Chapter 35. A Pack Divided

The Moon Priestess, the last remaining vestige of the Moon Goddess’s earthly power, had vanished as silently as she arrived, leaving Neriah with only the chill of the Sunkenwood cave, the weight of a dire prophecy, and a single, ancient seed resting in the cradle of her palm.

“A key,” Neriah murmured, her thumb stroking the hard, dark shell of the seed. “I need a key, not a new garden to tend.”

She stood at the mouth of the cave, alone. Caius was hours gone, heading north into the frigid mountain passes toward the Ancient Hearthstone. The ache of their stretching mate bond was a constant, hollow sensation in her chest, a physical manifestation of her fear and her fury. He had gone to find a weapon; she had been given a mission: Go to Kael. Turn his pain into allegiance.

It was a political move so brilliant and cold-blooded it could only have been born of Caius’s Alpha mind. Kael, the fiercely loyal Beta, had been shamed and defeated, but not killed. He was the most