“Ares?” Panic made my throat tight. I grabbed at his shoulders, trying to pull him upright. “Ares? Ares, wake up!”The man snorted at me. “He’s fine.”I rounded on him. “He doesn’t look fine to me!”“Some Alpha.” A smirk pulled at his lips. “Can’t even take on two wolves.”He did that for me, I thought, his words hammering against my skull. He threatened you. I had to give in.I staggered back to Ares’s side. The man was not worth my attention. Not now. I hauled Ares upright, checked his pulse, checked his breathing; all the while the man mocked me, his laughter tart and cruel. My bones felt hollow, empty, as I made sure Ares was all right, as though the snow had wormed its way inside me. My heart was another matter – it was burning, fury and agony aflame in my chest.“Get him up,” said the man, his voice bored. Two of his wolves, his friends, were dead, and he sounded bored? I bit back a shudder and stared at Ares, begging him to wake up with gentle touches and silent, screaming wor

Alpha Blare stepped forwards. Without greeting us, he worked his way around the sconces, lighting the torches in the room. Only then did he step back, and at last I could make something from the shapes of his face.I had never seen Alpha Blare before, save for on the battlefield in his wolf form. My parents had always dealt with him whenever the need arose, although the last occurrence had been years prior. Mostly, they communicated through letters.His appearance was of no great shock to me, though. Like most of the wolves inhabiting the eastern stretch of Erandos, he was pale in both skin and hair, which was long, draping down well below his shoulders; but his eyes were brown – a rare sight amongst the snow. His face looked unaccustomed to smiling, drawn from harsh lines that did not soften, not even as he looked upon Ares’s crumpled body in the bed. It aged him; I knew from my parents and my ravenous study of the packs of Erandos, the ones I had thought I would one day have to know

“Nothing?” My voice trembled. “There has to be something we can do.”“Look around.” Unlike mine, his voice was firm, unwavering in its despair. No – it was thick with acceptance, tragic and terrible. “The only door is locked. No doubt there are wolves waiting behind it, waiting to kill us if we don’t comply.” Ares sighed bitterly, and when he turned to look at me his eyes were full of agony. What scared me most of all, though, was the lack of fire in those familiar blue eyes; in fact, they were so cold, so distant, that I barely recognised them as his at all.“There is always a way out,” I said, my breath snagging in my chest. I wouldn’t give in. Not like this. Not to this pack, and their evil Alpha. “We just have to think about it logically–”“There is no logic here. You should never have followed me, Haile.”“But they would have killed you!”“But they wouldn’t have been able to hurt you.”I crumpled, sinking to the cold stone beside him. “We will get out of here,” I said. “I swear

We could mindlink. It was dizzying, feeling the full force of Ares’s emotions slamming into me – and made more overwhelming still by the swarm of angry wolves converging on me.‘Run, Haile! Get out of here.’‘What about you?’ I mindlinked back to him, a spark of raw joy piercing through my fear. ‘I won’t leave you, Ares.’My eyes found his – still closed, his lashes still stark, dark, against his pallid cheeks. He looked… Dead. I gulped, turning in a tight circle as more wolves surrounded me. I had seconds to move – seconds until I was sealed in. None of them pounced, not yet, but I did not have long. ‘They think I’m dead. It was your idea, beautiful – to pretend. You have a chance. Take it! I’ll find you. I promise.’I made a choice.I ran.Claws and teeth caught my sides, but I barely felt the pain. It was an inconvenience, slowing me down, but it did not make me falter. I would not forsake Ares’s sacrifice… If that was even what it was. I had to hope it wasn’t.I shot through the

I stilled for less than a second, though it felt like an eternity as my gaze met theirs. Two wolves, both smaller than me, but bigger than Annia, both with shaggy coats of speckled grey fur, stared back.Annia trembled. I ran my tongue over the back of my teeth as I thought. There had to be another way out of this. They hadn’t yet pounced – so maybe they wouldn’t.Forcing my limbs to relax, I nodded to the grey wolves and continued strolling across the open expanse of snow. Fortunately, Annia caught on quickly and, though she kept her body mostly hidden behind my much larger one, she kept pace and kept her head up. Good. I knew every wolf in Blue Moon on sight; I could pick out an Omega or Warrior Wolf from their peers from half a league away. As Young Luna, knowing my pack inside and out had been part of my job. As we walked, I kept my fingers crossed – my paws crossed? – that Greyhide Canyon’s lower-ranking wolves wouldn’t know everyone on their roster, or at least not in their wolf