the poem

*CHAPTER 12: THE POEM*

Kade wrote a poem.

It took him four hours, two crumpled papers, and help from Jax who is also terrible at poems.

He slipped it under my door at dawn, before Leo woke up.

It said:

_Ani, your hair is white like snow.

Your eyes are grey-blue.

You heal people.

I like your soup, even when it's salty.

Please be my Luna.

— Kade_

I stared at it.

Then I laughed. I laughed so hard tears came out. I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn't wake Leo.

Kade opened the door, his face red, his beard messy like he hadn't slept.

"Is it that bad?" he asked.

"It's perfect," I said, wiping tears. "It's the worst poem I have ever read. My father would be proud."

He sat on the floor, defeated. "Jax said to say your eyes are like stars."

"My eyes are not like stars. They are grey-blue. You got that right. That's why I like it. You saw me, not a star."

He looked up, hopeful. "So... you like it?"

"I love that you tried," I said, folding the paper carefully and putting it in my mother's journal. "Lesson three: trying matters more than being perfect."

Leo woke up then, sat up, white hair everywhere, and saw Kade on the floor.

"Papa! Did you sleep here?"

Kade smiled. That word again. Papa.

"No, little lion. I brought your Mama a poem."

Leo grabbed the paper. "Can I read it?"

"You can't read yet," I said.

"I can try!" He squinted. "It says... Papa loves Mama!"

Kade choked. I turned so red I felt my ears burn.

"Leo!"

Leo giggled and jumped on Kade's back. "Papa loves Mama! Papa loves Mama!"

Kade caught him, laughing, and looked at me over Leo's head. His golden eyes were asking, _Is he right?_

I didn't answer. I couldn't yet.

Then the pack bell rang. Not the happy welcome bell. The danger bell. Fast, sharp.

Kade's smile vanished. He stood, Leo in his arms, and handed him to me.

"Stay here. Lock the door."

"What's happening?"

Before he could answer, Elder Marga burst in without knocking, her old face terrified.

"She's back! Tara is back! And she brought a witch! A dark witch from the south!"

My blood went cold.

We ran to the square. The whole pack was gathered, but keeping distance.

Tara stood in the middle, not in a red dress anymore, but in black. Her hair was messy, her eyes had black circles. She looked sick. Next to her was a woman in a grey cloak, face covered, holding a staff made of bone.

And around them, the air smelled wrong. Like rotting wolfsbane.

Tara saw me and pointed, her voice shrill.

"There she is! The white freak! She stole my Luna title! Kill her wolf!"

The witch lifted her head. Her eyes were pure white, no pupils.

"White wolf," she hissed, looking at me. "Rare. Powerful. Your mother hid you well, little pup. Elara's daughter. Your wolf's light can heal, but it can also be eaten. I want it."

Kade stepped in front of me and Leo instantly, his black aura exploding.

"You will not touch them."

The witch laughed. "Alpha, your curse was my sister's work. Weak. I can give you a stronger one. One that will kill her white wolf forever. And all I want is the pup."

She pointed a bony finger at Leo.

"The white pup. His first shift was early. His blood is pure. Give him to me and I will make Tara Luna and kill the white wolf for you. Your pack will be normal again."

The pack gasped.

Leo buried his face in my neck, shaking.

I held him tighter and felt my own wolf, Lyra, rise inside me for the first time with anger, not fear.

"You want my son?" I said, my voice shaking but loud. "You think you can trade my son for a Luna title?"

Tara screamed, "He is a bastard! He shouldn't even exist! I should be Luna! I waited!"

Kade growled, a sound so deep the ground shook. He was about to shift.

But I put a hand on his arm.

"No," I whispered. "She came for me. Let m

I stepped forward, out from behind Kade, Leo still in my arms, my mother's staff glowing white.

"You say you want my wolf?" I said to the witch. "Then try to take it. My mother locked it for eighteen years to protect me. I unlocked it alone in the Black Forest while pregnant and starving. You think a dark witch in a bone cloak scares me?"

The witch hissed and raised her staff. Black smoke shot toward me.

Everyone screamed.

But the white light from my staff shot out faster.

It met the black smoke in the middle of the square. White versus black. My mother's light versus dark witchcraft.

I felt Lyra howl inside me, _PROTECT THE PUP!_

The white light won. It pushed the black smoke back, back, back, until it hit the witch and she screamed, her cloak burning white.

"No! Impossible! A white healer cannot—"

"She is not just a healer," Kade's voice boomed behind me. He had shifted, his giant black wolf standing behind me and Leo, his head over my shoulder, his golden eyes burning at the witch. "She is my Luna. And he is my heir. And you tried to take them."

The witch scrambled up, burnt, terrified, and grabbed Tara.

"This deal is over! You are too weak to be Luna anyway!" she screamed at Tara and vanished in black smoke, leaving Tara alone in the dirt.

Tara sat there, crying, black makeup running, no longer beautiful, no longer scary. Just a sad, jealous girl.

Kade shifted back, naked, not caring, and walked to Tara.

"Leave," he said quietly. "And never come back. If I see you near my family again, my wolf will not stop next time."

Tara ran, barefoot, into the forest, and no one stopped her.

The square was silent. Then Leo, still in my arms, whispered loudly, "Mama, did you win?"

I laughed, tears running down, and kissed his white hair.

"Yes, love. Mama won."

Kade wrapped his cloak around both of us, his big arms shaking a little — not from anger now, but from relief.

And he whispered into my ear, so only I could hear, "My white wolf is terrifying. And I think I'm in love with her."