Chapter 4

While I stayed home, I spent whatever time I had at the hospital with my mother.

That day, the moment I pushed open the door to her room, I saw Maya sitting by the bed.

My face went cold. "What are you doing here?"

Maya turned and smiled at me, all challenge. "She's my elder too. Isn't it only right that I come see her?"

My mother tried to smooth it over. "Maya means well. Don't scowl like that, child. You two grew up together. You should get along."

Maya put on a mournful face. "Well, Auntie, there's something I don't know if I should tell you."

My mother started. "What is it?"

The corner of Maya's mouth lifted with real malice, and every word came out crisp.

"Ella's wolf spirit is almost burned out. And she's about to be thrown out of the Moonwatch Pack."

My mother's eyes went red, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Mother."

My head roared. I rushed over to hold her up, and my other hand came around and struck Maya across the face.

"Who gave you permission to say these things in front of my mother? Get out! Now!"

Maya cupped her cheek, her eyes full of venom. "You dare hit me? Just wait. I won't let this go."

She slammed the door and left.

I rubbed my mother's back to steady her breathing, and I couldn't stop the tears from falling.

I told her everything, the whole five-year lie.

My mother's thin fingers patted the back of my hand, her eyes soft with sorrow.

I told her Father had already found me a new mate, that I wanted to move the wedding up, that once I severed the old bond on the full moon, I would marry.

My mother nodded through her tears and said as long as I had somewhere to belong, she could rest easy.

On the night of the full moon, the moon hung high overhead.

I arrived early at the Moonwatch Pack's Moonlight Spring, carrying none of the ritual things.

When Warren saw my empty hands, his face darkened at once.

"Ella, be as angry as you want, but there's a time and place. The rite isn't something you get to play games with."

"I'm not going to dance anymore."

"What did you say?"

"I said I won't dance the rite again."

"You're out of your mind."

Warren's father, Alpha Kane, stepped forward, murder in the eyes he turned on me.

"Ella, you danced fifty-nine times and never once lifted Warren's curse. You stopped deserving to be his mate long ago." His voice rose. "If Warren hadn't talked me out of it, I'd have driven you from the Moonwatch Pack already. And now you dare refuse the rite? Are you trying to anger the Moon Goddess and bring disaster down on us?"

I lifted my gaze past Alpha Kane, to Warren standing behind him.

"Warren, whether or not your wolf spirit is broken, you know better than anyone."

"For the sake of the favors you once did me, I won't expose you in front of all these people. But don't try to pull any tricks on me either. Say the vow."

"I..."

Warren's fist clenched. He looked at me and said nothing.

I looked coldly back.

Something in my eyes must have been unfamiliar to him. His mouth opened, as if he wanted to say something. But the moment he moved forward, Alpha Kane blocked him.

Alpha Kane clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Warren, say the vow with her. I'll find someone else to lift the curse."

"Warren."

From below, Maya spoke up, an unspoken urging in it.

Warren turned his head toward her.

He let out a long breath, like a man who had finally decided.

"Fine. Ella, you chose this. Don't regret it."

We stood side by side at the edge of the spring, and beneath the full moon high above us, we spoke the words of refusal, one by one.

"By the Moon Goddess, I, Ella, refuse you, Warren, as my fated mate."

"By the Moon Goddess, I, Warren, refuse you, Ella, as my fated mate."

The instant the last word fell, the still surface of the Moonlight Spring erupted into a violent boil, silver-white water surging up into the air.

Then the level began to drop, fast enough to watch with the naked eye, the dull grey stones of the basin rising bare into the moonlight.

The spring was drying up.

Alpha Kane's face changed. "This is impossible," he cried.