The Silver Wolf

ed Fiona Moonstone

ack house corridors like smo

tled heavy as stones in the c

hadow, her second name, t

d where shifting

s she walked through the h

ung over one shoulder, paint

ra

the deep red of her hair-

rom her mother's line. Once,

felt like a beacon advertising

o say. All that fire in her h

looking down only invited mo

mothers who pulled their chi

were already a ghost, the g

e pack under full moons whil

ought fiercely, as she did a

it in her mind like a secon

ge of her consciousness. So

uld almost see it-silver fu

t burned with a

when she tried to call it f

g gap between what she wa

over the pack lands, pain

s crunched on the gravel pat

st and the river beyond. Sh

banner, desperate to put dis

weight of th

a! Wa

then turned. Ennis jogged tow

lways been golden in temper

s caught the light as he ran,

lure, his only en

y one of the pack's best warr

de. His wolf was strong and s

enth birthday without hes

d?" he asked, falling

t elaborate. She never

"Dad's looking for you. The

mention of Kieran. Their fa

ngest packs in the region

el, never cruel, but there w

thing that might have been

uldn't tell w

aid. "I'll be b

stand at the back, neither

ning of carefully neutral exp

all the things that requir

y. When she met his eyes-t

een-she saw the concern ther

an't keep running

words came out sharper tha

ere's a d

ace, and she wondered what h

him through the woods and

her eighteenth birthday, whe

never

but softened her voice. "I

ea

rough his red hair-a gesture

have been reports of rogue

where near the

eezed her shoulder once, the

tride confid

, then turned and pl

old friends. Here, beneath t

follow. Here, sh

ar path without conscious

fallen logs, deeper into the

rough in go

pressing against the invisib

r own-the desire to run on fou

d of boots, to be whole in a

r eighteent