Bloodrose

SIXTEEN

I WOKE WITH A START, gasping for breath.

Outside the window a blizzard raged. Sleet and snow, sharp as darts, careened from clouds to earth. My eyelids drooped as I tried to sort through my dim memories. Warm breeze. The smell of salt air kissed by lemons.

Now I was surrounded by familiar scents. The must of dog-eared paperbacks, the dull bite of sharpened pencils, and the crispness of denim. I sat up, looking around.

I was in bed. In my room.

Goose bumps crawled up my arms.

I was in Vail. A scream got caught trying to explode from my lungs, as if it had been choked off by an invisible hand.

I’m home. What do I have to be afraid of?

“Good morning, sleepyhead.”

My mother was sitting in a chair near my dresser. My father stood at her shoulders, looking oddly stiff.

“Mom?” My voice cracked. I tried to move again, but my limbs tingled. They felt so heavy.

“Of course it’s me,” she said, while I stared at her.

Something inside me was sobbing. Why does seeing my mom make me sad?

“We thought you might sleep all day.” Her teeth were very bright when she smiled. “Didn’t we, Stephen?”

My father nodded. Something in his eyes made fear curl at the base of my spine. He was too alert. The Nightshade alpha was bristling, ready to attack.

Distant voices echoed in the recesses of my mind.

“There is no Nightshade alpha.”

“Ansel?” I murmured.

A flash of pain tried to split open my skull. I bent forward, cradling my head in my hands.

“Your brother is patrolling with Mason,” my mother said. “He’ll be back soon. Don’t worry.”

I nodded. That made sense. Why did my head hurt so much?

My father’s brow furrowed. “Are you in pain?”

“Stephen.” My mother’s eyes rolled up at her mate; a warning flashed within them. “Don’t coddle her. She is an alpha, after all.”

“Of course, m-Naomi,” he said. His hands gripped the back of her chair.

“I think I might be sick,” I said. “My head hurts.”

“We’ll get you some aspirin in a second, sweetie,” my mother said. “But you drifted off before you finished telling us about your adventure.”

“My adventure?” I peered at her.

“Yes,” she said. “You were just telling us about all the places you’ve been. You were traveling with friends. Remember how that was your gift from the Keepers after the Union? All the places you’ve seen?”

She smiled. A wave of ease washed over me, making my limbs heavier, but bliss coursed through my veins. “All the places I’ve seen.”

“That’s right.” Her pearl white teeth gleamed. “We want to hear all about it. What were the places you visited like?”

She adjusted her weight. When she moved, her body blurred and for a moment, her face contorted and I saw-

I cried out when my head throbbed.

“Calla!” My father stepped toward me.

My mother’s hand shot out and he froze. She stood up, taking very slow steps toward me.

Why was she moving so slowly?

With each step her figure blurred again. The pounding in my head forced me to keep closing my eyes. I couldn’t focus on her as she approached.

The mattress squeaked when she settled next to me. She placed her hands on my temples and the pain gave way to another surge of ecstasy.

“There,” she cooed. “Isn’t that better?”

I nodded, but I still wanted to cry. There was something I wanted to tell her, something so important that my mother needed to know.

I leaned my head against her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

But I didn’t know what I was apologizing for.

She stroked my hair. Her scent wafted into my nostrils-a stiff scent of parchment and red wine. I pulled away, staring at her.

“Feeling better?”

I inhaled, letting the scent linger. A scent that was not Naomi Tor’s scent. My mother always smelled of gardenia and ferns.

These scents, old, rich smells blending into a heady perfume, were familiar and they belonged to someone else.

“Lumine,” I whispered.

The moment I spoke my mistress’s name, her spell shattered.

The air around me crackled, splintering before my eyes. My mother had vanished. Only Lumine Nightshade sat before me. My father stood silently on the other side of the room. His eyes were bright with fear.

Shock welded me to the bed as the illusions drifted away. I began to shake and sob.

Lumine sighed, straightening the dark jacket of her Chanel suit. “That’s not very becoming, Calla.”

“You bitch.” I snarled, my teeth sharpened. I was about to lunge when my father shouted.

“Calla, no!” The command of the Nightshade alpha was still enough to pull me up short.

My eyes met his for a moment before I followed his gaze to my closet. The door was ajar and something was moving inside it. Shadows, thick as tar, undulating in the darkness. A wraith.

My stomach knotted up at the memory of the wraith taking me. A wave of pain crashed through my limbs, nearly sending me back into unconsciousness.

Lumine smiled. “Really, Calla. Did you think I would just bare my throat for your fangs?” She patted my hand. “You should know better.”

I snatched my fingers out from under hers. While I couldn’t attack her, I wasn’t about to play nice.

“Get away from me.”

“Restrain yourself, child,” she said. “You’ve had quite a journey, and it takes a while to fully recover from a wraith’s embrace.”

She laughed softly when I shuddered.

“I just have a few questions for you,” she said. “Then you can rest.”

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“Oh.” Her smile became chilly. “I think you do.”

I swallowed hard, glancing at the wraith in the closet before shaking my head.

“Yes.” Her gaze followed mine. “That’s one way it could be. Efron has been pleading with me to hand you over to him and Emile.”

Forcing my eyes off her, I stared at the window, watching snow buffeted by wind. My body felt that way: bruised and battered. The sun and sea of Italy seemed like a distant dream. And Lumine wasn’t the only one with questions. I was desperate to know what had happened after the wraith took me. Had the others escaped from the Eydis hideout? Were they prisoners too?

“But I’ve explained to him that I don’t think you’re likely to break,” she continued. “No matter how much pressure is applied.”

I offered her a thin smile. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am,” she said. “But we’re not without options. Are we, Stephen?”

“No, mistress.” His face was blank, but his muscles twitched with nervous energy. My father was unhappy; I could smell his grief, his outrage from across the room.

“Why would I do anything for you?” I glared at her. “You killed my mother. You destroyed my brother.”

“You’ve seen Ansel?” My father took two steps toward me. “How-”

Lumine didn’t speak, but she stiffened. My father checked himself, falling silent.

“What happened with your mother was unfortunate,” she said, folding her hands on her lap. “But necessary under the circumstances.”

“It was necessary for you to murder her?” My eyes were burning, but I blinked away tears as quickly as I could. There was no way in hell I would let Lumine see me cry.

She clucked her tongue with a soft laugh, and it was all I could do not to throw myself on her in a fury of claws and teeth. “Murder? Hardly, Calla. And I’m quite certain you wouldn’t see it that way if your mind hadn’t been so horribly corrupted by… outside influences.”

I dug my fingernails into the coverlet.

“You once believed in duty. In loyalty,” she continued. “Your mother failed in her most important role. And she paid the price.”

I glanced at my father, but he was still frozen. Neither looking at me nor Lumine, instead his gray eyes were lost in some unknown, distant place.

Lumine was still speaking. “Your brother’s punishment was a warning.”

“A warning,” I said quietly, a growl curling around my words.

“To the rest of your pack,” she said. “Treachery must be met by swift retribution.”

“He did nothing wrong.” I bared my teeth at her and she smiled.

“Didn’t he?” she asked. “Can you show me those deadly fangs and believe that your brother, who has always adored you, had no suspicions that you wanted someone other than your intended?”

Blood climbed from my neck into my cheeks as my heart began beating too quickly.

“Don’t you think he guessed you would risk your own life, and the well-being of your family and friends, all for a teenage girl’s infatuation?”

“Infatuation!” I shrieked. “I fell in love with Shay and found out you were going to sacrifice him! You wanted Ren and me to kill him!”

Despite my outburst, Lumine’s smile became more serene. The heat in my cheeks gave way to a creeping cold.

Damn it. She’d been provoking me and I’d just given her information. I didn’t want to give her anything. Except maybe some ugly scars.

Lumine appeared to interpret my sudden silence as submission rather than frustration.

“I can’t give you all the time I’d like, Calla.” Her voice wrapped around me like a python about to constrict. “But I’ve discussed this matter in depth with your father. Listen to him. Listen to us and everything can be all right. Even for your brother. And your pack.”

I met her eyes, searching for deception, but only found a confident, hard gaze.

“You’ll help Ansel?”

She nodded. “Everything can be as it was.”

As it was. My broken past made whole again.

“If you’ll help us,” she said.

I didn’t answer her. I couldn’t have spoken if I’d wanted to. My limbs were shaking, my head still throbbing, and my throat was parched.

“Stephen.” Lumine extended her hand to my father. He approached the bed warily. “Emile and Efron will arrive within the hour. Use this time wisely. As we’ve agreed.”

“Of course, mistress.” My father inclined his head as Lumine rose. She left the room with the wraith trailing behind her.

The moment the shadow creature was out of sight, I shuddered and slumped against my pillows.

“Here.” My father picked up a glass sitting on the nightstand. “Drink this.”

I eyed the glass and shook my head.

He smiled wryly. “It’s just water, Calla. I poured it myself.”

“Thanks,” I said hoarsely, taking the glass. I looked at the clear liquid for a moment, wondering if I could trust my father. Wondering if it even mattered. The water eased the pain of my dry throat as I drank.

“How long have I been here?”

“They brought you in the night before last,” he said. “You’ve been in and out of consciousness because they let the wraith continue to feed on you.” He growled, glancing toward the door. “So you’d be weak for questioning, open to suggestion.”

“What do they want?” I asked, handing the glass back to him.

“They want you to tell them where Shay is,” he said without missing a beat.

I crumpled a bit as relief blanketed my limbs. Shay wasn’t here. He was safe. That at least was something.

“I won’t,” I said, meeting his steady gaze. “I would never betray him.”

“I didn’t think you would.”

He was watching me closely, but I couldn’t read the emotions on his face. Confusion, maybe? Worry?

“Your brother…,” he said carefully. “Is he-?”

“He’s safe,” I said.

“Is he well?”

I began to shake my head and something burst inside me. I cried out, burying my face in my hands. My body shuddered as I sobbed, the recent losses finally overtaking me. My mother, my brother, Lydia, Silas, Mr. Selby… and maybe others that had been killed after I’d blacked out. What had any of it been for? After everything I was back where I’d started in Vail, subject to the whims of my mistress. Maybe there wasn’t any way to escape destiny.

My father’s arms were around me. I was too distraught to react, though I knew I should be startled. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d hugged me. He’d often tussle affectionately with Ansel and me when we were wolves, but that served as a fighting exercise as much as a form of bonding. When we were human, my father was always reserved. Now his shoulders were shaking and he was weeping as openly as I was.

We stayed that way, leaning on each other, both lost in grief, until I pulled away. Rubbing my bleary eyes, I turned back to the window. Though my room was on the second floor, it wasn’t a far drop to the ground. Maybe this was my only chance. Maybe my father would come with me.

“No, Calla,” he said, resting his hand on my shoulder. “There are Banes all around the perimeter of our compound. You might be able to fight off two or three of them, but eventually they’d overwhelm you.”

I turned to face him, unsurprised that he’d read my thoughts so easily. After all, he’d raised me to think and act like a warrior, always seeking a way to gain the upper hand.

“Can we talk?” I whispered, searching his eyes for any sign of his true feelings about all that was happening around us. My father loved order, control. His world had devolved into chaos. And from the way he’d just held me and wept with me, I knew something inside him had been ripped apart by what the Keepers had done to our family.

He glanced at the door, nodding. “They’ll have a wraith posted outside. But the room is ours.”

My heart was racing. How much time did we have? What were the most important things for me to know?

“Did they take anyone else?” I asked. “When they brought me here, were there other prisoners?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” he said. “But I’m not exactly their confidant these days.”

I bit my lip, realizing this was the moment. Maybe the very thing the Searchers needed.

“Dad,” I began, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “What if I could help you?”

He turned sharp eyes on me, and my heart skipped a beat. Did my own father consider me a traitor? After all that had happened, was loyalty to the Keepers still important to him?

“Help me how?”

I felt breathless, but forced myself to go on. “I saved Shay because the Keepers were going to kill him.”

He didn’t respond, but watched me closely as I spoke.

“He’s the Scion,” I said. “A descendent of the Keepers themselves who can destroy them.”

“If he’s one of them, why would he turn against them?” My father’s brow creased.

“He’s not exactly one of them,” I said, words rushing out. “His mother was human.”

“I don’t think that’s possible-”

“It is.” I took his hands. “Everything we’ve been told about the Keepers and Searchers. About the war. Even about who we are. It was all lies.”

His hands gripped mine, so tight it was painful, but I kept speaking.

“The Keepers twisted us, this world, so they could rule it. The Searchers are trying to change that. They only fight to make things right again. Shay is the key to all of that.”

“How can you be sure?” he whispered, eyes wild.

I racked my mind. He hadn’t seen what I’d seen. The Academy-the beauty and grace of the Searchers’ magic, so contrary to the cruel manipulations of the Keepers’ spellwork. He hadn’t fought alongside my new allies, didn’t have reason to trust them as I did. What could convince him? I knew I had to bring him around. His help could change everything for me… for all of us.

“Calla.” He sounded as desperate as I felt. “What do you know? We don’t have much time. Emile-”

He couldn’t say the Bane alpha’s name without growling. My mind crackled as realization hit me like a flash of lightning.

“Corrine,” I said.

“What?” He frowned.

“Corrine Laroche.” I squeezed his hands. “She wasn’t killed by a Searcher ambush.”

My father stiffened, but I hurried on. “The Searchers were coming to fight with her. She was leading a revolt against the Keepers.”

Meeting his gaze, I expected to find disbelief, but it wasn’t there.

“But the plot was uncovered and they killed her and all the other Banes who’d sided with her,” I said. “And when the Searchers arrived, the Keepers were waiting for them.”

My father pulled his hands from mine as his fists clenched. “You were only one. Just an infant when that happened.”

“I know,” I said. “It happened on Ren’s and my first birthday.”

“I always thought…” He paused, a growl rumbling in his chest. “That something wasn’t right. When the Keepers summoned us to fight, we went after the Searchers-tore into them at the Bane compound, chased them all the way to Boulder. But there weren’t any bodies.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Banes,” he said. “The Keepers called us to battle because the Banes had been ambushed by Searchers. But when we reached their compound, no Bane wolves were there, injured or dead. There were no casualties. The Searchers are hard fighters; they leave wounded and dead in their wake.”

“But wraiths don’t,” I whispered.

His eyes met mine, glinting like steel. He nodded. “The Searchers told you this?”

Though his own memories were offering bits of truth, I could still hear his reluctance to trust his longtime enemies.

“The Searchers filled in some blanks,” I said. “But I read about Corrine’s death and the trap.”

“Where?” he asked, startled.

“In Bosque Mar’s library,” I replied with a shiver. “At Rowan Estate. There was an account in the Haldis Annals.”

“Corrine was a good wolf,” he said quietly. “She didn’t deserve the life handed to her.”

“I know,” I said.

“I suppose it’s a blessing in disguise that her boy never knew.”

My breath caught at his mention of Ren. “He knows now.”

“You know where he is?” My father’s eyes went wide. “The Keepers told us he’d run off. Couldn’t take the shame of losing his pack. Like Logan.”

A smile tugged at my lips. “I know where Logan is too.”

One of his eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“They’re both with the Searchers,” I said. “Ren because Adne wanted to save him… and I did too.”

“Who’s Adne?”

“Monroe’s-one of the Searchers-daughter. And she’s…” I realized just how much I’d learned and how little my father still knew. “She’s Ren’s sister.”

He gave me a long look, finally sighing. “Corrine and the Searcher Monroe?”

“You don’t sound surprised,” I said.

“You said before that Shay had a human mother,” he said. “So it follows that pairings between humans and our kind would have happened too.” Drawing a slow, deep breath, he said, “And no one takes the kind of risk Corrine did without something enormous at stake. Something like love.”

I blinked away the new tears that gathered in my eyes. “I know.”

The smile he gave me was kind. “You love that boy… the Scion?”

I nodded, drawing my knees up to my chest.

He watched me, frowning slightly. “But you also came back for Ren?”

My cheeks burned, as suddenly I was a daughter caught in an awkward conversation with her father. “It’s complicated.”

“I suppose it is.” He laughed. “And I understand now why Renier is nothing like his father.”

“His father… his real father…” I had to clear my throat to finish. “Was a good man. A warrior like us.”

“It’s good to know Corrine found at least a bit of happiness in her life,” he said quietly. “Even if only briefly.”

“I guess,” I said, thinking about the cost for Corrine, Monroe, Ren, and Adne. Adne was an orphan now, but she’d saved her brother. Did that balance things out? I didn’t know.

“Love,” my father said softly. “Real love, even in moments, is worth more than any of us can say.”

I stared at him, the clear gaze in his eyes forcing truth into mine.

“Who are you and what have you done with my father?” I cracked a smile.

He chuckled. “There are times for war-many times. But sometimes it’s necessary to risk speaking the truth of our own vulnerabilities.”

Watching him, my chest pinched with sadness. “Did you… did you love Mom?”

“Yes.” His smile faded. “Even more after you and Ansel were born.”

I wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t stop my next question. “But you seemed so different?”

“We were very different,” he said. “But we were both always trying to be the alphas we thought we had to be. To protect the pack. To keep you and your brother safe.”

My nails dug into my hands. She’d been trying to protect me and my rebellion had killed her.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“No,” he said, tucking my hair behind my ear. “She never blamed you for any of this.”

I nodded, wishing his words would take away the guilt that twisted like a knife in my gut.

“And your mother had a wild side,” he said. “No one could out-hunt her. When we were free in the forest, running together-those were our happiest times.”

I smiled at him, remembering the boundless joy of hunting with Shay. “I’m glad.”

“These Searchers.” He stood up, rounding the foot of the bed to stand near the window. “Do you think there’s any chance they could win?”

“Logan thinks so,” I said. “That’s why he’s giving them information.”

My father glanced at me. “He’s turned on his father?”

“I don’t think he’d put it that way,” I said, smiling grimly. “I think he’s just trying to keep his own hide intact.”

“That sounds about right.”

“Shay has a weapon,” I said. “Or most of it. The Elemental Cross.”

“A cross is a weapon?”

“It’s two swords,” I said. “Once he has them both, he can defeat the Keepers. He’ll be able to kill wraiths.”

“Nothing can kill wraiths.” He spoke the words to the swirling snow outside rather than to me.

“The Scion can.”

“How will they attack?”

I cringed, wondering if I should say anything more. What if my father was still hoping he could regain his status among the Keepers?

His fingers were twitching. Knowledge and hope bubbled up inside me. He didn’t want anything to do with the Keepers. My father was a warrior. He wanted to fight.

“I don’t know how the attack will happen.” That much was true. We’d been focused on retrieving the pieces of the cross. Who knew what the future held after that? “But we’ll need an army to back up Shay.”

My father turned to face me, tilting his head thoughtfully. “An army?”

I nodded.

“The Searchers aren’t enough?”

“No,” I said. “They’ll fight to the end, but they need help. That’s where we come in.”

“We?”

“Guardians.”

He laughed. “You expect to lead a wolf army against the Keepers?”

“It’s happened before,” I said. “It’s part of our history. The Harrowing was a Guardian revolt.”

“More secrets in the library?”

“Yes,” I said. “But I can only lead my pack… and there are only seven of us. Hardly an army.”

He’d gone very still.

“I’m a young alpha,” I said slowly. “We need a veteran. A leader who the other wolves will follow.”

“Calla-” There was a warning note in his voice, edged with pain.

“You’re still the Nightshade alpha.”

His shoulders were tight with fury. “I’ve been stripped of that role.”

“No one can take your pack from you,” I said, rolling onto my knees. “Are the Nightshades happy that the Keepers are calling Emile their alpha?”

He grimaced.

“I didn’t think so,” I said. “You can lead them. You have to lead them.”

“When?” His question was hardly more than a whisper.

“Soon.” I slid off the bed and took his hand. “I wish I knew more.”

“If the Searchers win, what happens to the wolves?”

I opened my mouth to answer before I realized I didn’t have one. What would happen to us if we managed to win this war? Where did Guardians belong?

The door to my bedroom swung open. Emile Laroche swaggered in, glanced at our clasped hands, and grinned.

“A Tor family reunion.” He smirked. “Isn’t this touching?”

I glared at him and he ran his tongue over his sharpening canines.

“Too bad it can’t last.”

SEVENTEEN

MY FATHER DROPPED to the ground, a gray-brown wolf blocking Emile’s path to me. Emile shifted forms, bristling and snarling. He began to stalk toward us. My father gave a warning bark, muscles bunching as he prepared to attack.

“Now, now.” Efron Bane strolled into the room with Lumine at his side. “We don’t have time to let you boys tussle.”

The two alphas were still facing off, fangs bared and hackles raised.

“Enough.” Lumine’s command snapped through the room. “Shift back at once.”

Both wolves reluctantly obeyed, their snarls giving way to angry glares when they returned to human form. My father still stood in front of me, his body shielding mine.

“Have you had any success, Stephen?” Lumine asked.

He shook his head. “A terribly stubborn girl, mistress. I can’t bring her around.”

“Give me five minutes.” Emile snorted. “I’ll bring her around.”

My father’s fist balled up, but Efron put a hand on Emile’s shoulder. “Now, now. World’s turning, rapidly shifting circumstances, remember? We won’t be able to spare you a round of fun with the girl.”

Emile shrugged Efron’s hand off. “This is a mistake. The little bitch is a traitor and should die.”

I watched their exchange, increasingly perplexed. What was happening?

Lumine crossed the room, assessing me with her gaze. “Apparently you’ve earned some friends among the Searchers, Calla.”

“And they have something we want,” Efron added.

“Your son was a fool to let himself be captured,” Emile spat. “You should leave him to rot in a Searcher hole.”

Emile rocked back on his heels when Efron cuffed him. “Remember yourself, wolf. The son of your master deserves your respect.”

Emile glared at him, but bowed his head in submission.

My mind reeled. Logan? Logan was claiming he’d been kidnapped. What the hell was going on?

“Come with me, Calla.” Lumine beckoned. “We don’t want to be late.”

I glanced at my father before walking to her side. She reached up, fingering tendrils of my shorn blond locks.

“It’s such a pity about your hair,” Lumine said. “What were you thinking?”

I didn’t answer her.

“Stephen, wait for me to return,” she said, pursing her lips as she watched my father. “You and I still have things to discuss.”

“Of course, mistress.” He bowed his head.

As I followed Lumine out of the room, I resisted the urge to look back at him. Right now I was supposed to be a headstrong, rebellious daughter who had no respect for her father. I couldn’t let the Keepers know that only two out of those three things were true.

I couldn’t see out of the dark tinted windows of the limo, but we drove for about an hour. My mind was still back in Vail. I wished there were some way to talk with my father. He would help us. He would fight the Keepers. But how could we possibly link his pack with the Searchers?

My body was exhausted. My mind in a frenzy. I still had no idea where I was being taken or what would happen when we arrived at our destination. No matter how confident I wanted to appear, curiosity won out when the car pulled to a stop.

“Where are we?”

“A terribly inconvenient location insisted upon by your friends.” Efron set down the glass of brandy he’d been sipping during the ride. “We should be commended for our cooperation.”

Emile growled quietly. He’d been staring at me for the entire trip. I knew he wanted to intimidate me, but it only made me hate him more. When he climbed past me, following Efron out of the limo, I whispered, “Someday I will watch you die.”

He smiled at me. All fangs. “Too afraid to try and kill me yourself?”

I slid a hard smile back at him without flinching. Fear had no part in it, but there were a number of people on the list of Emile’s enemies who deserved revenge more than I did. Including my father. Including Ren.

“Move along, Calla,” Lumine said, flicking me with her long nails.

I climbed out of the car. Emile stayed at my side, playing the role of prison guard, while the Keepers spent time smoothing the lines of their respective Chanel and Gucci suits. The driver and another man exited the car. I recognized both as elder Banes. They took up flanking positions beside the Keepers.

I looked around, trying to figure out where we were. We stood at the edge of a small meadow that broke up the pine forest. In the distance I could see the outlines of mountain peaks where snow-laden clouds curled around jagged rock. The air was too fresh to put us near any city, but we weren’t in the territory around Vail either.

We’d driven out of the storm as well. Here the occasional icy flake drifted past, but there was almost no sign of wind and the snow only reached our ankles in depth.

I caught the sign of movement in the trees across the open space. Figures emerged from the forest, coming toward us.

When I recognized the tumble of chestnut hair and long duster, I almost called out. Connor was alive. Just seeing him gave me hope that maybe the mission in Eydis hadn’t ended in disaster. Without thinking, I stepped toward him. Emile grabbed my arm, his fingers digging into my flesh hard enough to bruise. I ignored the pain as my eyes moved over the rest of the party, but I didn’t find who I was looking for. The two people I’d expect to lead an effort to rescue me, Shay and Ren, were nowhere to be seen. Neither were Bryn or Mason or Nev.

Connor was leading a slumped figure, who stumbled through the snow. Logan looked in much worse shape than the last time I’d seen him. When he got close, I saw his swollen, split lip and black eye.

“Father!” Logan cried out. Connor shoved an elbow into his ribs and Logan doubled over coughing.

“How dare you lay a hand on my son!” Efron shouted, eyes blazing. I saw power rolling over his shoulders like lightning and hoped Connor knew what he was doing. Even if an exchange had been agreed upon, if a wraith was in the mix, I didn’t have a lot of faith in our chances of getting out of this alive.

Anika glanced at Connor, shaking her head. “Enough.”

Connor continued to hold Logan’s gaze and dragged a finger across his throat. The young Keeper cowered and threw a pleading gaze at his father.

