Chapter 3

There was no concern in his voice, only the same reproach I'd heard too many times. The pressure in my chest finally broke loose, and I retched up a pool of dark, almost black blood. Victor scoffed. "Playing dead again. She'll stoop to anything for sympathy. How long are you going to keep this up?"

Kyle walked over and pressed his fingertips to my pulse, then sent his spiritual energy probing into my wolf spirit. The System was still masking the death creeping through me. He quickly withdrew his hand, his tone certain and cold.

"You're overwrought, and it's destabilizing your wolf spirit. If you'd just give in to Leah, would you have to suffer like this?"

He looked at me, a trace of contempt in his eyes, the kind that came from believing he had me all figured out.

"Erin, the things you'll do to steal my attention from Leah keep getting uglier."

Darian lifted Leah into his arms and turned to leave.

"Kyle, this lunatic is your problem. Leah's been frightened. I'm taking her back to rest."

Victor and Ryan followed them out. Soon, only Kyle and I remained. He crouched, looked at the blood still flowing from my knees, and took clotting powder from his medical case to sprinkle over the wounds.

The powder hit the silver-laced wounds, and I shook with pain. Kyle sighed, and his tone softened slightly.

"You don't have to do this to yourself every time just to make me feel sorry for you. I know you've had a difficult couple of days, but Leah grew up sheltered by the entire pack. She's timid and can't handle being upset. You survived on the border for years. You're stronger than she is. You can endure more. Why can't you give her a little more?"

He plucked the ceramic shards from my knees and dabbed the blood from the corner of my mouth with clean gauze, his touch so gentle that he could almost have been the boy who once couldn't bear to see me hurt.

"The position of Moon Valley's future Luna has always been yours. I promised to go through with the mating ceremony, and I won't go back on my word. So why do you insist on fighting with Leah?"

I stared at him, almost certain I had misheard. But Kyle continued, "She only wanted a cup of your heart's blood. What would it cost you to go along with it once? You're always so stubborn. You just want me to spend more time with you, that's all." I turned my face away, pulling out of his reach.

His hand hung in midair, clear exasperation on his face.

"Still angry?"

He tossed the bloodied gauze into a copper basin and offered, as though granting a favor, "You've always wanted to visit the old guardian at the Moon Goddess Sanctuary on North Mountain, haven't you? Tomorrow's a rest day. I'll skip my shift at the clinic and take you up the mountain myself." Kyle looked at me, seemingly certain I would be grateful for this small concession.

"Just the two of us," he added.

I tried to curve my cracked lips into a smile.

"All right."

One last visit to the man who had once saved me. That would be enough. When I agreed, Kyle's expression finally softened, and he even reached out to stroke my hair.

"Good girl."

The next morning, when I stepped out of my room, it felt as though countless insects were gnawing at my bones from the inside. With every step, cold seeped between my joints, and even breathing brought a tearing pain. A black snowcat waited in front of the main house.

Kyle stood beside it, holding a heatstone in a leather case. When he saw me, he held it out.

"Take this. The wind on North Mountain is brutal, and you can't afford to get any colder in your condition."

I had just reached for it when Leah's personal maid came racing out in tears and stopped in front of Kyle.

"Kyle, Leah's wolf spirit is flaring up again! Her chest hurts so badly that she's thrashing in bed and can barely breathe. She scratches anyone who gets close. Please, you have to come!"

Kyle's face went white. His grip loosened, and the heatstone fell into the snow. He turned to rush into the main house, but after two steps, he seemed to remember me and stopped to look back. His eyes were frantic, but beneath the panic lay irritation that I was costing him time.

"Erin, Leah's wolf spirit is failing. This can't wait. Stay here. I'll come back as soon as I've stabilized her."

Without waiting for my answer, he rushed into the main house. I watched him hurry away without hesitation, and the taste of rust crept up my throat again.

[Wolf core deterioration accelerating.]

[Countdown shortened. Twelve hours remaining.]

I didn't stay. I climbed into the snowcat alone and told the driver, "Take me to the North Mountain Sanctuary." The wheels rolled over the snow, and Silver Ridge Pack's main house slowly disappeared into the blizzard.

Kyle thought I would stand there waiting for him to come back, the way I always had. But this time, I was done waiting.