Silvia POV
"You heard me," says Esme, "We need to figure out how to defend this city from a werewolf pack attack. You are the apex predators here. You need to get organized."
"Can't you do something?" I say.
Esme sighs and rolls her eyes. "I'm a witch not a nuclear weapon, Silvia."
"Fine," I say, "Then can you teach me. You know, with the iron."
"Silvia," she says, then she turns to Fulvio, "Fulvio, you are werewolves. You need a pack."
This stings more than I want to admit. My pack rejected me. And I have vowed to myself that if I ever get the chance, I will reject them--and any other pack-- right back. I turn away, ready to leave. I even make it as far as the door when Luka calls me.
"Silvia, you have to see this!" he says, "Please!"
It's not fair. How can I say no to him. I'm that childish though that I even drag my feet as I go back to the living room. Fulvio is putting the coffee table back in the
Silvia POV Esme had called us the apex predators. But looking around the Diner at 11pm on a Thursday night with the rain falling outside and me, Fulvio and Esme standing anxiously waiting, I don't feel like an apex anything. Luka had begged to be allowed to come with us but in this Esme and Valerie had been in agreement. Absolutely not! Not until we knew what we were dealing with. The night sky is cloudy, covering the crescent moon. I wonder if my plan wil work. I pray to the Goddess that it will. And then I prayed that it won't. What will I be starting? Cook is standing in a corner of the kitchen, facing the wall and flipping imaginary burgers on an imaginary grill. This was Esme's contribution. She enchanted Cook to think it was just another night at the Diner, flipping burgers. He's going to be surprised though when the enchantment wears off and he's not drunk. That's how he ends all his nights. His liver will thank us. I'm
Vuko POV When I approach, no guardians come out. I walk beneath the high road and the vibrations of the hundreds--maybe even more--of machines on it rumble through the viaducts below. The passages are dark and dank. I sense shapes moving within them and the smell is foul. But human. There is nothing for me to fear here. Still no one stops me. It appears that anyone may pass into the city as long as they can pass the Barren. It's lazy, I think. What kind of leadership leaves its defences to chance. Once I'm through the viaducts, I know I am in the city itself. I know this because it's like an assault on all my senses. Lights flicker in the darkness and I'm distracted by them because I can't tell what is a threat and what is not. Cars rattle and screech past overhead, there are shouts and cries, the babble of voices, and discordant music emanating from around corners and inside edifices. A thumping bass accompanies a missing melody. A trumpet s
Silvia POV I spoke to an entire roomful (pack?) of Rogues! Me! I stood up there and words came out and then I asked a really simple question--could we work together as a pack?--and the next thing everyone was talking at once. Not arguing. Talking! Every one of them thought it was a fantastic idea to work together as a pack! I'm still shaking. I don't even know where all that came from. The salmagundi has run out so Esme re-enchants Cook to do something more useful and he starts frying up some chips. He's still looking the happiest I've ever seen him. His chips are super greasy but if you add enough salt and vinegar they're pretty good. Then I think that there's a lot of talking but maybe it's too many at once. So I suggest that everyone introduces themselves. That turns out to be another fantastic idea. It's my night. It's like I can't do anything wrong. There's Graydon Airwolf of course. He's the oldest. There are many others from the Wildlands and a few, like the Aurorawolves, M
Vuko POV Silvia stands and so does the big ginger guy whose face I want to smash in immediately. I'm tired, I'm desperately thirsty and my stomach is spasming from the disappointment of that empty pot of stew. Could things be worse? Probably. But it's hard to see how just at the moment. Vi is making snarling, menacing noises but he's too weak for more than that. So that's why the first words I say to Silva after four years of separation and heartache are: "I need water. Food." Romantic? You better believe it. Silvia still stands staring at me like a hostile stranger, but the Witch moves fast. She leads me to an empty table and brings me a jug of water. I try to drink it slowly but the water sloshes everywhere as I gulp it down. I want to swim in it, splash it all around me, live in it. I can't remember when anything tasted this good. I've embarrassed myself enough already so I don't even care that every
Silvia POV I can't bear how Vuko is looking at me. It's like he's ripping the sutures from wounds that I didn't even know I still had. Him walking in when he did, looking like he'd come straight through hell, with that crazy look in his eyes, the scent of him nearly knocking me flat, I had been about to run straight to him. It was Fer who stopped me. You've never seen his wolf, she said. Was that true? Vuko has that silky blue-black hair, brooding obsidian eyes. The wolf in the alley had been big and blue-black. Vuko was always tall, but four years ago he still had the gangly look all the teen boys had. He was clumsy and would knock things over as if he still thought he was pup-size. Now, though. Now he has filled out. Even though he looks half-starved from wherever he has been, his shoulders are broader, his legs longer, his jaw more square. He looks like a hunter. But the wolf in the alley had said he had a message fo
