Adne looked like she’d bitten into a lemon.
“That’s why if anything comes that isn’t us, you get back to Purgatory,” Connor said to her.
“I know the protocol,” she said. “Graduated, remember?”
“How could I forget?” Connor smiled, blowing her a kiss before tramping off through the snow.
“Okay, Calla,” Lydia said. “You’re obviously the best tracker. Lead the way.”
I grinned, shifting forms and bounding through the snow. The crisp winter air poured into my nostrils. I longed to howl. A rabbit dashed from beneath scrub brush and my mouth began to water.
“Calla!” Lydia shouted.
I skidded to a halt, snow rising around me like a veil of white mist. Oops.
The thrill of running on the mountain had made me forget I wasn’t with other wolves. Humans were slow. I wheeled and ran back to Lydia and Ethan, shifting forms when I reached them.
“Sorry.”
“You can scout ahead, but don’t lose us,” Lydia said.
Ethan adjusted the crossbow on his back. “If we think you’ve gone too far, I’ll shoot you in the tail.”
Lydia glared at him.
“Kidding, I was kidding,” he replied, but the grin he flashed me wasn’t friendly.
Back in wolf form, I managed to range ahead of the Searchers but kept them in my sight. The fresh snowfall wasn’t helping us. It smothered scents, muting new traces, erasing older scents.
The door Adne had opened was southwest of Haldis Cavern. I headed toward the perimeter that I would have expected Guardian patrols to be running at this point in the afternoon. Adjusting to my new allies wasn’t easy. Our inability to communicate was tedious at best, terribly frustrating at worst. Whenever I wanted to speak to them, I had to run back, change form, and then head out again. It only made me more desperate to get my packmates back. I tried to remember what it was like making this trek with Shay when he’d still been human. I’d been patient with his climb, and the Searchers were proving more than able to move quickly over the snowy terrain. Though it wasn’t an ideal partnership, I knew it could work. I kept that thought in focus as I plunged through snowdrifts.
Pawing through snowdrifts to reach frozen earth, lifting my muzzle to test the air, I did everything I could to locate evidence of my packmates’ trail. But I couldn’t find anything. No tracks, no scents. Nothing. Where are they?
My hope was dropping as low as the sun on the horizon when Lydia called to me again.
“Anything?” She was looking at the looming shadows that spread like spills of ink along the snow.
“No,” I said, kicking the snow. “This stuff is burying the scents. I haven’t picked up any trails other than game.”
“Wouldn’t your packmates have broken fresh trail up here during their patrol?” Ethan asked.
I frowned. He’d pinpointed the very thing that had nagged me as we’d progressed over the perimeter. Even if the route had changed, I should have seen some sign of Guardians crossing this part of the mountain. We were too close to Haldis Cavern for the patrols to miss it completely. Except . . . except . . . we’d stolen the object hidden in the cave and the Keepers knew it. Our school had reeked of their fear, their tension after Shay had found the strange cylinder, claiming it for his own. Haldis no longer needed protection. There would be no more patrols. And the only reason wolves would be ranging the sacred perimeter was to wait for . . .
“Oh no,” I said, smacking my gloved palm against my forehead. My blood felt icy.
“What?” Lydia asked.
I didn’t want to tell them. I felt like such an idiot. How could I have forgotten something so important? My cheeks burned because I knew why. I’d been so caught up in the possibility of finding Mason or Ansel, even a grumpy Fey, of reuniting with my pack that I’d fallen into the expectations I’d always had as an alpha. This was where we ran patrols. This site had been the focus of my whole life. It hadn’t even occurred to me to consider other options.
But why hadn’t Shay said anything when we were making this plan? He knew Haldis was missing. He had it in his possession.
“Calla.” Lydia spoke again. “What is it?”
As I grasped for an explanation and an apology, something caught my eye. It was a figure about one hundred yards away, coming at us fast.
“Heads up,” Ethan said, aiming his crossbow.
