I clung to the rim of the bath and looked up at him, held in place like a mouse hypnotized by a snake.

  "That includes your pups. Your elders. Mine are already gone," he said gruffly. "You might despise our methods, but if keeping you prisoner means every wolf out there—" He waved a hand towards the window, indicating all of Lykos, "—survives, then I will happily endure your hatred to my grave."

  I swallowed hard, feeling small.

  Like he'd reduced me to the size of a grape and then crushed me under his heel.

  "I don't hate you," I breathed. Goddess knew I should, but I didn't.

  I just understood him a little better now.

  Calian's harsh expression softened. Just a touch, but it was enough. "I don't hate you, either. I just wish you'd understand...if we'd had a strong Caller, maybe my sisters wouldn't have died screaming for mercy. You've been given an opportunity I would've killed for in those days."

  His sisters. Moon above, and I'd thought him a soulless bastard.

  But now...if I was willing to forget how they'd taken me and put a shackle around my ankle...maybe there would be common ground to find between us.

  I bit my lower lip, worrying it as I thought. "Your ancestors are still in the northlands?"

  Calian nodded slowly, studying my face.

  "If...if you were to come with me to my temple one day to retrieve mine, then I'd be willing to help you retrieve yours. We could hold the rites for them here in Lykos...together."

  It was the largest peace offering I could think of, and not easy to accomplish, but Callers had a duty to ensure our ancestors were laid to rest and given the proper rituals, blessing their spirits and guiding them to the moon.

  He was silent for another long moment.

  I thought I'd offended him somehow, even though this was one of the few things I knew for a fact that Callers were meant to do.

  Then he reached out and laid his hand over mine, squeezing hard.

  Calian released me, then stood up and strode to the door.

  I stared after him. The touch was so brief, I could've imagined it.

  Maybe I had imagined it.

  "Thank you, but there's nothing left to bring back," he said quietly. "I'll be waiting outside for you."

  Then he stepped through, leaving me alone.

  9

  Ryden

  Calian was leaving her room when I approached.

  There was no sign of Ayla herself, but he wore a look on his face I hadn't seen since his childhood—a wounded, trapped look, the same expression he’d worn when my father had brought him to Lykos.

  I hadn't seen it since he'd joined the Claws, nor since he'd left them.

  When he heard my footsteps approaching, he smoothed it away.

  Calian had always been better than me at hiding his true emotions. It made him an ideal Second; let our enemies think I was the big, dumb lunk who couldn't tell his tail from his ass, while Calian blended into the shadows and listened.

  He picked up all the small tells my open personality drew out of them: which were more likely to come to our side, which were lying, which were plotting my death right then and there.

  Everything he thought was locked behind an icy iron curtain, but Ayla had somehow drawn that curtain aside.

  He straightened up as I approached. "She's almost done."

  I played along with his clear desire to not speak of whatever had gotten this reaction from him. "Did she attempt anything...excessive?"

  My thoughts were mostly on the high windows when I asked this.

  We'd only had one suicide since we'd begun collecting stray packs torn apart by Fenris, but that one had been enough for a lifetime.

  Calian shook his head, and ran a hand through his cropped black hair, scowling at the floor. "Not with serious intent. She's testing how far she can push us, of course."

  Looks like she found your weak spot, I thought, but I didn't say it aloud.

  My Second raised his head and blew out a breath. "Realistically, the worst we're going to expect from her is a lot of foot-dragging. I can’t see her attacking the Guardians or Claws—not as long as her people are taken care of."

  "Already on that," I said absently, wondering what else she could want.

  "I think I broke through a little." Calian glanced at the closed door behind him, and we walked several feet down the hall. The walls of the Dawn Palace were thick enough to obscure our conversation, even if she was on the other side with her ear pressed against the wood. "She seems...to respond well when you make something her responsibility."

  My inner wolf's ears perked up at that.

  Wasn't that what we always wanted in a mate? Responsibility and duty, honor to the pack.

  Fuck yes, that was what I wanted.

  Tyra had pushed so hard to become my mate, and I’d never wished harm on her, but there was some relief in knowing that these days, I wouldn't wake up to her trying to creep into my bed.

  "Perfect." Calian shot me a sharp look when I spoke. "We have to keep her origins in mind. She's from a reclusive community, where she was likely only taught the absolute basics of what the temple expects from her. She would've been one of the pillars of her people, alongside the Alpha."

  A thought I'd tried my best to keep locked in the back of my mind resurfaced, and I bared my teeth without thinking.

  It was clear that all her pack's Warriors were dead, but I deliberately hadn't asked if she'd already been mated to another male.

  Pack Vesper had no Alpha when we arrived, which suited my personal plans just fine...but had she already been an Alpha's mate?

  "Ryden. I don't think she was ever mated to someone else," Calian said quietly, reading my thoughts. Usually, he looked me in the eye, but now he carefully studied an engraving of the moon on the opposite wall. "She made no mention of a specific male, only her people as a whole."

  It was the first time Calian had ever seemed reticent to tell me what he'd discovered about a new wolf.

  That, combined with the look on his face, told me everything I needed to know.

  She'd somehow managed to pry the story of Pack Tempestas out of him.

