HUCK
I'd seen beauty. In the spring, when flowers coated the hills, and in the fall, when the leaves would turn to fire. But I'd never seen anything as captivating as her. It was impossible to function with her splayed before me, biting her lip, watching me with eager eyes. Hands that had picked a million locks suddenly couldn't undo a belt. With a frustrated grunt, I yanked hard, breaking the buckle. She was mine, and I was going to make sure she knew it.
The door flew open behind me.
I wasn't aware I could have so many thoughts at once. Within the span of thirty seconds, I experienced every stage of grief.
Denial. That did not just fucking happen.
Anger. A lot of anger. Mostly anger.
Bargaining. Goddess, let them drop dead, and I will do whatever you ask.
Brooke shot upright and scrambled to fix her dress, covering what I'd only just gotten uncovered.
Depression. A groan ripped from my lungs, and I wanted to cry. No way was she going to be in the mood after this.
"Huck!" Brooke hissed, shoving my shoulder.
Acceptance. I sighed and spun around, taking in the silhouette stretched across the floor. I knew who it was before she stepped in; the only person I couldn't smell. So I wasn't surprised when the shadow shrunk into Aster's frail, hunched form.
She flipped on the light and looked at the pair of us, her eyes lingering extra long on Brooke, who was busy unwrapping my jacket from around her neck. "How innovative," she said. "Useless, but at least you tried."
Brooke hopped off the desk and smoothed down her skirt. So poised. So unshakable. I had the sudden urge to shove the old woman back into the hallway, bar the door, and finish what I'd started.
Her gaze shifted to the opened rucksack spilling valuables onto the floor. "I see you found a use for the late Luna's things."
"Hello, Aster. I wasn't expecting you," Brooke said, colder than ice in December.
"I should think not." Aster grinned and extended a small pouch tied by a leather cord. "I brought you more tea—" A pointed look. "—in case you or someone you know needs help falling asleep."
Brooke stepped forward and took the offering, and something about her expression put me on edge.
Aster didn't release it right away. "I have remedies for most issues, should you find yourself in need of aid."
Brooke nodded once, and Aster turned toward me. "The moon is like a compass, boy. Just because the arrow is pointed north, doesn't mean walk off the side of a cliff." She glanced down at my undone pants and back up again. "You need to start taking the long way or neither of you is going to make it very far."
As much as I hated to admit it, the old crow was right. I needed to stop letting my wolf have so much control. My jaw twitched, but I nodded.
With a wry smile, she turned and walked away. At least she was nice enough to leave the light on and the door open. Wouldn't want to miss out on that one last chance to be a literal pain in my balls.
Brooke opened the little pouch and reluctantly lifted it to her nose for a small sniff.
"What is it?" I asked.
"An elephant tranquilizer."
I lifted a brow, but she didn't elaborate. She wasn't thinking about the tea. I could tell by how she peeked at me through her lashes: shy, mischievous, inviting. Her cheeks pinkened. Goddess, she was beautiful. We needed to get out of this room. "We should go."
"Should we?"
I hummed, and for the briefest moment, I nearly gave in. Goddess, she made it hard not to. My jaw clenched, and I closed the rucksack and hoisted it over my shoulder. "I've taken enough for now."
I returned her to her room, and the night was long and full of longing. For five hours, I thought about opening her door, slipping inside, taking what's mine.
When the maid finally arrived to wake Brooke for breakfast, I was beyond grateful to hear her refuse. No way was I in any mood to watch him with her, not after I'd been so close to...
Footsteps echoed down the hall, and Brooke's mother turned the corner with the same superiority she always exuded. I could see where Brooke got her composure. Without so much as a glance in my direction or a warning knock, she entered Brooke's room.
I kept my gaze forward, but my ears may as well have followed her inside.
"What is wrong with you?" the woman snapped.
I stiffened, my wolf rising.
"I'm ill," Brooke replied, sounding exhausted.
"You're going to be more than ill if you don't get it together!"
My jaw twitched, then silence fell, and for several long moments, all I could hear was the hum of the air conditioning blowing through the vents.
"Let's please not pretend we don't both know who this is really about."
My attention pricked, and I listened harder.
"I understand that what I'm asking you to do goes against the very nature of our species. It will not be easy. It will be the hardest thing you've ever done, but it is the difference between life, and a life worse than death. If you fail, and you somehow survive it, your children will be born in dirt. They will grow up in dirt, die in dirt, and our blood will be buried with them. We cannot let that happen, no matter what the sacrifice may be. It is our inherent burden."
* * *
The trek down the mountain seemed longer than usual—or maybe that was just me. I couldn't stop thinking about what her mother had said. The words had sliced me to my bones—so cruel, so true. I hated how right she'd been. After all, what could I offer? I was meant to be protecting her, and instead, I was putting her at an even greater risk. Even now, my mind couldn't help drifting to all the things I would have done had we not been interrupted. I imagined her eyes widening as I sank into her. Her lips parting around a gasp.
But dark thoughts and daydreams evaporated when I saw the smoke. I took off at a sprint, my feet pounding the ground as it blurred beneath my feet. I skidded to a halt at the tree line and stared. Halfway between me and the village, a crowd of my people were picking through a mountain of char. Something heavy and cold settled inside my gut, anchoring me back down to the reality I'd always known.
