that growled like it was born angry-and pointed it

ks even though it was barely September. The bond between Selene and me had settled into a constant, low thrum, l

closer to Blackthorn terri

st inside Se

s ins

e edges of my mind, tasting m

. Just one. I'll

kiss her wi

et you

the wheel so tight my

't spoken i

rest sliding past like it might bite her. The black feather Nyx had given me w

a trap," she said fi

kno

he's not-he

kno

"If he really is the first Alpha... that means he's over three hundred ye

feather from her death grip

nd build something true on t

d broken. "You make

ng is easier, and

ger ate

border into Blackthorn

The car shuddered. The radio screamed static shaped like wolves howling. Selene's ba

er!" she

he car stopped rocking, vomiting black bile onto the frost-rimed gravel. The bo

d on her knees, forehead

me," she whispered

y arms around her waist, pull

e it something

y, tasting of darkness and tears. We made out on the

it proba

tolen enforcer jackets and the kind of silence only predators know. The forest was too qu

llage looke

ging open. Blood on the

went

ner," she said, pointin

ng across the alpha lodge po

een twel

arted

oll

first body

roat opened.

ano

anot

the ceremonial bonfire pit. Their chests carved open with

, the hearts

ere di

ire like grotesque ga

sound like a

f the circle st

Tall, broad-shouldered, silver-streaked hai

d when h

," he said gentl

s knees

before she hi

to me. "And Elara. My

ith rage so pure it

ne l

faster. He caught her by the throat one-handed and lif

he sighed. "Afte

raced across her skin, down her arms,

e what's alread

hit the ground hard, roll

igger than I'd ever been, fueled by the b

out of the air

red wood and pain exploding across my ribs. Sh

r slowly, boots c

said, almost proud.

d my chin, forced

ey weren't v

ere ga

starlight and ancie

t Caelan,"

ore that I was Rowan. Before that, Elias. I wear my descendan

ed my chi

age. One strong enough to hold the Hunger forever. And every generation, I choo

n her feet a

," she said. Voice

all the others. But you, Selene.

tured

er own flesh to keep you san

ead hi

es with me. Fail, and I take your bodies, your bond, your l

looke

ked a

't need

cked to

s bea

s sui

by every ounce of rage and love I'd ever swallowed. We moved like we'd been fighti

ghed the e

ttered Selene's collarbone. Threw

kept ge

one of us, the other felt

nt I lost t

e and the sound of Selene sc

still clutched in m

te-

the time comes, cut deep. C

own in the dirt, one boot on he

ng to take

n't t

st m

a blade of pure starlight-long, thin, hum

aight through

where a heart s

fro

ing from his chest, silver and b

he la

lly l

, layering, becoming a thousand voices at once

paled, and smiled w

have to t

met mine acr

d blood

" she m

wis

orld

The hanging hearts burst into ash. The bodies on the ground dissolved into s

thing wearing C

shattered win

bones crumbling. The starlight blade ate him from the inside out un

wind took

le

olu

uins of the square, broke

nger w

sence like a

across the frost, lea

in the

sed to

y face with s

er?" she

r instead o

I wasn

, gentler. But something else linger

rom

war

the sun rose-two girls covered in b

he forest be

with

moonl

f, every blade of gra

the oldest pine, fresh and b

AGE I

t look b

w beneath the mountain, thirteen

by

followed, something vast

ke

sm