Quite the show they’re putting on for the Keepers. Please let it work.

Even though I wasn’t in on the plan, I trusted it was a good one.

A proud, stiff figure whose wrists were cuffed with steel kept pace with Anika. Sabine’s eyes were bloodshot, limbs trembling in the cold.

Sabine? What is she doing here? And why does she have metal restraints on her wrists?

Two more Searchers, armed with crossbows, took up the rear of the small party. They kept their weapons trained on Emile and the other two Banes. The small party came to a halt when they were about five feet away from us.

“I’d offer you refreshments, but you turned down my offer of hospitality,” Efron said to Anika, though he was watching Sabine. He looked as puzzled as I was by her appearance. His gaze was hard, shifting from fury to curiosity as she kept her own eyes downcast.

“Your offices hardly make a hospitable meeting place to us, Efron,” Anika said with a cold smile.

Efron shrugged. “Shall we do business, then?”

“As we’ve agreed,” Anika said. “The wolf for your son?”

Efron nodded.

Sabine stumbled forward suddenly, throwing herself at Efron’s feet. “Wait! You promised I could speak!”

The Banes sprang forward, shifting into wolf form. They stalked around Sabine.

Efron’s lips curled back in a sneer as he looked at the trembling girl on her knees in front of him.

I stared at her. What the hell was she doing?

“Please,” she said. “Please.”

“What is this?” Efron spat.

“That girl is useless to us,” Anika said stiffly. “But unlike you, we aren’t monsters. We don’t execute prisoners for no reason and we can’t risk her seeing our operations. She’s a liability.”

Sabine was sobbing and trying to tear out her hair through her bonds. “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry. I made a terrible mistake.”

“How pathetic,” Lumine said. “What a joy that we don’t share your burden of conscience.” She looked at the Banes and raised her hand. I couldn’t breathe, knowing she was about to give the order for them to rip Sabine apart.

“No.” Efron threw her a sharp glance. “This is for me to deal with.”

Lumine sighed, letting her hand fall. “As you wish.”

“Please forgive me, master.” Sabine stared up at him, her face wet with tears. “Show me your favor. Take me back.”

I felt sick, knowing this wasn’t real but unable to understand how it could be part of the Searchers’ plan. Why would Sabine come back to Efron? What good would come of that?

A smile slowly curved Efron’s mouth. “Dear Sabine, why would I open my arms to you? Betrayal cuts like the sharpest knife. Surely you know that.”

“I know,” she pleaded. “I didn’t understand. But I don’t belong with them. I belong with you.” She turned to glare at Anika. “They are fools,” she hissed. “I want to live. Let me come back to the Banes.”

Efron nodded. “You always were a survivor.”

She nodded.

“Dax and Fey would certainly welcome your return,” he continued, lazily trailing his hand through his golden hair. “Particularly since the third in your party proved a poor replacement for you.”

My blood felt colder than the air around us. Oh no.

Lumine smiled cruelly. “I told you she wouldn’t last.”

Efron shrugged.

Sabine wasn’t moving. She kept her eyes on Efron but didn’t speak.

My voice broke the silence. “Cosette?”

The question earned me a knock on the head from Emile that made my ears ring as I hit the snow on all fours.

“Keep your mouth shut, bitch.”

“Such a frail girl. Not much of a wolf either.” Efron shook his head slowly in mock regret. “One day after you’d left, we found her hanging from a tree outside the Bane compound. Only one day.”

His gaze slid over Sabine, his smile razor sharp. She didn’t flinch; instead she murmured, “Cosette was always weak.”

“Indeed.” Efron stretched his hand to Sabine. She took his fingers, letting him pull her up. “Welcome home, my dear.”

“Thank you.” She bowed her head.

“Can we move this along?” Connor suddenly bellowed, shoving Logan to his knees. “This one smells like his own piss.”

Efron glared at him. “If you’ve harmed my son…”

“No permanent damage has been done,” Anika said. “I assure you.”

“Give him to us,” Efron said, though he kept his hold on Sabine. “Now.”

“Not before we have the wolf,” Anika replied.

“Emile.” Efron jerked his chin toward Connor.

With a sweep of his arm, Emile lifted me onto my feet and had me stumbling toward the Searchers. At the same time, Connor kicked Logan, who began to scramble through the snow, Connor behind him. We stopped less than a foot apart.

Emile grinned at Connor. “Well, well. I haven’t seen you since a minute before I made meat out of your leader.”

“I won’t forget to show my thanks for that,” Connor said.

“I look forward to it,” Emile said.

Connor grabbed Logan by the shoulders, thrusting the Keeper out in front of him. “Let’s just do this.”

“Happily,” Emile snarled, tightening his grip on my waist. “Sorry we didn’t have more time to chat, Calla.”

I glared at him. “Go to hell.”

Despite my outrage, my heart was pounding as I glanced over my shoulder at Sabine. We couldn’t leave her here. We just couldn’t. Then I was being shoved forward and I saw Logan tumbling past me. I threw Connor a pleading look as Emile let me go.

Connor shouted before I could catch my breath, and in the next moment I was in the Searcher’s arms and we were running through the snow toward the other side of the meadow. Light blazed ahead of us as a portal opened and I heard voices calling my name.

The Banes were already lunging after us, but the Searchers had anticipated Keeper treachery. Crossbows twanged as Connor pulled me into the shimmering doorway with Anika at our side, calling orders even as we ran from the snow-filled meadow. I twisted in his arms, looking for Sabine. Just as the portal’s light poured over me, I met her gaze and thought I saw her smile.

EIGHTEEN

“WE HAVE TO GO BACK!” I shrieked at Connor, who struggled to hold me as Adne closed the door.

“What did they do to you? Have you lost your mind?” Connor shouted as I thrashed against him. “Why the hell would we go back there? And by the way, that’s some thanks for the rescue!”

“You left Sabine!” Tears were running down my cheeks and I couldn’t stop them. I was too angry and too afraid for what would happen to her.

Connor rolled his eyes. “We didn’t leave her.” He shoved me away with a grunt.

“It’s part of the plan, Calla,” Adne said gently.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Connor glared at me.

“The plan?” I forced myself to take a breath, shuddering out my wild emotions.

“Like I said.” Connor laughed. “No confidence in us at all.”

“We needed someone who could watch the Keepers and communicate with the Guardians,” Adne said.

“And Sabine was your best choice?” I couldn’t quite keep the anger out of my voice. “Do you know what she’s been through?”

“It was Sabine’s idea,” Anika answered, giving me a measured gaze.

I opened and closed my mouth again, unable to reply. Sabine came up with this plan?

“And it was a good plan,” Anika said. “We need her help. She’s the best link between Keepers and Guardians we have.”

“You didn’t worry that Efron wouldn’t take the bait?” I asked, feeling a bit unsteady in the current of this information.

“Logan was sure he would,” Connor said. “Something about pride being his father’s greatest weakness, Sabine as an Achilles’ heel, blah, blah, more metaphors.”

“Fine.” I bared my fangs at Connor. “But how does Ethan feel about all of this?”

“He only agreed if we let him go too.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. “Ethan is in Vail?”

“Yep,” Connor said. “He insisted.”

“But they’ll kill him.”

“God, Connor.” Adne glared at him. “Don’t say it like that.”

Connor grinned. “But it’s so much more fun when she looks like she’s going to throw up.”

She ignored him, turning to me. “Calla, Ethan isn’t with the Keepers. He and Nev are with Tom Shaw.”

“At the Burnout?” I asked.

“He built what’s pretty much a bunker under that bar,” Connor said. “We’ve used it as a safe house from time to time. Nev and Ethan are staying there, coordinating intelligence coming in from the Guardians through Sabine and Logan. Logan’s keeping tabs on his father and the other Keepers. Sabine is lining up allies among the Banes and hopefully getting your father to do the same with the Nightshades. We’re using them to set up the final offensive on Rowan Estate.”

I swallowed the hard lump that formed in my throat. “When is the attack?”

“If we pick up this last piece,” Adne said quietly, “we attack at midnight.”

“That soon?” I asked.

“Well, considering we’ve jumped a few times zones, it’s actually already in the past.” Connor wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I’d assumed Connor had dragged me through a portal back to the Academy. But we weren’t in the Searchers’ building. It had been afternoon when we’d left the mountain meadow. Now we were outside and it was dark, but not night. The air was full of the promise of dawn. Hushed pink light crept upward into deep gray sky.

“We’re in New Zealand,” Adne said. “Where it’s already tomorrow morning.”

“But when we get back to Vail for the attack, it will still be midnight yesterday,” Connor said.

“You’re giving me a headache,” I said.

“It’s what he does best.” Adne grinned.

“Let’s be on our way.” Anika started walking. “The others are waiting.”

“Where are they?” I asked as my mind began to settle.

“They’re at the boat,” Adne said.

“Another boat?” I groaned.

“Different sort of trip this time,” Connor said. “No swim at the end.”

He led us into the brightening morning, pushing through a forest unlike any I’d seen. The ground beneath my feet was rough, broken rocks that seemed to be halfway to becoming sand. Trees with spiky limbs and thick leaves stretched over us, complemented by dense brush, tightly packed along the forest floor.

When the path opened up, the trees thinning to slope down onto a wide beach, I heard two familiar voices shout at once.

“Calla!”

Ren and Shay were both staring at me. They were sitting back to back. And they were tied up.

I stared at them. “What the-”

Mason, who’d been circling the captive boys as a wolf, shifted forms.

“Thank God!” He ran to me, catching me in a tight embrace. “It is so good to see you.”

“You too.” I hugged him and then pointed to Ren and Shay, who were now squirming against their restraints. “What’s going on?”

“We had to tie them up,” Adne said.

“And I had to guard them,” Mason said. “Even after creating the most intricate knots known to mankind. I even bit Shay once.”

“I wasn’t being that difficult,” Shay said.

“Yes, you were.”

“Why did you have to tie them up?” I asked, watching as Connor drew a knife and began to saw through the ropes holding Shay and Ren together.

“You didn’t have to tie us up!” Shay shrugged the frayed ropes off.

“Yes, we did!” Adne’s hands were on her hips. “You would have torn right through that portal to get to her. You were both acting like morons.”

“She’s right,” Ren said. “They probably did have to tie us up.”

Shay grinned.

“Shut up!” Adne glared at Ren. “You’re still on my list of people I’m angry with. Don’t think you’ll get off it by agreeing with me.”

Ren gave Connor a sidelong glance. “She keeps a list, huh?”

“Don’t worry,” Connor said. “I’ve been on it for years.”

“I heard that.” Adne’s voice jumped up a couple of octaves.

“I’m sure you did, gorgeous.” Connor jumped back, having cut through the rope, as Shay and Ren both leapt up and rushed at me.

I took a few steps back, anticipating a tackle. But they both pulled up just short, breathing hard, glancing from each other to me.

“Hey,” I said, unsure what to do. I wished they would both just hug me, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

“Hey,” Ren said, folding his arms over his chest. “Sorry we couldn’t come save you ourselves.” I could see his pulse jumping at his throat.

Shay looked just as uncomfortable, giving Ren an uneasy smile. “Not that we didn’t want to. Hence the being tied up.” He raked a hand through his windblown hair. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “The wraith was awful. But it was over pretty quickly. At least from my perspective. After I passed out, I don’t remember much. I woke up in my room. Lumine was there.”

“What happened?” Ren asked.

“They asked questions I didn’t answer,” I said. “Then came the trade. I wasn’t there long.”

“But you were back in Vail?” Shay asked.

“Yes.” I shivered at the memory of my room, of Lumine pretending to be my mother. “I saw my dad, though. I think he could help us.”

“That’s the point of having Ethan and Sabine working in Vail,” Connor said. “Let’s hope they can make that connection.”

“We’ll send a dispatch to Ethan and Tom,” Anika said. “It’s good that you could speak with your father, Calla.”

I nodded, wondering if my father really could bring the Nightshades over to our side.

“Open a door, Adne,” Anika continued. “It’s time for me to update the Guides and set the stage for tonight.”

“Tell them to cross their fingers and toes,” Connor said.

Adne began to weave, the threads from her skean mirroring the light of dawn that spilled from the shoreline up into the forest where we stood. Ren stood close to his sister, entranced by her work.

“So Pyralis is here?” I asked Connor, drawing him away from the others.

“It’s out there.” He pointed to the silhouette of an island in the distance. “That’s Whakaari.”

“And we’re going there now?” I glanced at my companions. Our group had shrunk. Ethan, Sabine, and Nev were in Vail. Silas was gone. “Just us? We don’t get reinforcements?”

“We don’t know what’s out there.” Connor’s jaw clenched. “We wanted to risk as few as possible.”

“That’s reassuring.” I tried to laugh, but it came out like my voice cracking.

“We’ll manage.” Shay rested his fingers lightly on my arm. The gentle touch warmed my cold skin.

“We’d better,” Connor said. “This is it. Last stop on the big ride.”

“You know where it is on the island?” I asked.

“We know where the entrance to the chamber is,” Connor replied. “Our best guess is that the blade is somewhere inside the volcano.”

“Wait… volcano?” I could feel my eyes bulge.

Shay nodded. “There are lots of active volcanoes in New Zealand. Look.” He pointed at the sky above the island. A plume of ash rose steadily into the clouds.

Mason came up beside me and slid his arm around my shoulders. “I didn’t believe it when they first told me either.”

“We’re going into a volcano,” I said, shoulders slumping. “That’s… that’s just fantastic.”

There is no way in hell we’ll pull this off.

“What’s a volcano compared to a mutant spider? Or piranha vampire bats?” Shay grinned at us. “Come on, it’s an adventure. Besides, tourists go out there all the time. The volcano can’t be that dangerous.”

“I’m guessing the tourists aren’t trying to steal a forbidden object out from under the noses of evil witches.”

“Not unless they’ve paid for the deluxe package,” Shay replied solemnly.

I stared at him for a moment before I began to laugh.

“You’re crazy, man,” Mason said, but he was laughing too.

“What did I miss?” Adne asked as she and Ren joined us. I turned to see the portal was gone, along with Anika.

“Only Shay’s twisted sense of humor,” Connor replied. “Let’s get to the boat.”

Mason, Adne, Connor, and I clambered into the boat while Shay and Ren shoved it off the beach into the water. Connor gunned the motor, sending us bouncing over the waves toward Whakaari.

“So where does Logan fit in to this plan?” I shouted over the roar of the motor and crash of waves.

“We need Logan on the inside.” Adne shielded her eyes as the sun crested the horizon. “He’ll be pivotal when Shay gets to the Rift.”

“Why?” I asked.

“A Keeper and only a Keeper can summon Bosque and force him to reveal his true form. Shay won’t be able to banish him unless that happens.”

“How can a Keeper force Bosque to do anything?” I asked. “He’s the one who controls them.”

“It has to do with the oath Keepers make in order to get their power-a test of loyalty,” she said. “Their allegiance to the Harbinger can only be sealed when he isn’t masked by a glamour. They have to commit to the real thing-and from what I understand, it isn’t pretty.”

“Warts and all,” Connor said.

“I think it’s a lot worse than warts,” Adne said.

“With luck we’ll see that for ourselves,” he said.

“Some luck,” Mason said.

Connor threw him a thin smile. “When Logan completes the invocation, Bosque will be in his true form. It’s a means of subjugating the Keepers to the Nether, but in our case it creates the opening in the veil we need to banish the Harbinger.”

I hated the thought that we were relying so much on someone with loyalties as slippery as Logan’s. “Do we really trust Logan to keep his end of the bargain?”

“Of course not!” Connor laughed. “But we don’t have a choice.”

“But what if he changes his mind?” I shouted. “Or he decides the writing on the wall actually says the Keepers are going to win?”

“It might happen.” Connor shrugged. “Not much we can do about it.”

“But he knows where the Academy is!”

Adne shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. We took care of that.”

“How?” I wiped water off my face as a wave splashed over the side of the boat.

“Sorry!” Connor yelled. “I’ll try to find a smoother route.”

“We put a hex on him,” Adne said. “If he so much as mentions Italy or the Academy or even tries to point it out on a map, he’ll choke to death on his own vomit.”

“Like what happened to Mr. Selby in Big Ideas,” Shay said. “Anika said that hexes are something all witches can pull off pretty easily, whether they’re amateurs or the professionals, like these guys.”

“Of course, the Keepers could always figure out a way to break our hex,” Connor said.

“We don’t need your commentary, Connor.” Adne slapped him on the back. “Just drive the boat!”

“Are you okay?” Shay was leaning over Mason, whose eyes were closed as his fingers, white-knuckled, gripped the edge of the boat.

Mason didn’t open his eyes but grimaced when Connor hit another wave, soaking us.

“Sorry!” Connor shouted, though he whooped as we bounced up and down.

“Just promise me that if we win, I’ll never have to get in another boat,” Mason said. “That’s all I want. No more boats.”

“Deal.” Shay put his arm around Mason. “No more boats.”

Ren climbed over to sit next to me. “How are you doing?” He leaned close and slipped his hand over mine.

“I’ll be okay,” I said, licking salt spray from my lips. “Though I think Mason’s whole ‘no more boats’ plan is a good one.”

“Yeah.” He smiled. “Wolves and the ocean. Just not natural.”

“No kidding,” I said.

He bent down, murmuring in my ear. “Did they hurt you, Calla? I was worried… Efron… or my… Emile…”

I shook my head. “Just the wraith.”

He squeezed my fingers tight and I looked up at him. “I’m really fine, Ren. But Sabine-”

My throat closed. No matter how good a plan it was, I hated the thought of her being at Efron’s mercy.

Still clasping my fingers tight, he growled, staring at the island that loomed before us. “I didn’t want her to go. None of us did. We argued for a long time.”

I nodded. At least I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t comfortable with this strategy. The price seemed too high.

“I thought Ethan would kill someone,” Ren was saying. “He went crazy.”

“I’m sure,” I said.

Ren smiled at me. “Kind of like Shay and I did when they took you.”

“What happened?” I asked, blushing at the warmth in his eyes. “After the wraith attacked me.”

“There was another wraith.” His smile vanished. “Two Keepers were waiting for us in the dive shop. Connor got Adne out onto the deck. She wove as fast as she could.”

“But the wraith?” I shivered, hating the memory of its stench in my nostrils, burning through my lungs. The way it had felt like I was being flayed.

“It came at us.” Ren stiffened. “I thought at least a few of us would be dead before anyone could get out.”

His eyes moved over to Shay, who was chatting amiably with Mason. He’d managed to get the seasick wolf laughing, which was impressive.

“Connor was shouting at everyone to stay back, but Shay jumped in front of him,” Ren said. “And he pulled out that sword.”

I could see the hilt peeking out over Shay’s shoulder. “The sword stopped the wraith.”

Ren nodded. “It didn’t destroy the thing, but when Shay hit the wraith, it screamed. I’ve never heard a sound like that. I thought my ears would explode. It couldn’t get past him and he held it off until Adne had the door open and we escaped.”

He growled. “But we couldn’t do anything about you. You were gone.”

“I’m here now,” I said, pulling my hand from his grasp.

“I know.” He frowned, but leaned forward and kissed my cheek, swift and soft, despite my warning growl. “If we lost you… I can’t think about it. But you’re here and that’s all that matters.”

I glanced over at Shay. His eyes were on us, and while he didn’t look happy, he wasn’t lunging at Ren either, which struck me as odd. He nodded once and I realized he and Ren were gazing at each other, their faces calm and mutually respectful. What the hell?

Something had changed while I was gone. I knew I should be happy they weren’t fighting, but instead my skin prickled. What was going on with them?

“Almost there!” Connor shouted, bringing the boat’s speed down.

“Hallelujah!” Mason lifted his arms to the sky.

Shay laughed. “You realize you’re cheering our arrival at an active volcano.”

“I’ll take dry land over the sea any day,” Mason said. “Even dry land that could blow up under my feet.”

As we closed in on Whakaari, the ocean swells calmed in the shelter of the island resting on the edge of New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty. The engine purred as Connor navigated the coast, beaching us on a narrow strip of sand amid bleak volcanic rock that sprawled across the landscape. The only signs of life were the birds that swooped in the air above us. As I jumped onto the sand, I was struck by the strange mixture of colors that painted the island. Dark gray and brown stones contrasted with the slices of lime green and yellow crystals that grew among them. At intervals rivers of rust-colored rocks appeared, as if Whakaari had wounds that bled freely.

Steam rose from crevices in the island, filling the air with noxious gas.

“I take it back,” Mason said, covering his nose. “The water is better than this smell. Why do we keep doing things that make me want to throw up?”

“Almost forgot.” Connor tossed gas masks to each of us. “In case the fumes get too strong.”

“Where are we headed?” Shay asked.

“Just east of here.” Connor climbed out of the boat and began fumbling inside his jacket for something. “It’s a little ways up the slope. Not far, though.”

“And we don’t know what’s waiting for us?” Ren asked.

Adne shook her head. “Anyone who’s been sent here hasn’t come back.”

“Do you guys ever have good news?” Mason said. “Or have you heard of the power of positive thinking?”

“I’m too honest to be positive.” Adne threw him a wicked smile.

“What are you doing?” Shay peered at Connor, whose back was turned to us. “What is that?”

Shay grabbed Connor’s arm, turning him around to reveal a small notebook tucked in his palm.

“Hey!” Connor shouted. “I was in the middle of a sentence.”

“Are you… taking notes?” Shay asked.

Connor cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck uneasily. “It’s just… I thought that… you know… Silas.”

Adne walked over to Connor, stretched up on her tiptoes, and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. “You’re a good man after all.”

She smiled sadly, beginning to turn away, but Connor slid his arms around her waist, lifting her off her feet. The kiss he crushed onto her mouth was anything but chaste and lasted so long that soon we all turned away, blushing.

When he finally set her down, his voice was thick. “I give up. I love you, Adne. I am goddamned crazy in love with you.”

Adne threaded her fingers through Connor’s, squeezing his hand. “Just don’t die in there. Okay? We have lots to talk about after all this is over.”

“I’ll do my best.” Connor almost fell over when she threw herself at him, kissing him again. Mason whistled and started clapping.

We all gazed at each other-our silly grins momentarily washing away the tension of an impending fight. Only Ren wasn’t smiling. He was eyeing Connor suspiciously.

“What?” Connor asked, frowning at the alpha.

“That’s my sister,” Ren growled.

Connor stared at him. “I know. And I love her.”

“Great,” Ren said. “But what are your intentions?”

“My intentions?” Connor looked from Ren to Adne, frowning.

Ren grinned, showing Connor his sharp canines. “When all this is over, you and I have a lot to talk about too.”

NINETEEN

CONNOR LED THE WAY as we scrambled over rough rock that cut into my paws. It wasn’t a long climb, but it was tiring. We had to avoid deep punctures in the earth where bursts of steam or poisonous gas could spew up without notice. Unlike the vibrant forest of the coast, Whakaari was devoid of life, an utterly alien environment. Though breathtaking, the landscape was far too ominous to be beautiful, its very appearance serving to warn away intruders.

“It’s here!” Connor called, waving us forward. We’d reached a point where the slope pitched up suddenly. Straight ahead was a gash in the rock face. Tendrils of steam slipped from the crack, dancing like silk ribbons carried off by the wind.

Drawing closer to the opening, I could see the way the steam caught light flickering within the cavern. Its colors moved from silver to crimson to gold as it fled darkness to dissipate in the air above our heads.

Mason trotted up to the entrance, sniffed, and pawed the ground anxiously. Connor raised his eyebrows and Mason shifted forms.

“You want us to go in there-seriously?” He stared at the cave. “It smells like death. Horrible, farty death.”

“Is there any other kind?” Connor asked.

“He’s right.” Adne covered her mouth and nose. “It smells nasty.”

“Are we all going to make nosegays or just get this over with?” Connor pointed to the cavern.

“Do you really know what a nosegay is?” Adne laughed. “I’m impressed.”

“That is impressive,” Mason said. “Very nineteenth century of you. Not very manly, though… nosegays.”

Adne put her hands on Connor’s chest. “Don’t listen to him, sweetie. I still find you very manly.”

Connor swore and ducked into the cavern while Adne laughed.

“You’re not going to ease up on him after what he said to you?” I asked her.

“Explain to me how that would be fun,” she said, grinning at me.

“You’d better keep him on his toes,” Ren said as he followed Connor. “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”

“And I wouldn’t want to let my big brother down.”

“Good girl.” He flashed her a smile and disappeared into the cavern.

I squeezed my way into the cave. The air was hot, close, and smelled awful. I began to sweat immediately. Noxious gases seeped into each breath, unpleasant but not harmful enough to merit donning our masks. The tunnel was narrow but not too cramped; we could move along without stooping. Subtle, flickering hues that mimicked firelight illuminated our path. The gentle slope of the earth told me we were slowly making our way into the belly of the volcano.

Connor suddenly stopped, dropping to his stomach and squirming forward. As I got closer, I saw why. The tunnel had opened up, revealing a broad ledge. Connor had crawled to the edge, peering over it. One by one we bellied up alongside him. My breath caught at the sheer drop off the side. The path continued beyond the ledge, where it cut down sharply, transforming from a straight line into a tight, steep spiral.

More than a hundred feet below, I could see an open space, carved in a broad circle out of the volcanic rock. Its smooth surface was broken only by the occasional crevice, belching out steam. A raised stone slab-an unpleasant reminder of the sacrificial dais in the Keepers’ Chamber below Eden-lay at the center of the space. Hovering above the altar was the shimmering figure of a woman. Diaphanous robes of crimson and gold floated around her body, lending her a quality of substance that I knew wasn’t actually there.

