Chapter 3 Whispers in the Shadows

Five days until the marking ceremony.

Lia woke to voices drifting through the night air.

Elders. Multiple. Arguing in hushed, urgent tones from the direction of the main lodge. At this hour-well past midnight-that meant trouble.

She should stay inside. Mark's warning still rang clear: Don't open this door.

But those voices were talking about something. And given yesterday's healing, given the way the Elders had looked at her with hunger in their eyes-

Lia pulled on her boots.

The night was cold and still, stars scattered like salt across black velvet. She moved through shadows, keeping to the treeline. Her half-blood heritage made her weak in most ways, but she could move quietly. Nearly human footsteps, almost silent.

The main lodge glowed with firelight. Lia crept to the back wall where age had warped the wood, leaving gaps. She pressed her eye to the largest crack.

Five Elders sat around the fire. Morna. Torin. Three others she rarely saw-the eldest, who spoke only at the most important gatherings.

"The bloodline sickness grows worse," Elder Cain said, his face a map of wrinkles. "My grandson died last week. Three days old. Lungs too weak. That's the third pup this year alone."

Silence fell, grim and heavy.

"Which is why we need her blood," Morna said. "Not drops. Not rationing. The great blood offering. As much as she can give."

Lia's breath caught. As much as she can give.

"That could kill her," Torin said quietly.

"Then she dies serving her purpose." Morna's voice was ice. "She's half-blood. A vessel. Nothing more."

Lia's nails bit into her palms. Vessel. Always that word.

"But the prophecy-" one Elder began.

"The prophecy is precisely why we must act quickly." Morna stood, firelight casting her shadow long across the walls. Her voice took on a ritualistic cadence:

"When silver blood walks among wolves,

The ancient power shall wake.

Old orders will crumble to dust,

And the marked shall rule or break."

The words hit Lia like ice water. Her whole body went cold.

Silver blood.

Could they mean-no. Impossible. She was just half-blood. Mongrel. Worthless, they'd said so for five years. This had to be about someone else. Some legendary figure from the past.

But that warmth in her chest-the thing that had exploded in silver light yesterday-pulsed once. Hard. Like it was responding to the words.

Lia pressed her hand to her sternum, trying to quiet it. Trying to understand.

"'Old orders will crumble,'" Torin repeated slowly. "That could mean-"

"Chaos," Morna snapped. "Everything our ancestors built-hierarchy, bloodline purity, pack order-threatened. We cannot allow it."

"But what if the prophecy means salvation?" Cain said quietly. "The marked shall rule or break. What if-"

"Superstition." Morna's voice cracked like a whip. "I don't care what ancient ravings say. That girl's only purpose is providing blood to heal our people. The ceremony is perfect. Once Derek marks her, the bond forces compliance. She'll have no choice but to submit to whatever we require."

Cold flooded Lia's veins. The marking wasn't a claiming. It was a leash.

A magical leash that would let them bleed her until there was nothing left.

"And Derek?" Torin asked.

"Derek is compromised." Morna's tone went cold. "You saw him yesterday. He can barely control himself around her. That makes him unreliable. If his... attachment becomes a liability, we have contingencies."

"You're talking about removing our Alpha," an Elder said, shocked.

"I'm talking about survival. The pack comes first. If Derek chooses her over us-" Morna's voice hardened. "Then we do what must be done."

Lia's heart hammered against her ribs. They'd kill Derek if he tried to protect her.

But would he even try? Or was his claim just another cage, another way to use her?

Silver blood walks among wolves.

Lia looked down at her hands, at the faint scar on her palm from yesterday. When her blood had touched that boy, it had glowed. Actually glowed, silver and bright and impossibly alive.

Was that what the prophecy meant? Was she-

No. She couldn't be. Prophecies were for important people. Pure-bloods. Alphas. Not discarded half-bloods who spent five years being called mongrel.

But the warmth in her chest pulsed again, insistent.

A twig snapped behind her.

Lia spun, heart in her throat.

Derek stood three feet away. Gold eyes catching starlight.

His gaze moved from her to the gap in the wall. Understanding flickered across his features.

Then his hand shot out, gripping her arm-firm, burning hot-and he pulled her into the forest.

Lia tried to speak but he pressed a finger to his lips. Silent. They moved quickly through trees until the lodge was far behind, until they reached a moonlit clearing.

Only then did Derek release her.

His hand left a phantom heat on her arm.

"What," he said quietly, dangerously, "were you thinking?"

