Dahlia’s POV
I pressed my back against the far wall, away from the shared bars. "You’re the source. You’re what’s helping her siphon the pack."
"I am the conduit," the voice barked.
"Every night, at the stroke of midnight, she cos to the mountain’s heart. She brings a tribute; the spiritual essence of the pack’s unborn. She feeds their potential, their strength, and in return, I weave a tether between her and the Alpha. I make him see a mate where there is only a vacuum."
My stomach turned. It wasn’t just a taphor. Gina was literally trading the lives of the pack’s future children to keep Nate’s wolf from rejecting her.
Every ti a mother in the Silver-Crest pack miscarried, it was because Gina had stolen that child’s light to patch up her failing fake bond.
"Why tell this?" I demanded.
"Because the cycle is breaking," the voice hissed, sounding closer now.
"You brought the true blood back. Three little beacons of silver light. They are so bright, so pure... the mountain is hungry, Dahlia. Gina knows she can’t keep the lie going with just the Thinning anymore. She needs a Great Sacrifice. She needs the Alpha’s actual heirs."
"And you will bring them to us..." it whispered.
The realization hit like a physical blow. Gina wasn’t just going to banish my children. She was going to sacrifice them to make her bond with Nate permanent. I opened my mouth to scream for the guards, to demand to see Nate, but my throat closed up.
A strange, numbing sensation filled my senses. I looked down at my hands. There were faint glowing attachnts pining them to the floor.
"Don’t bother," the voice whispered. "We placed a Silence Hex on this cell. You can speak to , but to the world outside? You are a ghost. You can’t tell him, Dahlia. If you try to speak the truth about the ritual, your heart will simply... stop."
I tried to shout Nate! but only a dry rasp ca out. I was trapped. I had the keys to Gina’s destruction, but the secret was a literal poison in my veins.
"You wield great power, Dahlia. Much more than you know." the voice faded slowly.
The sound of boots on the stone stairs made jump.
Nate appeared at the top of the stairwell, flanked by Elder Silas. Nate looked like he had been through a war. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"Nate," I tried to say, but my voice was too thin. I clutched the bars, with pleading eyes.
"I’ve spent the last few hours with the Council," Nate said. He ignored the Elder and stepped right up to my cell. "I’ve reviewed your dical logs from the city. I’ve seen the success rates of your clinic."
He looked at Silas. "She is the only person who can stop the poisoning. If she stays in this cell, Elder Thomas dies. I am exercising my Alpha right of Advocatus. I am taking custody of the prisoner."
"Nate, this is highly irregular," Silas grumbled. "She is a fugitive."
"She is the mother of my children!" Nate roared, his voice shaking the dust from the ceiling.
The silence that followed was absolute. Silas looked like he’d been slapped. He looked at , then back at Nate. "You’re certain? If this is a lie to protect a rogue—"
"I don’t need to be certain. I know," Nate interrupted.
He turned to , his expression softened into sothing so tender it hurt to look at. "The Council has agreed to a temporary release. You will be confined to the Alpha’s quarters, under my direct supervision. You will continue the Elder’s treatnt, and you will stay away from the borders."
He signaled for the guard to open the door. The mont the iron swung open, the crushing weight of the silver suppression lifted, but the Silence Hex remained. I could feel it like a cold stone in my chest.
Nate reached out, pulling out of the cell and into his arms. He held so tightly I could hear the frantic rhythm of his heart. "I have them, Dahlia. I went to the cottage. They’re upstairs. They’re safe."
I tried to tell him about the harvest. I tried to tell him that Gina was coming for them. I tried to warn him about the thing in the cell next to us.
But every ti I tried to form the words Gina or Sacrifice, my lungs seized. I began to cough, and a sharp, tallic taste filled my mouth.
"Dahlia? What’s wrong?" Nate asked, pulling back to look at my face.
I shook my head, as tears of frustration pricked my eyes. I pointed toward the neighboring cell, but when Nate looked, there was nothing there but darkness. The red eyes were gone. The cell looked like it hadn’t been occupied in decades.
