Alle Kapitel von Three Wolves, Three Pearls, One Goodbye: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 9

Only three days remained before my eighteenth coming-of-age.I lifted my skirt. Beneath the skin at my ankles, a few tiny silver scales had already surfaced.By the fate of the merfolk, if no land-bound mate fed me a Tide Pearl on my coming-of-age day, my legs would fuse together into a tail forever, and I would never set foot on dry earth again.The three Tide Pearls my mother had left behind on her deathbed had once been treasured and separately guarded by Alpha Lucas, Beta Kane, and Gamma Aiden.They had stood before the entire pack, eyes red with rivalry, fighting for the right to be the one to feed me the pearl.But before my coming-of-age day even arrived, not a single one of those three pearls—the ones that could keep me on land—remained.They had all been given away, one by one, to the lone wolf mother who had arrived at the pack three months ago with her pup—Chloe.And my heart had already gone cold through it all.I removed the deep-sea conch pendant from my neck and reached

By the evening of the third day, the storm's prelude sent gales howling through the forest.The skin on the inner sides of my legs had begun to fuse, silver scales packed densely below my knees, and translucent fin membranes had fully formed at my ankles.The door was pushed open again. Alpha Lucas strode in, gathered my feet in his broad, warm palms, and held them.For seventeen years, my aversion to cold had been warmed away by his body heat, bit by bit."Why are your feet still so cold?"Lucas looked up at me, his handsome, hard features carrying the same steady indulgence as always."Evelyn, be good. Stop putting on that panicked look.""I am the Alpha of Silverwood. On land, my will is the pack law.""The old gods of the deep sea have no hold over my territory. I say you are my Luna, and so you shall remain on land."Listening to his devoted yet arrogant words, not a ripple stirred in my heart.Even now, he still believed that losing all three Tide Pearls was a trivial matter.But

I swam into the tidal cave beneath the cliffs.Cold seawater washed over my body, gradually staunching the bleeding from the tears across my tail.My brother Sebastian was waiting by the rocks. He reached out and lifted me above the water, pressing deep-sea kelp against my battered caudal fin.Looking at my torn tail and the bruises across my back from the rocks, his eyes burned red:"Evelyn, you spent seventeen full years on land. Those three wolves swore back then they would protect you with their lives.""Yet in the end, not a single one of them fed you the pearl. They left you unable to ever stay on land again, and let you suffer such grievous wounds."The grievance and pain bottled up over three days finally burst their dams. I slumped across the cold rock, gripping my brother's arm, sobbing uncontrollably:"Brother... why did it turn into this...""They used to rather bleed themselves than let me suffer the slightest grievance... So why, the moment that woman appeared, did they a

Sebastian's words shattered their last shred of hope.The three men collapsed kneeling in the freezing seawater, their faces indistinguishable between sea and tears.But they still did not leave the shore.Nor did I leave the bay immediately.After a mermaid comes of age and transforms, she must soak in the tidal springs of the coastal reef for three days to complete the shedding rite.Only by letting the Full-Moon Tide wash away the old skin and harden the new scales could my body withstand the tearing currents of the abyssal depths.Sebastian stood guard at the reef cave entrance with his trident, drawing a line for the merfolk and forbidding any wolf from coming a single step closer.Over those three days, a storm swept the coast.Fierce wind drove cold rain against the cliffs and the rocky beach.Lucas, Kane, and Aiden stayed by the rocks beneath the cliff without leaving, letting the rain wash over their wounds.Kane threw himself again and again into the cold pool's undercurrents

The deeper we swam into the deep sea, the gentler and calmer the surroundings became.I followed my brother Sebastian through the deep ocean trenches, the vast migrating whale pod swimming alongside us, their deep, long songs rippling through the currents.Buoyed by the seawater, the seventeen years of wind, frost, and agony suffered on dry land were smoothed away inch by inch in the deep sea's nourishment.We passed through glowing coral forests and returned to the majestic, vast Deep-Sea Court.The merfolk had long been waiting before the deep-sea stone palace. Seeing my brother and me return, conch horns sounded, and glowing fish gathered into flowing ribbons of light.Sebastian led me to the Tidal Sacred Spring at the center of the court.Warm spring water surged, washing away the last trace of wolf-pack scent from my body.The faint scars on my caudal fin healed completely, and the new silver scales gleamed with a cold luster.The elders of the court placed a crown carved from dee