Vuko POV I see the change in Silvia's eyes first, then her whole body seems to unwind from a tight coil. She sees me again! She knows me! In that moment I remember when we used to sneak out on the sweltering summer nights to swim in the lake, how the fresh, cold water would shock us into silence, then send us shivering to each other for warmth. Silvia in my arms looking at me exactly as she looks at me now. Or when she had been fighting with her teachers and you could practically see the sparks rising flying from her feet as she stormed off. I would find her and I would coax the fight out of her. I could make her laugh. I would listen. I'm the same and not the same. She's the same too, and not the same. She has her wolf now, of course. And our wolves have never met. And then there are the scenes she just conjured out of the air as she told her story ... But no, I think, she's still mine. Still my Silvia. I move toward her, ready to ta
Vuko POVWhen I wake, something warm and furry vibrates on my chest. It's strange but not unpleasant so I lie there for a while. Then the warm, furry, vibrating thing sticks sharp needles into my chest and I sit up with a cry, pushing it away from me.I sit there blinking for a bit with Silvia biting her lips to stop herself from laughing and the ugliest cat I've ever seen, arching its back and hissing at me."You upset Wiley," says Silvia."You named it?" I say, "It's yours?"I shake my head. Nothing makes sense here. Then, Silvia sits down next to me and hands me a cup of coffee and actually it does make sense. Not a lot. But enough.She asks me how I'm feeling and I yawn and stretch and tell her that I'm better but my stomach growls and the new problem is that I'm so hungry that if Wiley doesn't get out of the way soon, she'll be breakfast. Or lunch."What time is it?" I ask Silvia."It's eleven am," she say
Vuko POV I guess I should have expected that she would turn on me first. And if I had expected it, would I have been better at dealing with it? But it happens so fast. The one moment she's standing there and my heart is breaking watching hers break. I'm looking at her thinking how Didi had been her little shadow since he was old enough to be able to follow her around. Once, she had forgotten about him and climbed the aerie, her fingers strong and experienced in finding the hand- and foot-holds. About five meters from the ground she heard him cry out below her, his fingers not yet strong enough to hold onto the crevices in the smooth rock face. He slipped and fell to the ground below and Silvia had almost fallen down the side of the cliff herself she descended so quicky. The front side of her body had been scraped raw. I found them first. Silvia holding Didi in her arms, weeping as if she would never be able to stop. I carried him to the nearest packh
Silvia POV When I come to in Vuko's arms, the iron is gone. I don't know how I know that. It feels like my bones are lighter, hollow even. Just for an instant, before Vuko's warmth and his eyes and his strength catch me and hold me safe, I feel ... alone. What happened? I sit up and look around. Dawn's light breaks mauve and lilac through the night sky and the moon has moved from her zenith. What is different? "Look," says Seersha. She is standing at the front of the pack, Didi's arms around her. She points out through the glass windows of this strange diner that has for the moment become a sacred place. Outside, the city is suffused with a golden light that is more than dawn's rays catching the outlines of buildings and apartments. It's magic! The city is glowing with magic! Just then Tidiane bursts in. The métamorphe is out of breath and sopping wet. "Silvia! Vuko!" he says, "What did you do? What in the name of all the gods is going on?" "Tidiane," I say. "You're wet." It's
Silvia POV Cook's diner is transformed. I never ever could have imagined, when I was working her, trudging through hours long shifts and holding my breath at Cook's atrocious cooking, when I was cleaning up squashed fries and half-eaten burgers and Goddess alone knows what else was part of the muck left on the floors and seats and tables by lazy customers ... that it could also be this. The glass windows ripple and glow like the sea at night. Above us ... sky. The moon is at her zenith and the her light showers down on us. I feel Fer just beneath my skin and with her, the iron. It feels like tides, moving and shifting within me. What does it want? I feel the packs' eyes on me. We promised Esme the ceremony. And we are here. Vuko POV Silvia turns to me and now she holds the pendant in her hands. Her fingers find the groove where the leather separates. They trace the curlicues of her own script. The rhyme. She looks at me and holds my eyes as she breathes out the lines.