"It’s the silver," Nate muttered, wiping a tear from my cheek. "It’s hard on ogas. Co on. Let’s get you to the kids."
As he led up the stairs, I looked back one last ti.
A single, black lily was lying on the floor of my cell. It served as a reminder that she was watching, they were all watching and that the Thinning was about to claim the only things I had left.
Nate led into the Alpha’s private wing, a place I hadn’t seen since the night I was cast out. The double doors opened to a large, sun-drenched living area.
"Mommy!"
Ariana was the first to hit , her small arms wrapped around my waist. Axel was sitting on a plush rug, looking dazed but healthy, and Aidan was standing by the window, his arms crossed, looking exactly like a miniature version of the man standing beside .
"Are you okay?" Aidan asked, his eyes darting to Nate.
"I’m fine," I managed to say.
The hex was slightly weaker here, away from the mountain’s core, but I still couldn’t speak the truth. "We’re... staying here for a while."
Nate stood in the center of the room, looking at the three of them. He looked terrified. The most powerful man in the northern territories was shaking at the sight of three six-year-olds!
"I’ve ordered a feast," Nate said, smiling nervously.
"Whatever you want. Anything."
"I want to go ho," Aidan said flatly.
Nate winced. "This is your ho, Aidan. You’re a Silver-Crest. You’re my sons. And Ariana, you are my daughter."
"We’re ’brats,’" Aidan corrected, using Gina’s word. "That’s what the lady in the white coat called us."
Nate’s face went dark. He looked at , it was a silent promise of vengeance in his eyes. But before he could speak, the doors opened again.
Gina walked in. She had changed into a shimring gold dress. She carried a tray of small, brightly colored cupcakes.
"I thought the children might be hungry," she said, her voice sweet as poisoned honey.
She looked at , her eyes glinting with the knowledge of the hex. "After all, we want them to be strong for the ceremony tonight, don’t we, Nate? The Moon-Blessing for the new heirs?"
My heart stopped. The ceremony. That was when she would do it.
I looked at the cupcakes. On the top of the one she was offering to Axel, there was a tiny, dried petal of a black lily.
"They can’t have that." I said sternly.
***
The Grand Hall of the Silver-Crest pack house was filled with hundreds of wolves gathered for the Moon-Blessing, a ceremony usually reserved for the naming of heirs. I stood on the raised platform next to Nate, as I felt my skin crawling.
The air was filled with the scent of pine, roasted at, and the underlying tallic tang of the Thinning that still haunted the pack.
Nate had dressed the kids in the pack’s colors; deep blue tunics that made them look like they belonged here. Seeing Aidan stand there with his chin up, looking like a mirror image of the man beside , it made my stomach turn.
"mbers of Silver-Crest!" Nate’s voice cut through the chatter. It was a roar that usually made feel safe, but today it felt like a warning. "These are my children. The future of this pack."
A wave of whispers broke out. Hope, disbelief, hatred. I felt it all.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell Nate about my encounter in the prison cell and the black blood I’d seen in Gina’s veins.
But every ti I tried to form a word, that Hex Gina and her dark entity had put on shut up. It felt like soone was shoving a handful of dry sand into my windpipe. I couldn’t even squeak.
"A little gift for the hocoming," Gina said, her voice high and light. She gestured to the trays of cupcakes again. "Sothing sweet for the kids."
She was looking desperate at this point. I had explicitly told her that my children couldn’t eat that earlier at the Alpha’s wing.
She looked at for a split second. A look that said, ’Go ahead, try to warn them.’
"Mommy, can I?" Axel whispered. He looked tired. The poison from the cottage was still in his system, making him pale and sickly. He needed the sugar.
"Wait, Axel—" I tried to gasp out, but only a dry wheeze ca out.
An Elder leaned in right then, asking so nonsense about the hospital in the city. I turned my head for one second to brush him off.
One second.
When I looked back, Axel was licking frosting off his thumb. The cupcake with the black lily petal was gone.
My heart stopped. I sprung on him, grabbing his shoulders so hard he winced. "Axel! Spit it out! Axel!"
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