  And he wanted her for himself.

  I held back the dominant rage threatening to rise within me.

  He was my best friend. There was no wolf I trusted more than him to watch my back—and to lead Azura to safety if I, or Lykos, ever fell.

  I'd never witnessed him actually knocked off-kilter by a female. And it was only because of that, and our brotherhood, that I'd allow him to remain near her.

  Everything I had, Calian was welcome to.

  As long as she agreed with it.

  "Good. Then we won't be competing with the memory of a dead wolf when it comes to pursuing her."

  Calian raised an eyebrow, but some of the tension melted out of his features. "'We'?"

  I shrugged and grinned, letting my better nature take over. "When have you ever cared if a pack refugee was once mated?"

  His lips twisted again. "If it's information we can use—"

  "You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me, brother."

  Calian was too self-composed to roll his eyes. He needed to lighten up a little. We only had so much time to joke around when death could come running over Lykos at any moment. "You're seeing things that aren't there."

  "Right. And you usually share your life story with complete strangers." I walked towards the door, intending to check on our lovely captive. The celebrations would begin as soon as night fell, and she needed to look the part: the future savior of wolfkind.

  "I had a good reason for it," he muttered.

  "Mmhmm."

  "And watch out, she's probably refused to dress—"

  But I was already turning the doorknob.

  Calian needed happiness in his life. He couldn't just live in my shadow forever, forgoing what everyone else had out of fear it would be taken.

  If you lived for nothing, then there was no point in fighting so hard to survive.

  I stepped into the room, fully prepared to avert my eyes, but Ayla had dressed.

  And not in rags.

  She wore the shimmering gold dress her handmaiden had left for, the soft pleats falling to the floor and covering her bruised legs.

  There was no sign of the handmaiden herself, but Ayla had stopped in the middle of dragging a brush through her long black hair when we entered.

  Her eyes were wary as she took me in, then flicked to Calian, who was on my heels.

  "I did as you commanded," she said, but the usual acidic bite I'd come to expect from her was gone.

  I mentally picked my jaw up off the floor. Clean and dressed like a true Caller, she was even more beautiful than I'd anticipated.

  Calian, fortunately, didn't miss a beat. "Jewelry. This celebration is in your honor, so you should look the part."

  He pushed past me and went to a dresser, where boxes filled with jewelry had been brought up for her shortly before her arrival. I’d sent the orders ahead with a Guardian to prepare one of the rooms on my floor of the Palace.

  Ayla gave him a dry look, and I could imagine what she was thinking.

  How could anything be in her honor when she wore a bracelet that kept her confined to the city?

  "You look...lovely," I said, clearing my throat. Why was it so easy to talk to any other woman but this one? "The Elder Caller will be impressed."

  To my surprise, Ayla let out a small laugh, but it wasn't amused. "If she's impressed, I hope it's more for my skills than my looks."

  Calian glanced at me sidelong as he picked through the jewelry box.

  Responsibility. She desired to be of worth, not just a figurehead.

  "She will be," I assured her. "But looks are part of it. The presence of the Callers boosts the pack's morale, and seeing you look so...shiny, so beautiful, will give them more hope than you looking...underfed."

  "Shiny and beautiful," she repeated, and for a moment a spear went through my heart.

  I was an idiot. Who said that sort of thing?

  But Ayla didn't look disgusted. She looked me over consideringly, which was a step in the right direction.

  "I understand that." She looked up at me, even took a step closer. Her sweet vanilla-honey scent filled my nose, and my cock stirred as I imagined burying my face in that thick, dark hair. "A filthy temple is no place to worship the moon."

  I had a feeling it was less the jewels and finery that was appealing to her than the concept of giving her people something to hope for.

  That I could understand.

  "No, it's not. The temples are kept pristine here, and so are our Moon Callers."

  Calian finally fished out a gold necklace with ropes of webbed chains and held it up. Tiny aquamarines caught the light as he moved behind her. "Hold up your hair."

  I saw Ayla's throat move as she swallowed and obeyed.

  There was a sudden, thick tension in the air, and it was lost on no one that she was between us, close enough for me to touch, with Calian's hands at her throat.

  She looked up at me as he draped the necklace over her prominent collar bones and began to fasten it at the nape of her neck. Her sea blue eyes were searching my face, looking for something I couldn't fathom.

  What had changed? What had Calian told her?

  "You'll be free to visit your pack at the celebration," I told her, my voice gruff again. She made me want to push her to the bed and rip all these pointless sparkles and skirts off her. "I gave you my word that they would be cared for."

  She nodded, then frowned, looking at the pile of rags she'd arrived in. For whatever reason, they'd been neatly folded and left on a dresser top. "Will you let the maid know not to touch those?"

  I couldn't imagine why she wanted them, but I nodded. Anything to show her I meant this in good faith.

  Ayla didn't seem satisfied. She reached out and touched my forearm.

  My veins fizzed with a burst of sudden power, and every cell in my body strained to touch her, to enfold her in my arms—

  "Promise," she demanded, staring right into my eyes. It was the first time she'd demanded anything of me or looked me in the face with anything other than fury. "They're...they’re more important to me than I can say."

