Chapter four

EMILIE

The Silvercrest palace looked like a fortress.

And I mean that literally it was carved into the mountainside, all dark stone and thick walls and guard towers with people holding actual weapons. This wasn't a home. This was a military base pretending to be a palace.

"This is where you live?" I asked as massive iron gates closed behind us with an ominous clang.

"This is where the pack lives. About three hundred of us." Kai's hand was warm on my lower back, guiding me forward. "We need the security."

Three hundred werewolves… I was surrounded by three hundred werewolves.

My brain still couldn't process that werewolves were real. that magic was real. that I'd just healed someone with a touch.

People stopped to stare as we crossed a courtyard. and I mean really stare, like I was the most fascinating and terrifying thing they'd ever seen.

"Why is everyone looking at me like that?" I whispered.

"You smell human to them, but you're clearly not. It's confusing" Kai glanced down at me. "Confusing to me too."

We entered through doors that had to weigh a ton. Inside was all dark wood and stone, with tapestries showing battles between wolves and other creatures I didn't recognize. It smelled like pine and something wild.

More people in the hallways. All of them impossibly attractive and moving with inhuman grace, all of them stopping to stare at me with expressions ranging from curious to hostile.

I stayed close to Kai's side.

We climbed stairs and walked down the longest hallway I'd ever seen. At the end were doors guarded by two men who made Kai look small.

"She's with me," Kai said simply.

The taller guard dark skin, shaved head, wicked scar across his jaw didn't budge. "Alpha said no visitors, Kai."

"I'm not a visitor," I said before I could stop myself. "I'm someone being hunted by shadow creatures who just healed your future Alpha from a fatal wound. So either let us through or explain to your Alpha why you turned away someone he probably really wants to meet."

The guard’s eyes flickered gold, then he smiled slightly. "I like her. She's got spine." He stepped aside. "Go ahead."

The throne room was massive. at the far end, on a raised platform, sat a man who could only be Kai's father. Same dark hair, same features, but older and infinitely more dangerous.

His eyes were yellow; full wolf eyes.

And they pinned me in place like a predator spotting prey.

"Father," Kai said formally. "I've brought someone you need to meet."

"What have you brought into my home, son?" The Alpha's voice was deep and controlled, but I heard the anger underneath.

"Her name is Emilie: She saved my life. Shadow creatures attacked me on the southern border fatal dark magic wound. She healed it with a touch."

Murmurs rippled through the room. I finally noticed other people standing in the shadows along the walls, watching.

The Alpha descended from his throne slowly. "Is this true?"

"I didn't mean to," I said, finding my voice. "It just happened."

He stopped a few feet away, and I felt his power like a physical weight. "You carry old magic..

Very old." His head tilted. "Who are your parents?"

"I don't know.. Mrs. Hawthorne raised me. She never told me about my real parents. And now she's dead because.."

"Mrs. Hawthorne?" A woman's voice, sharp with shock.

I turned. A woman stepped from the shadows, hand pressed to her mouth. Long auburn hair,

Green eyes exactly like mine.

Exactly like mine.

"Emilie?" she whispered.. "It can't be. You're supposed to be dead."

The world tilted. Kai caught me.

"Who are you?" I managed.

Tears streamed down her face. "I'm your mother. Aurora, and you're alive. After twenty-two years, you're alive."

A man joined her tall, dark hair with silver at the temples. When he looked at me, I saw my own eyes staring back.

"We gave you to Hawthorne to protect you," he said quietly. "To hide you from the prophecy;to give you a normal life."

"You gave me away." The words felt like glass in my throat. "You abandoned me."

"To save you!" Aurora cried. "There are forces that want to use you. The prophecy said you'd either save us all or destroy us. We couldn't take that risk."

"So you just threw me away?" My voice rose. "Let me grow up thinking I was crazy? Thinking I was alone?"

"We thought we were protecting you," my father Ethan said.

"You were protecting yourselves." The words came out cold. "Mrs. Hawthorne is dead. the woman who actually raised me, who actually loved me, died tonight because of your prophecy and your choices."

The Alpha had been watching this with calculating eyes. "The prophecy child, born under two moons. The bridge between worlds."

A small woman with white blonde hair stepped forward. Her eyes were pale and strange. "The marks will appear when your power fully awakens soon."

"What prophecy?" I demanded. "What marks? What am I?"

The Alpha smiled, and it wasn't friendly. "Sit down, Emilie. Let me tell you about the day you were born and the destiny that came with you."