Chapter 2 The Shadow Beneath the Flame

Alero didn't remember collapsing.

One moment she was running-faster than she should've been able to, faster than her own heartbeat, through the trees, with snow stinging her face and magic crawling up her spine. The next, her knees slammed into the frozen ground in front of the ruined tower.

She stayed there, hunched over, fingers buried in snow and soil, chest heaving like she might break apart. Her ribs throbbed, her skin burnedand her vision blurred.

The mark beneath her shirt wasn't glowing anymore.

It was moving.

Alero gasped and pressed her palm over it, like she could hold it still. Like she could contain whatever was waking inside her.

"Please," she whispered.

But the heat only pulsed harder-like something ancient was pounding on a locked door beneath her ribs, desperate to get out.

She forced herself upright, blinking against the cold. Her hand trembled as she dug through her satchel, finally pulling free a black obsidian mirror etched with runes.

She held it up. Whispered the incantation her mother taught her.

Nothing.

There was no answer, no whisper and no glimpse of the other side.

Just her reflection paled and wild-eyed, mouth smeared with blood she hadn't realized was hers.

Her breath hitched.

This wasn't her magic anymore.

It had... shifted. Morphed. Bonded to something she didn't understand.

She hurled the mirror at a nearby tree. It shattered.

"Stupid," she muttered, clutching her head. "So stupid to come alone."

Ash drifted down from the broken tower above, falling like snow. The trees groaned. The ground felt like it was holding its breath.

She reached out and pressed her hand to a nearby trunk.

"Show me," she whispered.

The bark rippled beneath her palm. The world tilted,

-and a vision struck.

Kael, not as he was now, but as a boy. Kneeling beside a bloodied woman-her mother.

There was no triumph in his face. Only fear.

A blade shook in his small hands.

And through lips that barely moved, he whispered her name.

Alero.

She jerked back, stumbling away from the tree like it had burned her.

"No... That's not possible." Her voice came out shaky, small.

Her mother had died before Kael ever became Alpha. Before she even knew what magic was.

Hadn't she?

A sharp crack-wood snapping underfoot.

She spun, reaching for her blade-

Too slow.

A heavy blow knocked her flat. Stars burst behind her eyes. Before she could rise, a boot slammed down on her back, pinning her to the snow.

"You really thought you could waltz into Vale territory without anyone noticing?"

The voice was cool. Female. Poison wrapped in velvet.

Alero gasped and turned her head.

The woman standing above her had silver hair woven with wolf teeth and bone. Her amber eyes glowed like heated metal. Her skin was older, weathered-but power rolled off her like smoke.

"I don't know you," Alero rasped.

"No," the woman said. "But I know you, curse-born."

Alero struggled, but the pressure on her back only increased.

"You should've died the night you were born," the woman hissed. "Your mother went soft. And now, because of that mercy, we're all going to burn."

A howl split the air, raw and unrelenting.

Kael.

The woman cursed and drew a curved blade, pressing it to Alero's throat.

"Whatever you think you have with him, -it's a lie. He'll turn on you the moment he sees the truth."

"What truth?" Alero asked.

But the woman vanished into smoke and shadow.

Alero gasped, dragging air into her lungs. Her hands shook.

The scent hit her before the sound did.

Smoke.

Not just shadow this time.

Real smoke.

She turned toward the tower.

Flames danced up the sides, licking at the old stone like it was dry timber. Heat hit her in waves. The air cracked.

Her mark flared again-searing now. She clutched her ribs and staggered back.

"No," she whispered. "I didn't do this. I didn't..."

But her magic pulsed in time with the flames. Her hand was raised without her meaning to lift it.

"Stop!" she screamed into the burning night. "I didn't ask for this!"

The fire didn't care. It kept growing.

Then-

A roar behind her.

Kael burst from the trees, half-shifted, his skin steaming, chest bare, eyes feral.

"You're burning the forest!" he shouted.

"I'm not!" Alero cried.

But her hand was still up.

And the fire raged.

Kael moved toward her slowly. "Alero. Listen. You need to let go of the bond."

"I can't."

"You have to."

"If I let go..." Her voice cracked. "It'll kill me."

He froze.

"What?"

Her eyes glistened. "It's not a bond, Kael. It's a lock. Someone cursed it. To hold something inside me. Something older than vampires, darker than witchcraft, and far stronger than any wolf."

The trees trembled around them.

Kael stared at her for a long beat. Then he stepped forward.

"Then we break it."

"You think we're allies now?"

"I think we don't have a choice."

He reached for her.

Their fingers brushed.

And the world exploded.

Light blinded her. A sonic boom flattened the clearing. Fire vanished. Snow melted to steam. Magic screamed, -not just hers. Theirs.

When she opened her eyes, Kael was on his knees, clutching his chest.

The mark-her mark-had spread across his skin.

Up his throat. Over his collarbone. Laced across his chest like it had always belonged there.

He looked up, horrified. "What did you do to me?"

Alero backed away.

"I... I don't know."

Then her gaze dropped to the shattered mirror pieces.

They shimmered.

Not with her reflection.

With her mother's.

Eyes hollow. Mouth moving, like she was trying to speak.

Alero stumbled forward. "Mom?"

She reached out.

The mirror cracked.

And the vision vanished.

Again.