  "I swear by the moon, nobody will touch them." I placed a fingertip on the rune marked on my forehead, making it clear that it was a binding promise.

  Ayla's shoulders relaxed. A few seconds passed, but she still hadn't taken her hand off my arm. "Thank you, Alpha."

  From anyone else, the honorific would've just been an accepted part of life.

  From her, I wanted to hear my name.

  "Ryden," I told her. "When you're with me, I'm Ryden."

  Ayla smiled. It was hesitant, and the wariness hadn't left entirely, but it was real and warm. "Thank you, Ryden."

  Anything for you.

  The words were on my lips, just waiting to be spoken.

  "You're welcome."

  10

  Ayla

  What had changed?

  I asked myself that question over and over as night fell, dropping over Lykos in velvet shadows. Gold lanterns had been lit and hung all over the city square, where most of the city had gathered.

  The celebration spilled out into the surrounding buildings. Wolves on balconies dripping with ivy and roses overlooked the square where long tables had been set up for the feast.

  Ryden's table was on a dais, making it very clear to the rest of the pack where the leader was.

  Alpha, my brain tried to correct, but his name seemed stuck there now. He was no longer just a title, but a person.

  Someone who had made me a promise with complete sincerity, as far as I could tell.

  I didn't look his way as we walked toward the dais. More lanterns had been hung from the marble columns in the square, casting vivid blue and green pools of light over his blond hair and tanned skin.

  But the dais was protected from the thousands of wolves.

  The Claws were here, their tattoos displayed proudly. They all held weapons they wouldn't need in wolf form, and I'd seen plenty of armored guards manning the walls of Lykos when we'd left the Dawn Palace.

  My stomach had settled somewhere near my toes during the entire walk. The weight of the pack's eyes was even worse now; somehow, I felt the pretty dress and jewelry made me even more obvious than the ragged clothing.

  I mounted the dais behind Ryden, Calian behind me, my thoughts swimming frantically.

  Being between them made me feel safe. Like the shadow wolves couldn't possibly get through them.

  And that was a dangerous emotion.

  No matter how Calian had opened up to me, or Ryden's promises and boyish compliments, I couldn't forget the shackle or the ropes.

  But I wanted to, especially when almost all of Lykos was gathered here and I saw just how large their pack had grown.

  Every single one of the wolves within these walls needed protection, and I could help.

  I could be something more than the failure of a Caller who'd led her own people to doom.

  Just the sight of all the pups in the square made my heart hurt. It wasn't just my own pack who needed me.

  I pulled my eyes away and almost ran into Ryden's back. He'd pulled out a chair for me at the long table, raising an eyebrow.

  Feeling like an impostor—I should be down there with my own pack, not sitting at this table with people who were miles out of my league—I sat down, smoothing my pleated skirt around my thighs.

  Then I made the mistake of glancing down the table.

  There were two other Callers, bearing the slashed runes of our kind.

  One was an older woman, her long silver hair worn in a braid that fell down her back, her Caller runes visible on her shoulder. The other was no more than a pup, a small girl who couldn't have been more than ten years old.

  They both wore gold, their dresses far more conservative than mine, which was cut low.

  The older woman eyed me as I sat, and my heart started galloping under her gaze.

  She had to be the Elder Caller who would teach me. What did she think of me?

  A spoiled brat? A useless waste? I was wearing a fortune in jewelry. Maybe she saw a social climber...

  Ryden sat next to me, blocking the sight of her, and Calian sat at my other side.

  I was relieved, an odd feeling considering they'd both been my personal villains up until an hour ago.

  Calian picked up a goblet and pushed it towards me. "Drink up, guest of honor."

  I took it with some trepidation, lifting it to my nose and sniffing cautiously.

  Alcohol, but it seemed light. The scent of peach juice obscured the bite of wine. I took a sip and almost shuddered.

  "Too much?" Calian asked, looking at me sidelong. He was pouring red wine in his own cup.

  "No, it's good." A slice of fresh peach floated in the drink. "In the valley, when we traded for alcohol, it was usually more...vinegary. This is sweet."

  He took a drink of his own wine, expressionless. "It was poorly made, then."

  I resisted the urge to make a face at him. The wine settled in my stomach like a glowing coal, but it wasn't an unpleasant sensation. "Do you ever get tired of your own superiority?"

  A look of shock and wariness crossed his face, almost instantly wiped away. "That wasn't what I meant."

  I took another drink. Once I'd gotten used to the sweetness, it was extremely good. I'd need to be careful. "I know. I just like seeing actual emotions on your face when I surprise them out of you."

  I felt him staring at me and tried not to smile into my cup.

  In the span of a few days, we'd come a long way from the frigid, emotionless persona he gave off.

  If I had to be his captive, I'd dig until I found the real wolf beneath it.

  "Try these." Ryden pushed a bowl in front of me. It was brimming with more berries, fat, juicy red ones that were unlike the ones he'd scavenged for me in the wastelands.

  I wondered if he knew I'd eaten the berries first after my bath. We harvested fruit in our valley, but it wasn't much, and in the last year we'd begun reserving them for the pups.

 

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