, scraped, and covered in sweat and mud. She stumbled down the overgrown path behind the aband

he cold spring night. She forced her lungs to obey, sucking down air in ragged gasps while her mind replayed the

igment of her exhausted brain. She h

crying until her mother's v

y! Where hav

stood her mother, hands braced on her hips, apron still tied over her nightgown.

rds stuck in her throat, tangled

lders so tightly it hurt. "Look at you! Covered in filth - Lord

dare spit out. Who would believe her? The Midnight Wolf was a legend for scaring disobe

d deep lines around her mouth. "Come inside be

the fireplace. Her mother fussed over her scrapes in silence. Questions hovered in the air but never fell. When she

reams, he fo

she ignored as she slipped from the house before her mother stirred. Her wrist ached where

im again, if she didn't prove to herself that she

. The iron gate squealed in protest. Beyond it, the fo

her coat tighter around her thin shoulders. The cleari

as he before the curse? Why did he spare her? Why did he look a

ng into her throat - but it was only an old woman, hunched u

that seemed to pierce straight through her th

en. She stammered, "

t wasn't quite a smile. "You have his mark. Clear as moo

d and vanished among the trees, leaving onl

- smaller, almost ordinary, the moss bright green instead of ghostly silver. No

ng fingers over the flattened grass where he had stood. A strange

hind her. She spu

as t

g to him like a cloak, hiding most of his body save for the wolfish ears pr

he said. His voice was softer no

She forced herself t

. "No one. Nothing. A ghos

e you c

ging his wrists. "Because once, I believed love

step closer. He didn

to help you,"

y, impossibly ancient. And behind that hu

ped. "But you can r