Part 2The Alpha's Mark Came Too Late

Theron rushed out of the council hall. It was the first time in three years I had seen him run.

I stood at the very back of the crowd and watched him wrap Celine in his cloak and carry her down the street.

Snow fell on his shoulders, but he never noticed.

That same night, he announced that he would hold their mating ceremony.

As the hall emptied, I stopped him.

"Since the Alpha has chosen his mate, I no longer serve a purpose," I said. "Send me back to Silvermoon and find another way to renew the treaty."

He approached me, one step at a time, then pinned me against the stone wall. "Back to Silvermoon? Ella, you're a stand-in. What makes you think you can bargain with me?"

"You're taking her as your mate. Why keep me here?"

"You don't need to know." And with that, he left without looking back.

Celine spent six days recovering. On the seventh, she could finally get out of bed. The first thing she did was summon me to the east court.

Her gaze dropped to my collar. Her hand shot out too quickly for me to dodge.

She pulled out my moonstone and cradled it in her palm.

Her hand began to shake. "This..."

I did not answer because I was staring at the open collar of her robe.

A stone identical to mine hung there, gray-white and crescent-shaped, with a thin silver line through its center.

My blood went cold.

My mother had left me a matching pair. I had just turned 19 when I lost one, before I was sent to Shadowridge.

At the cliff on the border between the two packs, I came across a black wolf covered in blood.

An arrow had struck him. A hole gaped in the right side of his chest, and the surrounding fur was clotted with blood. I had no medicine, so I pressed the stone against the wound to stop the bleeding.

I held it there until nearly dawn, when someone finally came from the far side of the cliff.

Afraid the border patrol would catch me, I snatched back the stone I still had, dropped my cloak, and ran.

I never once looked back at his face, and I assumed the cloak had rotted away in the snow at the foot of the cliff long ago.

It had not. It was hanging from this woman's neck.

"This stone." Celine's voice trembled. "On the night of the blood moon three years ago, I took the one Theron was clutching in his fist."

She lowered her voice as she finished speaking, but I still heard every word.

So that was how Celine had gotten the moonstone. She had stolen it from him.

Standing in the middle of that room, I suddenly understood everything.

I was the one who had saved Theron at the cliff that night. I had held his wound closed. I had stayed with him until dawn.

For three years, I had been used as a stand-in for the woman who stole my moonstone.

I had been favored in her place, cursed in her place, cared for her clothes, slept at Theron's side in her place, and still been told that my eyes didn't look enough like hers.

I started laughing. Ignoring whatever Celine said behind me, I walked out of the house.

That night, I went to Theron myself.

I wanted to see how Theron would react to the truth. The moment I saw him, I said, "I saved you three years ago, not Celine."

The room was quiet for a long time, long enough for me to hear the fire crackling in the hearth.

Theron laughed and tucked my hair behind my ear. "Ella, a wolf dragged me back from that cliff three years ago, but you can't even shift."

"But what if Celine made up the story about a wolf dragging you back? If you would just investigate what happened that year, you would know..."

"Enough!" Theron frowned. "Celine will soon become the Luna of Shadowridge. Ella, you need to show her respect!"

I looked into his eyes and suddenly did not want to argue anymore.

He had never believed me. There was no longer any reason for me to stay.

That night, someone knocked three times on the back window of the medicine hut.

I opened it. Raynor climbed in.

He was a rogue who had come to Shadowridge that winter and been assigned to the outermost patrol.

Last year, I had secretly dragged him out of the woods near the border and treated him in that hut.

He owed me his life and had promised to grant me one request, whatever it was.

I looked at him and demanded, "Help me fake my death in front of Theron."