hing my own. I could feel the earth, the air, the life puls

ispered. "What is

s a question only you can answer, Mira. But you're not j

ice rose, but she only gave

the rustle of leaves dancing in the evening breeze. Through the corner of my eyes, I saw creatures g

ce echoing in my head, probing and i

. It kept swirling like an over-agigated turnad

u feel, Mirabel

"I can't explain. Make it s

ou. You have to push, it's not meant to be easy, but y

man listen

" I growled angrily,

ssion changing from shock to co

ink we should stop. We don't know wh

ision blurry. Della said, "

, as voices began to echo in m

ep." I heard a voice say, and the

hisper curling through the trees, and for a fleeting sec

i

was, it was

*

ir

I couldn't place it. Not until

gh his eyes, as they met mi

e light. My head was spinning, doing

ng a palm over my eyes. "Can

this calm, yet tempting gaze. His jaws were fixed, and his bo

d me so mu

ng, Mira." H

ng have I been unconscious?" I asked,

e us quite a scare." Luc

sed out. I had never felt that way before, like I wa

ening to me?"

eyes on me. "Your mother, and mine built this village. A safe place where creatures like us-who people felt were too much fo

mine promise that you would cross the lengths she couldn't. So it might seem like m

ng to piece every

maybe you can get them for yourself, but first you need to

e added, "It's what your m

eling from earlier rise all over

a was waiting. She looked briefly at me

ed at me.

"Let's d

sweat glistening on my brow. The air felt heavier here, charged with a kin

carried from the edge of the

raw, unstable power, just beneath the surface, too wild to grasp. "I'm t

odd mixture of awe and unease. Even the young hybrid could sense it

la said softly, stepping closer. "You're t

that even mean?" Frustration bled

ly. "You know who you

lways been something-an undercurrent of difference I couldn't name, even as a pup. My connection to the land, the way I sometimes

on't just look for your wolf. Look for the p

ngs, letting it settle. This time, I didn't reach for the silver thread of my wolf's spirit,

t, the air shifted, and a faint

the visio

was expecting, but th

-fragments of sound and color, t

dying fire. Her hands clutched a leather-bound book-the same book I had stol

her face was blurred in the visi

ncient runes I couldn't read. My mother pressed it into the hands of a s

e figure

hey'll all want it. They'll all want her." Her

pages fluttering in the wind, stained crimson. My's childl

ion sha

my knees in the dirt. My hands braced the ground, finger

n seconds, her hands firm on m

. The image of the ring-silver, ancient, powerful-burned behind my eyelids. "My mother...

htly, but she hid it we

detail. "Silver... engraved with symbols,

against my shoulder. "

apped to h

ght. Your mother was a Bloodline Guardian, Mira-a wolf born with the ability to awaken and command dorma

just said, but when I did, all I could ask wa

use you-or your bloodline-for terrible things," Della s

y mother had died for that secret. And all this time,

an slowly, piecing it together,

ded. "Not

htened. "Well

rrowed. "I can

swirling like liquid starlight. The spell took only a few moments-a whisper of

she wh

h clenche

vid. With her next words, the air see

n Thane