Chapter 2

Three years ago, the first night I was thrown into the Black Forest, a blizzard raged, and the temperature plunged to twenty-two below zero.

A massive black wolf appeared before me. I thought it had come to eat me. Instead, it lay down in the snow and kept me warm through the night.

When I woke up the next morning, the wolf was gone, leaving only a trail of footprints leading deep into the forest.

Later, I learned it was Samuel's wolf form.

He watched over me all night, then slipped away before dawn, probably so I wouldn't feel indebted to him.

For three years, on every full moon night, a bundle would appear at my cave mouth: jerky, water, moon herbs, and later, bandages. No note. I never asked.

Samuel stood in front of me, blocking Aiden and the guards a few steps away.

"She's my fated mate. Wherever I go, she goes. If anyone dares lay a hand on her, I'll wipe out their entire pack," he said coldly.

Aiden stayed on his knees, too afraid to move. The guards stepped back.

Just then, the distant sound of a carriage echoed across the clearing. A silver carriage appeared, marked with the Silvermoon pack crest.

The door opened. My father, Rex Silvermane, the old Alpha, stumbled out.

He'd aged more than a decade in three years. His hair was pure white, his shoulders hunched, and he had to steady himself on the carriage doorframe as he stepped out.

He approached me, slow and unsteady.

I noticed his hands. Dark dirt was lodged under his fingernails.

Not the soft dirt from the palace gardens. This was sticky, swamp muck from deep in the Black Forest, the kind that was almost impossible to scrub off.

The same kind of cracked mud clung to the edges of his boots, with crushed leaves and bits of grass.

I had no idea why he would appear here with mud from the Black Forest still clinging to his hands and boots.

He bowed so low his body folded nearly in half, hands hanging at his sides, forehead nearly grazing his knees.

Rex never bowed to anyone. That was common knowledge. But today, he did.

When he bowed, I caught a faint scent of moon herb. It was the same scent as the bundle that appeared at the mouth of my cave every full moon night.

I glanced at Samuel. His face stayed the same, but his eyes slid to Rex's hands, lingered for a moment, then drifted away.

It was a strange look, like he was staring at someone whose secret he was already in on.

I was still completely in the dark.

Rex straightened up, his eyes red and watery.

"Dad, get up," I said.

"Aria. About three years ago... I owe you an explanation," he said.

"Don't bother. Aiden tossed me in the forest, and you stood by. That's all I need to know."

"It wasn't like that." He stepped forward. "Three years ago... the Grand Elder Alaric forced me."

I stopped in my tracks. "Alaric ?"

Rex nodded. "If I didn't send you away, he'd stage a coup and kill our whole family."

He looked at Aiden. "He also tampered with your awakening test."

"What do you mean?"

"Aria, you're not wolfless," Rex said through gritted teeth. "Your inner wolf is a silver healing wolf. The first in a hundred years.

"Alaric hates healers. Thirty years ago, his father was exposed for corruption by the previous healer and banished from the pack. Since then, he has sworn that no healer will remain.

"He paid off Aiden to mess with your awakening test, so everyone would believe you were wolfless."

I looked down at the scar on my palm. If the test hadn't been tampered with, the crystal wouldn't have shattered, and the scar wouldn't exist.

I lifted my gaze to Aiden. He knelt in the snow, trembling, not daring to look at me.

"You changed my results?" I asked.

"Yes." His voice was barely audible. "Alaric said if I got rid of you, he'd give me the throne. Back then..."

I said nothing, turning and walking back to the hut, grabbing a bundle of moon herbs from the bottom shelf of the medicine cabinet.

It was the same stuff that had shown up at my door every full moon night for the last three years.

It had that pine scent. Only now did I realize that was what I'd been smelling all this time.

"How's Mom?" I asked.

Rex's voice cracked. "Alaric poisoned her with Wolfsbane. That's what they call the wolf plague. She believed you were dead and fell gravely ill."