Vuko POV
When 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 After Seersha Airwolf's statement, there is a short silence followed by many wolves talking at once. I notice Vuko frowning at her. "That's Seersha Aurorawolf," I say to him quietly. "Her pack was wiped out by what she calls 'Wildlands Wolves'. They were led by Alpha Ludo." Vuko looks at me sharply, then away. He sighs. "I'm beginning to think my father made up his own version of history," he says. I wait for him to say more, but he doesn't. "She seems too young to be on her own," he says, "How old do you think she is?" I look at her again. She's wearing quite a lot of make up so it's hard to tell, but the closer i look, the younger she seems. At first I had thought she was about my age. But I think she' probably closer to Didi's. The way she behaves also gives the impression of maturity. In spite of the barrage of questions, she is calm, answering each without any sign of being flustered or intimidate
Silvia POV We leave the diner with Cook back to his human dimensions. Aluna kisses his sweaty forehead and tells him 'leave it to me.' He grins at her like a hopelessly in love puppy. As we leave I ask her in a whisper, "What did you mean, 'leave it to me'?" She smiles, "He's lonely," she says, "And I happen to know of a troll grotto just outside the Wildlands." "There are trolls outside the Wildlands?" I say. I can hardly believe it. Is that even safe? "I follow the rivers, it's my nature. I explored much more widely than wisely," she looks sad. "Anahita knows." I can tell from her expression that I should leave her alone. I want to ask her more about what happened to her and her family. But I also know what it's like to have a wound too raw to touch. I let her walk ahead of me as I hang back. Fulvio and Vuko are talking like old friends which is not something I could have predicted. I'm grateful for the few m
Silvia POV I'm dumbstruck. I look from Seersha to Didi and back again and try to make sense of this. Didi really is the Alpha of a new pack? Seersha has betrayed us? I don't know what I thought I would find. My little brother as he looked four years ago? A kid who would run to me as he always had, happy to see me? I barely know Seersha so that betrayal rankles only because it was stupid of us to just trust her. We were fooled by her youth and our own hope. It still rankles though. The Alpha who is watching me from the pale marble stairs of the altar has cold green eyes. That's why I couldn't recognize him at first. "You are Alpha," I eventually manage. It's not a question. Figures have emerged from the shadows around the cathedrals walls. His pack members. They stand watching and I see the glint of silvered weapons in their hands. "I am Alpha of the Nova Pack," he says. "We will change the order. For the better."
Vuko POV I watch Seersha and Silvia walk off knowing that however this ends, Silvia is likely to be angry with me. It's a price I am willing to pay for her safety. Silvia believes she will be safe because she has to. The alternative is to believe that her own brother wants her dead and what sane person could believe that? Even with Jedan's direct physical attacks on me, it took a long time for me to accept that he hated me. I send a silent prayer to the Godess that this ends with Silvia angry with me and not Silvia heartbroken over her brother's hatred of her. I pick up speed, racing back to where I agreed with Fulvio that he would wait. We didn't know where Seersha would lead Silvia and the risk was too high that she would scent him if he followed, so we meet back at the Diner. Of course. I'm getting used to this weird glass packhouse with the troll cook. Normal is just what you can get used to. Fulvio is there with Graydon A
Vuko POVWhen we leave the diner I start getting anxious. What if we're too late? What if Didi has already attacked her? What if she's at this moment lying injured or ... I don't want to think of anything worse than injured.Fulvio is keeping pace next to me."She has the iron," he says, "Silvia the Ironwolf, she will be okay." He smiles and lopes ahead.I shouldn't worry, we are moving pretty fast, following Graydon the Airwolf. I use a little edge, letting Vi take over for a bit to outrun the others. They quickly understand what I'm doing and do the same themselves, until it becomes like a game of werewolf tag. We can't help ourselves, we let out whoops and howls of happiness.CUT. IT. OUT!!!!We all hear the mindlink and our wolves obey instantly. A command that feels almost as strong as an Alpha's. It's a command that completely takes over our muscles and nerves and fibres. We could no sooner disobey that command t
Vuko POV Graydon takes out torches and bandannas from his backpack. We each wrap a bandanna around our face. I don't know what he soaked it in--super-strength peppermint maybe--but it helps. Clicking on the torches does not. I can't believe that I passed through here. I must have been nearly delirious with exhaustion and dehydration. I can't believe Silvia passed through here. What must she have been thinking? We are standing in an open space from which tunnels fan out. There are echoey plinks of water meeting the wet concrete floor and slithering noises from the gutters that run along the sides of the walls. The tunnels ooze viscious liquid and seem to pulse as if they are alive. I suppress a shudder. It will not do to have Graydon think the Alpha accompanying him is a giant baby. We move together starting from the tunnel on our left. There will be a mark, he mindlinks, for their pack to know which tunnel. Look
Silvia POV "Little brother," I say, then again, "Little brother." I hold out my hands, palms upwards, in silent supplication. I'm trying to understand this Alpha, this grown werewolf who I don't know. What is his wolf even like? What was his Naming like? Who are his friends? I drop my hands "I didn't recognize you," he says finally. "What do you mean?" I say. I try to approach him but Seersha steps in front of me. I glare at her and she glares back. This is not going well. But what did he mean that he didn't recognize me? "You ..." his voice is quiet, soft, hurt. He looks around him, at his pack, clears his throat and tries again. "You were different. After the iron." His voice is stronger and more authoritative. He is insecure in his role as Alpha, I realise. He is worried he will do something to make his pack think he should not be their Alpha. That's a dangerous position. "I wa
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