“Wait.” Lydia put her hand on his arm. The figure was on two legs and it was looking at us, waving its arms frantically. “It’s Connor.”
He was moving impressively fast for someone in snowshoes—the Searchers must have trained rigorously for winter combat.
“Come on,” Ethan said, heading in Connor’s direction.
When we reached him, he bent over, resting his hands on his thighs, gasping for breath.
“He’s dead,” Connor said between gasps. “Grant’s dead. His throat was torn out.”
Having been raised to create violence, I’d never thought death would unnerve me. But the image of awkward and kind Mr. Selby, lying in a pool of blood and mangled flesh, made me shudder.
“Damn.” Ethan bowed his head.
Lydia closed her eyes. “That’s a shame. And it means we need to get out of here. If the wolves are still hunting, they won’t have any trouble tracking us . . . or sniffing out Adne.”
Connor nodded but looked at me. “Did you find your packmates?”
“No,” I said, still thrown by the news of Mr. Selby’s sudden demise. “And I just realized that—”
The howl swallowed my words. The second and third howls raised the hair on the back of my neck.
“That’s not my pack,” I whispered.
“They know we’re here,” Ethan said. “Let’s move.”
“Stay close,” Lydia said to me, taking up the lead once more.
We started back, but Lydia took us on a zigzagging path unlike the straight line we’d traversed on our way out. She broke new trail, heading in Adne’s direction while avoiding the path we’d created on our trek out. In wolf form I doubled back, retracing our steps, constantly testing the air, listening for any sign of the wolves that had howled, trying to discern whether they were tracking us. But the approach of dusk brought an unsettling silence with it, and I remembered how snow swallowed sound as well as scent. A gust of wind lifted the top layer of snow, washing our faces in icy crystals, blowing in the direction the howls had come from.
Not good. We were upwind of the Guardians. They’d be able to smell us, but I wouldn’t catch their scent until they were almost on us.
The howls rose again, much closer.
“I don’t think we’re getting out of here without a fight,” Ethan said.
“Just keep running.” Lydia’s breath came out in white puffs.
We were closing in on the place we’d left Adne when a shadow dropped down from a tree branch above us.
Lydia wheeled, dagger in her hand.
“It’s me!” Adne held up her arms.
“What were you doing up in a tree?” Ethan asked, peering into the branches.
“Hiding.” Adne brushed snow off her legs. “I heard the howls and thought I’d better play it safe.”
“Good call,” Connor said, clearly relieved to see her unharmed.
“What happened?” she asked.
“They killed Grant,” Connor said.
Adne paled. “Oh no.”
My ears flicked up, drawn to new sounds in the woods behind us. The scrape of paws on ice. I didn’t want to change forms, so I barked at the Searchers. It was enough.
Ethan readied his crossbow. “Adne, open a door.”
I stalked forward, scanning the forest. A flicker of movement appeared. A russet wolf slipped between the trees. My heart leapt. It was a Nightshade. Sasha—Fey’s mother and one of my mother’s patrol mates. I dashed toward her.
“Calla, no!” Lydia called, but I kept running.
I barked again, this time calling to Sasha. Her form flas
hed between two tree trunks and I sent a thought chasing after her.
Sasha! Sasha, wait!
The red wolf wheeled, heading toward me. She was running at full speed, not slowing at all as she drew closer, snarling.
Welcome home, Calla.
My mind reeled as her body crashed into mine and we rolled through the snow. I twisted away, jumping to the side as her jaws snapped at my shoulder.
Stop! What are you doing?
She didn’t answer but lunged at me again, her eyes filled with bloodlust.
My instincts kicked in and I struck back, snarling. My teeth sank into her chest, but the taste of pack blood in my mouth shook me to the core. Nothing about this fight felt natural. I was attacking one of my own, the mother of my packmate. It went against everything I’d ever known.
I tried to reach her again.
Please, Sasha. I’m here to help you.
I barely escaped her next strike.
Foolish girl.
