CHAPTER 007_BLOOD AND BONE
The great hall smelled bad. It smelled like burnt fur and wet stone.
I stood near the back wall. The elders were arguing. There were six of them. They all sat at the table. They had all been staring at me since we walked in. They did not look curious. They looked like they had already made up their minds. They just wanted to say it loud.
Diego stood at the head of the table. His face was calm. His hands were not.
"She's a risk, " one elder said. His name was Cael. He was old and wide. His voice sounded like gravel. "That light came from something we don't understand. What we don't understand we don't keep inside these walls."
"Then you don't understand much, " Dante said. He stood beside me. His voice was flat.
"Alpha—"
"She fought them off. Your warriors couldn't." Dante looked around the table. "So whatever she is she's on our side tonight."
"Tonight, " Cael said. He leaned forward. ". Tomorrow? What happens when that power decides it doesn't like us?"
I felt Dante tense.. I spoke before he could.
"It's not a thing, " I said. Everyone looked at me. "The power. It's not something living inside me. It came because I was scared. You were losing. That's all."
Carl's eyes narrowed. ". We should just believe that."
"I don't care what you believe, " I said. ". I'm not being handed to anyone for cleansing. I'm not dirty."
Another elder leaned in. He whispered something to the one beside him. Dante caught it. His jaw went tight.
"Whoever touches her touches me, " he said. That was all. No shouting. No threatening. Just quiet certainty.
The table went silent.
I looked at him. Something moved in my chest. Not the bond. Something quieter.
Cael sat back slowly. "Then give us a reason Alpha. Give us something."
I didn't plan it. I hadn't thought about saying it out loud.. My hand moved to my stomach.
"I'm carrying a child, " I said.
The room went quiet. It stopped. Like someone cut the air out.
Diego's head turned toward me. His expression cracked open. Then he locked it down.
Cael stared. "Whose."
Dante didn't flinch. "Mine."
More silence.
One of the elders stood up slowly. His voice came out carefully. "Silver and Black blood haven't mixed in over a thousand years."
"I know, " Dante said.
"The time it happened—"
"I know what happened " Dante cut him off. "Sit down."
The man sat.
Cael looked at me. I didn't look away. Then he nodded once. He leaned back.
"The archives, " he said quietly. "If the child is what you're saying, the answers are there. Not here."
The archives were beneath the palace. Dante carried a light. I followed close. The stairs were narrow. The dark pressed against you.
Neither of us spoke until we reached the bottom.
The room was wide and cold. Shelves were carved into the stone walls. There were more books than anything I had touched.. On the far wall a mural. It was so large it covered everything.
I walked toward it slowly.
A woman stood at the center. A white wolf was at her feet. Her eyes were silver. She had a mark on her wrist. It was where mine was.
My mouth went dry.
"That's not me " I said.. My voice didn't sound certain.
"No, " Dante said. He stood behind me. "That's the First Luna."
I stepped closer. Her face wasn't identical.. It was close enough. Same jaw. Same shape of eyes. The way she stood. Like she wasn't sure if she was allowed to take up that space.
I raised my hand. I pressed my palm flat against the stone.
Something clicked.
A panel in the wall shifted open. Dante was beside me.
Inside was a shelf. On it sat two things. A black dagger. It was thin and old. The handle was wrapped in something that looked like dried leather.. A folded piece of paper.
I picked up the paper.
The handwriting stopped my breath.
I knew that script. I had seen it on birthday letters. I had seen it on notes tucked into my dinner tray. I had seen it on the letter I never got to read. The palace burned before morning.
"This is my mothers handwriting, " I said.
Dante said nothing.
I unfolded it. Read.
*Leah. If you have found this then everything I feared has already begun. Lucas is not your enemy. He never was. He is a hand moving because something older is pulling the strings. The real enemy has no face you will recognize. It was there the night your father died. It has been there longer than our pack. Do not fight what you carry. The child is not a curse. He is the thing that can close the door before it opens all the way. Trust the bond. Trust the light. Don't trust the dagger.*
*Do not touch the dagger.*
I looked at the dagger on the shelf. Then I looked back at the letter.
"What door? " I said. "What does she mean to close the door?"
Dante reached for the dagger. I grabbed his arm. "She said don't touch it."
He stopped.
I turned back to the letter. The paper was warm. Too warm. I looked down. The words dissolved from the bottom up. Like ink burning off.
"Leah drop it, " Dante said sharply.
I couldn't. My fingers wouldn't move.
The paper twisted. I felt it. The shape changed under my hands. The edges. Narrowed. Something cold and smooth replaced the paper.
Then pain. Sharp. Clean. Right, through my palm.
I looked down.
A small black snake hung from my hand. Its teeth were buried in my skin.
I heard Dante shout my name.
Then the floor disappeared.
The throne was made of bones.
Not an animal. Humans. They were stacked deliberately. Someone had spent time on it.. Sitting on it dressed in white hands folded in her lap was my mother.
She looked the same as the last time I saw her. Before she died. Before everything.
She looked at me without surprise. Like she had been waiting.
"You're late, " she said softly. "We don't have time. There's something you need to know about your child."