Silvia POV
We stare at the pages before us. Luka has drawn us. Me and Fulvio. I look up and see the Witch--Esme--watching me with a smile.
"I like your piercings," she says.
I want to fall into bed and sleep for five years. My feet are still bleeding. I'm in a ripped and bloody pink waitress uniform. I've been attacked by the biggest wolf I've ever seen. Then rescued by another biggest wolf I've ever seen. And discovered my downstairs neighbour is a seer and his granny is a Witch. The same Witch who was at my Naming. Who is now complimenting me on my piercings.
"Thanks," I say as she continues to grin at me.
"I can't wait to find out how you're using your precious gift," she says.
My precious gift! If my feet weren't so damned sore I'd run over there and ...
I look down. My feet are still bleeding! I look behind me and see that I have left bloody foot prints in Luka's apartment. I look at his mom who has gone f
Silvia POV Fulvio changes back into his clothes after his shower and we find ourselves once again in front of Luka's apartment. I've changed into jeans and a t-shirt as well and brushed my hair out so it's more like I used to wear it. I'm not wearing any make up. In the bathroom mirror I stared at myself for a long time, wondering at this person I was seeing. It was like seeing an old friend after a long, long time. My eyes huge and dark, my hair falling in waves around my face. A little older and sadder than I once was. I try not to think about how Fulvio looked at me when I came out. He had that hungry look again and I didn't hate it. Fulvio knocks and we hear running footsteps and then the door is flung open. It's hard not to be happy yourself when someone looks that happy to see you. Luka is smiling and chatting already, telling us about the dinner his mom has made. I interrupt the flow of words to ask if he has a
Vuko POV That night I llie in bed and I stare up at the ceiling. It should be simple. Frey tells me that he knows where Silvia is. I go to fetch her. Happily ever after. The end. But it's not. I'm now Alpha of the pack responsible for her banishment. Oh, and she's been banished. But more confusing even is that tonight I feel like I saw Ana for the first time. Now I can't get her out of my mind. Ana is smart and funny. She challenges me. She's caring. She has incredible strength and agility--I have seen her run. I have seen her wolf, Akira, run. I've always known all of this. But now I have also seen that she is beautiful by any measure. She has the pale blue-tinged skin of all of her pack. Huge green eyes framed with thick black lashes. That froth of white hair around her head like river foam. Now I have seen her as female, with curves and smells that are intoxicating ... I groan and rubbed my fists in my eyes. Stop! I told my
Vuko POV Something no one tells you about Quests. There's a lot of walking, trudging, lumbering, plodding, slogging ... ... by the time the sun shimmers at the horizon behind me and the crescent moon dips below the horizon before me, I have thought of every word I know of to describe really, really, really boring walking. There is absolutely nothing here. I think of the stories we told each other when we were pups. About wraiths that lived beneath the sand of the Barren that would pull you down into their nests. They would paralyze you and then their grubs would feed off you, slowly eating you alive. That was a favorite. There are the roaming packs of wilder-scorpions, creatures that are half beast, half scorpion. Where the beast's tail should be is a scorpion's sting that will cause your skin to turn black and then they eat you alive. Then there was the one about the tumbleweed spiders. Their bodies transparent so all you see is ripples on t
Silvia POV Over the next week I decide Esme is the worst teacher I've ever had. And I didn't like any of my teachers back in the Wildlands. Now I've matured and suffered and I can see that maybe I wasn't the easiest student to teach, blah blah blah. The truth is I prefer to learn on my own. Since I was a pup I would grit my teeth and go completely rigid whenever an adult tried to make me do something I didn't want to do. Then when Fer announced herself at my Naming, I realised I was not the only one digging in her heels. If I'm obstinate then Fer is impossible. I like Esme. She's funny. I love the way her bracelets jangle when she moves (not silver, gold! She says 'moon gold' which I assume is a metaphor). I love the way she can go from sitting with her feet up to standing in full warrior stance. I asked her where she learned her fighting techniques --mostly to distract her from trying to teach me---and she said from the wind. I really can't
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
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