Chapter 3

Wren's POV

Through the glass of the chamber I see them.

Caden's voice is honey. "Slow down, sweetheart. It's hot."

I push the door open.

Hazel sees me first. "W-Wren."

Caden's head snaps around. The instant his eyes land on me, his body shifts — automatic, animal — to put Hazel behind him.

His voice ices over. "I told you. Leave her alone."

I stare at Hazel's flat stomach.

"Pup?"

Tears spill down her cheeks. She turns away. She can't look at me.

"Yes," Caden answers for her. "Mine. Three months."

Three months.

Three moons ago Caden was at the border, hunting rogues. The raid hit and the bond went silent. No mind-link. Nothing.

I begged for leave and tore down the trail in wolf form. Halfway there a second wave of rogues hit the road. I was thrown. My ribs slammed a stone.

I hadn't even told him about our pup, and I lost him right there on the forest floor.

When Caden finally found me he knelt by the cot and crushed me to his chest. His voice was shaking.

"I'm sorry, Wren. We'll have another. I swear we'll have another."

First time I ever saw him cry.

I stroked his hair and said, "You're alive. That's enough. We'll have more."

He wasn't at the border. He was with Hazel.

They made their pup that week.

"Wren."

Hazel's voice drags me back. Her eyes are red, her chin trembles. Picture-perfect.

"A pup needs his father… please. Bless this for us."

Crack.

My palm meets her cheek so hard my whole arm sings.

The chamber freezes. Then she's sobbing into her hands.

Caden surges to his feet and locks his hand around my wrist.

"Wren. Enough. You got something to say, you say it to me."

His eyes are full of fury.

In twenty years he's been angry with me — what — three times? Every single time because I worked too hard and didn't eat.

Now he's furious. For her.

"Say it to you? Caden, what makes you think you're worth saying it to?"

I rip my arm free and step back.

Something slips from my pocket and clatters onto the floor.

A silver dagger.

He and I both go still.

Three years ago on the night of our promising he slid the mate-pendant onto my throat — and pressed this dagger into my hand.

"Wren Sutton. Under this moon, I swear it — you're the only Luna I'll ever choose. If I ever betray you, take this blade and drive it through my heart."

I stare at the silver dagger. My inner wolf is roaring.

I bend down and pick it up.

Something black and enormous rises through my chest. My eyes burn. My wolf is howling.

I want to drive it in.

I want him to feel what I felt — your own wolf clawing you apart from the inside.

Hazel screams and throws her arms wide in front of him.

"Wren! It's me! It's all me — leave him alone!"

I take one step toward them.

Just one.

Caden's eyes change. He yanks Hazel behind him and his hand shoots out — palm to my chest — and shoves.

The back of my head cracks against the stone floor. My ears ring like bells.

When my vision clears he's wrapped around her, his voice low and tender.

"Did he hit your belly? Are you alright?"

She shakes her head, weeping.

He never once looks at me.

The corridor outside is full of pack-folk now.

"Goddess! Healer Sutton!"

"She's the quiet one. What is she now, feral?"

I lie there. My head throbs.

I was eight when my mother handed me to my drunk, fanged father and walked off. I knelt in the dirt clutching her ankle and screamed why until I passed out.

After that I never broke for anyone again.

Not when I failed my first naming-trial. Not when I lost a patient on the table. Not even when I lost our pup on that forest road.

It took Caden twenty years to break that shell off me, piece by piece. He's the one who taught me a she-wolf could be loved.

And now he's the one who turned me into a feral thing on the floor.

I push up onto my hands. My knees lock under me. I make it to my feet.

I walk out.

It's just me now. That has always been enough.