The cold truth settled under my fur. Sasha was trying to kill me and if I wanted to survive, I would have to kill her. I was desperate to find another way out of this disaster.
This time when Sasha lunged, I rolled to the side, pivoting in the snow and clamping my jaws onto her hamstring. She squealed when my teeth cut through her tendons. I tore at the muscle and she yelped again, twisting and snapping futilely at me. Satisfied that she wouldn’t be able to give chase, I released her leg and dashed back toward the Searchers. I could see the shimmering portal through the trees. But I heard the shouts of battle as well. I pushed harder, picking up speed.
“Calla!” Adne waved. I made a beeline for her. She was only ten feet away when something hard and heavy slammed into me. I rolled over and over, breath forced out of my lungs. On unsteady limbs I struggled to my feet and turned to face my attacker.
The huge wolf’s fur was mottled gray and brown. He stared at me, snarling.
I thought my heart had stopped as my eyes locked with those of Emile Laroche.
The Bane alpha had been hunting us.
Fear paralyzed me as events crystallized in my mind. Sasha had been hunting with Emile. With Emile. It didn’t make any sense. Sasha was my mother’s hunting partner. She was a Nightshade. Nightshade wolves answered only to their own alphas, my parents: Stephen and Naomi Tor. Nightshades and Banes despised each other and avoided contact as much as they could. The packs had only ever cooperated by direct order from the Keepers.
But now Emile Laroche, the Bane alpha, was leading Nightshades. I bristled, snarling at him even as I fought my own disbelief. Everything about the reality laid stark before my eyes was wrong, unnatural. Why would Sasha follow Emile? Why had she attacked me? Where were my mother and father? Where was my pack?
Spittle dripped from the Bane’s jaws as he stalked forward.
Come to beg forgiveness?
My limbs were shaking.
His muscles rippled when he shook his ruff.
I think you may find it’s too late.
I growled. If Emile wanted a fight, I’d give him one, even though the idea felt hopeless—Emile had made his reputation among Guardians as a killer. He was an immense, powerful beast and had many more years of fighting at his back than I did.
I’m not sorry for anything.
I braced myself against the ground, waiting for his lunge. Even if I couldn’t beat Emile, I could still make him hurt. A lot.
He crouched down, his growl almost like a throaty laugh. That’s exactly what your father said.
My father?
I was still feeling the shock of his words when he yelped, twisting his head to wrench the dagger from his side. He rolled along the snow, leaving a trail of crimson in his wake as a second dagger sailed past him.
“Calla! Get to Adne!” Lydia shouted. She was running at Emile with two more daggers in her hands.
I scrambled up, dashing toward the portal.
“Go! Go!” Connor screamed even as he tackled another elder Bane, a few feet from our escape route. Guardian and Searcher tumbled through the snow, leaving a cloud of sparkling white dust in their wake. I caught the flashes of Connor’s dagger in the sunlight with each slash at the wolf. The Bane’s fangs snapped, searching for flesh but missing as Connor twisted and writhed, keeping himself beyond the reach of its jaws. As I ran past him, he parried the Guardian’s gnashing teeth with the flat edge of one blade, deftly running it through with another. He kicked the wolf’s limp body off his sword and followed on my heels.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ethan covering Lydia’s attack with a suppressing fire of bolts from where he stood alongside the portal. I shifted forms, gasping for breath but needing to ask what came next.
“Come on!” An arm reached through the glimmering doorway and Adne jerked me into the warmth of Purgatory’s training room while Connor shoved me forward, both of us tumbling out of the snowy forest.
“Lydia, we’re clear!” Ethan shouted. “Get back here!” He had taken two steps toward her when four more wolves emerged from the forest, tearing toward the Bane alpha.
“Lydia!” Ethan shrieked, firing off more bolts.
She took her eyes off Emile and saw the approaching Guardians. Hurling two more daggers at the new assailants, she managed to take one down, slow another. But as she whirled and tore through the snow toward the portal, Emile sprang at her, sailing through the air.