“Cian,” Shay breathed.

Connor issued a slow string of curses. “She’s not alone.”

I followed Connor’s stony gaze to three bonfires posted like sentinels alongside Cian’s gleaming form.

“Wait a second.” Mason frowned. “How can the fires move?”

The flames’ positions were shifting, traveling around the dais in a slow circle. I peered down at them, realizing they weren’t shapeless. The dancing gold and crimson of each bonfire had a form.

“Oh my God,” I whispered. “That isn’t possible.”

Ren glanced at me and nodded. “I know.”

“Yes, it is.” Adne’s mouth set in a grim line. “Those are wolves.”

“I thought they were myths,” Connor said, rubbing his temples. “No wonder nobody ever comes back.”

“What are they?” Mason whispered, staring at the fiery creatures that circled Cian far below us.

“Lyulf,” Adne said. “Fire wolves.”

“Those aren’t wolves,” I hissed, hating the scent of sulfur and burning coal that surrounded us.

“Not the furry kind,” Connor said. “But they’re wolves, all right. Lyulf are the Harbinger’s favorite pets by repute. He used them in the first battle between Keepers and Searchers. Only he can summon them and-”

He broke off as Adne threw him a warning glare.

“And what?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Adne said.

“Just tell us.” Shay shifted the sword on his back, angling for a better view of the three Lyulf.

Connor grimaced. “By rumor they inspired the Keepers to create Guardians.”

“Not exactly a great copy.” Mason laughed. “I for one cannot become the human torch… or a wolf torch, for that matter.”

“It doesn’t matter what they inspired or when they fought,” Shay said. “How do we kill them?”

“We can’t.” Connor rolled onto his back, staring up at the cavern ceiling. “That’s the problem. Lyulf are powerful Nether beings, like wraiths. Worse than wraiths, actually.”

“I have a hard time believing anything is worse than a wraith,” I said.

“I support that lack of belief,” Ren said.

“Have you ever burned your tongue?” Connor asked. “Did you enjoy it?”

I frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”

“How do you plan to bite something that is made of fire?” He glared at me. “You’d scorch your lungs and be dead within a minute. We can’t fight them. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

“I drove off that wraith,” Shay said. “I’ll do the same here.”

“You can’t draw three of them at once,” Connor said. “And we need you to get the blade.”

“Interference,” Ren said. “Like with the bats. That’s what we have to do.”

Connor met his gaze and then looked away. “We won’t all make it.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Ren said. “Besides, isn’t that why it’s just us? Because we knew we wouldn’t all make it.”

Connor swore softly, his swords hissing out of their sheaths. “Anybody remember to bring a squirt gun? That could make all the difference.”

“So how will this work?” Shay asked, ignoring him.

“We’ll draw the Lyulf’s attack,” Ren said. “If we can keep them on the chase, we can buy you time and maybe avoid serious injury. You get the blade. Connor keeps Adne safe so we can get out of here as soon as you’re packing.”

Connor didn’t turn to face him, but he nodded.

“Let’s go.” Ren crouched and shifted forms. He glanced at me. I nodded, meeting Mason’s eyes as we both slid into our wolf forms. The three of us stalked down the spiraling path, into the belly of the volcano where the fire wolves circled Cian, eternally hunting any who dared trespass. I glanced back to see Shay, Connor, and Adne following behind us at a creeping pace.

The fumes grew stronger while we descended, turning my stomach. I shook my muzzle as my nostrils twitched with discomfort.

This would be so much better if we didn’t have to breathe, Mason complained.

Ren’s thought traveled back to us. Stay focused.

Mason dropped his muzzle low in compliance. I kept close to Ren’s flank. We were close enough to hear them now. Steady low snarls emerged from the Lyulf as they stalked their constant unchanging path, their muscles flexing, living flame, their movement like a ring of fire around Pyralis.

Ren paused in the shadows of a rock outcrop. The last place left to remain out of sight before the steep trail ended, leaving only the broad chamber in front of us. Another few steps and we’d be in the open, facing off with the Lyulf.

Try to keep them separated and moving. Don’t get cornered.

He raised his muzzle and howled. The Lyulf stopped their circling, turning in the direction of the sound, which now filled the entire cavern. The fire wolves lifted their heads in an answering cry. Smoke billowed from their mouths.

Ren leapt from his hiding place with Mason and me at his heels. The Lyulf stood their ground, snarling, watching us approach. As we closed in, I could see their eyes, smoldering coals set in the flames of their bodies. Empty save for hate and lust for the kill.

Ren bounded for them. The first of the Lyulf crouched and sprang at him. At the last possible moment Ren threw himself to the side, rolling away, and the Lyulf sailed past him. Ren was on his feet again. He barked, wagging his tail. Taunting the wolf.

Split. I shouted my thought at Mason and Ren. Hold their attention. We need to give Shay time.

I wheeled away from Ren, snarling at the second wolf while Mason snapped his jaws at the third. The heat pouring off the Lyulf was like a furnace. As I dashed past it, drawing its attack, I could smell my fur singe. I headed for the far side of the chamber, hoping to keep the fire wolves away from the path that Shay would need to take. I didn’t need to look back to know the Lyulf was at my heels. With every burst of speed I could feel its heat, flames licking my tail.

I heard Mason yelp and pivoted around, searching for him. He was still running ahead of the other Lyulf, but his flank was smoking.

Just keep running, Mason. I scrambled away from my own attacker. Hang on!

Darting, changing direction, doing everything I could to stay out of reach. My only choice was to run. Fighting wasn’t an option. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a blur of motion. A golden brown wolf sped across the room, reaching the dais where Cian hovered. He shifted forms, throwing himself at her outstretched arms. A flare of heat brushed across my heels and I leapt into the air. And froze.

The room went black. I was suspended in the air, hanging in empty space. No light. No sound. I could still breathe, but I didn’t want to. All our hopes were held in this moment.

Then I was falling. I hit the ground hard, my body slamming into rock.

The Lyulf was still behind me. It shook its muzzle, smoke boiling out of its nostrils. When its eyes focused on me, it snarled and lunged. I rolled onto my back, smelling burnt fur again but managing to avoid its attack.

Shay was shouting. “Adne, open the door!”

In the far corner of the room I saw twinkling lights as Adne began to weave. The Lyulf saw it too. Turning away from me, the fire wolf howled, drawing the attention of the wolf chasing Mason. The other wolf gave its own howl and the two burning beasts plunged in Adne’s direction.

We have to stop them, I called to Mason. Even as we chased the Lyulf, I searched the cavern for any sign of Ren. When my eyes found him, my hackles rose. He was limping, holding one paw up as he tried to dodge the fire wolf’s attack. But it was closing in on him, backing him up against a steaming fissure in the rock.

I didn’t know what to do. The other two Lyulf were racing toward Adne. I couldn’t block their attack and help Ren.

Calla? Mason saw the fire wolf stalking Ren too.

Before I could reply, I heard Connor shout, “Calla! Get your ass over here!”

Ahead I saw Connor holding his swords low, his expression bleak as the wolves approached. My heart felt like it was being torn in two. I knew what I had to do.

Ren stands a better chance against the Lyulf than Connor. I sent a shaky thought to Mason. Adne is our only way out of here.

I know, Mason answered, putting on another burst of speed.

Keep moving, Ren, I called to him, not daring to look in his direction again. We’ll be there as soon as we can.

Just keep her safe. His answering thought came almost immediately. Don’t worry about me.

Shut up, I snarled. And stay alive.

We’d almost caught the wolves. I threw all my strength into the leap as I hurled myself over the flaming bodies, landing in front of them and skidding to a stop in front of Connor. I wheeled around, snarling. My appearance startled the Lyulf, which gnashed its white-hot fangs. I dashed forward, teasing it by putting myself nearly within its reach and then sliding just out of range of its teeth. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mason mimicking my actions.

It seemed to be working. Fury at their inability to reach us drew the wolves’ attention off Adne and Connor.

Let’s try drawing them toward Ren.

I was about to make a dash for the alpha, but when I turned, I was shocked to see Ren barreling straight for us. I could see the pain in each movement as he hit the ground with his injured paw. The Lyulf was right behind him and it was faster now that Ren was hurt.

I barked a warning as the fire wolf leapt, but there was nothing I could do. The flaming creature rose into the air, about to come down on Ren’s back.

Roll! I shouted a warning, hoping Ren would hear me in time. Roll to the side!

Ren threw his body away from the descending wolf. But in the same moment another wolf took Ren’s place beneath the attacking Lyulf. And then it wasn’t another wolf but instead it was Shay, a sword in each hand.

The twin swords sliced through the wolf. It screamed, belching smoke. And then there was nothing but ash falling like gentle snow on Shay’s shoulders. He whirled, meeting my eyes as I bounded past him. Shay wielded the blades so swiftly I could barely follow their movement. A second scream signaled the demise of my own Lyulf attacker.

Connor whooped. “Scion!”

The celebratory cry was a terrible mistake. The Lyulf that had been focused on Mason spun around, its burning-pitch eyes narrowing as it stalked toward the Searcher. Mason howled, trying to draw its attack, but the Lyulf ignored him.

Connor lifted his swords as the fire wolf leapt. “Adne, stay back!”

I was running, all too aware I couldn’t get there in time. Shay was at my side, in his wolf form, his toenails clattering on the rocky floor as we ran.

Adne’s scream cut through the chamber. “No!” And then she was there, shoving Connor aside.

Her sudden appearance startled the wolf, throwing its attack slightly off. She threw her arm up and the Lyulf’s jaws locked around her biceps. She shrieked as it took her to the ground.

Connor rolled to his feet. “Adne!”

He threw himself at the wolf, but I reached him first, knocking him aside. Shay shifted, running the Lyulf through even as it stood above Adne. The wolf shuddered and crumbled, blanketing Adne in ash.

“Get off me!” Connor shoved me away from him, struggling to his feet. He rushed to Adne’s side.

“Connor.” Shay was kneeling beside her. “Just wait.”

“Let me see her!” He knocked Shay over, cradling Adne against him. Her eyes were glassy and she wasn’t moving.

Connor began to sob. I shifted into human form, crouching beside him. My breath caught when I saw what he was staring at. Adne’s arm from fingertips to shoulder was unrecognizable. Her skin was charred to black, and I glimpsed the white of bone where the wolf’s jaws had torn through her flesh. Her shirt had been partially burned away, revealing blistering red on her neck and chest.

Ren limped up beside us, whining. He shifted forms, kneeling behind her head.

“Is she breathing?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Connor choked. “I can’t tell.”

“Let me have her,” Ren said.

Mason pulled Connor back and Ren stretched out beside his sister, laying his head on her sternum. After a moment he blew out a long breath.

“It’s faint, but it’s there,” Ren said. “I need to give her blood.”

“She’s in shock,” Shay said. “I don’t know if she’ll be able to swallow.”

“All we can do is give it a shot.”

When Ren bit his arm, I saw that his own hand was badly burned, the skin broken and blistering.

“Lift her head,” he instructed Shay. When Shay had her chin tilted up, her head resting in his hands, Ren carefully opened her mouth, letting blood slowly drip in. It began to fill her mouth, red liquid trickling down her chin.

“Come on, Adne,” I murmured. “You’re a fighter.”

“Please.” Connor twisted out of Mason’s grasp, dropping on his knees beside her. “Please come back to me.”

Her throat began to move. She swallowed.

“More,” I said. Ren pressed his arm to her mouth. She swallowed again. And again. Her other arm came up, fingers curling around Ren’s wrist as she drank. Slowly, her body began to remake itself. The redness and blisters faded from her chest and neck. New flesh flowed over her arm, the charred remnants of her muscles falling away as Ren’s blood healed her. After another minute, all signs of the Lyulf’s attack were gone. She sat up, wiping her mouth.

“That was incredible.” She looked down at her healed arm, flexing her fingers.

Connor swooped her into his arms. “Damn it, girl.” He kissed her, curling his body around hers. “What kind of crazy stunt was that? Don’t ever try to save me again.”

“You were about to sacrifice yourself to protect me.” She smiled up at him. “There was no way I was going to let you get out of our relationship that easily.”

TWENTY

WAVES LAPPED THE SHORELINE a few yards from where we lounged on the rocks. We’d been staring at the Elemental Cross for several minutes, catching our breath, trying to believe we’d succeeded in our impossible task.

“I’m itching to make a clever remark like ‘I thought they would be shinier,’” Mason said, clamping his hand over the wound on his arm that he’d opened to give Ren blood. “But I have to admit they seem to be the perfect shininess.”

Shay laughed, flipping the blades in the air and catching them effortlessly. I didn’t know if it was indeed the shininess, but something about the two swords was perfect, complete.

It was the first time I’d seen Eydis, having been taken out of the fight in Mexico ahead of schedule. Of all the pieces of the cross, I thought it might be the most beautiful. The hilt of Shay’s second sword was the same size and shape as Haldis, but where the earth hilt gleamed with the rust of clay and depth of fertile soil, the water hilt boasted shimmering azure and sea green. The colors shifted constantly on its surface, giving it the appearance of containing moving waters within.

The blade rising out of Eydis made me shudder. Its surface leapt with flames that seemed alive, like the burning flesh of the Lyulf. Shay swore that he couldn’t feel the heat of the flames, but whenever any of the rest of us came near Pyralis, its intense fire prevented close inspection.

While we rested, taking in the enormity of what happened, Shay practiced using the blades in concert. Though I’d already watched him fight with the Elemental Cross against the Lyulf, its power still mesmerized me. When Shay moved, the swords became extensions of his body. He flowed with the sweep of blades. And the sound. The sound was unlike anything I’d heard before. With each strike, each movement, came the rush of wind, the crash of waves, the roar of fire-all balanced by the stillness of the earth. The power running up and down the blades, grounding in the strength of each hilt, was palpable, making my skin tingle. But it wasn’t just the swords, it was Shay himself. Grace, strength, and unwavering focus came from him, working in concert with the Elemental Cross. Wielding the swords, he was beautiful… and terrible.

I shivered as I watched him, a part of me wondering if he could be this thing-this force that was the Scion-and still be the boy I loved.

I glanced at Ren, who sat between Mason and me. His eyes followed Shay’s every movement, narrowed in concentration. He looked pensive as he tracked the Scion. He gaze struck me as odd. I could have sworn his dark eyes were sad, almost regretful.

“We should get back,” Adne said. “Anika needs us.”

“You’re right,” Connor said. He was stretched lazily across the ground with Adne leaning against him. His pose was deceptively casual, but I’d been watching the way he had one arm curved around her, holding her close to his body as though he never intended to let her go, while his other hand stroked her hair. “We took our victory lap. Time to return to battle.”

Adne kissed the underside of Connor’s jaw before hopping to her feet.

A bittersweet sensation climbed up my spine as she wove the door that would return us to the Academy. We’d accomplished our goal, but this brief celebration meant the stakes had just been raised. In a matter of hours we’d be making a full assault on the Keepers. Everything about my world had been turned inside out. The masters I’d once served had become my enemies, and I was about to go into battle in the hopes of destroying them.

“You ready for this?” Ren asked. When I met his eyes, I knew his thoughts were similar to mine.

I flexed my fingers and stood up. “I have to be. We all do.”

“History awaits you,” Connor said to Shay as he gestured to the shimmering portal.

“Just because you’re trying to keep notes for Silas doesn’t mean you have to sound like him,” Adne said.

Connor grimaced. “Point taken.”

On the other side of the portal we were greeted by a roar from the assembled Searchers. Haldis Tactical had never been intended to hold all the Searchers at once. They’d crowded into the room, pushing up against the walls and spilling out the doorway into the hall.

When Shay appeared, the crowded hushed, waiting. When he lifted the Elemental Cross, the room erupted into cheers. Anika strode up to Shay and bowed. When she raised her face, her cheeks glistened with tears.

She lifted her arms and the noise settled into a low buzz.

“We only have a few hours. You know your assignments. Be prepared to move at six a.m.”

The room emptied in a few minutes. A handful of Searchers lingered, gazing at the swords and murmuring their thanks to Shay, but soon only our group plus Anika remained.

“You’re all well?” the Arrow asked. “No need of the Elixirs?”

Connor slid his arm around Adne. “A close call, but we have ready-made healers in our wolf friends.”

Anika glanced at Connor’s tight grip on Adne. A smile flickered across her mouth and then vanished.

“Yes,” she said, turning her gaze on the wolves. “We’re grateful for that gift.”

“What time is it anyway?” Mason yawned.

“Four o’clock,” Anika said.

“Two hours,” Ren said.

“I’m afraid I need to make it only one,” Anika said. “The teams are fully debriefed, but I need to get you up to speed. Take a bit of rest and meet me back here.”

“Any word from Vail?” I asked. Our mission had been vital, but it wasn’t the only one in play. The stakes were high on all fronts.

“Nothing,” she said. “Though we’ll see if that’s changed when we alert them that we’ve retrieved the Cross.”

I bit my lip, wondering if Sabine had been able to find my father. What had Nev and Ethan been doing? Was Nev risking himself by trying to find other wolves on patrol? Could he bring them over to our side?

So much depended on each piece falling into its place. With only one missing, we’d fail.

Connor had leaned over to whisper to Adne. She nodded and he cleared his throat, speaking to the rest of us.

“If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be taking that rest. See you in an hour.”

As they left, I heard a quiet growl and turned to see Ren starting after them.

I grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare.”

“He’s taking advantage.” Ren was bristling, ready to attack.

“No, he isn’t.” I tugged Ren backward. “Trust me.”

He shot me a suspicious look but stopped trying to pull away from me.

“What are you going to do?” he asked. “Rest?”

“There’s no way,” I said, feeling the rush of my own heartbeat. “But I am going to change. I’ve been in these clothes for two days. Maybe a shower-”

He grinned and my cheeks flamed.

“Never mind.” I let go of his arms, backing up a few steps as images of Ren clad only in a towel flashed in my mind.

He laughed softly. “I’ll see you in an hour, Lily.”

I hated that I was still blushing, so I settled for growling at him. It only made him laugh harder.

“Am I the only one who’s hungry?” Mason rubbed his belly.

“You’ll find your friends Bryn and Ansel in the kitchen,” Anika said. “Tess should be with them.”

“In the kitchen?” Shay frowned. “Why?”

“After that incident with Logan we thought it best to keep him in one place.”

“So kitchen duty?” I asked.

“Washing dishes is punishment enough for someone who has been through what your brother has,” Anika said with a sad smile. “He can’t behave that way and be free here. But any one of us might have felt justified in such an attack if we’d been in his place.”

“I’m glad you see it that way.”

“The kitchen should keep him out of mischief,” Anika said.

“That’s where I’ll be, then,” Mason said. When he passed me, he leaned in, whispering, “Doesn’t she realize how many knives An could steal from the kitchen?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Anika engrossed in conversation with Shay as he held out the blades for her inspection.

“I’ll walk out with you,” I said, taking Mason’s arm. I managed to keep myself from meeting Ren’s eyes again. I didn’t know what I’d find there and I wasn’t sure I was in any state of mind to handle it. Too many thoughts about our chances, the risks, and all the losses that had already happened were racing through my mind. The sort of thoughts that led to impulsive, irrational decisions. I needed to be steadier than that before this battle.

“You wanna come see Ansel and Bryn?” Mason asked, pausing by the staircase.

“I’ll be there soon,” I said. “But I really do need to get out of these clothes.”

“Yeah, you do.” Mason nodded. “I was just too polite to bring it up.”

“Thanks.” I punched him on the arm.

“See ya!” He pecked me on the cheek and bounded down the steps.

Weariness settled deep in my bones as I slipped into my room, letting the door close quietly behind me. I forced myself to change first, though the bed was calling my name. If I lay down, I might not get up before it was time to go. I used my shirt to rub as much grime and soot from my skin as I could. A shower would have been ideal, but I was too worried about time and a possible Ren ambush to return to the baths.

I’d just finished buckling my belt when a quiet knock sounded at the door.

“Who is it?” I called.

“Shay.”

A knot formed low in my belly. I’d been worried about Ren, but the sound of Shay’s voice drove all other thoughts away. His life was so focused on the fight to come. He was the key. He was the Scion. And now he had the Elemental Cross.

But he was knocking on my door, and he was still the boy I loved… wasn’t he?

“Come in.”

He came into the room, keeping his distance. “Can we talk?”

The knot in my stomach petrified, becoming a painful lump, heavy in my gut.

I nodded.

“I don’t mean to go all emo on you,” he said, “but I want you to know that you’re going to be okay. No matter what happens tonight.”

The rock-like sensation dissolved into surprise. “What?”

“You won’t be alone.” He walked toward me.

I stared at him, utterly perplexed. “I won’t be alone?”

“No.” He took my hands in his. “Ren and I…”

I snatched my hands away with a hiss. “Ren and you?”

“Uh… we-”

“You what?” I snarled.

“Well…” He swallowed, backing off as he saw my teeth sharpen. “We had a chance to talk.”

“Talk about what?”

“You… We thought that-”

“When were you and Ren talking about me?”

“They had us tied up together for a while.” He grabbed an armchair, shoving it between us like a fortification. “Mason took a nap… that was after he bit me.”

I strolled toward him, kneeling on the chair cushion while my fingers wrapped around its frame. “I’m listening.”

“After we stopped trying to get out of the rope, we argued for a while.”

“That’s a shocker.”

“Arguing about you led to talking.” He took another step back when my fingers pierced the chair’s upholstery.

“Go on.”

His eyes were wild. “Maybe I should just go-”

“Tell me, Shay.” It was more of a growl than a sentence.

“Listen, don’t be mad,” he said. “I hate to say it, but I think I may have been wrong about Ren.”

“Wrong how?”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “I still don’t like him, but I didn’t get how he felt about you.”

The fire of my rage was in danger of being outpaced by the fear that drove my pulse. How much had they talked about? What right did they have to talk about me at all?

“He’s been in love with you for… well, pretty much forever.”

“You believe he means that?” I lowered my gaze, blood thundering in my ears. I knew it was true, but for Shay to believe it and for him to be talking about it… I couldn’t understand where this was leading.

“I wish I didn’t,” he said quietly. “But yeah. He’s for real.”

We didn’t speak. Silence hovered around us thick as fog. Finally he sighed. “But I’m willing to accept that it’s a good thing for all of us.”

I looked at him sharply. “Why would you say that?”

“Because when I’m gone”-he took a deep breath-“I know he’ll be here to take care of you. He promised me that.”

“When you’re gone?!” I glared at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Calm down, Calla,” he said. “This is probably our last chance to talk. I don’t want to fight with you.”

“Oh, we’re going to fight.” I sprang out of the chair, shifting midair and slamming him. As we slid across the floor, he shifted forms, leaving two snarling wolves to crash into the wall.

What the hell? He growled, rolling onto his feet.

I barked, crouching to leap again. I will show you how much I need to be taken care of.

His nails scraped against the floor as he backed away. Stop.

There was no way in hell I was stopping. I couldn’t remember a time when fury had shrieked through my veins like this. Without hesitation I lunged at him. We rolled across the floor, teeth snapping as we each struggled to gain an advantage. He almost had me pinned, but I squared a solid kick with my hind legs into his belly, which sent him careening across the room. Scrambling up, I chased him around the bed.

I do not need to be protected. I threw my shout at him as I ran. And if I choose to be alone, I will be.

That wasn’t what I meant. He jumped away from my bite and onto the bed. I just want you to be happy.

Then don’t make decisions for me. Ever.

He bent down, grabbed the coverlet in his jaws, and leapt off the bed. A net of opaque cotton captured me.

Hey! I struggled, blinded by the blankets that covered me. Not fair.

Innovation isn’t fair?

We were evenly matched, neither of us giving ground nor gaining a lasting advantage. I had years of fighting as a wolf on my side, but Shay was less inhibited by his wolf instincts. He made choices in the fight that never would have occurred to me.

I was ready for him when he tackled me. I bucked up immediately, tossing, keeping him off balance. Frustration won out and I simply shredded the blanket rather than trying to find my way out of it.

Shay was snarling, circling behind me. I whirled around, bracing myself for his attack.

He pawed the ground, agitated.

Come on. I threw the challenge at him as I growled. I was about to throw myself on him again when he shifted forms, holding his hands up.

“Wait, Cal. Not that this isn’t fun, but I’m not here to fight you. I was just trying to make a point.”

I snarled as I shifted forms. “A point about giving up?”

“I’m not giving up. I’m being realistic,” Shay said. “How likely is it that I’ll come out of this battle alive?”

“As likely as any of the rest of us,” I said. Though admittedly that wasn’t too likely either.

“No,” he said. “Not considering what I have to do.”

“What?” I said. “So you’re the hero, which automatically means you die in the end?”

“Probably. And that’s why I made Ren promise to take care of you,” he said. “Even Harry Potter died. Well, for a few minutes.”

I ignored his joke, baring my teeth at him. “Why would you bring Ren into this? You hate him.”

“I hate him because he’s your mate… You two are the perfect match.” He broke his gaze from mine with a shrug. Suddenly he laughed, shaking his head. “If I thought things would turn out differently, I swear I’d fight him until we were both ripped to shreds. I’d fight for you forever, Calla. I don’t give a damn how much he loves you. But like I said, we talked and I can live with what we decided.”

“If you both are making decisions for me, why isn’t he here too?” I asked, still throwing knives at him with my eyes. “Now that you’ve become such good friends.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. It’s more of an understanding,” Shay said. “I think he feels a little bad for me.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “Why?”

