the trees. Inside the Pack House, the atmosphere was even grimmer. The celebration of the previous night had left a hangover of unease rather

was the pride of the lineage-but instead, it throbbed with a dull,

ssed in the finest silks, already acting the part of the Luna, but the pack members moving through th

e decorators need to know if we are proceeding with the Bond Union ceremony on the n

daged hand. "Stable," he repea

d the blizzard in the Forbidden Wastes was the worst in a decade. No wolf-less girl could survive an hour,

t was a spiritual shockwave. Every wolf in the room gasped, clutching their chests as a low, vibrating hum

in, her face devoid of its usual arrogance. S

er knees. "The borders. Something i

inst the stone. "Is it a rogue raid? If

looking up with wide, terrified eyes. "It'

s heart hammering against his ribs. As he reached the edge of the cleared land, he skidded to a halt. Th

A creeping frost of obsidian black was spreading across the ground, killing the grass a

the silver dagger Kaelen had used to reject Elara. It had been twisted into a shap

, the sou

as a song. A haunting, melodic vibration that seemed to come from the earth itself. The lyrics were in a tongue so ancie

ared, grabbing a guard by

stammered. "The black frost just... it j

at v

sounded like... like Elara. But it couldn't have been.

k at his bandaged hand. The wound chose that moment to burst open,

believed they were the masters of the moon's light. They believed that by rejecting "defects," they were keeping

back the "Void"-the primordial darkness that the Rogue King served. By rejecting Elara, Kaelen hadn't just

died down. The fores

, and it wasn't the Rogue King. It was a messenger-a tall, skeletal man dressed in rag

uth. The voice boomed directly into the

the Pebble," the voice mocked. "He thanks you for the g

re is she? Where is Elara? If she is his pris

a tombstone. "Prisoner? You misunderstand, little Alpha. You

across the border. It landed in th

lowing brighter. "She said to tell you that the vow of silence is broken. A

g only the parchment behind. Kaelen stepped forward, his bo

. She was sitting on a throne of bone, her white hair flowing like a river of diamonds, her hand resting on the head of a massive, black-furred wolf t

a was smiling. And behind he

into the ground through his unhealed wound. He looked at his pack-his strong, proud warriors-and sa

choice. It was the first domino in the

first time. "Summon the Council! Tell them... tell them the Pureblo

ead, inch by inch, claiming the Silver Moon's land f