Silver Secrets

Chapter 2: Mel

A guttural shout echoes off the walls of the alley. Heavy footfalls pound towards me, but I can only crouch there, my eyes fixed on the knife that was slashing down towards me only a second ago. The mugger's face is frozen in horror mirroring my own.

A broad figure fills the alleyway, black against the dying light, and yanks the frozen man away from me. He falls to the side, unresisting.

I spring to my feet. Now is the time to run—nobody's recognised me, I can get away if I'm quick.

Except someone did recognise me. And now he's right here.

Lieutenant Bedauri lets go of the mugger's tattered coat as if he's been burned. His eyes go wide, and I flush with shame, wanting nothing more than to melt into the shadows. Now he thinks I'm some kind of monster.

He covers his mouth with a trembling hand, never taking his eyes off the paralysed man. Someone else is running towards us—another guard?

"Are you hurt?" Lieutenant Bedauri asks through his fingers, his voice low and gruff.

"No," I say, my voice stronger than I had thought it would be.

"Then run." He turns his face away from me. "Damn. Actually, stay where you are."

"What's going on?" Another guard demands as he stumbles to a halt in front of us. Even in the shadows, I can see how his face hardens. "Rowan, you're—"

"I'm well aware, Page," Bedauri snaps. "Arrest him."

The guard called Page hurries to obey, but he keeps glancing up at Bedauri, and the fear in his thought-buzz fills the whole alley, but it's not as loud as Bedauri's. I've never heard anything like this. It is like nothing human.

Whatever hold I had over the mugger dissolves when Page binds his hands behind his back. He grunts like he's just been woken for a deep sleep. His eyes rove over the alley until they land on me. Then he takes a deep breath and screams.

"Witch!" He shrieks with all his strength, making me flinch. "Fucking psychic witch!"

"Shut him up," Lieutenant Bedauri orders, but the damage is done. I can hear the thought-buzz gathering at the mouth of the alley that opens into Cadence Square. We're drawing a crowd. My chest tightens in panic.

I have to get out of here. I take a step backwards, then another, but as soon as I turn so I can bolt out of the alley a hand grabs my wrist and pulls me back.

"Don't try to run," Bedauri hisses. "You'll make it worse." He realises his mistake as soon as I do.

On his cheeks is the ghost of brown fur, even though I'm sure he's always been clean-shaven. Sharp canines glint in the low light when he speaks. When I look down, the hand around my wrist is almost pawlike. But the strangest thing about him is his eyes. Where before they were brown, they're now a sharp yellow. He grimaces and turns his face away again, but it's too late.

I listen closer to his thought-buzz. There's definitely something wild in there, though I can feel him fighting it with all his strength.

He really is a werewolf. And he almost shifted.

"Rowan?"

I tear my eyes away from Bedauri to see three more guards hovering a few feet away. They all have their swords drawn.

"Turn around, Lieutenant," one of them calls, more bravely than the first. "Let go of the girl. Both of you, put your hands behind your heads."

"Do it," he mutters between laboured breaths. I do as he says, my heartbeat thundering in my ears.