“After we all heard what I have to do to finish this, I think he’s pretty sure I’m dead too.”

“You mean facing Bosque?” I asked.

He nodded. “I have to kill the only relative I’ve ever known. Plus he’s an über-demon and all.”

“He’s not your blood kin. Not really,” I said. “You know that. And if this works, you’ll have your parents.”

“I guess.” He sighed.

I took his face in my hands, holding his gaze. “You’re not going to die.”

“You sound pretty sure.” He smiled, but his moss green eyes were sad-like he’d already lost me.

My hands dropped to my sides. “You’re not going to die, because I will always save you,” I said. “That’s what I do.”

“Not this time,” he said. “This is different. This is the end. I know it.”

I growled and then I slapped him.

“Hey!” His hand pressed to his cheek.

“You always say that when I slap you,” I said.

“I think it’s a problem that you know what I say when you slap me,” he said. “That’s not the kind of intimacy I’m looking for.”

“You’re not looking for intimacy at all!” My hands balled into fists so tight the blood drained from my knuckles. “You’re running away from it! You’re running away from me!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, rubbing his reddened skin. “I was just trying to be honest.”

“Honest about giving me up?!” I refused to cry, so I kept shouting. “Honest about not loving me?!”

I stumbled away from him, muscles quivering with rage and shame. I’d seen this coming. He wasn’t mine. Now that he was the Scion, his destiny was all that mattered. Didn’t he understand that I’d abandoned mine for his sake? Betrayal stung up and down my chest like the fury of a dozen wasps, making it hard to breathe.

“Calla.” He was behind me, turning me gently to face him.

“How dare you?!” I beat my fist against his chest. “How dare you try to push me away?!”

“I could never…”

“You just did.” My teeth were sharp and I was ready to attack him all over again.

He put his hands on my shoulders. “Just listen to me. I’m not trying to push you away. I’m trying to give you what you deserve. Ren loves you.”

“Stop saying that,” I snarled. I didn’t want to hear any more about Ren loving me. I wanted Shay to take away my growing fear that he didn’t want me… that maybe he’d never loved me.

“And you love him,” Shay said. I fell silent, surprised not only by his words but by the way he held my gaze. I watched pain flare in his eyes. “I didn’t want to face it, but it’s true. You love him, Calla.”

It took me a moment to catch my breath. I threaded my fingers through his, finally understanding what Shay was trying to do. He was giving me a choice. He was setting me free. “You’re right. I love him.”

He sighed, but I tightened my grip on his hand.

“But not the way I love you,” I said.

I leaned forward, pressing my lips against his, waiting until he responded to the kiss. He pulled me closer, the soft kiss building in heat and strength as it lingered between us.

“It doesn’t matter that Ren and I have a past,” I whispered against his mouth. “You’re my future. You’re the path I chose from the moment I saved you on the mountain.”

He didn’t speak, but rested his forehead against mine.

“You will make it through this fight, Shay,” I said. “You have to. I will not lose you.”

He laughed quietly and kissed me. “I’ll do my best. I’d hate to disappoint my alpha.”

“And I can’t afford to lose my alpha,” I said.

His smile remained, but light flared in his eyes. “You mean me?”

“You know I do. You’ve always known who you are to me-to the pack. Even before I did. You were a lone wolf. Then you found us.”

“I didn’t know who I was or where I belonged until I met you,” he said, leaning down to brush his lips across my cheek.

“So, alpha…” I took his hand. “You ready to go get the bad guys?”

“If you insist,” he said, placing one last gentle kiss on my lips. He paused just before we reached the door. “Calla, I’m sorry… I just wanted-”

“I know what you wanted, Shay,” I said, lifting his fingers to my mouth and gently kissing them. “And that’s why I love you.”

TWENTY-ONE

WE LEFT THE ROOM. Shay shifted into wolf form in the hallway, as did I. Searchers passing by occasionally exchanged hushed murmurs or gave us startled looks. But the most common reactions were nods of respect or knowing smiles.

Shay wagged his tail. Nice to be part of the team.

Still a little odd. I nipped his shoulder. But yeah. It’s nice.

I watched Shay’s ears flicking back and forth, his eyes alert as we moved. He’d adjusted to his wolf self so naturally. Sometimes I felt like he truly had been a lone wolf when I’d met him-he just hadn’t found his wolf half yet. As much as his “talk” with Ren made me want to bite both of them hard, their negotiations over my status were so classically alpha male behavior it was almost funny. Almost.

We trotted down the hall toward Haldis Tactical, our toenails clicking on marble. Anika was sitting at the large round table with Bryn, Mason, Ansel, and Tess. Mason chomped on the largest sandwich I’d ever seen.

Catching sight of us, he pulled it close to his chest. “You didn’t come to the kitchen. I’m not sharing.”

I shifted forms and laughed. “I don’t think I could eat right now.”

“Good.” He grinned, still baring his fangs. “I’m starved and this sandwich is my own masterpiece.”

Ansel coughed.

“With Ansel’s assistance, of course.” Mason nodded at my brother.

“You sitting in on this?” I asked him.

“He’s going,” Mason said around a mouthful of sandwich.

I glared at the Arrow. “What’s this?”

Tess jumped in before Anika could answer. “He’s staying with me, Calla.”

“I’m helping the Elixirs clear casualties,” Ansel said. I winced at the accusatory look he shot me. “The Weavers will be bringing wounded off the field as fast as they can. They need helpers who won’t be in the battle.”

“That’s great, An,” I said. He dropped his eyes as his anger gave way to humiliation.

Great, Calla. Nice move. I wished I hadn’t hurt his feelings, but the truth was, I didn’t want Ansel anywhere near this fight. Without his wolf he’d be much too vulnerable. And it wasn’t only that I was worried he couldn’t fight as a human. With everything Ansel had been through-and how I knew he was still feeling-I worried he’d purposely try to get himself killed.

Anika pushed a chair out and I sat down beside her. Bryn, in the next chair over, leaned in to hug me.

“Glad I’m not missing all the heroics this round,” she whispered. “You okay?”

“Surviving,” I said.

She squeezed my shoulders. “That’s what we do best.”

I gripped her fingers, giving her as much of a smile as I could manage.

“Everybody’s already here?” Connor came into the room with Adne at his side. “Does that mean we’re late?”

They were both flushed, but had done a pretty good job of making themselves presentable… or at least appearing only slightly rumpled after a “nap.” Mason snickered anyway. Connor rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, but a mischievous smile hovered on Adne’s lips.

“You’re actually right on time,” Anika said, gesturing for them to sit. I thought I heard the hint of laughter in her voice, though her expression remained solemn.

“Glad to hear it.” Ren smiled as he entered the room. His hair was damp. I guessed he had decided to make a trip to the baths.

He was about to take a seat beside me when he stopped. His nose wrinkled. He stared at me and then at Shay, who was watching him from the other side of the table, arms folded across his chest.

A growl rumbled out of Ren’s throat. “What the hell…”

I stood up. “Ren, don’t. Not now.”

“Why is your scent all over her?” He ignored me, glaring at Shay. “You two were together? What were you doing? I thought we had an agreement.”

“So did I,” Shay said. “But someone convinced me that it was stupid and I was very, very wrong.”

Ren leaned on the table, snarling. “It’s time for me to teach you a lesson that’s long overdue.”

Shay didn’t move, but he smiled. “You’re welcome to try.”

“Stop!” I shoved Ren as hard as I could, sending him several steps back from the table.

“Stay out of this, Lily!” He only glanced at me for a second before returning his outraged stare to Shay.

“The hell I will!” I put myself between him and Shay, forcing Ren to look at me. “Is this the kind of love you want from me? Love that’s chosen for me instead of being my own?”

He stopped growling. “Calla…”

“I know that’s all you’ve ever been taught to do,” I said. “But that is not how I want to live. Do you understand?”

“So… it’s him, then.” He dropped his gaze.

“Stop talking about him,” I said. “This is about me. My life. My choice. And if you really stopped to think about it, you wouldn’t want me any other way. If you have a problem with that, I’ll kick your ass. Right here. Right now.”

He looked at me then. “You’re something else, Lily.”

“Don’t forget it,” I said, relieved that he’d begun to smile.

Connor coughed. “So, uh… about the end of the world.”

Ren laughed, heading for the table. When he passed me, he bent his head, voice low. “This isn’t over.”

I didn’t answer. But for me it was over. I knew what I felt, who I wanted, but sharing that with Ren had to wait until after the fight.

When we had all settled around the table, Anika unrolled a large map. I stared at it, my breath catching at the sight of Rowan Estate’s grounds laid starkly before me.

When I looked up, I met Anika’s hard gaze.

“If we’re going to succeed,” she said. “This is what has to happen.”

Anika fell silent, the battle strategy still ringing in our ears. Ren’s hands were folded on the table in front of him. If I didn’t know him better, I would have thought he was meditating. Shay paced alongside Anika. The Elemental Cross hung in two sheaths at his back. I could sense their power even from where I sat, but Shay moved casually, as if he barely noticed the swords’ presence.

Bryn was holding Ansel’s hand. Tess had her arm around his shoulders.

I was wondering if I could do what I would need to do. Kill who I would have to kill.

“We are all gonna die.” Mason leaned back in his chair. “That’s for sure.”

I swallowed a growl when Shay met my eyes.

“Shut up, Mason,” I said.

“Just trying to keep things in perspective.” Mason grinned. “It’ll be a good fight, though. I’m okay going out like this.”

“Mason,” Bryn snarled at him. “Like Calla said, shut up.”

“Our chances are slim,” Anika said. “But this is the only way.”

Ren leaned forward. “This plan rides on Nev and Ethan.”

Anika nodded.

“Have you heard anything from them?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “But we don’t have time to wait. We must attack tonight before the Keepers have time to amass forces when they realize we have the cross. Without catching the Keepers off guard, we’ll never be able to pin the Harbinger down.”

“You’re also relying on Logan,” I said. It was the part of the plan that left a bad taste in my mouth. “And he isn’t reliable.”

Mason snarled. “He shouldn’t be part of this.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Anika said. “His blood oath enables him to summon the Harbinger. Without that ritual, the Scion will fail.”

“If Logan hadn’t turned up,” Mason said, “how were you going to get this ritual done?”

“We’d intended to capture a Keeper and force them to do it,” Anika said. “And we can still force Logan to act for us if he has indeed turned traitor.”

“And you really think the five of us will be enough?” I asked, glancing at my companions.

“You retrieved Pyralis,” Anika answered. “And the rest of us will be engaged on the main front while you enter the estate. We’ll shield you from attack.”

“Except from Bosque,” Shay muttered.

“Which raises one last issue,” Anika said.

“There’s another issue besides Shay’s demon uncle?” Mason asked. “Wonderful.”

“Once Bosque has been summoned, he’ll likely call the Fallen to his aid.”

“Those zombie things?” Shay said. “Well, at least they aren’t fast.”

“They aren’t zombies,” Connor said.

Anika nodded. “They may be slow moving, but they are the husks left of people driven insane by torment. And their attack is just as deadly as a physical assault.”

“Their attack?” My skin crawled, remembering their shuffling gait and Ethan’s cry of grief when he’d recognized his own brother among the Fallen.

“Their touch brings instant madness,” Anika said. “You must not let them touch you.”

“Can they be killed?” Ren asked.

“They’ll go down if you cut their heads off,” Connor said. “But if you bite them, you’ll regret it. And we’ll probably have to kill you.”

Ren growled at him. “You’ll have to what?”

“One of the reasons the Harrowing was so costly for us”-Anika’s face paled-“was the arrival of the Fallen. Our friends and family reduced to that horror, and when our Guardian allies tried to fight them-”

“The Guardians attacked the Fallen?” I folded my arms across my chest so I wouldn’t shudder.

“Yes. And their minds were overtaken by their worst nightmares,” Anika said quietly. “They turned on each other, on us. We didn’t understand what was happening until it was too late.”

“So the moral of the story is: wolfies leave the Fallen to us,” Connor said, patting his sword hilt.

“Gladly,” Mason said, shoving away the last bites of his sandwich.

More Searchers arrived in small groups, their mood somber as they gathered in Haldis Tactical. One by one Weavers began to open doors, and I knew this deployment was happening all over the Academy as the Searcher army moved into position outside Rowan Estate. Anika rose from her chair.

“We’ll fight with all we have to buy you time,” she said, and then turned to Shay. “All our hopes are with you.”

He gave her a thin smile. “Thanks.”

As we stood up, Tess came over and took my hand.

“We’ll be working from the Eydis Sanctuary,” she said. “That’s where they want us to bring the wounded.”

A lump rose in my throat and I nodded. “Be safe.”

“Thanks for lending me your brother, Calla,” she said. “The Elixirs are grateful too. He’s been a great help to us.”

“Take care of him,” I said.

“Of course.” She squeezed my hand.

Ansel tried to sneak behind Tess, but I grabbed his arm.

“Don’t say good-bye,” he mumbled, not looking at me. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“I’m not saying good-bye.” I dug my fingers into his arm and he stared at me in surprise. “This is a warning, Ansel. You stay with Tess. Any running off, any stupid heroics and I will hunt you down myself no matter what’s happening on the battlefield. You are still my baby brother and I am still your alpha. I’m not going to let you get hurt out there.”

He nodded, still wide-eyed. I wrapped my arms around him, knowing I’d be too far from him to track his movements during the attack. But I hoped he’d at least listen to me and that some of his instincts to obey his alpha might still be lingering.

I turned, sensing someone behind me.

“He’ll be fine,” Ren said, searching my eyes with his own. “Tess won’t let anything happen to him.”

“I know,” I said, forcing a smile.

“So the plan really pissed you off, huh,” Ren said as we walked toward Adne, who’d begun to weave the door our party would take to Vail.

“Did you expect me to be happy when I found out?”

“I didn’t bet on Shay telling you about it,” Ren said. “He over-shares.”

“I appreciate honesty,” I said. “It’s a winning trait.”

“I honestly will play dirty to win this fight,” he said. “Is that a winning trait?”

“Drop it.”

Shay and Connor were standing near Adne, watching the shimmering portal take shape.

I glanced at Shay. Ren waved at him and Shay made a rude gesture at Ren, but then gave me a sad smile that made my chest tighten. Did he really believe he wouldn’t survive this fight?

The tightness in my chest became so painful I had to close my eyes to push it away. My mind had to be in this fight, no matter what else might be tugging at my heart. I couldn’t afford to think about what this war would ultimately cost me.

Mason came up to us, grinning. “You guys ready to roll?”

“You look awfully happy.” I eyed him warily. “Considering.”

“I miss Nev.” He shrugged. “Sure, it’s a war and all, but at least he’ll be there. I’ll take what I can get.”

Ren slapped him on the back. “I love you, man.”

“Of course you do.” Mason smoothed his hair back. “I’m irresistible.”

Bryn tossed her curls. “I think this fight is going to be fun.”

“I hope you’re right,” I said.

“All right, hellhounds.” Connor was waving at us. “Get your butts through that door.”

“We are not hellhounds,” I growled. “We are wolves.”

“Really?” Connor gave me a crestfallen look. “You didn’t like my new nickname for your pack? I thought it was inspired or maybe awe inspiring. You know, like Hell’s Angels.”

“We’re not a motorcycle gang either, dude,” Ren said, then he shifted into wolf form and bounded through the portal.

“Are his jokes always this bad?” Bryn asked.

“Usually.” I smiled at Connor. “But don’t tell him that. I’d hate to hurt his feelings.”

Connor shook his head. “Alas, I will always be unsung.”

“Yep.” Shay smiled. “I’d say you’re right.”

“Thank God for that.” I flashed a grin at him, shifted, and leapt after Ren.

My paws crunched into snow that reached the middle of my legs. The moon hung high above us, offering considerable light despite the late hour. Adne’s portal opened onto a crest at the edge of the forest. The grounds of Rowan Estate stretched out below us. The garden with its curving paths and sculpted hedges lay cloaked in shadow. Caught in early winter’s grasp, the fountains were dry and the flower beds empty, devoid of the life that made gardens so inviting.

At intervals along the forest ridge and at points closer to the gardens other winking lights appeared. Shadows moved under the night sky. The Searchers were arriving, our forces gathering. As our numbers amassed, the strike teams began to move forward into the garden, making their way toward the manor house. Rowan Estate’s windows were black. The stately home stood silent, giving every indication that it was empty.

I pawed the ground anxiously as we waited. With our separate mission in play, we were among the last of the teams to move out. I lifted my muzzle, testing the air for any signs of danger. Or allies.

Where were the Nightshade and Bane packs?

As much as this was a quasi-surprise attack, the Keepers would be anticipating our arrival. Anika and all the Searchers knew that. Our enemies were waiting for us, but where?

Would my father be running with Emile’s wolves, ready to turn on his adversary when the right moment came? Were they on their way here now?

“It’s time.” Adne closed the portal, sheathed her skeans, and pulled out that wicked steel whip she’d used in the practice match with Shay while we were in Denver.

“You should stay here.” Connor frowned. “I don’t like risking you.”

Adne laughed. “Sorry, Connor. All the Weavers are in this fight. Including me. Anika’s orders, remember?”

He shook his head but trudged down the slope with Adne grinning as she kept pace with him.

Ren, Mason, Bryn, and I formed a protective ring around Shay and the two Searchers. I took point, while Bryn and Mason trotted beside them. Ren stayed at our rear. As we entered the garden, I snarled at the marble incubi and succubi that were arranged like sentinels all around us.

“Don’t worry, Calla,” Shay said. “We’re keeping an eye on them.”

“Yes, we are,” Connor said. “And if they break open those shells, we’ll know that Bosque is already here.”

I sniffed the air, still bristling.

Is that supposed to reassure us somehow? Mason barked at him, baring his teeth at Connor.

We’d made it a few yards into the estate grounds when the first shouts rose from the teams ahead of us.

“Looks like we’ve got incoming,” Connor said.

Shay drew his swords, squinting into the distance.

I waited to hear the ringing of steel and snarls of wolves, assuming that our allies would encounter Guardian resistance as they closed in on Rowan Estate. But the Searchers’ shouts weren’t battle cries. They were confused yells, filled with fear.

“What’s happening?” Adne and Connor were standing back-to-back as they scanned the gardens around us.

I snarled, wanting to run into whatever conflict was taking place ahead. But our directive was to keep out of the fray.

“Look!” Shay pointed the tip of one sword at the tall hedges that lined the garden’s paths. The hedges were moving. Not moving, growing.

Connor swore, bolting forward as the thick knotted branches swarmed over the path, breaking through the paved walkways and twisting in wild patterns around us. The hedge climbed before our eyes, rising at an impossible speed.

“Connor!” Adne shouted as a new hedge burst up between us, blocking our way to him.

I heard him yell but couldn’t see through the wall of branches that separated us.

Adne was running along the hedge, shouting Connor’s name. A yelp sounded behind me. I wheeled around to see Mason being thrown backward as new branches, fast and hard as whiplashes, slammed into his body. Bryn barked, leaping after him, snapping at the attacking vines. I howled in frustration as Bryn, Mason, Ren, and Shay disappeared from sight.

I turned back around, racing after Adne, who was still running and shouting. She changed direction as a new hedge appeared, blocking her path forward. I threw myself into the air, crashing into her. She struggled as I pinned her down.

I was still snarling when I shifted forms. “Stop it! Adne, stop!”

She was breathing hard, but she pulled her fists back so she was no longer beating at my chest and shoulders. “We have to find him!”

“It’s not just him.” I stood up, pulling her to her feet. “We lost the others too.”

“What?” Her eyes widened as she wheeled around to see the labyrinth that had exploded from the earth to surround us.

“We’re cut off.” I pressed my hands against the hedge and thorns pierced my skin.

A howl broke through the night.

Adne looked at me, her eyebrow raised. “Friends?”

“No,” I said quietly.

Another howl sounded, and another. The wolves’ cries rose one by one, filling the air with their battle song. I turned in a slow circle, listening, tracking their calls.

“We’re surrounded.”

Adne swore under her breath. “They’re separating us. Keeping the teams apart.”

I nodded. “They were waiting for us.”

She strode along the labyrinth walls, turning corners, finding dead ends. “What do you want to bet that the Keepers’ side has a map that solves this maze?”

“That does seem likely.” I looked up at the hedge. It was too high to jump.

“We’re sitting ducks in here,” Adne said. “The wolves will hunt us, take each group one by one, and none of us will see them coming.”

“We have to find a way out,” I said. “Keep going.”

The howls were close now. Hundreds of wolves were running. I could smell them, hear their paws crunching in the snow as they descended on the garden from all sides. The other Searcher teams were still panicked, shouting as they tried to escape the maze. Men and women were calling out for one another, trying to find their allies.

Then the screams began.

Adne closed her eyes. “It’s started.”

TWENTY-TWO

THE SOUNDS OF BATTLE filled my ears and I wished I could shut them out. The buzz of crossbow bolts whizzed in the air; growls and snarls rose toward the sky. If I were in the midst of the fight, it wouldn’t have bothered me. But this unseen war-violence and death that might be lurking around any corner-sent fear scurrying up and down my spine. We hadn’t run into any wolves yet, but it was only a matter of time. Adne and I could fight off three or four, but I had a feeling we wouldn’t be facing anywhere near that few.

And there were other sounds too, building my anxiety. Screams of a pain beyond the kind any Guardian could cause.

“There’s a wraith in the maze,” I whispered. “Maybe more than one.”

Having hit another dead end, Adne and I crouched low, desperate to come up with a plan. The maze wasn’t only cutting us off, it constantly changed shape. Hedges sprang up only to sink back into the earth. Thorny branches shot out in the middle of the path, tripping us as we’d run.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

I nodded, wishing I wasn’t. “We have to find Shay.”

I shifted into wolf form, prepared to attack any enemy Guardians we encountered, and we started to run again. I hoped we were heading in the direction of where we’d first been separated.

“Look!” Adne turned toward a new opening in the labyrinth. “Let’s go.”

I caught the scent just before we turned the corner. Grabbing Adne’s shirt as I shifted forms, I screamed, “Stop!”

I was dragging her backward when it came into view. The wraith slithered from behind the curved hedges, moving slowly toward us.

“Come on.” Adne gripped my hand and we bolted back in the direction we’d come from.

The maze had shifted again, presenting yet another path.

“Damn it,” I said as we pulled up in front of a dead end.

I turned around only to see the opening in the hedge through which we’d just passed closing up.

“Well, at least the wraith is on the other side,” Adne said. The words had only left her lips when the wraith emerged through the hedge, its form oozing from between the branches like tar.

“Oh, no fair!” Adne shouted.

The wraith was closing in. There wasn’t anywhere to go.

“Shay!” I screamed, not knowing what else to do. “Shay! Help us!”

We backed against the wall; my eyes were locked on the swirling shadows of the wraith’s body. Its scent filled my nostrils, making me want to retch. Memories of the pain it could cause sent shuddering tremors through my limbs.

“Adne, you have to get out of here. Weave a door!”

“A door to where? Do you want to run back to the Academy? If I weave into the battlefield, I could put us right on top of a wraith! There’s no out that way.” Her voice shook. “I don’t know what to do. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

She’d turned around, facing the hedge behind us.

“Shay!” I screamed again.

“Calla!” His voice was right behind. “Where are you?”

I whirled around, ignoring the pain as thorns tore my skin when I pressed my hands against the hedge. “I’m here! With Adne!”

“I can’t get to you,” he shouted. He was right on the other side of the maze wall. “Bryn, Mason, Ren! Get over here! They’re behind this hedge.”

I could smell his scent, just out of reach.

“Calla!” Ren shouted. “Are you okay?”

“There’s a wraith.” My voice was raw. “We’re trapped.”

I heard Mason’s whining and his paws scratching at the dirt, trying to get to us. Bryn’s nose poked beneath the branches, but she yelped when a thorny vine lashed her muzzle like a whip.

“I’m going to try to cut through the hedge,” he yelled. “Stand back.”

“No, wait!” Adne cried.

“What do you mean, wait?” I glanced over my shoulder at the wraith.

Adne ignored me. She’d dropped her whip and held her skeans in her hands. With a sudden cry she plunged the slender spikes into the earth.

I shoved my hands over my ears as a horrible sound pierced the air all around me. The shriek was full of pain and outrage. And it was coming from the hedge.

“That’s right, bitch,” Adne hissed. “Get off this earth and go back to hell where you belong.”

The branches of the hedge were shaking. Its leaves began to wither, shriveling up and crumbling. The shuddering of the limbs became more violent. Thorn-covered branches splintered into brittle pieces. The living walls of the hedge spilled down in a wave of dried bits and ash that had been leaves. The maze vanished, leaving only shallow piles of debris marking its pattern on the white snow. Shay stood in front of me, swords still raised high. “What the-”

Adne groaned and slumped onto her side.

I began to turn toward her, but Shay shouted, “Calla, get down now!”

He leapt over me as I shifted, flattening my body against the snow. I rolled along the ground, scrambling to my feet. As I pivoted, I saw the wraith bearing down on Adne and Shay hurtling through the air toward the creature.

I barked in alarm, starting after him, but Ren jumped in front of me, snarling.

No.

Get out of my way. I bared my fangs at him.

But the growl died in my throat.

Shay flung himself at the wraith. The Elemental Cross spun in his hands at blinding speed. The blades sliced into the dark mass of the creature’s body faster than whirling helicopter blades.

The wraith screamed.

