Chapter 2

Abby

I sat upright so fast the blankets tumbled into my lap. My room was dark and empty, but the voice had been unmistakable.

Don’t be scared.

You’re my wolf, I breathed.

Warm amusement washed through me. My name is Diana.

I pressed both hands over my mouth to keep from laughing. For years I had tried to imagine what this moment would feel like. Strange, probably, maybe even frightening. Instead Diana felt familiar, as though she had always been right here, waiting for me to listen.

I’ve been waiting for you, I told her.

And I have been waiting for you.

A hundred questions crowded my head, and naturally I started with the one that mattered most. Do you know who our mate is?

Not yet.

My excitement dipped. I thought wolves always knew.

We will recognize him when we meet him, now that I am awake.

My thoughts went straight to Noah. When I was fourteen and he was sixteen, we had promised each other that if neither of us found a fated mate, we would choose each other someday. The plan had also involved a cabin in the woods and chocolate for dinner, since neither of us had the slightest clue how adulthood worked. Noah had shifted two years ago, but until Diana woke up there had been no way to know for sure. Now there was.

I fell back onto the pillows. You hear everything I think, don’t you?

Every word.

I groaned and tossed an arm over my face while Diana’s laughter hummed low in my head.

Sleep never stood a chance. By morning my eyes burned, and I still couldn’t stop talking to her.

Liam knocked once before pushing my door open. “Happy birthday, little one.”

I kicked the sheets away and launched myself at him. “I can hear her.”

He caught me with a laugh. “I know. Jasper felt her wake up at midnight.”

Tell him hello.

“She says hello.”

Liam’s smile softened. “Jasper says it took her long enough.”

Tell him he’s rude.

I buried a laugh against Liam’s shoulder. He stepped back and studied my face. “You didn’t sleep a wink, did you?”

“I was busy meeting my wolf.”

He shook his head fondly. “Come downstairs before you collapse.”

The kitchen smelled like coffee and pancakes. Some things never changed. Birthdays had always belonged to just the two of us—stacks of pancakes, old movies, and one day when Liam pretended pack business didn’t exist unless someone was actively bleeding. For one day, we were simply brother and sister.

Halfway through breakfast, he slipped upstairs and came back with a small wooden box, which he set on the table in front of me.

The smile left my face before he even opened it. Inside lay a thin white-gold chain with a delicate crescent moon pendant, a tiny pale stone set at the center of the curve.

Mom’s necklace.

“Where did you find it?”

“With Dad’s things,” he said quietly. “I thought you should have it today.”

Tears blurred my vision before I could blink them back. I could still picture sitting on Mom’s lap, turning that little crescent between my fingers while she brushed out my hair.

“Hey.” Liam cupped my cheek and wiped a tear away with his thumb. “No crying before breakfast is over.”

I turned around and lifted my hair so he could fasten the clasp. The crescent settled cold against my throat.

The rest of the day passed too quickly. Chloe blew up my phone with message after message to make sure I didn’t forget she was coming tonight. Noah sent only one:

Noah: Happy birthday. Try not to run into a tree.

He seems irritating, Diana noted.

You’ll like him.

We’ll see.

As dusk settled over Moonhaven, Liam and I took the trail toward the clearing. The woods smelled of damp leaves and cold earth. The first leaves had begun to turn and fall, thinning the branches enough to let patches of moonlight reach the path ahead.

Liam glanced down at me. “You’re shaking.”

“It’s cold.”

He laced his fingers through mine. “It’s going to hurt.”

“Very reassuring.”

“I’m serious. Don’t fight Diana.”

“What if I do something wrong?”

“You won’t. Trust me.”

The clearing appeared between the trees, where Chloe, Noah, and Luna Cassandra were already waiting.

Cassandra reached me first and wrapped me in a warm hug. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

“Thanks, Aunt Cassie.”

Her eyes dropped to the crescent at my throat, and her face softened into something almost reverent. “Your mother wore that the night she met your father.”

I touched the pendant, surprised. “She did?”

“She always said it brought her luck.”

Behind her, Chloe was practically bouncing. Noah stood with his hands shoved in his pockets, watching me. Neither of us said anything, but we both knew that after tonight, that silly old question would finally have an answer.

Liam looked up at the sky. “It’s time.”

Everyone turned away while I stepped behind a tree and undressed. I laid Mom’s necklace carefully on top of my folded clothes, then walked barefoot into the clearing. The cold grass bit into my soles, and the air raised goosebumps along my arms. By the time I reached the middle of the clearing, I was trembling.

Ready? Diana asked.

Not even a little.

Just let go. I’ve got the rest.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and surrendered control.

Pain tore through me. My knees hit the ground as bones shifted beneath my skin and heat burned through every muscle.

