ook moved me away from my destiny and toward something completely unknown. The pain was not just in my mind; it was a physica

screaming void. Lyra wasn't just hurt; she was dying. A mate's rejection, especially one so public and absolute, acted like poison.

clarity of a single thought: I wi

ntil it settled in my right hand. That hand had healed him. It throbbed now, not with power, but with a dull, constan

ute I remained safe from Kael's inevitable change of heart. Alpha Kael might regret his choice, but he was too proud to admit

eft. The triumphant feeling of having survived the Wolfsbane-showing his control over th

Elara's magic had been impossibly fast and complete. But the heal

d. It was minor, nothing a normal wolf couldn't ignore, but Kael was an Alpha. It affected his

wer he had rejected. He had feared Elara's temper, yet her exit had been terrifyingly calm.

ic, who was still recoveri

s voice deliberately rough t

you rejected her. She left the t

unpredictable to wander untethered. It attracts attention. Worse, she knows our Pack's weaknesses, our patrols, our true numb

his Beta to realize that Elara's rejection stemmed from his own calculated fear, a fear that was

, metallic scent of a toxin that shouldn't have been there. Roric understood: t

rly gone, masked by damp earth and forgotten magic. I didn't shift. Shifting would only remind Lyra of the bond and

g just a tiny spark of warmth to my fingers, but the magic resisted, twisting inwa

e yours, little wolf," a vo

ne overriding the pai

child. At

oss. She wasn't a wolf. She was too old, too still. She was the Elder, the Shaman of the borderlands, rarely seen

you," she said, her voice holding no j

unable to speak.

magic," the Shaman continued, rising with unsettling grace. "You try to heal yourself,

atch of dark, low-gr

this plant is merely power. You can use it to heal the l

e deadly leaves. Rather than crus

I will not teach you to heal

e, but at the center of that darkness, a tiny, sharp seed of revenge started to grow. I had come alo

to a slow, cold s