5

The village square was surrounded by torches burning in the winter night. Nobody cared about the cruel cold frosting the thick layer of snow on the streets, and the cleared stone floor of the square around the well. Everybody in the village, myself included, had worn all the warm clothes and cloaks we had to witness the ceremony.

Once a year, two nights before the first full moon of the new year, known as the Wolf Moon, all the single girls in the village, between seventeen and twenty, lined up by the well wearing their best dresses. Then, several wolves in human form showed up to pick the three lucky girls who would leave the village. It was one of the rare occasions when wolves openly showed their human forms, and I think that was the true reason why nobody wanted to miss it.

The chosen girls moved with the wolves to their castle, at the other side of the Dale, and paired up with a young wolf. They lived a long life full of luxury and happiness in exchange for giving birth to a couple of sons with their wolf partners.

A very desirable fate, considering the alternatives were spending the rest of their life confined to the village, or trying their luck in the outside world, where the immortals ruled with blood and fear.

The church bell rang to nine when we heard the horses trotting closer from the south. The girls at the square held hands with nervous giggles. Lily among them, with her friends Aurora and Selene. I was surprised to see Lily’s dress was so plain, like she intended to go unnoticed. She didn’t want to be chosen anymore?

Teah and I were at the southern corner of the square, a little apart from the crowd. My heart beat faster as the wolves rode their horses down the main street. They were the four wolves that always came, three men and one woman: the wolf king and his Luna’s firstborns, in charge of choosing on behalf of the whole pack. They looked young, strong, imposing, with beautiful faces despite their cold attitude.

Teah had told me wolves aren’t immortal, but they lived exceptionally long lives. According to what she knew, the firstborns were about eighty years old, which was like being about twenty-five for a human.

The three males were the pack’s Alpha, the Beta and the Gamma, while their sister was the Beta of the females. Like the rest of the pack, she too answered to the Alpha, who answered to the Luna queen, their mother.

Everybody lowered their heads and they reined in their superb steeds and climb down from their saddles, closing their heavy cloaks over their wealthy clothing to step up all together.

The three princes walked side by side, following their sister, to keep from revealing their true status in the pack.

I observed them as they approached the well. The princess was a strong pale beauty with a thick blond mane, something unusual among wolves, and her face was perfect. The princes looked a lot like her, and it was hard to tell them apart from each other. One of them had grown his black hair longer, and held it back in a loose ponytail. The other two kept their hair very short. The three of them wore neat goatees around their mouths.

So one of the two with short hair was the Alpha. I felt my cheeks burn despite the cold, recalling the naked man under the waterfall. However, recalling how the dreadful black wolf had killed the lion shortly after caused me a chill.

The four of them stopped halfway to the well, and past it, the girls bowed before them.

Then, the prince with the long hair stepped forward with his sister and walked along the line of girls. The other two stayed back, stern and still in their heavy cloaks.

I couldn’t look away from them, trying to figure out which one was the Alpha. Until a sudden fuss caught my attention. Aurora and Selene were hugging. And by them, my sister Lily had fallen to her knees, crying at the princess’ feet. Behind her, I saw a few hunters holding Van back.

The long-haired prince raised his hand but a little, and the only sound breaking the thick silence was Lily’s muffled sobbing.

“On your feet,” the prince said with a deep voice. Very like the one I’d hear at Teah’s, but not the same.

Lily stood up, keeping her head down before the princes.

“You can reject the privilege of being chosen,” the prince said. “As long as another nubile woman from your family takes your place.”

“Nubile?” I asked in a whisper.

“Old enough to bear children,” Teah murmured. “What’s wrong with your sister?”

Lily covered her face with her hands, crying out loud now, and my heart felt like hammering my chest. I refused to think what I was doing. Before Teah could stop me, I brushed my way into the crowd to reach the square. Then I kneeled down in the snow, bending over myself.

“My lords” I called, my voice shaking in fear. “I’m her sister and I’m nubile.”

The four wolves turned to me sharply. The long-haired one and his sister came closer, not hiding their curiosity. The usual insults echoed around the square.

“What are you?” the prince asked when I straightened up, pulling back my hood to show my head.

“Forgive my appearance, my lord,” I said. “I know I’m not worthy of serving you, but if you would allow me to take my sister’s place, I’d be happy to take on any task you were as kind to give me, no matter how humble.”

Insults became yelling.

“Demon! Abomination! Hang her! Kill her!”

A stone hit my back, another one hit my shoulder. I clenched my teeth and didn’t move. The princess raised her hand and the fuss ended.

“Let me see you,” she said, approaching me.

I looked up at her and tears filled my eyes. Because hers were not blue like the eyes of all the other wolves: they had a reddish hue in the light of the torches around us.

“God knows appearances can deceive,” she grunted, looking me up and down. “But how can we know you’re human and we can trust you?”

“Because your father helped her be born.”

Teah’s intervention froze me in surprise. She too brushed and elbowed her way to the square and came to stand right behind me. The murmuring started over until the princess made an irritated sign for people to shut their mouths

“You swear it on your life?” she asked Teah, still staring at me.

“Of course. Joy, show them your pendant.”

I didn’t hesitate to open my cloak, undo the first clasp of my collar and pull out the moonstone crescent hanging from my neck. The princes scowled in disbelief.

“Who give you this, little one?” she demanded.

“Your healer,” Teah replied for me.

The princess finally looked away from me to glare up at Teah.

“You can ask her,” Teah added, unfazed by the threat in her eyes.

“You bet I will,” the princess grunted. She looked down at me again with a quick nod and turned to her brothers. “I approve her.”

The long-haired prince nodded too. The other two didn’t say or do anything. The prince turned his back to my stepsister and strode across the square toward his brothers. The princess stepped away from me to follow him. Lily pretended to faint and her two friends had to hold her up until Van came running to take her in his arms.

“We’ll be meeting the chosen ones tomorrow by sunset at the clearing,” the princess said, mounting her horse.

The four wolves made their horses prance around and galloped away to the south, disappearing into the night.