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Chapter Thirty-Eight: The River
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Silvia POV
Darius takes my hand and we leave the magical garden and Luka with his dreams.
We pass a short way through to the edges of the precisely planted forest. Darius plucks a gem-fruit from one of the low-hanging branches and hands it to me.
"Try it," he says.
I hesitate. I'm not sure fruit is supposed to glint at you. Ah well. I take a bite.
It's an explosion. Bubbles tickle my nose and gooey globs of sweetness come apart in my mouth. There's so much juice it spills out of my mouth and I have to laugh as I try to catch the sticky drops in my hands. The aftertaste is less sweet and more tangy, like lemon ice mixed with ginger. My heart is actually racing!
"What do you think?" asks Darius anxiously. "It's just that I've never really had anyone to show before."
"It is extraordinary!" I say, "Honestly, I could eat this all day. What in our Goddess's name is that?"
As we make our way out of the forest,
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Wolf Moon Chapter Thirty-Nine: Wolf Moon
Silvia POV "Wolf Moon," I say slowly. So many memories crowd my mind. "Next month will be Wolf Moon, that's in just ..." I think back to the events of the past few weeks that have felt more like months or even longer. "... ten days!" Darius is staring straight ahead, transfixed by the scene unfolding before our eyes. I recognize my old home, the Wildlands. But it seems somehow smaller. The training ground looks dusty and ragged. The earth is torn up with weeds. The houses look rundown and the fields are patchy with limp-looking crops. Dust settles everywhere. Even the pine trees seem dimished. Thinner or thinned out, I can't be sure. It is not the same verdant land of my memory. As we watch, three figures climb the hill toward the packhouse. They bang on the huge oak doors. The doors remain closed though there is light within. In the darkness below the three, there is movement. At some invisible command, a pack leaps from cover and rushes toward them. The attackers are intercepte
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-29Wolf Moon Chapter Forty: Separation
Vuko POV There was no reason to think that my desperate attempt to mindlink to the dreamer Darius would work. And yet ... the land had changed beneath my feet and I felt a cooling breeze as the bright, burning sun of the Barren faded. Somehow, he or the other dreamers had heard me calling to be let in! The dreamers, Darius, whoever. I didn't care at this point. All of that was good. But I had no time to feel relief because there was also the distinctive howl of a werewolf about to attack and no time to do anything about it. My body reacts instinctively, and I duck into a low defensive crouch, Vi just beneath the surface, waiting to be let out. Through the dimming light emerges a flickering bright oval. I squint my eyes, and step forward, trying to see what it is. Too late I lurch backwards as a mass of growling, white wolf barrels through the light and toward me. I push Esme out of the way just in time but I'm knocked to the ground. The breath slams
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-29Wolf Moon Chapter Forty-One: Return to the Wildlands
Vuko POV The moonlight casts shadows everywhere and something in the stillness makes me anxious. There is no movement other than mine and Ana's. There are no calls of owls or other nightbirds, no small creatures scurrying through the undergrowth. In the silence our movements sound too loud. Beneath the scent of pine leaves and earth is another smell. The sweet-foul smell of rotting things. Death. What has happened here? "Look," whispers Ana, pointing through the trees to the training ground. The training ground has been closed off by an enormous silver cage. What madness is this? "The prisoners are enclosed in the silver cage," she says. "My father ..." I hear the catch in her voice as she pauses. "... My father and the other Alphas as well as anyone who opposed Abir's takeover." She turns to me, takes my hands in hers. "Vuko, there's something else ..." I close my eyes, not wanting to hear it but knowing it wa
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-29Wolf Moon Chapter Forty-Two: Abir
Vuko POV I've known this packhouse since I was a cub. It has been the scene of marriages, naming ceremonies, judgments. Celebrations, tragedies, comedies and dramas--all have played out in this hall. The packhouse is the centre of pack life. The packhouse building is a long, wide, and tall hall crafted from stained teak, wood that is dark and heavy and solid as our packs are meant to be. The likenesses of the great Alphas have been etched into the struts that support the high roof. Battle scenes from the Great Incursions have been painted on the walls. In the centre of the hall should be the Alpha table, where the Alphas gather to discuss the important decisions that must be taken to support our packs. That even included me very recently. I am mistaken, the table is still there. I was only confused because the chairs have been removed and it has been draped in jewel-coloured silks and velvets. Floor cushions have been piled around it. Female pack mem