I started forward, unblinking, dreading what the ash had once been.
Jewel broke away from the horde and raced toward me.
"What hap—"
"Do you see it?" She shoved the center of my chest with a force that made me stumble back. "It's all gone, Huck! The food! The water! Everything!"
I looked back at the pile with new eyes. "How?"
"How?" She shook her head. "Are you seriously asking me that? I told you this would happen! You stole the beta's car, Huck! Drove it here!"
I blinked. "I took the car back. They didn't even see me."
"Oh really? Well, that just fixes everything. We'll just go tell the sentinels that so they can unburn all our shit."
This didn't make any sense. "We steal stuff all the time, and they never bat an eye."
"But you didn't steal it. You took it for a joyride then parked it back in the driveway like a fucking dare! No wonder they showed up! Now there's a wonderful new rule. Alpha's orders: anything stolen by a valley wolf will be a debt owed by the valley itself. And thanks to your extravagant taste, we don't have anything!"
I flinched. Jewel was right. This was bad, but I could fix it. I slid the pack off my shoulder and passed it to her. "Here. This should be enough to—"
"You stole from the castle?" She lifted a diamond bracelet from within, and her face paled. "You have to take this back!"
"Nobody will notice it's gone."
"Whoever owns it will!"
"They won't."
"You can't know that!"
"I do."
"How?"
"It belonged to my mother."
Her mouth closed, and the silence stretched.
"There's a fortune there," I said. "Enough to replace everything three times over."
"Some things can't be replaced." She pulled a half-burned photograph from the waistband of her sweats. I didn't need to see the image to know what it had once been. The only connection she had to the person who'd birthed her. A brutal irony.
"It feels like history is repeating itself," she rasped, tucking it away as if it could somehow be saved.
I swallowed hard, dreading the next words she would say. In all honesty, I was surprised she hadn't said them already. After all, Jewel knew firsthand what happened when a valley wolf found their mate on the mountain. Her mother had, and she'd died younger than most, killed by the one person meant to place her before all else.
"I've tried to stop it," I said. "I did, but fate is more powerful than you could ever imagine, Jewel. It isn't something I can even describe to you."
"She followed fate, and it poisoned her. Her mate poisoned her. And now yours is doing the same."
"She wouldn't—"
"She is!" Jewel hissed. "Against me. Against the valley. Against any shred of fucking judgement you ever fucking had! Look at us! Or better yet—" She snapped her fingers and pointed. "—Come with me!"
Before I could say anything else, she turned and stormed toward the village, not even bothering to check and see if I followed. The further we went, the angrier my wolf became. The entire place had been ransacked, broken windows and doors on every building, and items strewn across the muddy earth. Jewel cut between the shacks, leading the way to ours.
I heard him before I saw him, quiet sobs accompanied by Flora's soothing voice. I pushed past Jewel and ran the rest of the way, finding them on the porch. "Is he okay?"
"They burned his things," Jewel said.
"They called it junk!" Briar lifted his face from Flora's neck and glared at me with red, puffy eyes. "Go away! All you care about is your mountain wolf girlfriend!"
I winced. A bullet would have hurt less. No matter which direction I went, someone got hurt. If I chose the valley, I would lose Brooke. If I chose Brooke, then the valley suffered. My rage grew, tightening my skin, boiling my blood, and my wolf expanded in a way he never had before.
I turned and stormed back toward the burn pile.
Jewel hurried after me. "You seriously aren't staying? You're going to leave and go back to—"
A force greater than myself took control of my body. My spine arched. My head fell back. Then I howled, and every wolf since the first howled with me—from me. Ancient, powerful, disembodied voices mixed into one, mighty siren note, and the pack answered, crowding around me, drawn by the gravity bestowed by the moon.
"Huck," Jewel breathed. "You said you would never..."
I looked out at the many faces, knowing each one better than my own. They were pale. They were tired. They'd been crushed in every way imaginable. All this time, I'd been denying my place in an attempt to protect them, but I'd failed them beyond all forgiveness. No more.
"I am the blood of the first!" I roared, pounding a fist over my heart. "Chosen by the moon to protect the mountain! Preserve the pack!" My lungs heaved, body buzzed, like it had on the night of my first shift. I was metamorphosing again, becoming something more. An alpha. "From now on—" My voice deepened and stretched. "—I will act like it."
A hush settled in the wake of my words, as if the valley itself had been changed. Then Jewel stepped forward, and I held my breath, waiting for the admonishment, the lecture, the pleading for reason.
She held my gaze for the longest moment, and a thousand memories seemed to play out between us, much like they had the last time we'd parted. But this wasn't a goodbye. It was a beginning, a turning point.
Slowly, she pulled out a blade and cut her palm, holding it out, swearing her allegiance in the ways of old. "By the blood moon, I pledge my sacrifice." She knelt down, pressing it into the earth by my feet, before moving to stand behind me and allow the next to take her place.
Every man, woman, and child swore their loyalty, and with each new vow, a tether formed between me and them, linking us into an unbreakable chain strong enough to pull us all out of the pit.
"Take the rucksack to the buyer. Get only what we need and don't let anyone see you bringing it back," I told Jewel.
She nodded, searching my face. "What will you do now?"
I turned toward the rising mountain, and the climb had never looked so steep. "Now, we follow the moon."