I’d never heard a wraith scream before. I’d never heard them emit any sort of sound. But there was no doubt that it was shrieking in agony.

The wraith’s inky tendrils crackled as if full of electricity. It screamed again and then its body spewed upward, like black steam exploding from a geyser, and it was gone.

Shay landed on the other side of where the wraith had been. He wheeled around, blades ready to strike again. When he realized the wraith was gone, he straightened and threw me a sheepish smile.

I barked at him, wagging my tail.

“Adne!” Connor was running toward us through the snow and the remnants of the maze.

Adne pulled herself into a crouch, leaning back on the heels of her hands. “I’ll be okay… I think.”

Connor helped her to her feet and grinned at Shay. “Nice work. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Do what?” Shay frowned. “You knew I could kill wraiths. Because of these.” He held up the swords.

“Not the wraith,” Connor said. “Though that was good too. I meant the maze. If you hadn’t gotten rid of it, this party would have been over before it started.”

Connor turned, gesturing in the direction of the manor. “The teams will be able to regroup their attacks now.”

“I didn’t do anything to the maze,” Shay said. “The hedges fell apart and the next thing I knew, I was looking at Calla. Then I saw the wraith going for Adne.”

Connor stared at him, his brow furrowing. Adne brushed snow from her clothes, avoiding eye contact with any of us. I shifted forms, watching her closely.

“She did it.” I pointed at her. “She… killed the labyrinth.” I didn’t have any other word to describe what Adne had done. Somehow she had attacked the Keepers’ living hedge as it trapped us. And she’d defeated it.

Connor gripped Adne’s arms, fixing a hard gaze on her. “How? How did you do that?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I knew it wasn’t natural-that it didn’t belong. So I asked her for a favor.”

“Asked who?” Shay paced around our huddled groups, scanning our surroundings for signs of danger. From what I could tell, the Banes’ attack had been concentrated on the teams ahead of us.

Even in the moonlight I could see Adne blush. “The earth.”

“You can call in a favor from the earth?” Connor asked. “That’s on your resume?”

She smiled. “That’s what all Weavers do. I just took it a step further.”

“No one has ever done that, Adne,” Connor said slowly. “No one.”

“I know,” she murmured.

Their eyes met and something important, but unspoken, passed between them. I couldn’t be sure what it was.

With the wall of tangled branches gone, I could see the storm of battle that raged ahead of us. Wolves crashed into the Searchers with the force of a tidal wave. Sharp teeth tore into human flesh, cutting off screams of pain as quickly as they began. The unending wails that rose horribly into the sky told me wolves weren’t the only enemy waiting in the darkness. Wraiths slid through the shadows, engulfing Searchers at will.

My eyes scanned the edge of the garden. It didn’t take long to find them. A line of twenty Keepers-our masters and some of their children, whom I recognized from school-had taken up positions at the edge of the dry reflecting pool. All were elegantly dressed, as if they were about to be seated for a formal dinner, not observe a battle. But they stood overlooking the carnage, like generals directing their infantry. With casual grace, the Keepers’ arms began to twist in the air, their fingers dancing in intricate movement.

Screeches filled the air and the sky above us came alive with dark, writhing shapes. Succubi and incubi appeared, summoned by their masters, to enter the fray. Searchers cried out warnings and crossbow bolts shot past the Nether creatures’ javelins. Some of the winged attackers dropped to the earth. Others dove at the Searchers, snatching them from the field of battle, rising to impossible heights to drop the human fighters to their deaths. A few Searchers, snagged in incubi talons, managed to get in a fatal blow with a dagger or sword as they were borne into the sky, taking the Keepers’ minions along with them into death’s veil.

I watched bodies fall and writhe beneath fur and claws, leathery wings and talons, or simply disappear into the darkness of a wraith’s smoke-like body. Wolves went down too, bright blood scattering across the pristine snow, pooling beneath the still bodies of Bane Guardians. But the number of Searchers lying on the ground, unmoving, was quickly outnumbering that of wolves. The Banes were stalking, circling the strike teams. They moved in unison, their pack instincts guiding the hunt, allowing them to coordinate their attacks in ways the Searchers could never hope for.

I watched the wolves take down warrior after warrior. If I’d watched this no more than a month earlier, I would have howled with pride. This was how Guardians waged war. It’s why we always won. Why the Searchers were losing now.

The heavy weight of growing despair settled beneath my ribs. We couldn’t win. Even if we got inside, if Shay somehow defeated Bosque, the battle outside was lost. How many Searchers would die today?

Connor cleared his throat, his gaze, like mine, locked on the brutal scene ahead of us. “We need to keep moving. The fighting seems to be concentrated to the east. That’s good; we’ll head for the north side of the garden and to the house from there.”

He didn’t mention that it looked like our side was losing. Badly.

“There are other wraiths,” Shay said. “I should go after them.”

Connor shook his head. “Not part of the plan. We need you inside.”

“I’m the only one who can kill them,” Shay growled.

“We knew that there would be wraiths in this battle,” Connor said. “There always are. But you can’t be caught up at the front. We don’t have time.”

Shay stiffened but turned to the north. “Let’s go, then.”

I shifted back into wolf form, sticking close to Shay’s side as we skirted the edge of the battle. Adrenaline had my pulse racing. I could smell the Banes and taste blood on the air.

A low growl rumbled in my chest.

I know. Ren’s voice entered my mind. I want to be in that fight too.

Wish granted. Mason came to a halt, bristling.

We’d reached the northern edge of the garden, and part of the battle had spilled out in front of us. Wolves and Searchers danced around each other in a blur of deadly movements. Steel flashed as blades caught the moonlight. The wolves’ muscles rippled beneath their fur as they slammed into the Searchers’ bodies. Shouts and snarls blended into a terrible roar as they fought. And they were blocking our path to the house.

Backup plan? Bryn asked.

I’ll tell you if I come up with one. I braced myself. If we were going down, it wouldn’t be without a fight.

“Damn it,” Connor said. “So much for containment.”

“Do we make a run for it?” Adne asked.

“Yep.”

My eyes scanned the fighters, searching for any sign of Nightshades or my father. But I could only see Searchers and Banes.

“You should change forms, Shay,” Connor said. “The last thing we want is for those Guardians to mark the Scion. If they spot you, you’re the only one they’ll be hunting.”

“Good call,” Shay said, sliding into his other form. The golden brown wolf shook his ruff. That’s much better.

Ren looked at him. Really?

Of course. Shay lifted his muzzle, taking in the cool night air. Don’t you think so?

Well, yeah. Ren pawed at the snow. But-never mind.

“Calla, you take point,” Connor said, oblivious to our conversation. “I’ll be right behind you. Ren and Shay, stay close to Adne. Mason, Bryn, guard our flank.”

He took our steady gazes as assent.

“Okay.” Connor peered at the tangle of bodies in our way. “On my mark… Now!”

My muscles bunched and I hurtled out of the garden into the open. Keeping my focus on the long shadows cast by the building, I steered us away from the center of the fighting. If we could just reach the house, we’d have cover again.

A sharp bark drew my attention. Several Banes had broken from the battle and were barreling toward us.

Keep running, Calla! Ren’s howl rose in the air behind me. Mason and I will draw them off.

I snarled, frustrated to be running when my packmates were heading for a fight.

Another howl sounded, close but coming from the west.

Is that- Ren wheeled around, heading in the opposite direction of the battle.

Hell, yeah! Mason dashed after him.

Bryn dropped to her haunches and howled joyfully. Answering howls rose from the wolves barreling toward us. The sound made hope spark in my veins… but I wasn’t ready to let my guard down yet.

“Holy…!” Connor shouted. “Incoming!”

“There are too many!” Adne yelled. “We won’t be able to get past them.”

“Calla! What the hell are you doing?!” Connor screamed as I pulled to a halt, staring in amazement at the massive horde of fur and fangs charging us.

I couldn’t believe it.

“Calla!” Connor threw me an exasperated look before grabbing Adne and shoving her behind him.

The wall of wolves hit us, abruptly splitting and flowing around us like a river.

“What the-” Connor gaped as dozens of wolves streaked past us, with more following in their wake. The Banes barked and yelped in alarm as Nightshades swarmed among them. The newly arrived wolves pulled the Banes off of Searchers, wrestling them to the ground in a chaos of claws and teeth. Soon the hiss of steel was overwhelmed by growls and snarls loud as thunder as the two Guardian packs tore into each other. Years of animosity fueled their rage as they spilled each other’s blood in the gleaming snow.

A huge brown and silver wolf, bearing an unusual black mark on his forehead, slowed as he approached us, stopping in front of me.

It’s good to see you, Calla. His tongue lolled out in a wolf grin. I hope we haven’t kept you waiting.

Your timing is perfect, Dad. I pushed my muzzle into his chest. And you definitely know how to make an entrance.

TWENTY-THREE

“STOP SQUIRMING!” Connor shouted. “I’m trying to protect you.”

“Just let me go, Connor!” Adne tried to wrestle out of his grip. “They obviously aren’t here to attack us.”

You have some interesting friends, my father remarked, watching them struggle.

It helps if you spend more time with them. I barked, catching Adne and Connor’s attention. When I bared my teeth, they stopped arguing. I looked back at my father. The man is Connor and the woman is Adne. I swear they really are good in a fight.

He sniffed Connor’s hand while the Searcher’s eyes bulged at the massive wolf’s inspection. If you say so.

Bryn flattened against the earth, wagging her tail at my father. Hi, Mr. Tor.

You look well, Bryn. My father nipped her ear. Ready for the fight?

She hopped up. Always.

Shay trotted up to us, lowering his muzzle as a sign of respect. My dad tilted his head in curiosity, though he quietly snarled a warning. I don’t know you.

Dad, this is Shay. I lowered my muzzle as well, but my tail was wagging ecstatically. Shay, this is my father, Stephen Tor.

The Nightshade alpha. Shay kept his head low. I’m honored to meet you. Thank you for coming to our aid.

My heart skipped a beat when my father put his head below Shay’s muzzle, lifting his head. The honor is mine, Scion. You make an impressive wolf.

Shay yipped his delight and I snarled at him in frustration.

Still a bit of a puppy, though, I see. My father’s laugh traveled with his thought.

Shay put his paw over his nose. I’m working on it.

So am I. I snapped at his ear.

We should move away from the fight. My father nudged my shoulder. Get me updated before we make our next move.

I barked at Connor, tugging at the sleeve of his leather duster so he would follow me.

“I guess we’re going this way,” Connor said, casting a nervous glance at Adne as I pulled him toward the long shadows cast by the manor.

My father stopped when we were cloaked by darkness, though even if we’d been spotted, the battle raged at a fever pitch that would probably keep anyone from trying to reach us.

Connor was still eyeing my father warily when I shifted form, gesturing for the other two wolves to follow my lead.

I’d forgotten how intimidating a full-fledged alpha could be. Having spent my whole life as the daughter of one and growing into the role myself, I’d taken his regal bearing and stern gaze as a matter of course. Everything from his towering stature to his steel gray eyes commanded respect. Connor didn’t look any more at ease even after my father returned to his human form. Even Adne slid back to peer over Connor’s shoulder rather than get too close to the alpha.

“Connor, Adne,” I said. “This is my father, Stephen Tor.”

“The Nightshade alpha?” Adne asked, her eyes widening. “You came!”

“For the win!” Connor shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

My father’s mouth curved up in a quizzical smile. Connor dropped his hand, looking embarrassed.

“Uh, sorry about that,” he said. “It’s just really, really good that you’re here.”

“It’s my pleasure.” My father extended his hand so Connor could shake it.

Adne smiled shyly when the alpha greeted her, her gaze flicking over to me. “I can see the resemblance.”

I laughed, but my father flashed me a proud smile that made my heart sing. Bryn giggled, squeezing my hand.

Three more wolves trotted up to join us. When Ren, Mason, and Nev changed forms, they were all grinning.

“The more the merrier, eh?” Mason laughed.

Connor punched Nev on the arm. “You could have given us some warning that you’re on our team. I thought we were dead for a second there.”

“Poor Connor,” Adne said. “Such a delicate soul.”

He threw her a reproachful look.

“We did give you warning,” Nev said. “Just look.”

He shifted forms, bowing his head to reveal a black symbol painted on his forehead.

“Hey!” Shay smiled. “That’s my tattoo.”

“The mark of the Scion,” my father said. “We thought it best to identify ourselves. All the wolves who joined us were marked by Ethan. It was his idea.”

“Yeah.” Nev was back in human form. “So no one shoots us. Particularly Ethan.”

“He’s always had an itchy trigger finger.” Connor laughed. “Is he with you?”

“He came in on the southern attack,” my father said. “I imagine he’ll be looking for us soon, though.”

“You mean there are more of you?” Adne asked.

“We split into three strike teams,” my father said. “Mine was the largest. We outflanked the Bane ambush and came in behind them.”

“That many wolves?” Ren’s eyebrows went up. “You brought over some Banes too.”

“Your father was not a kind alpha, Renier.” My father watched Ren with wary eyes. “He drove his own son away, as well as many others. Such is the price for cruelty.”

“Emile Laroche is not my father,” Ren said, unflinching. “I owe him no allegiance.”

“True enough,” my father said. “I would seek peace with you, alpha.”

“And I you.” Ren inclined his head, sliding a glance at me. “Your daughter is the bravest wolf I’ve ever known. She’s the true alpha.”

“Indeed.” My father smiled at Ren and then at me.

Bryn leaned over to me. “I think Ren’s trying to score points with your dad.”

“Shhhhhh.” I stomped on her toes.

Shay shifted his weight uncomfortably at the exchange. My father’s gaze slid over to him; his smile became knowing. “It must be a challenge having so many leaders in one small party.”

“Finally, someone had the courage to say it!” Mason grinned. Nev cuffed him on the back of the head.

“I’m glad you convinced Banes to join us,” Connor said to my father, ignoring Mason and Nev’s impromptu shoving match. “We didn’t know if anyone would.”

My father nodded. “I was glad too. It’s Neville who deserves most of the credit for swaying them.”

“Thanks, Stephen,” Nev said; he’d gotten Mason into a headlock. “But I had help. Sabine and Caleb-the Bane you guys met at Eden who played with me at Burnout-were vital. Tom supplied a safe place for us to meet while we gathered allies. Definitely a team effort.”

Mason flipped Nev onto his back. “Gotcha!”

“Would you two behave?” I said, exasperated. “We are at war.”

“We’re always at war, Cal,” Mason said even as he kept Nev pinned to the ground.

Nev laughed, kicking Mason off. “That’s why we make our own fun in between kicking ass.”

“Can’t argue with that logic,” Bryn said. She shifted into wolf form, pinning Mason and dousing his face in long, slobbering licks.

“Ack!” Mason shouted. “You win! You win!”

“Hey!” Ethan ran up to us, breathless and bleeding from a deep scratch on his cheek. “There you are!”

Connor clasped his arm. “Good to see you.”

“Likewise,” Ethan said, giving Adne a one-armed hug. He turned to Nev. “She’s not fighting. I couldn’t find her.”

“I was worried about that,” Nev said.

“Who?” Adne asked.

“Sabine,” Ethan said, his face bleak. “She’s not among the Banes here.”

Mason and Bryn stopped wrestling. Bryn shifted forms, giving me a somber glance at the mention of Sabine’s absence.

“Neither is Emile,” Stephen said. “I can smell him a mile away. They must be inside.”

I glanced at the dark manor, unable to make out any sign of light within. “In Rowan Estate?”

Ren tested the air. “Efron and Lumine are nearby.”

“And they don’t take part in the real fighting,” Mason said. “Ever.”

“The information we received said you’d be sending a small group in with the Scion to finish this,” my father said.

Connor nodded. “That would be us.”

“With your permission I’d like to join you.”

“You don’t want to oversee your pack?” Connor asked.

“They’re in good hands.” My father gestured to Nev. “He and Ethan planned this strike. He’s the one who should continue to lead it.”

Nev shifted forms and barked his approval.

“I’ll stick with Nev,” Mason said, looking at me. “If that’s all right.”

“Go with him.” I nodded. “And keep an eye out for Ansel and Tess.”

“You know I will,” Mason said with a wink. In the next moment the two wolves howled and dashed to join the fight.

My father looked at me sharply. “Your brother is here?”

“Not fighting,” I said. “He’s helping Searchers tend the wounded. He’ll be safe enough.” I hope.

“I wouldn’t have left him.” Bryn threw my father a guilty look. “But I thought we needed all the fighters we could spare.”

“Of course,” he said. “You belong with your pack.”

My father shot an inquiring look at Connor. “Well?”

“You don’t need to ask,” Connor said. “Another alpha would be a great help.”

“Good. I owe Emile a personal visit,” my father said. “One that’s been a long time coming.”

“Those are the best kind of visits,” Ethan said. “I have one in mind myself.”

Connor grunted. “Then let’s not keep anyone waiting.”

My father, Ren, Bryn, and I slid into our wolf forms, taking up positions like sentinels around the three Searchers and Shay as we stalked along the north wall of the manor.

“The side door will bring us into the kitchen,” Shay said. “We’ll be on the back side of the house. We can make our way to the library from there.”

My skin crawled beneath my fur. That meant we’d be slinking through the halls of Rowan Estate, passing all of those horrible paintings and ghastly statues. Any of which could come alive should Bosque Mar already be waiting for us.

I could still hear the battle raging at our backs, but as we approached the far end of Rowan Estate, the sounds of war seemed to be swallowed up by the walls of the manor. The immense building cut us off from the conflict, separating us from enemy and ally alike. Though I’d known it had always been the plan, I felt a sense of dread wash over me as I realized our small party would face the horrors on our own.

“There’s the door.” Shay strode forward and I saw the dark shape bloom within the shadows.

I barked at the same moment Connor shouted, “Shay! On your right!”

Shay had his swords ready as the wraith attacked. But it wasn’t only the wraith that was moving. From around the back of the manor four wolves appeared, bearing down on us in a storm of fangs and furious howls.

The first wolf leapt, knocking Connor down. Adne pivoted, her steel whip flying out. The wolf squealed as sharpened steel tips lodged in its body. It yelped again when Ethan’s crossbow bolts thunked into its flank. The wolf twisted, trying to pull the bolts out. Its final cry died in a gurgle as Connor plunged his dagger into its chest.

My father had thrown himself into the second wolf. They were tumbling across the ground, snarling and tearing at each other. A few feet away Ren was facing off with the other two wolves. None of the three had attacked, but instead they all stared at each other, bristling, filling the air with low, threatening growls. Bryn and I stalked up to flank Ren.

My pulse buzzed through my veins as I realized why he’d hesitated. Dax and Fey glared at their former alpha. Their muzzles twisted in frustrated, furious snarls.

Don’t do this. Ren’s mind opened to all of us. We shouldn’t fight.

I ran to his side. Listen to Ren. Please.

Why? Dax ignored me, barking at Ren. So we can bow down to your bitch too?

Don’t ever talk about her that way. Ren took a menacing step forward. You know nothing about what’s going on here.

Really? Fey sniffed the air disdainfully. I think you’re just afraid to be the alpha you should be. You’re weak.

You’re an idiot, Fey. Bryn snarled.

At least I don’t let Calla think for me. Fey glanced at Ren and Bryn. You’re both weak. Her muscles quivered.

Fey, don’t! I braced myself. But she was already lunging.

I was ready when she slammed into me, but the force of her leap sent us sprawling through the snow. Bryn rushed after us, sinking her teeth into Fey’s side. Snapping jaws and savage growls told me that Ren and Dax were fighting alongside us.

Our best fighters. I remembered what Ren had said about Dax and Fey. Like attracts like. But now their skill in combat was working against us. We were their alphas, but would we be able to best them?

I rolled to my feet. Fey was faster. She landed on my back, sinking her teeth into my shoulder. Ignoring the pain, I bucked hard, flipping us over so she slammed into the ground beneath my weight. Bryn leapt at her, crushing Fey into the snow. Fey twisted and kicked up, sending Bryn flying.

I scrambled up, knowing what I should do. Fey was still on her back. The soft flesh of her belly was exposed. Two bites to open up her gut would be fatal. But I had to do it now.

My breath caught in my chest. Fey squirmed on the ground, about to roll over. I couldn’t wait any longer.

Something buzzed past my ear. Fey’s bark of pain became a yelp as a second and then third crossbow bolt entered her abdomen. She rolled over, snarling but trying to limp away. A trail of blood soaked the snow beneath her as she tried to flee.

Ethan was beside me, raising his crossbow. “I’ve got this.” He jerked his chin to my right. “Help him.”

I pushed away regret as Ethan took aim, turning to see Ren and Dax circling each other a few feet away. They were both panting. Blood darkened their fur, dripping onto the snow. I rushed at them, throwing myself into the air and locking my jaws around the back of Dax’s neck. Even with the force of my attack, he was too big to take down. I bit down harder, struggling to hang on.

He snarled, spinning in a circle as I clung to him. Finally he reared up. I knew he would come down on me just as I’d landed on top of Fey. I couldn’t afford to be knocked down. I released him, twisting in the air as he fell backward.

Feeling my weight vanish, Dax spun in the air and landed on his feet again. He pivoted around, snarling at me.

God, you’re a pest. His eyes were full of hate. Time to squash you for good.

I’m waiting. I dug my paws into the snow, bracing myself for his attack.

He snarled but then barked, twisting his head around as Ren’s teeth tore through his hamstring.

Now, Calla. Ren’s shout filled my head.

I knew what he meant. Forcing any doubt from my mind and moving on pure instinct, I lunged. My jaws locked on Dax’s throat. I bit down hard, ripping through muscles and finally crushing his windpipe. His blood poured into my mouth as his body stiffened and then went slack. I dropped his deadweight, backing away from the hulking wolf’s unmoving form. My muscles were shaking.

Ren limped up beside me. It had to be done.

I whined, leaning my muzzle against his shoulder. I knew he was right, but I felt sick.

You’re hurt. He pushed against me. Take some blood.

You first. I turned my shoulder to his muzzle. His teeth pierced my skin. I stood still as he lapped up blood.

I’m good. He licked my muzzle. Go ahead.

I bit into his chest. The smoky sweet, wild taste of his blood slipped over my tongue. The sparkling warmth of healing poured over me.

Thanks. I lifted my muzzle to press my nose against his cheek.

Looks like we’re clear. My father padded over to us. His muzzle was bright with blood, but I could see no sign of injury on him. Behind him the corpse of an elder Bane lay sprawled on the ground.

He looked at Dax’s body and then at Ren. Your packmate?

Ren lowered his head. My second.

I’m sorry. My father rested his muzzle on Ren’s shoulder.

Ren whimpered softly, leaning into my father.

I dropped to the ground, grief heavy in my bones, and stared up at the night sky. Bryn, covered in snow, snuggled in beside me with a low whine. I rested my head on her back, catching the scent of Fey’s blood in her fur. The moon was gone now, covered by thick bands of clouds. As tiny silver flakes drifted down to settle on our bodies-both the living and the dead-I thought perhaps the moon had hidden her face from us, as full of sorrow as we were. But she couldn’t stop her tears from spilling out in the form of silent snow.

TWENTY-FOUR

CONNOR STOOD BEFORE THE DOOR, reaching in his pocket for lock-picking tools. Ethan shook his head.

“Logan was supposed to leave it unlocked.”

Connor shrugged and tried the door. It swung open.

“That’s a good sign,” he said. “Right?”

“It’s a sign that Logan is at least pretending to be on our team,” Ethan said. “Let’s not read anything else into it.”

“Agreed.” Connor had his swords drawn and moved slowly into the kitchen.

We followed him into the cavernous room. In the darkness I could make out pots and pans hanging from the ceiling. A long prep table stretched nearly the length of the room, and a huge brick oven took up most of one wall.

“You could cook for all of Vail in here,” Adne said. “How many big parties does your uncle host? Like one a week?”

“None,” Shay said. “At least not that I’ve seen.”

“Does anyone even use this kitchen?” Connor asked.

“I came down here for snacks,” Shay said. “They keep the fridge stocked.” He pointed to a walk-in refrigeration unit beside an equally huge pantry.

“You ever find bodies in there?” Ethan muttered.

Shay didn’t answer, but he shuddered. I was sure he hadn’t ever considered that possibility before he learned the truth about his uncle. I wondered if coming back to Rowan Estate was as frightening for Shay as it was for me. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced it was probably much worse for him. He’d lived here, called this place home without knowing what lived in the walls, the tortured prisoners trapped in paintings. He’d laughed at statues of incubi that he now knew could come to life and attack. He must have felt as if the very ground was constantly rolling under his feet.

I trotted to his side and licked his fingers, hoping I could lend him some comfort. He smiled down at me.

“Home sweet home,” he said, but the haunted quality of his gaze let me know I’d been right about his feelings.

This has to be the creepiest house of all time. Bryn stayed closed to my heels.

I glanced over my shoulder. It’s definitely in the top ten.

Did you guys really make out here? ’Cause I think I’d be too freaked out to focus.

I bared my teeth at her. Speaking of focus, now is not the time to be asking about my love life.

When we were about to exit the kitchen, Shay paused. “Do yourselves a favor and don’t look at any of the paintings.”

Connor nodded, moving quietly into the hallway.

The corridor was dark. Connor led us at a cautious pace. I knew it was wise, but creeping forward set my teeth on edge. A stifled gasp hit my ears. Ethan’s head was bowed. Adne laid her hand on his arm, leaning in to him to whisper in a calm voice. When he lifted his face, I saw his jaw clench and the veins in his neck throb.

Shay glanced at him. “I told you not to look.”

