The crystal pulses against my palm, its faint light reflecting off the snow as we leave Ivy’s cabin behind. Each step crunches through the silence, but it’s the weight of Malloy’s final words, not my boots, that feels heaviest.
A story Selya would understand.
"You rembered sothing, didn’t you?"
Selene’s silver husky form is less vibrant than usual. Her ears and tail droop low, head hanging. Her usual confidence is nowhere to be found.
Just fragnts. An idea, maybe, but not the whole story.
"Why won’t you tell more?" I press, closing my fingers around the crystal. It’s warm despite the frigid air. At least the ghost is no longer visible.
Because I’m not entirely sure it’s my mory. Her voice in my mind sounds faint, almost afraid.
"How is that possible?" I stare at her, bewildered. "How can you have mories that aren’t yours?"
She drops her head even lower and goes silent. The snow’s so packed our steps don’t even leave prints behind, only crushing the faint edges of others. How long has it been since the last snowfall?
Not that it matters. It’s so cold, the snow hasn’t had a chance to lt.
A faint breeze brings a shiver to my back, and I sneeze without warning.
I told you we should work on getting your mories back, Grimoire mutters. His indignant tone scrapes against the edges of even my nerves. But no, let’s just wait until a random ghost starts calling Selene by another na and—
Be quiet, Selene growls, snapping at the air.
I tuck Malloy’s crystal into my pocket, not sure what to do with it. I’ll leave it in my cabin before we leave, but first I have to find Lucas and let him know his only objection to my presence on this mission has been cleared.
Whatever this is with Selene can wait—needs to wait—but I also need to know if she can handle tonight. Lives are at stake, after all.
"Are you capable of going on the mission?" I ask, my eyes fixed on Lucas’s tall form in the distance.
She lets out a small whine, the vulnerable sound bizarre coming from my wolf. Her ego is strong and healthy, so a submissive Selene is strange and new.
I’m capable.
Grimoire, irritatingly, doesn’t drop it. Does this have anything to do with why you’ve never been particularly fond of her mate’s wolf? Because you’ve always been oddly standoffish with him, and if these mories—
The change in Selene is instant. Her hackles rise, and she snaps her teeth in the air with a low growl.
Quiet, or I’ll rip you apart, page by page.
It isn’t a threat she hasn’t said before, but there’s rarely this level of hostility to it. Usually their bickering is more like siblings, not enemies.
"We’ll discuss this later, you two." Lucas hasn’t glanced my way yet, and I take a mont away from staring at him to glower at the husky by my side. "But let’s be clear, Selene—we’re not glossing over it this ti. If random ghosts are starting to say weird things about you, we need to know what’s going on before sothing terrible happens. Again."
Another soft whine escapes her. I know.
It feels strange to be the dominant one in our relationship. I haven’t seen her like this since those first days after she realized she’d lost her mories.
It’s unsettling. Wrong.
Like coming ho to find all your furniture rearranged and having to get used to it all over again.
I stop once more, frowning at her. Maybe bringing her along isn’t the best idea. If she’s distracted, if these mory fragnts are interfering with her focus...
"Should I leave you here?" I ask quietly, already knowing how I’d feel if our positions were reversed.
It won’t affect during the mission. Her blue eyes et mine, steady despite her subdued posture. And we’ll talk... after.
I weigh her words, searching her face for any hint of deception. Then again, I’m not really sure how that would look on a dog’s face.
"Fine. After."
* * *
The look on Lucas’ face is less than flattering as I hold out Malloy’s crystal in my palm.
"You an that rock is going to keep the ghost away?"
"More like the ghost is inside it," I explain for the fifth ti, forcing an overabundance of patience into my words.
Every so often, my mate glances around, like he’s waiting for soone to co up and be the third wheel in this conversation. He clears his throat. "There’s no guarantee—"
"Acarus told how to do it."
His face falls.
"Ava, it’s going to be dangerous. I really don’t think—"
"I’m going."
Lucas sighs and rubs a hand over his face. Then he grinds his teeth audibly. "Fine."
Relief washes through , almost as powerful as the surprise. I expected more of a fight after our argunt. But I don’t question it—best not to give him any chance to change his mind.
"But," he continues, his golden eyes narrowing, "there are conditions."
Ah. Here it cos.
"You stay at the back of the group. You don’t engage without direct orders. You follow every instruction I give without question. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to hide, you hide. If I tell you to get back to Wolf’s Landing, you do it imdiately." His jaw tightens with each requirent. "And most importantly, if anything—and I an anything—feels wrong, you run."
I nod, committing each one to mory. I have no interest in being the weak link of this pack, especially not on a mission this important. I’m here to help, to protect, to follow orders.
"I understand," I say simply.
Lucas stares at , clearly surprised by my ready agreent. He opens his mouth to say more when Clayton appears from behind him. It’s always weird to sll him; his ocean scent is bizarre this far from it.
"Is the ghost situation handled?" The Aspen Alpha asks, his eyes flicking to the crystal in my palm with so curiosity.
My mate nods, but he doesn’t look happy about it; his entire expression is brooding, and he sounds sour as he says, "Yes."
The other alpha lets out a soft chuckle, glancing at before leaning over to Lucas and saying softly, "I’ll keep an eye on her. Don’t worry."
My spine stiffens. It’s good to see the two are getting along, but it seems weird to put under Clayton’s care.
But Lucas just sighs and grabs at Clayton’s shoulder with a brotherly squeeze, like jealousy has never existed between them. I keep my face politely blank.
"Thanks. I’ll hold you to it."
"No problem."
"You’ll stay near the back," my mate reminds again, like he didn’t say this literally ten seconds ago. "You haven’t had the training the others have. You’ll only be in the way if you try to move up front."
Oh. He’s explaining it. Probably to make sure I’m not sulking.
I smile. "I know. I won’t get in the way."
Clayton gives a reassuring smile. "Don’t worry. We’ll make sure you’re safe."
"I’ll keep you safe too."
He looks startled, blinking at with his deep green eyes. Then his expression shifts into a wide, genuine smile. "I’ll rely on you, then."
Lucas blows out a long, grumbling breath, clearly not thrilled with this exchange. Before he can say anything else, a young wolf I recognize as one of the newer scouts jogs up to him, asking a question about positioning that pulls his attention away.
While they talk, I glance up at the sky, trying to gauge the ti. "How long before we leave?" I ask when there’s a break in their conversation.
Lucas follows my gaze upward. "Everyone should get a bite to eat because we’re going to leave in forty-five minutes."
"Forty-five minutes?" I repeat, surprised. We’re still quite a ways from sunset. "Isn’t that a little early? I thought we were waiting until nightfall."
Clayton’s mouth quirks in a half-smile. "We’re taking a slight detour to make sure we catch them by surprise."
I tilt my head, working through his words, but not quite understanding. It sounds simple, but... "I don’t understand. How are we taking a detour when we’re going to them?"
"We’re attacking from behind, of course."
Oh.
Right.
That would make sense, then.
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