The full force of his leap brought her down, flattening her against the snow. The three remaining wolves reached him as his jaws locked around her neck.
“No!” Connor shouted, pushing past me toward the other side of the door. But Ethan was there, blocking his path. Ethan shook his head, then looked at Adne.
Connor swore but didn’t argue.
“She’s gone, Adne,” Ethan said, not turning to see Emile tearing Lydia’s body apart. “Close the door.”
SEVEN
TESS LAY IN A CRUMPLED heap on the floor while Connor spoke softly to her.
“We’d better take her with us,” Ethan said to Isaac. “They can send another Reaper out for the time being. I’ll keep working point until Anika’s sorted this out.”
Isaac nodded.
As Adne wove a door to the Academy, I sat at the table, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Lydia was dead. I’d barely known her, but the way she’d died haunted me. Nausea rolled through my gut, making me shudder. I buried my face in my hands.
I couldn’t shake the thought that I’d brought this grief down on my new allies. Tess was sobbing, and each cry was like a razor slicing my skin. I’d run to Sasha. I’d assumed any Nightshade would be an ally. I couldn’t have been more wrong. My poor judgment had cost Lydia’s life.
Someone touched my shoulder. I lifted my head to see Adne gazing at me.
“Door’s open,” she said.
I followed her to the shining portal. Tess cried into Isaac’s shoulder when he hugged her, murmuring good-byes, before Connor put his arm around her waist and led her through Adne’s door.
When I passed Ethan on my way to the door, I reached out, grabbing the sleeve of his coat. I might have been wiser to pick someone else, but words wanted to climb out of my throat.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He shook my hand off, but his gaze was more sad than angry. “Don’t be. This is who we are.”
I could see that truth at work. With the exception of Tess, the Searchers shouldered their grief and moved on in a way that was brutal and beautiful.
“Send an update when you can,” Ethan said.
“We will,” Adne said, and gestured for me to pass her.
Anika was waiting for us. The Arrow’s eyes were fixed on Tess, who was struggling against her tears.
“Lydia?” Anika asked. Tess broke down again and Anika bowed her head.
“And our operative,” Connor added.
“Tess, you should retire to your quarters in the Haldis wing,” Anika said.
Tess nodded. When she was gone, Anik
a approached Connor.
“What happened?”
“Can’t be sure.” Connor rubbed the back of his neck. “When I reached the drop point, Grant was dead. He’d bled out at least an hour before. His body was already frozen.”
Anika frowned, turning her eyes on me. “And the pack?”
I shook my head, wondering if I should tell them about Haldis and my theory that the patrol routes had been shifted. About the horrible miscalculation I’d somehow overlooked. In light of what had just happened, I decided against it.
“The wolves we encountered attacked us without hesitation,” Connor said.
Working past the dryness in my throat, I said, “Something’s changed.”
“What?” Connor looked at me sharply.
“One of the wolves that attacked us was a Nightshade,” I continued. “Not one of my own pack, but an elder. And she was being led by the Banes.”
“Are you sure?” Anika’s eyes had narrowed.
“I am,” I said, forcing my own voice to remain steady. “The wolf that killed Lydia was Emile Laroche.”
“What did you just say?” Monroe was standing in the doorway, Shay at his side.
Adne was already crossing the room. She put her head on Monroe’s chest.
“We lost Lydia,” Connor said, watching as Monroe put his arms around his daughter. It was the first time I’d seen them behave like parent and child.
“And it was Emile?” Monroe asked, running his hand over Adne’s hair. “The Bane alpha?”
“Yes,” I said.
The group of Searchers near Anika had closed in around her in a tight circle, hurried words in low tones passing between them.
Shay started toward me and I walked to meet him. I didn’t hesitate when he stretched his arms out. My head was spinning. Things had happened in Vail. Things I couldn’t understand. I leaned into him, letting his scent pour over me, steadying me.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
“I’m not hurt.” I kept my voice low. “But things happened.”
His arms tightened around me. “What things?”