“Just keep walking, Scion,” Ethan snarled, but his voice shook. “He wasn’t your brother, he was mine.”

I made the mistake of glancing over my shoulder at the painting Ethan had just passed. A man in tattered clothes lay stretched out on a table, agony etched on his face, his mouth open in an eternal cry of pain. Dark shapes loomed in the shadows at the edge of the painting, watching him. I wished I didn’t recognize the man, but I knew Ethan’s brother, Kyle, the moment I looked at the painting and I felt sick. It was my fault he was trapped forever, his torture feeding the wraiths. I’d thought I was doing my duty, protecting Shay, when I’d killed his partner, Stuart, and handed Kyle over to the Keepers for questioning. How many other choices had I made while serving the Keepers that had destroyed the lives of people I now called allies and friends?

A hand brushed my fur. I turned to find Shay watching me, his eyes bright with concern.

He offered me a thin smile. “I’m not trying to pet you. I just want to say that the past is the past. You didn’t know. Neither of us did.”

I pushed my nose against his palm as I tried to erase the horror of the painting from my mind.

We had turned the corner to enter the manor’s central corridor when Connor gave a shout. His blades flashed out, hitting something solid and then clanging off as the blow was deflected.

He spewed curses, stomping his feet and kicking the wall. “Statues! For the love-” He began to swear again.

“Connor, you’re making me blush,” Adne said, stepping forward to inspect the marble succubus.

I barked at Shay, wagging my tail. He flashed a grin at me, sharing the memory of my first visit to Rowan Estate. I couldn’t blame Connor for his reaction. The statues were just too realistic.

“You’ll have to watch out for that,” Shay said. “The statues are all over.”

“A ready-made army,” Connor said. He glared at the statue. “Just waiting.”

“An army that we fought during our last visit,” Ethan said. “Remember? How come these aren’t outside playing with their friends?”

“Rowan Estate’s creatures are still dormant.” Shay rapped his knuckles on the succubus’s stone forehead. “The minions outside must be the Keepers’ pets from Eden. That means Bosque isn’t here. He hasn’t summoned them.”

“Or he wants us to think he isn’t here,” Connor said.

Shay frowned. “I don’t think so. Only the wolves are fighting. Bosque had all his creatures in the mix in the last fight. He’s not here. Not yet.”

“Only one way to know for sure.” Connor made a rude gesture at the statue and then continued down the corridor.

My heart seemed to be stuck in my throat, beating hard as we stepped into the grand foyer of the manor. Suits of armor and more hideous creatures cast in marble circled the room, standing like guards before the immense staircase.

The Searchers’ footsteps and the clatter of our wolf nails echoed in the enormous space, bouncing off the walls all the way to the immense crystal chandelier hanging above our heads.

“Up the stairs,” Shay murmured.

Connor nodded and we began to ascend. With each step my body felt colder.

Ren brushed up against me. Did you really spend time here?

Yeah. I glanced around. Quite a bit, actually.

Ugh. He shuddered. You’ve got a stronger stomach than me.

It’s better when you don’t know the whole place wants to come alive and kill you. I flashed my teeth at him.

Oh, I’m sure it is. He nipped my shoulder.

When we reached the top of the stairs, Connor drew a long breath. Then he reached for the library door. The handle turned and I heard a soft click.

“Open,” he murmured. “I don’t think I can take this one as a good sign.”

“It’s not,” Shay said. “But I didn’t expect this to go well. Did you?”

“Go on,” Ethan said, jerking his chin at Connor. “No rest for the wicked.”

“Is that our slogan?” Connor asked as he pushed the door open. “Or theirs?”

“Take your pick.” Ethan lifted his crossbow.

A soft glow filled the library; the subtle light of lamps ensconced among the shelves made the room feel warm and inviting. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have thought it a peaceful place to curl up with a favorite book.

My father stiffened as a growl rumbled in his chest. His nose crinkled up.

Emile.

Bryn began to snarl, her hackles rising.

Familiar scents drew my attention too. The Bane alpha was here, but he wasn’t alone.

“Welcome.” Lumine stood alongside the bookcase that contained the Haldis Annals. She extended her hand to us.

“We’ve been expecting you.” Efron smiled. He was sitting beside her in a high-backed leather chair. Two wolves lay at his feet, their eyes fixed on us. Sabine’s gaze was steady, while Emile’s gleamed with malice. Logan stood behind his father, his face fixed in a mask of indifference.

“That’s disappointing,” Connor said. “Now we can’t yell ‘surprise!’”

“Glib. How charming.” Lumine offered him a condescending smile and arched an eyebrow. “We can make you this offer. Leave the Scion alone with us and your lives will be spared.”

I snarled and Ethan lifted his crossbow. “That’s an offer?” His eyes were on Sabine, and he was gripping his weapon so tightly the blood had left his knuckles. She returned his gaze calmly, remaining so still she could have been one of the statues in the hallway.

“Not very tempting, is it?” Adne’s whip hissed along the floor.

“Fine.” Lumine’s ruby red lips parted, her smile revealing gleaming teeth. She raised her hand and began to draw a flaming symbol in the air.

“Here comes the wraith,” Connor muttered.

“I’ve got this.” Shay stepped forward as the fiery symbol exploded into a writhing, dark creature.

“Kill them,” Lumine said, waving her hand lazily in our direction.

The wraith slithered across the floor. Shay took two bounds and launched himself in the air, flipping across the room to land in front of the wraith.

“Now he’s just showing off,” Connor said.

The Elemental Cross sliced through its shadowy form. The wraith shrieked, its body boiling away into smoke.

Lumine didn’t flinch, but I saw her throat move as she swallowed. “How interesting.”

“Let’s try that again,” Efron said. “But make it sporting, shall we? Emile! Sabine!”

The two wolves leapt to their feet. Emile bolted toward Shay, but Sabine whirled on Efron. She lunged at the hand he was using to summon the wraith, crushing his fingers in her jaws. He shrieked, falling to his knees in front of the chair. His eyes bulged in disbelief as Sabine dropped his bloodied hand only to knock him onto his back.

Efron’s blood-choked screams pulled Emile around. He howled his fury and barreled down on her. Sabine’s focus didn’t waver. She had Efron pinned. Still snarling, she struck again and again, tearing his throat apart. When he stopped clawing at her fur, she shifted into human form and spat on him.

“Weren’t expecting that, were you.” She gazed at his body. “Bastard.” She spat again.

Logan ran to his father’s side, but the elder Keeper was already dead. Efron’s throat had been so ravaged that his head was nearly severed from his body. Logan fell back, drawing his knees to his chest and hiding his face. Sabine turned on him, snarling as he cowered beside Efron’s corpse.

“Sabine!” Ethan shouted. His crossbow bolt whizzed past Emile, who slammed into her. She was sent spiraling through the air, crashing in a heap against the stones of the fireplace. My father howled and hurtled across the room. Ren and Bryn chased after him with Ethan firing bolts as they rushed to her aid. Emile spun around, ignoring the bolts that hit his shoulder and flank. His eyes were locked on my father.

Ethan jumped over Emile’s crouching, snarling wolf form, throwing himself protectively over Sabine’s limp body. While the Searcher kept watch over Sabine, my father and Emile stalked toward each other, ignoring the chaos around them.

Lumine gasped, her hands going to her neck. She began to tremble, but she quickly drew another flaming symbol. A wraith bloomed before her.

“Protect me!” she shrieked at it.

The wraith swirled around her like a cloak as she scrambled for the door.

I snarled, wanting to fight, but Shay was the only one who could fight off wraiths.

“Shay!” Adne screamed as wraith-draped Lumine approached us, forcing us away from the door.

“Stay with me!” Lumine hissed at her slithering bodyguard as she ran from the library. “Don’t let them near me!” The wraith oozed away from us, taking Lumine out of the room as it moved.

Shay ran to us, gazing after her retreat, but Connor grabbed his arm. “Let her go. Our fight is here.”

Shay nodded, though his jaw twitched in frustration.

“We have to be sure Logan doesn’t make a run for it,” Connor said to Shay. “You need to watch him while we help the others.”

Shay glanced at Logan, who was rocking back and forth where he sat, his head still hidden behind his knees. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

“I would say the same thing if he were unconscious,” Connor said. “We need to keep him here.”

“I’ll stick with Shay,” Adne said, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward Logan. “You help the others.”

Bryn! I called to her. Get to Adne and Shay. You need to protect them.

She wheeled around, rushing to act as a sentinel for the Scion and our Weaver. On it!

I ran with Connor across the room to where Ethan was cradling Sabine against his body. She wasn’t moving, and we weren’t close enough for me to know if she was even alive. I needed to help her if I could.

But my eyes kept moving to the other side of the library. Emile and my father squared off, now only a few feet apart, snarling at each other while Ren stood bristling at my father’s flank. But the younger wolf could have been invisible for all the attention the other two wolves gave him. Their gazes were locked, full of hate.

My father lifted his muzzle and howled a challenge. Emile responded with an answering cry, his bulky muscles rippling as he pawed the ground, fury building. The fight they’d both been waiting for as long as they’d been rival alphas was about to begin.

TWENTY-FIVE

MY FATHER SNARLED, dropping his muzzle low as he stalked sideways, watching Emile.

The Bane alpha shook spittle from his jaws, giving a final howl.

They both leapt, throwing their bodies at each other with such force that I thought their bones would shatter.

“Calla!” Connor’s shout pulled my gaze off the battling wolves. “Help us!”

Ethan repositioned Sabine against his chest, propping her up. “She’s breathing, but I think she’s hurt.”

Sabine stirred in his arms, groaning softly.

“Better safe than sorry,” Connor said, locking my gaze.

I nodded, shifting forms to bite my wrist. Taking Sabine’s chin in my hand, I opened her mouth, pressing my bleeding arm to her lips. She swallowed immediately.

“If she’s hurt, it’s not bad,” I said as she drank. “Maybe a broken bone or two.”

“That’s not bad?” Ethan asked, stroking her hair.

“Not for us,” I said.

Sabine’s eyelids snapped open. She pushed my arm away, wiping off her mouth.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” I braceleted the wound on my wrist to stop the blood flow and let the punctures close.

Her gaze moved to Ethan. His Adam’s apple moved up and down as he swallowed hard, running his finger over her cheek.

“Ethan,” she whispered.

He drew her shaking body into his arms. “It’s over now.”

He was partly right. With Efron dead, one nightmare had ended for Sabine. But that was a single battle and we were still in the middle of a war.

Connor went to join Adne and Shay as they watched over Logan. The Keeper was still huddled in a ball. Bryn stalked around him, snarling.

I shifted forms, moving as silently as I could toward my father and Emile. They were both bloodied, despite the short time they’d been fighting. Gashes marred my father’s right side, while a flap of torn flesh hung from Emile’s chest.

I slid behind Emile, ready to spring. But my father’s voice was suddenly in my mind.

Stay out of this, Calla. That’s an order.

But- I snarled, drawing Emile’s attention. He barked a warning at me.

Relying on your whelp, Stephen?

Like I said, Calla. My father growled. Stay away. This isn’t your fight.

I backed off, but not far. My instincts still compelled me to submit to my father’s will, but my blood was singing, screaming that I should attack.

Ren was still behind my father, also keeping his distance as the two wolves circled each other, watching for any opening, waiting for any sign of weakness. Ren paced back and forth, as agitated as I was. I could only guess that my father had ordered him out of the fight as well.

Emile lunged, but my father dodged the attack. He wheeled around and struck Emile’s flank, tearing out another chunk of flesh. Emile howled in pain as blood spurted from his body. My father struck again, but this time Emile was ready for him, kicking his back legs high. He caught my father in the face. The blow sent my father crashing back. He landed with a loud crack half onto a table, his body folding around the wood. The table’s edge splintered with the force of the impact.

Dad! I screamed a warning.

My father shook his head in an attempt to clear his jarred senses as he scrambled to his feet. While he wasn’t out of the fight, the blow had dazed him.

Emile didn’t hesitate. He thundered toward my father, never slowing as he hit the other alpha. He used my father’s body to break through the already-stressed wood. The table split in two when Emile drove my father into the wall on the other side of the library.

They slammed into the bookshelves and were thrown apart. Emile landed on his feet, muscles quivering in anticipation of the next attack. My father was lying on the ground, his head hanging low.

That’s when I saw it: a sharp piece of wood had pierced deep into his back. The blunt end of the wooden spear protruded from his fur. He struggled to his feet, twisting his neck to grip the impaled wood in his jaws. But in doing so he exposed his throat to Emile.

Without hesitation the Bane alpha lunged at my father.

I was already running, hoping to block his attack, no longer caring whose fight this was supposed to be. Emile Laroche would not kill my father. I couldn’t watch that happen and do nothing.

But Ren was closer still. I was a few feet short of my father when Ren hit Emile in a flying leap, sending both of them tumbling away from me and my father. They scrambled to their feet, turning and lunging again. Within moments they were wrestling on the ground, tearing at each other without mercy.

Beside me, my father snarled. He’d pulled the huge splinter from his chest. Blood gushed from the wound and he faltered.

Take my blood. I turned my shoulder to his muzzle. Hurry!

He bit into my flesh as I wrenched my neck to see what was happening behind us.

Emile’s attention remained focused on Ren. The elder Bane’s muzzle was bloodied, but I didn’t know if it was only my father’s blood or if Emile had wounded Ren as well.

That’s enough, Calla. My father pushed me away gently. Thank you.

He turned his attention to Ren and I heard his command. Renier, do not attack Emile.

Ren didn’t move, didn’t even glance in my father’s direction. He was shouting, his mind open to us.

My whole life was a lie. Ren’s muscles were shaking with rage. My mother died because of you. I swear I will kill you.

Emile’s laugh sounded in my mind. Is that any way to speak to your dear old dad, boy? His thought finished with a menacing snarl.

You are not my father. Ren growled. My father died when you broke his neck.

One of the best days of my life. Emile crouched low. Just like today will be when I finish this.

Ren howled and lunged at Emile.

Renier, no! My father threw himself toward the other two wolves as Ren attacked. Stop!

I saw Ren’s mistake even as he made it. In his anger he’d jumped too high, giving Emile time to change position beneath him. Emile leapt, angling his body to meet Ren in the air.

Emile’s shout rang in my mind. I should have done this the day you were born. His jaws closed around Ren’s neck.

Ren! I screamed his name as they fell to the ground, their bodies locked together.

Emile gave a sudden jerk of his head. I thought I was splitting in two when a horrible crack stopped Ren’s steady growl.

When they hit the ground, my father slammed into Emile, shoving him away from Ren, who lay horribly still on the library floor. I howled, skidding to a stop beside him. Dropping my muzzle, I pressed my nose against him.

A squeal across the room tore my gaze off Ren.

Emile was on his back, pinned under my father. The Bane alpha writhed beneath my father’s weight, kicking and struggling. My father ignored Emile’s desperate attempts to free himself. His jaws were around Emile’s neck and they were slowly closing. Emile cried out, a half howl, half shriek that became a gurgle as my father crushed his throat.

Emile stopped struggling. My father lifted Emile’s limp body in his jaws and with one swing of his head tossed the Bane’s carcass aside.

My father came toward us, shifting forms as he walked.

Ren. Ren. I nipped his muzzle gently. Please get up. You have to get up.

I breathed into his charcoal gray fur. His scent was the same as always, sandalwood and fire wrapped in leather.

Ren. I whined, pawing at him. Answer me. I can heal you, but you need to wake up so I can give you blood.

Someone dropped to the ground next to me. Adne was on her knees, staring at me with wide, brimming eyes. Bryn was beside her, whining softly.

“Why?” Adne said. “Why did you have to leave too?” She began to reach for him, but I snarled, knocking her back. I didn’t want anyone else near him. They couldn’t help him. She stared at me, limbs trembling as the color drained from her face.

“Hey!” Connor was still standing over Logan, but he pointed the tip of his sword at me. “Back off, wolfie.”

Shay glanced from Connor to me. “Stay here.” He returned the Elemental Cross to its sheaths and then shifted forms.

Calla. He approached slowly, keeping his head low.

I bristled, a steady menacing growl rising from my throat. Stay away.

Let me help you. His voice was soothing and he dropped to his belly, still inching toward me. I only want to help.

I snarled again, showing him my fangs when he reached me. He lifted his muzzle and gently licked mine. It was soothing; his scent-fresh and hopeful, like rain that rinsed away the sludge of fear muddying my senses-reassured me. I stopped growling. He stood up, resting his muzzle against mine.

We can help him. But not like this.

He shifted to human form and I understood. Ren was a wolf; he couldn’t drink when he was unconscious. We’d need to bring him back, just like Gabriel had helped Nev breathe again. I shifted forms.

Bryn dropped to the ground, remaining a wolf. A quiet steady whine continued to rise from her muzzle.

“Help me,” I said to Shay. But he hesitated, not moving any closer to Ren. Something was flickering in his eyes, something he didn’t want me to see.

“Help me,” I said again.

Shay gazed at Ren’s still form. He stretched a hand toward me. His fingers were shaking. I turned my back on him with a growl.

“Fine.” I crawled closer to Ren. “I’ll do this without your help.”

When my father reached my side, there was no triumph in his eyes. Only loss.

“We need to wake him so he can drink,” I said. My father can fix this. He’s always led us. He’ll know what to do.

My father gave me a long look before he crouched beside Ren, resting his hand on the deep gray wolf’s neck. He bent down, laying his head against Ren’s chest. He let out a slow, regretful breath.

“What should we do?” I asked.

My father slowly turned his face to gaze at me. I couldn’t accept what I found in his eyes.

“There isn’t…,” Shay murmured from behind me; I felt his fingers encircling my upper arm. “Calla-” His voice was thick and he couldn’t manage any more words.

I wouldn’t look at him, asking my father again, “What should we do?”

“Emile broke his neck.” My father lifted his head, rocking back on his heels with a heavy sigh. “His heart isn’t beating,”

I’d already sunk my canines into my forearm. When I stretched my bleeding flesh toward Ren’s muzzle, Shay caught my shoulders, pulling me back.

He didn’t say anything when I snarled, craning my neck to glare at him. “Let me go.”

He shook his head.

“Calla,” my father said quietly. “Renier’s heart isn’t beating.”

“No.”

“You can’t save him. It’s too late.”

“No.”

Adne had begun to sob. She stood up, stumbling away from us and into Connor’s arms.

My limbs had gone numb. I let myself melt into the floor, stretched beside Ren’s body. My fingers twisted in the thick charcoal fur.

He can’t be dead. He can’t be.

I shifted into wolf form with the only will I could muster, settling my muzzle on top of Ren’s.

Shay didn’t try to approach me, but I glanced at him when I heard his shaky breath.

“I’m sorry, Calla,” he said. “I didn’t want it to end this way.”

I whimpered and turned my face away from him. Closing my eyes, I sent a final plea out, trying to touch Ren’s mind.

I love you.

But he was gone.

TWENTY-SIX

“LEAVE HER.” My father stepped between Shay and me. I was still curled against Ren’s body. I could hear my blood pounding through my veins, but I couldn’t feel anything.

“But-” Shay gazed at me, his features hardening with resolve. “We still have to face Bosque. We need her.” Adne was wrapped in Connor’s arms, crying quietly.

“Losing another alpha is like losing part of yourself.” Stephen bared sharp canines at Shay.

“I understand that.” A challenge flashed in Shay’s eyes, but he withdrew to stand beside Adne and Connor. “It doesn’t change what’s at stake. We can’t stop. This isn’t over. We still have to summon Bosque.”

Sabine approached us slowly. Ethan trailed close behind her, but kept a respectful distance as she knelt beside Ren.

I didn’t move, watching her stretch her hand to touch him. She bent forward, placing a kiss on the top of his head.

She turned her eyes to me for a moment, and I saw my sorrow reflected there.

I understood now why Shay had come to me in wolf form. Why he’d coaxed me to shift. He’d already known there was no hope for Ren, but he knew I wasn’t able to face that loss. That I would have attacked any intruders-just as I’d almost attacked Adne-that had come too close to Ren’s body.

But that time had passed, leaving me numb, exhausted. I wouldn’t attack anyone now. I wouldn’t do anything. The battle might not be over for Shay. But it was over for me. Doubt and regret stole my will to fight.

Sabine bowed her head and stood up, letting Ethan fold her into his arms.

“Come on,” Connor said, beckoning to Shay. “It’s time to end this.”

Shay nodded. “Get Logan up.” He turned to me. “Calla?”

I snapped at his fingers, unwilling to move from Ren’s side. So what if this battle was the last? We’d lost Ren. I didn’t want to fight. I couldn’t look at Shay.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Ren’s voice, his words warm against my skin. We were always meant to be together, Calla.

He’d loved me, but I’d found my mate in another wolf, another alpha. Had I been reckless because of my choice? Could I have done more to save Ren? I’d been fighting other Guardians, tasting wolves’ blood that flowed between my fangs, killing my own packmates. And now this. What could be worth losing Ren?

A warning growl slid through the space between me and the Scion. All I wanted was to be left alone. Shay gritted his teeth but turned away from me, following Connor to Logan’s side.

Bryn stayed in place, watching me, but she didn’t try to move any closer.

Connor kicked the Keeper, not too hard but enough that Logan finally lifted his face. “Is it over?”

“It’s about to begin,” Connor said. “And you’re the opening act.”

Logan didn’t move. He scanned the room, taking in Emile’s corpse and Ren’s. He swallowed hard and began trembling as he stared up at Connor.

“If I do this,” he whispered, “do you promise to let me live?”

His gaze slid onto me. I bared my teeth at him, snarling.

“Give me your word!” He rolled his eyes up at Shay.

“If you keep your promise, we’ll keep ours,” Shay said. “You won’t be harmed.”

“Now get on your feet,” Connor said. “Our friends are still dying out there.”

Logan scrambled up, stumbling forward as if he were barely able to force his muscles to work. He shook as he dropped to one knee in front of the fireplace. He unbuttoned his shirt, shrugging the crisp fabric from his body. Sabine hissed and my breath faltered. Logan’s back was covered in scars.

“Blood oath,” Connor muttered, gazing at Logan’s ravaged skin. “It’s a bitch.”

Logan began chanting, his voice low and feverish.

“Oh God.” Shay stepped back as one by one the scars on Logan’s back opened.

Fresh blood began to seep from the wounds. Then it was flowing, spilling down his back and dripping onto the varnished wood floor.

The fireplace, which had been empty and silent, stirred. It began like a gentle breeze. As if a breath of wind had been caught in the tall chimney, so that the sound barely reached us. The murmur of sound grew louder. Within the darkness a shape began to form. The angry noise buzzed like a swarm of insects.

My father snarled, pacing restlessly in the space between me and the fireplace.

The flowing mass began to congeal, stretching into the shape of a man. A putrid green aura surrounded the moving body that stood tall in the shadows.

Connor swore, shielding Adne as the sickly light grew brighter. Behind the dark figure shadows flickered in and out of the gleaming green, creatures that remained just out of sight.

“There it is,” Ethan murmured. “The Rift.”

Sabine shifted into wolf form, hackles raised. Shay moved forward so he stood directly behind the chanting Keeper.

Logan’s voice rose to a shout and then he collapsed.

Bosque Mar laughed as he stepped from the fireplace. Bryn snarled, scrambling to her feet and placing herself in front of me, as if she feared I wouldn’t be able to fight for myself.

“Logan, Logan.” Bosque’s smile glinted like the edge of a blade. “Whatever are you up to?”

“Master,” Logan breathed, though he scuttled backward like a crab, only stopping when he ran up against a bookcase.

Bosque scanned the room; his eyes settled on Efron’s body. “How tragic.”

“Hardly,” Shay said.

“Welcome back, my nephew.” Bosque’s voice almost sounded warm. He turned a stony gaze on Logan. “Did your actions lead to your father’s untimely demise?”

Logan stammered something, but all I could hear was the chattering of his teeth.

“I think you’ll find the price of treachery to be quite high,” Bosque murmured. Logan moaned, pressing his body tight against the wall.

Shay moved sideways, blocking Bosque’s view of the Keeper. He slowly withdrew the Elemental Cross. The power of the blades reacted instantly to the aura of the Rift, making the air around Shay crackle as if it were alive with electricity. The sight stirred something inside me. I forced myself to my feet, keeping my gaze fixed on Shay.

Calla? Bryn’s ears flicked as she watched me uneasily.

I’m fine. I bared my teeth. Get ready to fight.

I crept toward Shay, keeping my body low. Positioning myself behind him, I crouched, ready to leap at any hideous creatures that Bosque might conjure.

Bosque’s gaze flitted over Shay’s swords. “What a pretty toy you’ve brought me.”

“The better to kill you with,” Connor said. Beside him, Ethan raised his crossbow and Sabine growled.

Bosque glanced at the two Searchers. “Oh my, toy soldiers as well.” He flicked his wrist and the men went flying. They crashed into the far wall, books tumbling down around them. Sabine yelped and tore across the room.

Go! I didn’t want to leave Shay, but Bryn could help the others. Without hesitation, Bryn bounded after Sabine.

“No!” Adne shouted, running toward the mess of wood, pages, and limbs where Sabine had already begun digging in an attempt to reach the bodies of Ethan and Connor.

“What a lovely young thing.” Bosque watched Adne move, running his tongue over his lips as if tasting the air. “And with such power. You’ve been playing with my garden, dear. Without permission.”

He twisted his fingers and Adne stumbled. “Please stay awhile. I think you could be quite useful to me.”

