His eyes were pale and vacant, unfocused, blank, not looking at anything. Across his right brow ran a scar, then followed it into his hair of silver. He offered no reaction when we stopped in front of him. Didn’t have to. The room was beginning to accommodate his presence..

“State your plea,” one of the elders said.

I knelt to the ground.

The stone dug into my skin.

‎

‎Cold and hard, The stone cut into my flesh. I buried my forehead in the ground, bowing.

‎

‎“My brother is not a traitor,” I told him. My voice shook, but I didn’t relent. "He followed orders. Let me make the payment for blood" 

Silence fills the hall

I lifted my head just enough to see Silas's hand tighten around the black cane at his side. His jaw clenched.

“The war your pack started took my sight,” he said. His voice was low, steady, deadly calm. “And it took my mate.”

My chest grew tight.

“I know,” I said in a soft voice.

His head turned toward me slowly. It was as though, even blind, he was looking right through my bones.

“There is only one debt that satisfies the Shadow Pack now,” said the elder. “Marriage.”

Kian’s head jerked up. "No!

A guard slapped him on the back. He went to his knees with a grunt.

I lunged forward. “I accept,” 

The words spilled from my mouth before fear could stop them.

Silas stated.

“You?” he asked. “An unmarked wolf?”

There were murmurations in the hall. Throughout, I could feel them as if lacerations on my flesh. Weak. Useless. Unselected by the Moon.

“Yes,” I repeated. “Bind me to you. Spare my brother.”

"I'm Silas," he said, holding out a hand. 

     He was silent for a moment. Then he said

“Come closer.”

My legs trembled as I stood up. Then I took one step, followed by the second one. However, the distance separating us appeared to be too small, too burdensome. “When my fingers brushed his,”

The world erupted.

A flame rushed through my chest. My lungs seared. My knees wobbled as an ancient, sentient piece of me fell sharply into place.

“Mate”

The truth shouted in my veins.

Silas drew a swift breath. His grip on mine tightened, for only a moment. His face closed up.

He pulled his hand back.

“No,” he said.

"The word 'cracked' like thunder."

Gasps echoed throughout the hall.

I reject her,” Silas said, growing louder. “Before the council. Before the Moon. A traitor’s daughter will never be my Luna. She is not worthy of being my eyes.”

His words cut deeper than any sword.

I swayed, though I did not fall.

“Let her serve,” he went on. “Let her learn what her bloodline owes.”

The elder nodded. "So decreed."

Chains were unlocked from my wrists – and then replaced with thinner ones.

The chains of Kian was dragged off alive.

I did not look at him. I would have broken if I had.

I cleaned blood-stains on the training hall floor that night.

My fingers were sore. My knees hurt. My thin dress was soaking wet with sweat.

******

“Missed a spot.”

I flinched

Silas stood in the doorway, his cane tapping once against the stones. His head turned slightly, listening.

“I’ll clean it,” I replied, looking down.

He drew closer. Too close.

"I smell fear," he said. "And defiance."

My grip on the rag tightened.

“Look at me,” he ordered.

I hesitated.

His cane tapped the floor sharply,warningly.

I raised my head.

His empty eyes locked with mine. My chest ached where the bond pulsed, denied but not dead

"You will speak only when spoken to,” he said. 

“You will move only when ordered.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

A flicker crossed his face. Something unreadable.

“ Guide me, ” he said abruptly.

My breath caught. “What?”

"Walk ahead," he said. "Describe the path."

I swallowed. Then stepped forward.

“Three steps,” I said softly. “There’s a bench to your left. A pillar ahead.”

His steps behind mine, sure and precise.

When he stumbled—

I reached back, uncaring.

My fingers brushed his wrist.

The bond flared.

In that instant, I was not seeing through my eyes alone.

I saw through his.

The hall flowered in my mind's eye-shapes, light, motion. His world. Shared.

Silas froze.

“What did you do?” he demanded.

I yanked my hand away, my heart pounding.

“I—I don’t know.”

He stood very still. 

Then his head turned slowly towards me.

For the first time since the rejection, his voice shook.

“I can see,” he whispered.