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-29Wolf Moon Chapter Forty-Three: Loop City is Changing
Silvia POV I look up at Fulvio and he breaks into a grin then pulls me into bear hug ... ... at the same time as Wiley gives a chirrup of disapproval and jumps off me onto the carpet taking at least some of my flesh with her. "Ow," I say and Fulvio instantly releases me, looking very worried. "It's okay it wasn't you," I reassure him, eyeing Wiley who sits swishing her tail and cocking her head at me. She'll love me again when I feed her. I sit up and instantly feel dizzy and a weird phantom pain around my throat. Like I've had a cold or ... or .. .. or a wolf's jaws around my throat. My hand flies to my throat and I start feeling around as the memories start crowding back. Seersha shouting at me. Didi angry. The Hemming. My little brother's wolf! It's so unfair. That was another moment stolen from me. A moment I should have shared with Didi that I couldn't. His Naming ceremony. And under any ot
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-29Wolf Moon Chapter Forty-Four: Tidiane
Silvia POV I head to the front door then turn to tell them which floor we're going to. I want to see their reactions. But I don't say anything. Because as I turn, I see Valerie slip her hand into Fulvio's and reach up to kiss him on the cheek. He grins and looks at her with an expression that is pure adoration. Whatever that dream I had in the dreaming place was about, I'm glad I figured it out then or I would be very disappointed now. And Darius? For the first time it occurs to me that Valerie has a husband who is maybe not exactly dead. How does she feel about that? I head out the door and down the stairwell, so deep in thought that I am barely aware of my surroundings. It is Valerie's soft 'Oh' of astonishment that pulls me back. I glance around and have to put my hand on the railing to steady myself. The walls of the apartment are moving crazily about me. The wall on my right looks far, far away. All I can see of it is a small wavering square. But the wall in front of me, is so
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-29Wolf Moon Chapter Forty-Five: Vuko Imprisoned
Vuko POV He doesn't put me in the silver cage. If I were there would I feel better or worse? Better because I would at least be with my mother, with Gray, with the other Alphas. Worse because then I would have to see the disappointment in their eyes. They were depending on me and I let them know. My head sags between my knees. I've managed to slip my shackled wrists over my knees though I have to hold them a little way away from my ankles, avoiding contact with the silver. My wrists feel scorched. It hurts even to move them. Fer whimpers in pain and I have to work hard to not let his sad little whimpers escape. I hadn't even known about this space beneath the pack house. The earthen floor is damp and the cold seeps through my trousers and into my bones. The smell is rank and bitter. Like the forest, there is a smell of rotting things. How long has this place been used for people like me? All those banishments during my father's tyranny--were they banishments? Or had they just been s
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-29Wolf Moon Chapter Forty-Six: Tidiane and Cook
Silvia POV There is an awkward moment when I see Didi again. I don't know who it's most awkward for though. Me because he's my little brother and the last time we saw each other he tried to kill me. Or him because he's my little brother and the last time we saw each other he tried to kill me. I decide it's him. I still feel awkward though. He and Seersha sit together. They're not prisoners. Not exactly. But enough of the bigger members of our (sort of) pack surround them that it's clear they are being very carefully watched. It makes me both sad and relieved. Graydon draws me aside. "We need every able-bodied pack member," he says, "Didi's pack were more than happy to join forces. Didi and Seersha ... well ..." he sighs heavily. "They're young and it s lot to just lose your new pack that you started to change the world. Especially if the world really needs changing." He glances at Didi who looks away. "Actually, maybe they already succeeded." "It will look more like success if
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-29
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Wolf Moon Chapter Fifty-Six: Vuko and Silvia
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
Wolf Moon Chapter Fifty-Five: Ceremony
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.
Wolf Moon Chapter Fifty Four: Wolf Moon
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
Wolf Moon Chapter Fifty-Three: It's Not Over Until the Ceremony
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
Wolf Moon Chapter Fifty-Two: The Final Battle
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
Wolf Moon Chapter Fifty-One: Packhouse
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
Wolf Moon Chapter Fifty: The Rhyme
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
Wolf Moon Chapter Forty-Nine: Leaving Loop City
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
Wolf Moon Chapter Forty-Eight: Freywolf
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