She rolled over, clawing at the rug beneath her feet, which had begun to unravel. Its loose threads wound together into thick ropes that wrapped around her ankles and continued to snake their way up her body.

“Logan, do it!” she screamed. “Do it now! Finish the ritual!”

Logan cowered, his eyes rolling up at Bosque, full of fear. My father ran to Adne’s side. More ropes appeared to bind her even as he chewed through the first cords that had sprung out of the rug.

He stared at me and then at Bosque, who was laughing as my father struggled to free her.

“Let her go!” Shay advanced on Bosque. The blades of the Cross moved with such speed I couldn’t make out either weapon. It appeared as though Shay was walking with a fiery tornado clearing his path.

Bosque laughed. “You can’t touch me, boy. Put those down before you hurt yourself.”

“Stop talking,” Shay snarled. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”

“Whyever not?” Bosque said. “I still have room in my heart to forgive you.”

Shay shook his head, lunging at him. Bosque raised his hand. Shay wasn’t thrown backward as Connor and Ethan had been, but the swords were blocked as if Bosque had thrown up a shield.

Shay snarled and swung the swords again, but he couldn’t pierce whatever force Bosque held up against the attack. Bosque’s human shell was protecting him. We had to strip it from him.

I heard groans and was relieved to see Ethan and Connor struggling out from under the rubble as Sabine and Bryn clawed through broken shelves and mounds of books.

“You coward!” Shay gritted his teeth, holding the swords low. “Fight me!”

“But the fight isn’t happening here, is it?” Bosque closed his eyes and smiled. “It seems we have quite the gathering happening just outside.” He lifted his arms. “I believe I’ll invite a few more guests.”

The sound sent chills up and down my limbs. I barked a warning to Connor and Ethan as a hundred tormented sighs swelled in the air around us.

“It’s the Fallen!” Ethan shouted.

The sighs became moans, but more noises layered on top of the Fallen’s cries. Shrieks and hisses followed the cracking of stone. Rowan Estate’s statues were coming to life.

“Not just the Fallen,” Connor yelled. “Here they come!”

“Block the door!” Adne shouted, still futilely twisting against the ropes around her. She shook her head at my father. “Go help them. You can’t get me out of these!”

Bosque was laughing. The sound made my chest tighten, stirring me out of regret and self-pity, making the tension in the room crackle like electricity in my fur. The joyful gleam in his inhuman silver eyes set my blood boiling. I’d already lost too much today. I would not lose anything more.

Snarling, I bolted across the room to the spot where Logan crouched. He rolled his eyes up at me.

“Just leave me alone,” he whimpered. “Run for your life, Calla. Get out of here.”

I barked at him, baring my teeth close to his neck so he could feel my breath. He jerked back at the sight of my fangs but shook his head. “I won’t do it. He’ll kill me.”

Shifting forms, I laced my fingers around his throat.

“It’s too late,” he said hoarsely.

“It is never too late,” I said. “The ritual. Now.”

The groan of heavy furniture scraping along the wood floor filled the room as Connor, Ethan, and my father barricaded the library door. I could already hear bodies slamming against the wood, claws tearing into the barrier.

I tightened my grip. Logan’s eyes widened and he croaked, “Stop, please. I’ll do it.”

“Now,” I hissed.

Logan reached around his back, smearing his hand in the blood that still leaked from the whiplashes. Using the blood as ink, he drew a symbol on the floor and began murmuring in a voice so low I could barely hear.

Bosque’s laughter died instantly. Apparently it didn’t matter how quietly Logan chanted; the Harbinger could sense that the ritual had begun. The stream of Logan’s whispers faltered.

“Don’t you dare stop.” I bared my teeth at him. “Stop and I’ll kill you.”

He continued his fevered whispers, but his eyes were wild as they moved back and forth from me to Bosque.

“This isn’t wise, Logan.” Bosque took a step toward us. But Shay was there, holding the Elemental Cross at the Harbinger’s eye level. Bosque scowled, but he stopped moving.

My heart jumped. The shield worked both ways. Shay couldn’t attack Bosque, but Bosque couldn’t move past the swords either.

Realizing that Bosque’s attempt to reach him had been thwarted, Logan stopped shaking. His voice grew steadier and louder.

The scratching at the library doors had become banging. Slow, heavy thuds signaled that the Fallen had arrived.

“Hurry!” Ethan shouted. “We can’t hold them.”

“No.” Bosque whirled away from Shay. “You can’t.”

He swept his hand through the air and Ethan, Connor, Sabine, and my father were tossed aside. Bosque struck out with his fist and the doors blew open.

“Don’t touch the Fallen.” Connor drew his swords, shouting at Sabine and my father. “Ethan and I will fight them. You take care of the rest.”

The rest appeared as succubi and incubi flew into the room, their shrieks piercing my ears. Ethan took down two with his crossbow before drawing his own swords and advancing on the moaning Fallen. The Searchers began to mow through the slowly advancing mass, which fortunately had formed a bottleneck in the doorway. Thuds began to offset the high-pitched shrieks as Connor and Ethan parted the Fallen’s heads from their bodies. My father, Bryn, and Sabine were dodging the winged creatures’ spears, taunting them to the ground before the wolves wheeled to attack.

Logan was on his feet, shouting. He thrust his hands at Bosque, fingers outstretched. “Aperio!”

Bosque screamed. His eyes flashed like lightning as he glared at Logan. “You will pay for-”

His words stopped as he screamed again, doubling over and clutching his stomach. When he lifted his face, his silver eyes were widening into disks shaped like footballs and just as large. His pupils gleamed red as they morphed into reptilian slits. His features went slack, then slowly puffed out as if someone were pumping air in the space between his muscle and skin. He continued to expand, his skin ballooning until it began to tear, beginning at the top of his head and following a line down the center of his body.

Bosque’s human shell cracked open like a husk. A gelatinous yellow substance oozed from the crack. An awful scent filled the air, decaying flesh and ammonia that burned my eyes and nose. I fell to my knees, certain I would be sick.

Shay made a retching sound and stumbled backward, trying to stay on his feet.

An appendage covered in bristling spikes emerged from what had been Bosque’s body. Then another. And another. Six segmented limbs pushed skin and gore aside as it struggled to free itself. The thing that shrugged off its human guise stretched to its full height, towering over all of us. Its large silver eyes were set in a quasi-human face that featured Bosque’s aquiline nose and full mouth. A set of pincers sprouted from his cheeks, clicking together as he opened and closed his lips with a hiss. His slicked-back hair had transformed into hard, sharply raised ridges that rippled along the surface of his skull and continued down his spine.

The skin covering its body was a mottled gray and black, dripping with slime. Wings, iridescent like those of a dragonfly and covered in the same thick yellow slime as the rest of his body, protruded from his back. They fluttered at intervals, trying to rid themselves of the sticky liquid.

Bosque’s torso still resembled a man’s, except that the thick carved muscles of his chest sloped down not to a human abdomen, but instead swelled to curving mass where skin transformed into a shiny black exoskeleton. His lower body ended in a needle-sharp, curving spine that glistened, making me suspect its sting was venomous.

The beast stretched its four upper limbs toward the ceiling, shaking its body as if it had just woken from a long slumber. Slime splattered on us and I coughed up bile as I scraped the yellow ooze from my skin. Four of its limbs lashed wildly, clawing at the air in fury. It screamed and the Nether creatures’ shrieks grew louder. They abandoned their attacks on the wolves and Searchers, streaking toward the fireplace to hover above the creature’s head.

“Oh my God.” Connor, tracking the sudden flight of Bosque’s minions, dropped one of his swords when he saw what was standing in front of the Rift.

Ethan shoved him aside, swinging his blade as one of the Fallen groped for Connor. Its head went flying.

“Come on.” Ethan dragged Connor to the center of the room, where Adne was still bound to the floor. Sabine, Bryn, and my father chased after them. They huddled in a tight group around Adne.

The Fallen didn’t pursue them but stayed close to the library doors. Their empty eyes gazed toward the Rift, mouths agape, as they swayed mindlessly, holding their position.

Logan fell backward, gazing up at the creature that had taken Bosque Mar’s place. “Behold, the Harbinger. Master of the Nether and Lord of the Keepers.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

“I WILL HEAR YOU SCREAM for this treachery, Logan Bane,” Bosque rasped.

The sound of his voice startled me. It was the same as it had been when the Harbinger had been cloaked in a human body. The only change was the repetitive clicking of his pincers meeting each other in front of his lips.

He clawed the air with one of his upper limbs and Logan dropped to the floor, gasping in pain. Blood poured from four deep, symmetrical gashes in his chest.

“No!” Shay rolled to the balls of his feet.

“The Rift!” Adne shouted. “You have to drive him into the Rift with the Cross!”

Bosque shrieked his rage at her, raising his spiny limb once more.

Shay was already moving. The blades of the Elemental Cross whirred through the air, sparks of its power leaping from the swords. I could no longer distinguish his body from the whirlwind of light and sound that built up around him. The column of the elements that enveloped his form was ever changing, sliding from the roar of a firestorm to the crash of a waterfall only to morph again into the scream of a hurricane followed by the shuddering strength of an earthquake.

I knew Shay was there, wielding the blades, only because the limb Bosque had pointed at Logan suddenly went flying. It twitched on the library floor where it landed.

Bosque screamed as black blood leaked from the stump on his torso.

“Defend me, children!”

In a rain of leather wings and sharp talons, the throng of succubi and incubi descended on Shay. The moment they touched the edges of the sphere that surrounded the Scion their bodies dissolved, pouring to the ground in harmless piles of sand.

“No!” Bosque screamed, and there was real fear in his cry. His bulbous silver eyes searched the room in desperation. His frantic gaze settled on me. Laughing wildly, he grinned at Shay, revealing rows of sharp fangs behind his pincers.

“Very well, Scion,” he said. “You’ve claimed your legacy. But continue on this path and you shall lose that which you love the most.”

He stretched his arm out, shrieking an unintelligible order to the surviving Nether creatures. One of the incubi swooped low, dropping its spear. Bosque gripped the weapon, using the spines on his upper left limb like fingers. He turned that terrible smile on me and hurled the spear. I bolted, but not quickly enough.

Bosque’s aim had been true. It was only my scrambling aside that left me with a spear impaling my shoulder and not my heart. Bosque was strong. Very strong. Not only was the spear lodged deep inside me, but it had pierced all the way through my body to lodge in the wall behind me. I was pinned there.

“Calla!” Shay’s voice broke through the torrent of power shielding his body. I knew his advance faltered when the storm of elements surrounding him flickered, its light beginning to fade.

“No, Shay!” I screamed, struggling to break the spear or at least pull it free of the wall. “Forget about me. Kill him!”

Bosque shouted, “Take her. Tear her apart!”

The swarming Nether beings shrieked in unison and flew toward me. I thought about shifting, but a wolf pinned on its back was even more helpless than a human.

“Kill him, Shay!” I threw my arm up over my face as I waited for talons to rip into my flesh.

The screams of the flying horde grew louder, but the attack I’d been expecting never came. Snarls that were even closer than the furious shrieks made me look up. Bryn was almost on top of me, bristling at the Nether creatures. My father and Sabine stood just beyond her. One dead incubus already lay at their feet. Others dove but were met by the wolves’ teeth tearing through their wings, taking them to the ground and making sure they didn’t get up again.

“Move it, Scion!” Ethan shouted from the center of room, where he and Connor still stood guard over Adne. “Your lover girl is safe enough.”

Shay raised the swords again, striding forward. The sound in the room became deafening and the house began to shake. The flying Nether creatures stopped their attack and began to swarm above the fireplace like wasps panicking in their rattled nest. Near the door the Fallen’s moans became frantic. Their shuffling turned to chaos as they started to move, bumping into one another, swinging wildly at bookshelves and tables as if they’d lost any sense of purpose.

Bosque was backed up against the fireplace. He stretched out the three remaining limbs of his upper body, clawing at the stone frame.

“I will not be conquered,” he screamed. “I am your master. I gave you everything. You are nothing without me.”

“The Scion has no master.” Shay’s voice boomed over the chaos of noise in the library. It was his voice, but somehow different than the voice of the boy I knew. It was a deeper, older voice that echoed in my flesh and bone.

Bosque’s grip on the stones faltered. He slid a foot backward into the fireplace.

The storm of the Cross pursued him, the voice from within booming through the library. “The earth will no longer bear your corruption.”

“I will not yield,” Bosque spat.

The torrent of earth, wind, water, and fire around Shay flared brighter. “Begone, fiend.”

Bosque winced as the light of the Elemental Cross touched him. “No!”

“Begone!” the voice that wasn’t quite Shay’s cried out.

Bosque screamed as the sickly green aura of the Rift expanded, curling around him like arms drawing him into an unwelcome embrace. He screamed again as the thick tendrils wrapped around his body.

Then I could see Shay moving in the firestorm. He leapt forward, spinning as he hurtled toward Bosque. He brought the swords down in two lightning-fast strokes. Bosque howled in agony as three limbs were shorn from his torso. The green aura in the fireplace flared into immense spires of flame, consuming Bosque. I could hear him shrieking even though I couldn’t see him.

The roar of the Elemental Cross became deafening and the storm surrounding Shay thickened, making it impossible to find him amid its chaos of sound and motion.

“Take cover!” Connor shouted, throwing himself over Adne.

My father shifted forms, grabbing Sabine and hauling her to my side. He pushed her tight against me and Bryn while he shielded us beneath his body.

Rowan Estate was shaking. Bookshelves groaned and cracked, sending volumes tumbling to the floor in a cascade. The sound continued to grow until the air swam with it, as if the very stones of the building were screaming.

An explosion rocked the library. I buried my face in my father’s chest, biting my lip as the violent movements of the earth made the pain in my shoulder-where the spear still pinned me to the wall-almost unbearable. Sabine shifted forms and gripped my other arm, distracting me from the throbbing wound. I looked at her, grateful for the strength I found burning in her gaze. She leaned her forehead against mine and I laced my fingers through hers.

Crashes echoed all around us. I thought I heard Connor shouting. My father, Sabine, and I clung to each other. Bryn’s fur pressed into our bodies and she whimpered. Though Sabine’s hair whipped around my face, I caught snatches of the chaos just beyond our huddled trio. Clouds had poured into the room, swirling in the sickly green shades of the Rift itself, mirroring the sky just before a tornado. The winds that raged around us made me wonder if a funnel cloud had indeed touched down nearby. Shapes were hurling past us. Succubi and incubi screamed as they were sucked into the Rift, clawing at the air as they were dragged from the earth. Some had horrified Keepers locked in a fatal embrace, pulling their masters shrieking into oblivion. A few husk-like bodies sailed past, skin so parched that I could hardly believe they didn’t crumble as they were battered by the storm. Though lifeless, the dusty figures weren’t the Fallen. I couldn’t tell what they were, but at least a dozen sailed past us, falling into the Rift alongside the other Nether creatures.

The screaming wind built into a final sudden gust, followed by a low rumble. The sound built, finally rolling through the library like the loudest thunderclap I’d ever heard.

It was followed by silence.

The wind was still there, but the violent blast had become a steady, gentle pour of cold winter air.

My father slowly unfurled himself from the protective ball he’d been curled into around Bryn, Sabine, and me. I winced, straining against the spear that impaled my shoulder, as I searched for any sign of Shay, but my gaze was caught by the shocking source of the icy wind. The wall of the library had been obliterated. The room opened up to the snow-covered ground outside. Only the stone frame of the fireplace remained, standing tall in a stark outline against the winter night.

“You all right?” Connor shouted to us. He was helping Adne to her feet. The ropes that had been holding her fell away as she stood. Only frayed threads remained. Ethan was hopping over piles of books and splintered wood in an attempt to reach us. Sabine squeezed my hand before running to meet him. He pulled her against him, drawing her into a long kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him as he buried his fingers in her hair.

“Brace yourself, Calla.” My father had taken hold of the spear still lodged in my shoulder. Bryn, now in human form, took my hand. I gritted my teeth, managing only a brief cry as he dislodged the spear from the wall and jerked it out of my body.

“Here.” He already had his bleeding wrist pressing against my lips. I tried not to think about the pain in my throbbing shoulder, focusing instead on the soothing warmth that poured over me as I took my father’s blood.

I leaned back against the wall, drawing a slow, shuddering breath. “I’m good.”

He smiled at me. I took his hand, letting him pull me to my feet.

“They’ve all gone.” Ethan came toward us, hand in hand with Sabine. “No more Nether freaks.”

“Where did they go?” I asked, scanning the room. There was no sign of the creatures that had assailed us.

“No idea,” he said. “I pretty much went for duck and cover once the building started coming down.”

“That’s not all that’s gone,” Connor said. “I think Logan made a run for it.”

A drying pool of blood marked the spot where Logan had fallen, clutching the gashes Bosque had carved in his chest. The pool lengthened, stretching into a line and then becoming splotches as the trail headed toward the door.

“Good riddance,” Adne said.

“I’d rather have him where we can keep an eye on him,” Ethan muttered.

A shiver raced up my spine. Logan was gone. But where? Had he gone after Lumine? Would he come back, seeking revenge?

“It doesn’t matter now,” Connor said. “We’ll have to track him down eventually. But he’s not a threat with Bosque gone. He has no power to draw from.”

“If the Nether creatures are all gone, why are the Fallen still here?” Sabine said, looking over her shoulder.

“They aren’t Fallen anymore,” Connor answered. Adne was beside him, rubbing the rope burns on her arms.

Ethan nodded. “Those are just bodies.”

I peered past the Searchers. The shambling horrors that I’d come to know as the Fallen were strewn across the floor. They were now corpses in varying states of decay. Some looked as if they’d been dead only weeks, while all that remained of others were skeletons.

Our enemies had vanished. Did that mean we’d won? Was the war over?

I looked at the fireplace. All signs of the Rift were gone. No putrid green glow filled its depths. The gaping maw was empty and silent.

Shay had done it. I expected to see him striding toward us, a wide smile lighting his face. But he wasn’t there. My eyes swept around the fireplace, searching for any sign of him and finding none.

Where was he? My heart skipped a beat.

“Shay!” I ran toward the austere stone frame.

A frenzy of terrible questions hammered against my skull.

What if the Rift had pulled him in too? What if the power of the Cross was too great, consuming Shay even as it destroyed Bosque?

“I’m here.” Shay stepped out from behind the other side of the remaining structure. The storm created by the Elemental Cross had vanished. The swords were sheathed at his back. The power that had changed his voice was gone. Shay was wholly himself again.

But he wasn’t alone.

A tall man with golden brown hair was resting his hand on Shay’s shoulder. A woman with dark hair and pale green eyes had one of Shay’s hands clasped in both of hers.

“Calla.” Shay smiled at me. “I’d like you to meet my parents: Tristan and Sarah Doran.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

THE LIBRARY WAS IN SHAMBLES. Snow was already drifting from outside. And that wasn’t all.

Wolves had gathered outside the building, gazing at the rubble and the ruins of the library.

“Nev!” Sabine shouted, waving at two wolves who bounded past the others.

Nev and Mason skidded to a stop near our huddled group. The appearance of Shay’s long-lost parents had thrown us into a stunned silence. No one had worked up the courage yet to ask how Tristan and Sarah had gotten out of the portrait to stand among us.

I didn’t know if we were afraid of offending them or too shocked to muster any questions. Only Shay seemed unruffled, his smile childlike in its exuberance.

Mason shrugged off his wolf form, shaking a fist at Connor. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Huh?” Connor frowned at him.

“You had a bomb and you didn’t tell us?” Mason shouted. “We had no warning. Do you have any idea how far that blast went? Part of the wall crushed the Bane I was fighting. It almost killed me!”

“It wasn’t a bomb, Mason,” I said.

“Then what the hell was it?” he asked, still glaring at Connor.

“And why am I getting blamed for a bomb?” Connor began to laugh. “What the hell would I know about bombs?”

Nev shrugged. “We discussed it and decided that if anyone had snuck in a bomb, it would have been you.”

Connor look at Adne. “What do you think? Is that the sort of thing I should say ‘thank you’ for or do I just slug them?”

“Shut up, Connor,” I said. “Mason, the wall blew out when Shay closed the Rift.”

“Dude.” Nev turned his gaze to Shay and grinned. “Nice.”

Mason was still frowning. “So the Elemental Cross was actually a bomb?”

“Mason!” I snarled. “There was no bomb!”

“Just magic.” Adne smiled at him.

“A magic bomb,” Mason grumbled, and ducked when I swung at him. “Hey! You didn’t almost get pancaked by half a house falling on you.”

“Believe me,” Ethan said. “We had more than our share of trouble in here.”

“But you did it.” Nev was still looking at Shay. “This means we won, right?”

“I guess.” Shay’s smile faded. “I don’t know what happens now.”

“Speaking of winning, what about the Banes?” I asked. “I mean, the ones that didn’t come to our side.”

“When the house blew up…” Nev threw me an apologetic glance as Mason mouthed “bomb” again. “They panicked. I guess seeing the Keeper fortress crumbling made them panic.”

“We were winning anyway.” Mason grinned.

Nev shrugged. “Yeah. We probably were.”

He frowned, looking around our group. His eyes rested on Shay’s parents for a moment, but then returned to me. He drew a long breath.

“Where’s Ren?”

I looked away. Bryn slipped her arm around my waist. I hadn’t forgotten Ren. But I’d had to push his death out of my mind to make it through the fight. Now a pit of emptiness gnawed at my belly as the truth crashed over me. I swayed on my feet. Bryn leaned her head on my shoulder.

My father answered, “He fell in battle.”

Nev’s fists balled up. “How?”

“Emile killed him,” my father said.

Mason snarled. “Is Emile dead?”

“Yes,” I said.

“We saw Dax and Fey’s bodies outside,” Nev said quietly. “Did you?”

“We had to fight them to get in the house,” I said, nodding.

We fell silent, the weight of so many deaths settling on us.

I shivered, glancing at my packmates. “Follow me.”

Shifting into wolf form, I led my packmates to the place where Ren’s body lay. To my relief he hadn’t been buried in rubble. Debris encircled him in a ring of destruction without encroaching on him, as if the wild fury of the Elemental Cross had shielded his body from its chaos.

We spread out around him, forming a circle. I paused, letting myself gaze at the wolf I’d known from childhood, who I always had expected to be at my side leading our pack.

My father was standing beside me. I looked at him, waiting.

No, Calla. His quiet words entered my mind. This is your pack.

I turned back to Ren, dropping my head low to honor the fallen alpha. The circled wolves did the same. I lifted my muzzle first, my howl singing out the pain of Ren’s death, mourning him. One by one my packmates joined the song. Our howls filled the library, spilling out into the winter night. The death song grew as the wolves still outside raised their voices to honor the lost young warrior. The chorus of wolf cries, full of heartache, swelled in the night, carrying Ren’s memory to the very stars.

I shifted back into human form. Listening as the song continued, even as the howls began to quiet, the chorus echoed on the wind.

A hand encircled my wrist. Adne gazed at me. “Can I?” She gestured to Ren.

I nodded. She slid to her knees beside him, stretching the length of her body against the huge gray wolf. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his fur.

She hid her grief from us, but I watched her shoulders trembling, wishing I could give her back the brother with whom she’d been granted so little time.

Shay was standing apart from us. Tristan had an arm around his son’s shoulders, while Sarah was still clasping Shay’s hand. I met Shay’s gaze, finding his own sorrow there. And a question.

It was a question flickering in my own heart as well.

Had Ren’s death changed what I felt for Shay?

Meeting his moss green eyes, I had my answer.

Love wasn’t forged by circumstance or changed by sorrow. It simply was. Fierce and free as the wolf within me.

My love for Ren had been real. We shared a bond, a history. Losing him would leave scars on my heart forever. But I was a warrior, and love’s scars weren’t so different from battle scars.

At so many junctures I’d been given a choice: to follow my heart or leave Shay behind, forsaking my passion for the life I thought I was destined for. Every decision had drawn me closer to him and pulled me away from the world I’d known.

Those choices had led us here. I stood in the rubble of my well-ordered life, gazing at the boy who had changed everything.

And knew that I loved him still.

As Adne knelt beside my packmates near Ren’s body, I went to Shay. He held out his arms to me and I stepped into them, lifting my hands to touch his face.

“You didn’t die.” I forced a smile. “I told you so.”

“I know,” he said. “What happens now?”

“We live.” I pulled his face to mine, letting my lips touch his gently.

His fingers traced the tear tracks on my cheeks. “I love you, Calla.”

“Sarah!”

I looked up to see Anika running toward us, or rather toward Shay’s mother. The Arrow threw her arms around Sarah Doran. The two women clung to each other, laughing and crying. When they finally parted, Tristan grinned at Anika-he had the same mischievous, curving grin as Shay.

“I missed you too, Anika,” he said. She hugged him, and when he stepped back, he glanced at the iron compass rose hanging from her neck. “I see you’ve been promoted.”

Anika laughed, turning to Shay. “How did you reach them?”

“I don’t know,” Shay said. “When I pushed Bosque into the Rift, he was gone and I was standing in front of my parents.”

“Standing where?” I asked.

Shay glanced at his parents. “To me it just looked like a dark, empty room.”

“You stepped into the oblivion. Betwixt and between,” Sarah said. “You broke open our prison.”

Anika nodded, her face solemn as she spoke to Shay. “You crossed over.”

He frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Bosque imprisoned us in the emptiness between the earth and the Nether,” Tristan said. “We were the gate between the worlds. When you banished him, you were able to reach us and lead us out.”

Shay went very still. I took his hand, twining my fingers with his.

