My mare reared before I could tighten the reins.

The world flipped. I hit the ground hard, and my left leg slammed against a shelf of frozen rock. White pain shot up to my hip.

I bit down on a scream and pushed myself up. My leg buckled. I tried again.

Three rogues stepped out of the snow.

The leader was gray, huge, and thin as a corpse. The stench rolling off him was rot and burned metal. Black veins pulsed under his skin.

My stomach turned. I knew that smell.

"Forbidden silver," I whispered.

These wolves had no minds left. An Alpha's command would slide right off them. Begging wouldn't work either.

"Back," I ordered anyway. My voice cracked in the wind.

The gray wolf snarled and kept coming.

I reached inward for my wolf. *Come on. Please.*

She answered slowly, like she was waking from deep water. Silver-white fur rippled across my arms, then faded. My bones ached and refused to change.

The moonstone. It had held my power steady for eight years. Now it lay in pieces in my saddlebag.

*I'm too weak,* my wolf murmured. *Half of me is missing.*

I stumbled backward until my heel scraped empty air. A cliff. I grabbed the rock face to keep from falling, and its edge split my palm open. Blood dripped red onto the snow.

I pressed my hand to the mark over my heart and pushed my voice down the bond.

*Damian, I'm trapped in the northern pass. Please, I need you.*

---

On the southern border, Damian staggered.

Pain ripped across his chest. His hand flew to the mate mark.

"Evelyn?"

He turned north. Before he could take a step, Sienna crashed into his arms.

"Damian!" She was shaking. "One of them had a bow. Silver arrow. My shoulder—"

Blood soaked the torn leather at her shoulder. His wolf went cold.

"Rowan, get the horses. We're taking her to the healers. Now."

---

*Damian.* I gripped the bond with everything I had left. *They're poisoned. Silver-mad. Three of them. My leg is hurt. If you don't come, I'll die.*

His answer came back flat and annoyed.

*You left me a petition to cut our bond this morning. Now suddenly you're dying?*

"What?" I said it out loud. The wind tore it away.

*Sienna is injured. Stop using our bond to punish me.*

I stared at the snow. At my own blood, already freezing.

*Do you really think I'd lie about dying?*

Through the bond, I heard her. A soft, broken moan right beside his ear.

"Damian, it hurts. Don't leave me."

He was quiet for a heartbeat.

*I'll deal with you when I get back.*

Then the bond went silent.

He hadn't been dragged away. He hadn't lost focus. He had shut the door himself.

I laughed. It came out wet and strange, and it echoed off the cliffs.

The gray wolf leaped.

I threw up my bleeding hand. Moonlight burst from my palm and hurled him back into the drift. For one second I was a Luna again.

Then the second rogue hit me from the side.

His teeth sank into my shoulder. Fire raced into my veins, then deeper, into the place where my wolf lived. I watched silver-white fur bloom across my arm and turn gray. Then black, at the edges.

I fell into the snow.

*He isn't coming,* my wolf whimpered.

"I know."

I closed my eyes. *Moon Goddess. Take whatever you want from me. Just let her live.*

The gray wolf's breath was hot on my face.

A howl split the valley.

It was so deep the snow slid off the branches. The rogues froze. Every hair on my body rose.

A massive silver-black wolf exploded out of the storm. He hit the gray wolf so hard they both rolled into the rocks. The other two lunged at him. He tore one aside and pinned the other with one paw. His power rolled over the valley like a falling sky.

Even the mad ones ran.

The great wolf turned. His shape folded down into a man. He was tall and dark-haired, and his gray eyes were fixed on me.

He knelt and swung his heavy cloak around my shoulders.

"Stay awake. You're safe now."

"Who..." My tongue felt thick. "Who are you?"

"Ronan Whitmore. Alpha of Silvercrest."

My eyes went wide. Silvercrest was the strongest pack in the north. They didn't take in outsiders, and their Alpha didn't rescue strangers.

He pulled the cloak back from my shoulder, and his face hardened.

"Silver. It's spreading." He turned his head. "Tobin! Send word to the border healers. Moonlight purification, ready before we arrive."

"Yes, Alpha!"

He lifted me against his chest and walked into the wind, keeping the cloak between me and the storm. Every step jolted my leg. I clutched the front of his shirt.

"My mate," I rasped. "He didn't... He doesn't believe I'd die."

Ronan looked down at me. When he spoke again, his voice was gentle.

"I believe you, Evelyn."

I started to cry, and I couldn't make it stop.

---

The healer's face went gray when she saw the wound.

"The poison has reached her wolf, Alpha. If the purification fails, she may never shift again. She may not wake."

"Then don't let it fail." Ronan stepped back toward the door. "I'll be right outside. No one enters without her consent. No one."

---

In the Blackwood healing den, the healer wiped Sienna's shoulder clean and frowned.

"It's a scrape, Alpha. No silver. A bandage will do."

Sienna's eyes darted away.

Rowan shoved through the curtain, snow on his boots. "The Luna's mare came back alone. The saddle is covered in blood. The northern patrol found rogue tracks. Poisoned ones."

The color drained from Damian's face.

*Evelyn.* He threw himself into the bond. *Evelyn, answer me!*

Something flickered at the other end. It was faint, like a candle in the wind.

He was out the door and on four legs before Sienna could call his name.

---

The black wolf skidded to a stop outside the Silvercrest den at midnight. Damian shifted and charged the door.

Ronan stood in front of it. His shirt was stiff with dried blood.

Damian stared at it. "That's... Is that hers? Move. I'm here for my Luna."

"Your Luna." Ronan didn't budge. "Where were you when she was begging you to save her?"

"I thought—Sienna was hurt. I thought it was a silver arrow, I thought—"

"It was a scratch. I can smell it on you." Ronan's voice dropped. "The poison is in Evelyn's wolf. She may never shift again. She may never wake up."

Damian's knees hit the frozen ground.

"Evelyn." His voice broke. "Evelyn. *Evelyn.*"

Ronan let him kneel there until dawn.

---

I woke to gray light and a heavy ache in my bones.

"The poison is contained," the healer said softly. "But your wolf is very weak. Rest."

The door banged open.

Damian fell to his knees beside the bed and grabbed my hand. His eyes were red and his cheeks were wet.

"I was wrong. Goddess, Evelyn, I was so wrong. Come home with me. Please. I'll fix this."

I studied him. This was the man who had sworn at the altar that no one would ever hurt me.

"She needed a healer," I whispered. "I needed my mate to save my life. Why did you choose her?"

His mouth opened. Nothing came out.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—"

I slid my hand out of his. Then I looked past him to the man in the doorway.

"Thank you for believing me."

Ronan crossed the room and stopped at my bedside.

"You never had to earn that."

Damian looked from Ronan to me. Something cold crept into his face. It looked a lot like fear.

"Healer," I said. "My coat."

She brought it over. From the inner pocket I pulled out the temple's sealed copy of the petition. My blood had dried brown across it.

I held it out to Damian.

"I reject you as my mate, Damian Blackwood."

He doubled over and clawed at his chest. Inside him, I heard his black wolf howl like something dying.

"Take it back." He grabbed the edge of the bed. "Evelyn, please. Take it back!"

Beside me, Ronan went still.

His wolf had slept for years. Now it rose and pressed against his ribs and strained toward me.

Over my heart, the Moon Goddess's mark warmed. A thread of silver light curled up through the thin gown. It was new. It didn't belong to Damian.

Ronan's gray eyes locked on it.

Deep inside him, his wolf spoke.

*She's the one the Moon Goddess has been leading us to.*