“Let her guide you, Abby.” Liam’s voice cut through the roar in my ears.

I stopped resisting and anchored myself entirely to Diana.

I have you, she soothed.

My body stretched and changed, fur pushing through my skin, and then, almost as abruptly as the agony had started, it stopped. I stayed crouched on four legs, breathing hard.

The world had changed. I could hear every breath in the clearing. I could smell the wet leaves beyond the trees, the pine clinging to Liam’s coat, the faint sweetness of Chloe’s shampoo. When I looked down, dense pearl-gray fur covered my front paws.

I stepped slowly into the center of the clearing. As the moonlight touched my coat, a silver-white shimmer rippled through the fur, as though light had caught in every strand.

A sharp gasp broke the quiet. Cassandra’s fingers were pressed against her lips. “Oh, Goddess.”

Liam’s eyes were wet. “She’s silver.”

Chloe shifted without waiting, and her tawny wolf, Skye, bounded into the clearing and began circling me, sniffing my coat from every possible angle.

Stop inspecting me.

You’re shiny.

That’s not an excuse.

Liam followed. Jasper was enormous and dark brown, and instantly familiar even before his voice entered my mind.

Hello, little one.

A knot rose in my throat. Jasper.

He lowered his head and pressed his forehead gently against mine. We’ve waited a long time for you.

Diana leaned into him. So have I.

Noah shifted last. His black wolf, Kai, stepped carefully out of the shadows, and I held my breath, waiting for the pull, the spark everyone described when they found their match.

Nothing happened.

Diana understood it before I could. He isn’t ours.

Kai nudged his nose against mine, the gesture so completely Noah that I almost laughed. He was still my best friend. Nothing important had changed.

Then Skye bolted toward the trees. Catch me!

Diana surged after her before I could even tell her to move. My first few steps were a disaster. Four legs were far harder to coordinate than two, and I nearly crashed into an oak before Diana corrected our stride.

Kai’s laughter echoed down the link. Very graceful.

Shut up.

Then instinct took over. Cold night air rushed through my fur as the woods blurred past us. Diana was fast—faster than I had ever imagined—and for the first time I understood why wolves talked about shifting as though they became more themselves.

We ran until my lungs burned and my legs trembled, and by the time we returned to the clearing, I could barely stand.

Shifting back hurt, but less. I pulled my clothes on with numb fingers and fastened Mom’s necklace around my throat again.

Cassandra watched me as I stepped out from behind the tree. “She’s beautiful, Abby.”

“Have you ever seen a wolf like Diana?” I asked, rubbing my sore arms.

“Not quite.”

“What about the silver? Is that… normal?”

Something flickered behind her eyes and was gone before I could read it.

Liam draped my coat over my shoulders. “We can solve the mystery of the magic fur tomorrow. She needs rest.”

Cassandra smiled. “Of course. Go get some sleep.”

Chloe and Noah walked home with us. Noah fell into step beside me, his hands back in his pockets.

“So,” he murmured. “No cabin?”

I let out a tired laugh. “Guess not.”

He smiled, with a faint flicker of disappointment that probably matched my own.

At our porch, Chloe wrapped me in a tight hug, and Noah gave my shoulder a quick squeeze before they both continued down the road.

Inside, Liam took my coat and hung it up. “Movie?”

“Liam, I can’t feel my toes.”

“Fair enough.” He opened his arms, and I leaned into him at once.

“Thank you.”

He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Mom and Dad would have loved Diana.”

The familiar ache surfaced behind my ribs. “I wish they were here.”

“Me too.”

I hugged him once more, then turned toward the stairs. I was halfway up when the front door flew open.

Kade stood in the entry, breathing hard, his hair wind-whipped, tension coiled through every line of his body.

Liam turned instantly. “Kade? What’s wrong? Did the border—”

Kade didn’t seem to hear him. “Where is she?”

Liam frowned. “Who?”

“Abby.”

My fingers tightened on the banister. “Kade?”

His head snapped toward my voice, and then I smelled him: cedar and cold night air.

I had known Kade all my life. I had hugged him, sat beside him, stolen food off his plate, and he had never smelled like this. Now his scent wrapped around me and pulled hard enough to make me sway.

Diana went utterly still. Then joy exploded through her.

Mate.

Kade?

He is ours.

I took a slow step down the stairs, and our eyes locked. His were a warm, dark brown, and as I watched, they flashed gold.

The bond struck so hard that I forgot how to breathe. Warmth rushed through me, and every other sound in the house faded away. My mate had been right here all along.

Every instinct pulled me toward him, to touch him, to hear him say he felt it too. Happiness rose so quickly that I smiled before I could stop myself.

Kade stared at me. Recognition flashed across his face, but he didn’t smile. The color drained from his skin.

He looked horrified.