Silvio POV You would think that a Wolf Moon Ceremony involving the wolves of the Wildlands should take place in the Wildlands? It does not. I watched Vuko take care of it all. Right by his side of course. But everything felt different now. I knew without him saying anything that the Packhouse had been corrupted. I didn't then have the details--he showed us that horror later. But I didn't need them. It wasn't so much that I trusted him. Would you trust yourself? Trust is not even relevant. It's like we are one mind. Two bodies though--let's not forget that. It's hard to forget that with Vuko's musk putting Fer on high alert all.the.damn.time. In fact I cannot let her out at all. And I know Vuko is having the same struggle with his wolf. Patience. The Barren is of course no less Barren. But it is not unfriendly. Darius and Esme are waiting when we cross. It is as if the dreaming place becomes a living passage lined by torch-bearing dreamers robed in white. They stand silent, impas
Vuko POV That was pretty much it. After Silvia--or rather Fer--brought Abir down with her iron, the werewolves who had chosen to follow him abruptly switched allegiance. Abir's wound was not fatal but it would cripple him. It's pretty hard to fix a shredded tendon--not even magic can manage that. The fighting outside also subsided. The werewolves who had been imprisoned in the silver cage had been weakened by their proximity to the toxic metal and by their exposure to the elements and lack of food and water. But they were really, really angry. They made short shrift of the ambushers. In fact, most of them had raking clawmarks along their hindquarters which tells you everything you need to know about how the fight went. Later, we would all see what Silvia had done with the silver cage. The enormous silver throne she had made for Queen Rose lay where it had fallen over on the training ground like some slain creature of myth. I have not left Silvia's side since she came into the pac
Silvia POV The moon is almost full, reminding me of my promise to Esme. A ceremony. Tomorrow night at Wolf Moon. The cool light filters through the dense needles of the pine trees. The leaves sway and sigh in a breeze that brings little comfort. Everything is wrong. I look around me and see that I'm not the only one discomfited. All around me wolves, paw at the ground and whine. Beside me, Fulvio (or rather, Oro) and Graydon (I never got his wolf's name), stare ahead, out past the trees. The corners of their lips curl to reveal their canines and their nostrils flare wide. Okay, Fer, I mindlink my wolf, You're up. I close my eyes and grit my teeth against the pain of the transformation. And then it's done and everything smells even more wrong with Fer's sharp senses. I remember the forest smells being full of life. Damp earth that smelled rich with earthworms after the rain. Or the bitter tang of sticky sap. The sharp tickle of pine needles or the sweet bite of the drying pine
Vuko POV Vi blinks and the pain floods his brain. It hurts me too, though not as much. It's his wolf skull that feels raw and tender. He whines and struggles to get to his feet. Careful, Vi, I mindlink. We need to find whatever... or whoever ... hit us. We don't have to look far. A guardsman stands off to the side holding his shattered arm. The club that dealt Vi (and me) the blow is on the floor, Vi's fur and blood a matted mess on the splintered wood. Wood. Thank Goddess it wasn't silver or me and Vi would be unlikely to ever make it to our feet again. The guardsman looks at us with frightened eyes. I pad backwards and the circle around me draws in too. A circle of snarling young wolves encircles me, facing outwards toward the stunned guardsmen. The biggest of these young wonlves stands directly in front of me, her slender haunches trembling. I sniff and recognize the faint smell of my own pack, Firewolf. I look around. The wolves in the circle are all newly-Named! Most of th
Silvia POV I am instantly enveloped in strong, skinny arms and it takes me only a moment before I wrap my own arms around the tiny, mostly crazy woman who is hugging me. She smells of roasted chestnuts and mint and madness. Esme! I pull away. Her hair is brushed to a gleaming silver sheen and she is wearing the same white robe as Darius. I want to tell her about the sewer trolls and about how we rescued Luka. I want to ask her what she thinks about mates and whether only the Moon Goddess can decide. I want her to tell me that Vuko left a message for me saying that he is my one and only. Instead, she holds a finger to my lips. "You are going to find out soon!" she says, as if I have already asked my question. She looks positively gleeful. I narrow my eyes. "Esme, what ...?" But she has seen Luka and he has seen her. He runs to her, shouting "Gramma Esme!" She scoops him into her arms, kissing his face and crying fat, sparkling tears of joy. "My Luka!" she says. "We were so wor
Silvia POV We race back through the streets of Loop City. We are an unlikely pack. Even a few weeks ago would never have been bold enough to run out in the open like this, in our true forms. Two werewolves, a seer, and a troll. Well, one werewolf, a shapeshifter (métamorphe!), a seer, and a troll. Though in truth I don't know what a shapeshifter's true form would be. For now Tidiane has reassumed his werewolf guise. Though I think I would have remembered if I had ever before seen a wolf with gold and pink curls. Luka rides on my back, clutching the fur around my neck, his legs tight around my waist. Our bolt through the sewers hasn't helped the state of him much so now I'm just hoping that some of the muck on his is drying and flaking off in the rush of wind as I hurtle through the city. Cook lumbers along behind us. He doesn't have to try too hard to keep up. His face lit up when he saw us and Tidiane had to translate that he wante to know what the sewer queen looked like, what sh
Vuko POV I don't realise I've fallen asleep until I wake up. Every part of my body feels numb. I try to lift my hands over my knees and the silver handcuffs sear into my skin. I grimace in pain but I manage not to make a sound. It's quiet in the packhouse above me. Either everyone up there is asleep (or passed out drunk) or they've left. I'm suddenly alert, the possibility of escape tantalisingly near. Then I hear the whispering. First I hear Abir. The tone of his voice is wheedling, begging. But his voice is too low and I cannot make out the words. Vi, I mindlink. He knows what to do, lending me his senses. The dank basement around me lightens to a silvery sheen as I see through Vi's eyes, the world around me suddenly alive with movement and smells and sounds as I hear through his ears and smell through his nose. It's a lot. I sift through the noises until I can focus again on Abir's voice. "Listen to me, Ana," he is saying, "We could be powerful together." "I thought you had de