"I heard voices. I needed-"

"You risked everything." His voice was controlled but she heard the edge. "If they'd caught you-"

"They're planning to drain me!" Lia's fear morphed to anger. "At the ceremony. They'll use the bond to force me to give blood until it kills me. And they don't care."

Derek's jaw clenched. "I know."

Two words. Devastating.

"You know?" Lia stared. "You knew and you still claimed me-"

"I claimed you to protect you from exactly that." Derek's hands clenched at his sides. "The ceremony was supposed to buy time. Time to find another way. Time to-"

He stopped abruptly, head turning.

Footsteps. Coming from the lodge.

"Mark," Derek said. "Checking on you." His eyes snapped to hers, urgent. "Go back. Now. If they realize you heard-"

"What about you?"

"They won't suspect me." His voice went flat. Cold. The warmth vanished behind ice. "Because I'm simply keeping my property secure. Nothing more."

The word stung. Property.

But Lia saw his hands shaking before he clenched them into fists.

Before she could respond, Derek's expression changed. His nostrils flared, head tilting slightly. He was scenting something on the air.

"Go," he said, but his voice had gone rough. Strained. "Now. Before I-"

He cut himself off, jaw clenching so tight she heard teeth grinding.

"Before you what?" Lia demanded.

Derek took a step back from her. Then another. Like he was forcing distance between them.

"Just go," he rasped.

Lia turned, racing back through trees. Behind her, Derek's footsteps headed a different direction-not toward the settlement, but deeper into the forest. Running from something.

Or running from her.

She reached the cabin seconds before Mark appeared on the path. Threw herself onto the cot, pulling Derek's cloak over her.

Mark's knock came. "Lia?"

"Sleeping," she made her voice groggy.

"Thought I heard something."

"I'm fine."

Pause. "Lock the door."

His footsteps retreated.

Lia lay in darkness, mind racing. The prophecy. The plan. Derek claiming he was protecting her while calling her property.

Silver blood walks among wolves.

The marked shall rule or break.

She was marked. By Silver Creek. Soon by Derek.

But could she really be what that prophecy meant? It seemed impossible. Ridiculous, even. She was nobody. Nothing.

Except her blood had glowed silver yesterday. Except that warmth in her chest responded to the prophecy's words like recognition. Except the Elders were terrified enough of some ancient prediction to plan her death.

Maybe she wasn't nobody.

Maybe that was exactly what they were afraid of.

A sound outside made her tense.

Derek stood at the clearing's edge, barely visible in starlight. Something was wrong with his posture. Rigid. Strained.

His hand pressed against his chest. Trying to hold something back.

Then his head tilted back. Even from here she saw elongated canines.

His eyes found her window.

Gold. Burning.

His lips moved. She couldn't hear but she could read them:

"Don't. Come. Closer."

He wasn't talking to her.

He was warning himself.

Derek's hand dropped to his side, fingers curling into claws. He took one step toward the cabin. Stopped. Every muscle locked.

"Don't," she saw him mouth again. Barely audible across the distance: "Don't come near her. Don't-"

His voice broke into something between growl and plea.

Then he ran. Not walked. Ran into the forest with inhuman speed.

Lia stood at the window, shaking.

She'd seen trapped animals gnaw off their own limbs to escape.

Derek looked at her cabin like she was the trap.

And he was desperate not to gnaw free.

She pressed her hand to the window, fingers splaying against cold glass. That strange warmth in her chest pulsed, responding to something. His proximity? His distress?

A connection. Growing stronger with each encounter.

The marking would forge a bond. The Elders wanted to use it to control her.

But what if it unleashed whatever was clawing inside Derek instead?

Lia moved from the window. Sat on the cot. The prophecy echoed in her mind, the words feeling heavier now, more real:

When silver blood walks among wolves, the ancient power shall wake.

She thought about five years of contempt. Of molding herself to fit their world. Of swallowing insults with grateful smiles.

Five years of being called vessel. Half-blood. Mongrel. Damaged goods.

And now they wanted to chain her with magic and bleed her until she broke.

Unless she was something they hadn't anticipated. Unless that prophecy wasn't about some legendary figure from the past.

Unless it was about her.

Something cold crystallized in her chest. Not the silver warmth-something harder. Sharper.

If they wanted to call her dangerous, maybe she should become exactly that.

Lia pulled Derek's cloak tight, breathing in pine and steel and wildness.

Five days until the marking ceremony.

Five days to figure out what she was.

And what she was capable of becoming.