Chapter 1

For five years as mates, Alpha Damon Blackwood spent half his nights at the old den in Hollowridge.

He said his elder brother, the former Alpha Cassius Blackwood, was killed in a border hunt, leaving the widowed Vanessa unattended.

Damon claimed that as Cassius's brother, he had to shoulder that responsibility. That was how loyalty ran in their family.

Back then, I believed him.

I put up with his absence during the full moon ritual.

I endured Damon splitting the Blood Oath Night bonfire in two, one half for me, the other hauled off to Hollowridge.

I even swallowed the whispers from the pack behind my back, calling me the shared Luna and saying I was too weak to hold onto my own mate.

Every time Damon talked to me, his voice stayed soft, yet wrapped in a cold distance that never faded.

That dusk, Damon, Vanessa, and I were crossing the North Ridge. A rogue's silver blade came swinging out of the shadowed trees.

A broken giant log crashed down onto my leg, and silver powder burned into my blood through the wound.

Sable screamed in my mind, pounding against my chest. Then its voice slowly faded into silence.

Damon was right beside me. His hand was already on the log that pinned me, but he let go.

He turned and held Vanessa, who had only a scratch, tight in his arms. "Don't be afraid. It's okay. I'm here."

Damon patted her back over and over, as if she were made of glass.

And my wolf, Sable, never woke up from that silver fire.

It turned out that Damon was never holding onto some brotherly loyalty. He merely couldn't stand to see Vanessa cry.

After that night, everyone fussed over Vanessa, asking if she was hurt.

No one remembered I once had a wolf.

*****

When the pack's healer carried me into the healing hut by Silver Springs, it was still dark out.

Where the silver powder had burned, my flesh felt like it was being ripped little by little from my bones. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

I kept screaming Sable's name in my head. Only endless silence answered me, as if I were screaming into a void with no echo.

For three years after awakening the inner wolf, my mind had never felt so hollow.

I thought back to the full moon when I turned eighteen. Sable opened its eyes in my head for the first time and told me, "Don't be afraid. I'm here."

From then on, through every pain and fear, it was always by my side.

But now I was trapped in this crushing agony, and Sable never reacted.

Bramble, the old healer, frowned as he lifted the bandage from my leg. "The silver powder has seeped too deep. It has damaged the inner wolf."

He turned and called out to the door, "How long has her wolf been silent? What kind of silver was it? Did she have any old injuries?"

Outside, Damon had his head down, wiping the tiny scratch at the corner of Vanessa's forehead with a clean cloth.

Bramble pressed him again.

Damon tilted his head to glance at me and muttered, "Since last night. I'm not sure about anything else."

He barely knew what I was going through, yet he was aware Vanessa was allergic to laurel leaves.

Damon could recall which of her hind legs had been hurt when she was little. He figured out which calming herbs to brew for Vanessa whenever she got spooked.

But he never once asked what my last check-up was for, or what medicine I was taking.

As they carried me away on the stretcher, I turned to look at Damon. He stayed behind.

Vanessa was gripping his arm, shivering in his embrace.

He bent down, cradling her head against his chest. "Don't look over there. I'm here. Close your eyes."

The healer at Silver Springs asked Damon to sign a consent form for the inner wolf cleansing.

Damon walked in and scribbled his name at the bottom, his fingers trembling.

I thought he'd come over to me. But after signing, he stepped back to the door and reached someone via the mind link.

Damon kept his voice down, but I still caught every word. 'Don't worry, Vanessa. I checked your injury. It's nothing serious. I'll go back to you as soon as I'm done signing.'

I bit down on my lower lip, fighting hard not to make a sound, but tears streamed down my cheeks and soaked the pillow.

Each sentence drifting in from outside carried Vanessa's name.

The cleansing herbs were forced down my throat, and everything slowly faded to black. I had no idea how long the purification lasted.

When I finally woke up, it was the dead of night.

Maya leaned over the edge of the bed, her eyes swollen and red.

The first thing I asked was, "Where's Sable?"

Maya didn't answer.

I looked at her face and then closed my eyes.

I called out to Sable again in my mind, refusing to give up.

But there was still no response. That hollow space inside me held absolutely nothing.