“Are you in pain?” Anika asked, her eyes moving over Tristan and Sarah.

“No,” Sarah said. “Our torment wasn’t physical. It was separation from the people we loved. Seeing them and knowing we couldn’t do anything to protect them. Especially our son.”

“You could see me?” Shay asked. “Was the painting like a two-sided mirror?”

“No.” Sarah smiled at him sadly. “More like a waking dream.”

“The passing of time wasn’t clear,” Tristan said. “And we couldn’t know if what we saw was the truth or a form of torture Bosque had devised for us.”

“Calla! Bryn!” Ansel was running toward us, waving. Bryn shrieked her joy, opening her arms. But a huge brown and silver wolf was streaking toward him from the side. My father shifted forms, lifting Ansel off his feet as he ran and clutching my brother against his chest.

“Dad!” Ansel threw his arms around our father.

Bryn and I ran to meet them. My father pulled us into their hug. The four of us stood together, holding on to each other as we shook with tears and laughter.

Ansel broke free when Shay approached us. “Hey! You did it!”

But Shay was frowning.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

His shoulders tightened. “Anika says it’s not over yet.”

TWENTY-NINE

AS NEWS OF THE BATTLE’S END spread, Searchers began gathering around us. Some stood in groups, speaking quietly and gazing around the destroyed library in awe. Others moved quickly into the practical work of recovery, gathering up the piles of books that were strewn across the floor and carting them away. Still others had assigned themselves to burial duty, solemnly carrying out the remains of the Fallen, now returned to their natural state.

“What do you mean it’s not over?” My skin prickled.

Anika strode past us. “Come with me.”

We followed her to all that remained of the library wall. The stone fireplace, solitary and austere, appeared untouched by the force that had destroyed so much of the estate.

I leaned over to Bryn and whispered, “Get the others.” Growing anxiety snaked through my veins.

“I don’t understand,” Shay said. “Bosque is gone. He’s banished. So are his monsters.” He gestured at the quiet darkness of the empty fireplace. “The Rift is gone.”

“Not gone,” Anika said. “Closed.”

“As in, it could be opened again?” I asked.

She nodded at me but spoke to Shay. “That’s why you have to seal it.”

His eyes narrowed. “How?”

“The Rift can’t be destroyed, but the Elemental Cross serves as a lock, sealing it off from our world.”

I relaxed a little when Bryn rejoined us, bringing my packmates as well as Connor, Adne, and Ethan with her. Anika glanced at the Guardians and then turned a sharp look on the Searchers. Ethan dropped his gaze, fidgeting, and Connor raked a nervous hand through his hair.

What was going on?

Adne met my questioning gaze without flinching, but there was a sadness in her eyes-a new sadness that had nothing to do with her brother’s death-that raised my hackles.

“What if someone opens it?” Shay asked.

“You’re the only one who can retrieve the swords.” Anika traced the crossed swords emblazoned on her necklace. “No one else will be able to open it.”

“So don’t go to the dark side,” Connor said. “ ’Kay?”

Adne dug her elbow into his ribs. He shot her a warning look. Now I had no doubt they were hiding something.

I leveled my gaze on Anika, putting strength into my voice. “And that’s all?”

She could only match my steadiness for a moment before she pulled her eyes away.

Shay caught it too. “What?”

Tension rippled through the room. My packmates threw nervous glances at me. My nails dug into my palms. Beside me my father growled.

“Is this a betrayal?” He glared at Anika.

“No!” She drew herself up, assuming an authoritative air. “It is simply what must be.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Shay took a step toward her.

Anika’s lips thinned. Connor moved between the Scion and the Arrow.

“We have to tell them, Anika,” he said. “We owe them that. We owe them a lot more than that.”

Ethan paled, the veins in his neck throbbing. Sabine’s face was turned up toward his, puzzled. He couldn’t seem to look at her.

Anika turned to face the empty fireplace, but she raised her voice so we could all hear her. “When you banished the Harbinger, you sent him into the Nether along with his minions. But his corruption lingers here, living on through the ways the Keepers have manipulated the earth.”

My heart hardened like a stone. I remembered Silas eyeing me like a specimen, calling me and my kind an abomination.

I flashed fangs at Anika’s back. “You’re talking about us.”

“Partly,” she said without turning around. “Guardians are one of many alterations the Keepers created in the centuries they’ve walked the earth. Their own lengthened lives are another.”

“Anika,” Shay said. “What will sealing the Rift do to the Guardians?”

She turned slowly. “When the Elemental Cross locks the Rift, it will restore the balance of nature, returning all creatures to their true essence.”

Shay frowned. “What does that mean?”

I stared at Anika, stunned as the truth settled into my bones. “It means we’ll be wolves.”

She nodded, folding her arms over her chest.

Shay’s brow furrowed. “But you’re wolves now.”

“No,” I said slowly. “We will only be wolves. Not human.”

I glanced at Anika. “Am I right?”

“Yes,” Anika said. “Guardians were made from the beasts that rule their souls, forced to share a human body so they would be servants to the Keepers.”

“We won’t be able to shift anymore?” Mason asked.

“You will be returned to your true selves,” Anika said.

Sabine glared at Ethan. “Did you know about this?”

The muscles in his jaw worked as he forced himself to meet her furious eyes. “Yes.”

She shoved him backward. “You didn’t say anything!”

He grabbed her arms, holding her tight. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?” She was shaking, still glaring at him in fury.

“I didn’t think we’d live to see this happen.” He smiled sadly as he pulled her into his chest. “I hate this too, Sabine. I don’t want to let go of you.”

A deep ache was building inside me, but Sabine and Ethan weren’t the only lovers I was worried about. I searched for Ansel, finding him shaking and pale. Bryn stood beside him, eyes wide with disbelief.

Shay followed my gaze. He pivoted around, shaking his fist at Anika.

“No,” he said. “There is no way in hell.”

“You must.”

“You can’t do this to them!”

Shay’s shouts drew the attention of the Searchers in the library. They moved slowly. Some of the warriors encircled us, while others gathered to flank Anika, their hands casually resting near their weapons.

“Shit.” Connor rubbed his temples. “Anika, we can’t fight these Guardians. They’re our friends. They risked their lives for us.”

“We don’t have a choice.” Anika’s eyes were flinty. “The Rift must be sealed.”

“No!” Ansel pushed past Bryn. Only Tess grabbed him, stopping him from reaching Anika. “This is my family! I’ll be alone.”

Tess leaned down. “You’ll stay with us, Ansel. We’ll take care of you.”

Ansel began to weep. My father pulled him out of Tess’s arms.

“Ansel,” he murmured. “Find your strength. You can endure this.”

I stared at my father, not believing what I was hearing. “You want this to happen?”

“It’s not a matter of wanting, Calla,” he said slowly. “Only necessity. The evil the Keepers brought to this world cannot be allowed to return.”

Mason’s voice startled me. “He’s right, Calla.”

Beside him Nev was nodding. “We are wolves. That’s what we’ve always been.”

Ansel wiped his face, looking at Mason, who came to his side and pulled him into a fierce hug. “I’m sorry, man.”

“Don’t be,” Ansel said, smiling weakly. “My father is right. I’ll survive and this has to happen.”

“Ansel.” My voice broke.

“It’s okay, sis.” Ansel’s smile remained brittle. His eyes slid over to Bryn, full of regret. I felt cold, remembering his words in the Academy courtyard.

“All I am is less than what I was. And I can’t ever be more. Eventually Bryn will realize that. And she’ll leave. It will be for the best.”

My limbs trembled as I grasped for any other options. My father’s steady gaze weighed on me. A part of me knew he was right, as was Anika. The Keepers twisted everything in their world. The earth should be rid of any traces of their influence. It wasn’t the thought of forever living as a wolf that I feared. That possibility felt strange, but somehow exhilarating. The wildness of that life called to the deepest parts of my soul. And I knew my father, Mason, and Nev were already yielding to that call.

But another part of me was breaking, defeated. Had we come this far only to lose so much? I couldn’t imagine a life without Ansel running at my side. He was my packmate, my brother. He belonged with us. And with Bryn.

She was crying, reaching for Ansel even as he moved away from her, shaking his head.

“Wait.” Sabine broke out of Ethan’s embrace, striding toward Anika. The Searchers behind her drew their swords and blocked her path. Ethan swore and aimed his crossbow at them.

“Oh, please.” Sabine rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to attack you. I just want to ask a question.”

Anika raised her eyebrows.

“When Ansel told us how Guardians were made, he said you wouldn’t do that for him.”

“That’s right,” Anika said. “It violates our code. We won’t destroy a wolf to make a Guardian.”

Sabine took a deep breath. “What if you weren’t destroying a wolf?”

Ethan slowly lowered his crossbow. “Sabine, no.”

She ignored him, her gaze moving to Ansel. “What if it was given freely?”

I stared at her. She couldn’t be offering what I thought she was. Could she?

“I don’t understand,” Anika said.

Ansel’s eyes widened. “You would do that?”

She nodded, but looked back at Anika. “If it’s possible.”

Ethan shoved his way to Sabine’s side. “Stop this. It’s too much.”

“This isn’t your decision.” Sabine put her hand on his chest.

He folded his hands over hers but didn’t stop her when she turned to Anika.

“If you took the essence of the wolf from me,” Sabine said, her voice unwavering, “could you give it to Ansel?”

“Yes.” Anika gave her a long, measured look. “But only if it is of your own free will.”

Ansel was trembling, his face full of hope and fear.

“Oh, Sabine,” Bryn whispered.

Ethan turned Sabine to face him. “Wait.”

“Are you that desperate to get rid of me?” Sabine smiled wryly.

“Hell no.” His fingers dug into her upper arms, as if he were afraid to let go. “You think I’d let you get away if I had a choice?”

“Then why are you still arguing with me?” she asked.

“Because I don’t want you to do this for me,” he said. “I can’t ask that.”

“I’m not doing this for you.” She stretched up to kiss him gently. “You’re just a bonus.”

Ethan threaded his fingers through hers. “Are you sure?”

“Going back to Vail,” she said. “Pretending I belonged there. It reminded me that I will never be happy in that life.”

“That life is over,” I said. “The Keepers are gone now.” As much as I wanted my brother’s wolf restored, I needed to know Sabine could find happiness without the pack.

“I know, Calla,” she said. “And I’ve made my choice.”

Nev reached for Sabine, pulling her into an embrace. “Is this what you really want?”

She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder.

“We’ll miss you,” Nev said, kissing her on the cheek.

Sabine turned around, facing Anika. “It is of my own free will. Take the wolf from me and make Ansel a Guardian again.”

Bryn threw herself at Sabine, hugging her and sobbing.

“Oh, stop,” Sabine growled, but her eyes were glistening too. “You’re making a scene.”

Anika motioned to Tess. “We’ll need an Elixir for this task.”

Tess nodded, threading her way through Searchers and out of the library.

The Arrow scanned the assembled pack. “And if we do this, you’ll agree to the sealing of the Rift?”

My father and I exchanged a look.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Shay beat me to it.

“No.”

Anika and I both stared at him in shock.

“Why?” Anika asked.

Shay slowly shook his head, casting an apologetic glance in my direction. “There’s something else. Something I need to know before I agree to this.”

Anika stared at him, waiting.

“The Guardians will be wolves again,” he said.

Anika nodded.

His gaze hardened when it locked with mine. “But what happens to me?”

My pulse jumped as Anika went pale. I began to shiver, realizing why Shay had asked. He hadn’t been born a wolf; I’d turned him.

When I’d imagined spending the rest of my life as a wolf, Shay had been with me. It had never crossed my mind that when we left our human forms behind, Shay’s origins might mean he couldn’t follow.

But did he want to follow? Was his objection because he wouldn’t choose life as a wolf?

Anika still hadn’t answered him.

“I’m a wolf too,” he said. “But I wasn’t always.”

She nodded, still uneasy.

“What will happen to me when the Rift is sealed?”

I glanced at the faces of my Searcher companions. Connor, Ethan, and Adne were all watching Anika. I couldn’t find any clues about the answer in their expressions.

Anika gripped the medallion at her neck and sighed. “I’m sorry, Shay.”

Shay swallowed hard. “Why?”

“Because we simply don’t know.”

THIRTY

“HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW?” Shay’s teeth were clenched.

Anika held her ground, despite Shay’s glare. “We had no way of anticipating that you would be turned by a Guardian alpha.”

She glanced in my direction, making me wince.

“You were born human,” she said. “My guess is that you will remain with us.”

“Not a wolf,” he whispered. “Are you sure?”

Something inside me began to scream.

“How can you say that?” Mason said. “He’s a wolf. He’s one of us now.”

Nev nodded, gazing at Shay. “You’ve always been a wolf, man. The change was just a technicality.”

“Is that true?” Shay asked Anika. “Could I become a wolf instead?”

“When the Rift is sealed, you’ll become your true self,” Anika said. “That is the only answer we can give you.”

“I-” Shay’s voice faltered.

“Shay.” Sarah came forward, sliding her arm around his shoulders. “You know this must be done.”

He looked at his mother. Her eyes were kind, full of love.

My heart thudded, a heavy weight in my chest. If Shay remained human, he would be able to stay with her. To know the parents who’d been stolen from him. He would have a new life.

But I wouldn’t have the mate I longed for, hunting with me, leading our pack.

As if my thoughts drew his gaze, Shay’s eyes were on me. “Calla?”

I forced myself to swallow the hard lump in my throat. “Anika is right.” He flinched like my words hurt him, but he nodded.

Anika bowed her head. “Thank you.”

Shay didn’t answer.

“Wait a sec,” Connor said. “If Sabine could choose to be human, can’t all the Guardians stay human too?”

“Sabine gave her wolf essence to Ansel,” Anika said. “If the others chose a human life, it would mean we would have to destroy the part of them that remains ever a wolf.”

I shuddered. “Like the Keepers did to Ansel.”

She nodded.

“But you’d be human,” Connor said. “So-glass half full, right?”

“Dude,” Nev said. “You have obviously never been a wolf.”

“Sabine wanted to stay human,” Connor said.

“It’s different for me,” Sabine said with a shudder. “Pack life didn’t mean to me what it means to the others.”

“You saw Ansel after his wolf was destroyed,” I said. “It destroyed him, too. The wolf is who we are. There is no choice here.”

Ethan frowned at Sabine. “Will it hurt you?”

“Physically, yes,” she said. “I know it will be painful. But this is what I want. Ansel’s wolf was taken violently from him. He’s been grieving a stolen life. I’m choosing to become only human. It’s different.”

“And you all feel like Ansel?” Connor asked. “You’d rather be wolves?”

“We’re a pack,” Mason said. “We belong in the wild.”

“But what about your singing?” Adne was looking at Nev.

“What do you think howling is?” Nev grinned.

“I guess I don’t get it,” Connor said.

“I would never expect you to,” I said. “But if you could run with us, hunt with us. If the moon called you into the forest at midnight… then you would know how we feel.”

Connor looked at me, still puzzled, but I was watching Shay. His eyes were shadowed. I walked over to him.

“But you do,” I whispered. “You understand.”

He nodded, threading his fingers through mine. His grip was so tight it hurt. “I remember the first night after you turned me. We hunted under the moon. We ran for miles and I never felt tired. There is nothing on this earth like it.”

I stood facing him, letting memories slide over me. My mate. My alpha. I didn’t want to race through the woods without him at my side. But what I wanted paled in the face of what had to happen. I’d made the choice to follow my heart, to pursue forbidden love, but neither Shay nor I had a choice now.

“I’m sorry,” I said at last, leaning my head against his neck. “But we have to do this.”

“I know,” he said. He cupped my chin in his hand and kissed me.

“Anika?” Tess was standing beside a woman wearing a deeply cowled blue robe that shimmered like the surface of the sea when she bowed to the Arrow. A throng of curious Searchers and Guardians, some in wolf form, others human, had filled the library, pressing in on us.

Anika extended her hand to the Elixir. “Thank you for coming, Miriam.”

As Sabine and Ansel made their way toward the Elixir, I slipped through the crowd until I reached Shay.

When I touched his arm, he gave me a thin smile, quickly looking back toward the activity nearby. “Quite the sacrifice Sabine’s making.”

“It is,” I said. “I think she’s right. She’ll be happier this way.”

“Happier,” he said quietly.

“How are you?” I asked.

“I really don’t know,” he said. “I can’t decide what to feel-maybe that’s for the best.”

Then he looked at me again, this time holding my gaze. “How about you?”

“I’m afraid.” I took his hand. I’d never said that before. But it was the truth. I was about to lose Shay and I was terrified. “If we had any choice…”

“I know.” He leaned in to kiss me. “I know, Calla. You don’t have to apologize. I don’t want you to.”

He wrapped me in his arms as we watched Miriam instruct Ansel and Sabine to join hands. The Elixir rested the tips of her fingers against each of their temples. She began to murmur. A quiet but rapid river of sound flowed from her lips.

Sabine gasped. Ethan moved toward her, but Connor pushed him back.

“You have to let her do this alone,” Connor said.

Ethan gritted his teeth, paling as Sabine’s gasp became a scream. Ansel was breathing hard, but he didn’t seem to be in pain the way Sabine was. Sabine screamed again, dropping to her knees. In the same moment Ansel cried out, but his cry became a howl. Where a boy had been standing a minute before, a young wolf now shook its muzzle.

“It is done.” Miriam bowed to Anika.

“Sabine!” Ethan shoved his way past curious onlookers to reach her. She was still on her knees, her body trembling.

She put her hand up. “I’m okay. I’ll be okay.” But she didn’t resist as he picked her up, cradling her in his arms.

A bronze-furred wolf bolted from among the Searchers, barreling into Ansel. Bryn yipped and jumped around him, pawing at him and licking his muzzle. Two more wolves jumped through the crowd. Nev and Mason gave playful nips and barked as they circled Ansel. The huddled group soon looked only like a blur of wagging tails.

“You should go to them,” Shay said. “You’re their alpha.”

I turned in his arms. “So are you.”

“Not anymore.” His smile was broken as he shook his head. “If I ever really was.”

“Shay-”

“Just go.” He pulled away from me, disappearing into the crowd of Searchers behind us.

Resigning myself to our suddenly diverging paths, I shifted forms and ran to join my packmates.

Ansel! I wormed in between Mason and Nev to nuzzle my brother.

I can’t believe it. Ansel yipped, spinning in a circle. I just can’t believe it.

It wouldn’t have been the pack without you. I bit his ear gently. Nobody else is as fun to boss around.

When Nev suddenly whimpered, I pivoted and saw Sabine standing nearby. She was still leaning against Ethan, watching us.

Ansel shifted into human form and went to her.

“Feel good?” She smiled and it almost reached her eyes.

He nodded. “Are you okay?”

“I will be,” she said.

Ansel shyly stretched his arms out toward her. She laughed and fell into the hug.

“Thank you.” He squeezed her tight. “I owe you everything.”

“Make Bryn happy,” Sabine said. “I kind of like her.”

Ansel smiled, but then gave a stern look at Ethan. “Speaking of that, if I ever hear you’ve broken her heart, I will hunt you down.”

Ethan grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Anika appeared beside us and my joyful mood drained away. Shay stood next to her, his eyes resolved.

“It’s time.”

I took Shay’s hand as we walked to the fireplace.

My father fell into step beside me.

“I’m taking the pack outside,” he said. “I don’t think we should be confined when the transformation happens.”

I nodded.

“I understand if you want to stay closer.” He glanced at Shay. “But don’t wait too long.”

“I know.”

“You’re going to leave before it’s over?” Shay asked as my father shifted forms and loped to the crumbled wall. The other wolves began to trail after him, congregating on the snowy grounds outside Rowan Estate.

“I won’t leave,” I said. “But I’ll have to keep my distance. Wolves who feel cornered are dangerous. If I stay inside-”

He cut me off. “I understand.”

Nev, Mason, Bryn, and Ansel loped across the room, shifting into human form beside Shay.

“You should go with my father,” I said. “It isn’t safe for us to stay here.”

“Sure,” Mason said, sliding his arm around Shay. “But did you think we’d leave without saying good-bye?”

“For now,” Ansel mumbled, staring at the floor. “Good-bye for now.”

“We’re pulling for you, man.” Nev clasped Shay’s hand. “Team Wolf!”

Shay managed a smile. “Thanks.”

“No matter what happens, take care of yourself.” Mason pulled Shay into a hug.

“I will,” Shay said.

Nev gave Shay a quick nod before he and Mason shifted back into wolf form, leaving us with Bryn and Ansel.

Bryn couldn’t manage to say anything. She kept looking at me and at Shay, sniffling and wiping her eyes. She tried to get words out but couldn’t catch her breath between sobs. Finally she threw up her hands, grabbed Shay, and kissed him on the cheek. Then she shifted into a bronze wolf and bolted away from us.

Ansel’s hands were shoved in his pockets. He kicked the floor, shaking his head.

“You deserve to be with the pack more than I do.”

“Don’t be an ass.” Shay pulled Ansel into a hug. “You’re right where you should be.”

Ansel gripped Shay tight, murmuring something too low for me to hear. Shay gave him a weak smile.

“I’ll see you soon,” Ansel said to me. And then he was bounding away from us.

Shay was watching me closely. I raised my eyebrow at the strange expression etched on his face. He looked like he was trying not to laugh.

“What did he say to you?”

“He said I couldn’t stay with the Searchers.” Shay grinned. “Because I’m the only one who can keep you from picking on him.”

“I do not pick on him,” I said, returning his smile. “Unless he deserves it.”

“Shay!” Anika called to us from in front of the fireplace.

“I guess I can’t put this off any longer.” Shay began to turn away.

I grasped his arm, pulling him back. I stretched my arms around his neck, molding my body against his. When I kissed him, I let everything I’d ever held back pour into my embrace. I needed Shay to know what I felt, what I wanted, why I was so afraid of letting him go. His hands slid up my back, pressing into my shoulder blades.

I let my mouth linger on his, until I had to pull away.

He traced the shape of my lips with his fingers. “Thank you for saving me.”

“I didn’t save you,” I said. “You were the one who banished the Harbinger.”

He leaned in, brushing a soft kiss against my mouth. “I wasn’t talking about today.”

The gazes of the assembled Searchers were fixed on Shay as we walked together to meet Anika.

“You’ll need the Elemental Cross.” She gestured to the swords on Shay’s back.

“What do I do?” Shay asked her.

“Hold the swords aloft, so they create the mark of the Scion,” she said. “And speak these words until it is finished: obtineo porta.”

“Obtineo porta,” he murmured.

A sliver of green light appeared in the depths of the fireplace, like an enormous eyelid had briefly slid open.

Shay looked at Anika. “It’s still there, isn’t it?”

She nodded, glancing at the stone structure, which had gone dark again. “That is why this must be done.”

Shay squared his shoulders.

The Searchers in the library fell silent, watching as Shay moved toward the hidden Rift.

Shay held the swords at arm’s length. The earth and air sword he held vertically, while the water and fire sword crossed the first blade horizontally. He drew a slow breath and paused, turning to look at me.

I walked up beside him, laying my hand on his back just below his neck so my fingertips brushed the cross tattoo on his skin. He shivered.

“I don’t know if I can do this.”

“You have to,” I said, but each of my heartbeats hit slow and heavy in my chest, like a stake being pounded into the ground with a sledge.

“I can’t leave you, Calla.”

I closed my eyes, knowing what he felt because the same grief clawed at my heart. I’d already lost someone I loved today and in the next minute I might lose another. But what else could we do?

The world created by the Keepers had been forged from greed and cruelty. It wasn’t a world we could suffer to exist, no matter what the cost.

I forced my eyes open and found Shay’s winter moss irises gleaming softly. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips onto his tattoo. “I love you.”

I splayed my fingers wider on his back, hoping that somehow touching him would make the universe hear my plea-to have Shay’s wolf essence win out over the human one. If it didn’t… I would be alone.

I’d have my pack, but would I stay with them? If Shay didn’t come with me, I was already envisioning what would happen. I would become a lone wolf, wandering, solitary. My father would remain the alpha of my packmates, as he’d always been.

Maybe that was the way things were meant to be.

“Calla.” Shay’s brow was furrowed. He could see the goose bumps running up and down my arms, the way my muscles were trembling.

“I love you,” I whispered one last time, slowly backing away from him toward the spill of night air and the beckoning howls of my pack. “Close the Rift.”

THIRTY-ONE

I’D ALWAYS WELCOMED WAR, but when the last battle ends, what life is left for a warrior?

Shay faced the emptiness of the fireplace. He turned the swords slowly while he chanted. And then, where there had been nothing, the darkness began to move. Shadows clung to the Elemental Cross, gripping the blades, pulling Shay forward. When the swords had marked a quarter turn, Shay froze. The darkness became solid, locking the cross in place, but within the ebony shadows glimmered a soft light, opalescent like twinkling stars.

The light streamed over the swords, touching Shay’s fingers and making him shudder. Like glimmering ribbons, it twined around his arms and chest. When the light coursed over his neck and met my fingers, the sparkling tendrils began to claim my body too.

The light grew brighter until I could see nothing-not even Shay, though I still felt my fingers on his neck-nothing but the pale, shimmering air around me. Air that was alive with power.

I thought it would hurt. Ansel said having the wolf torn from him was like being ripped apart and burned.

But I didn’t hurt. Not at all. There was no pain. Only a sense of lightness, giddy and dizzying, like flight-of a burden that didn’t belong to me being lifted.

Suddenly I knew the truth and the lights surrounding me exploded.

I am free.