I should have known the silence wouldn't last.
For a day, maybe two, the village kept its distance. Wolves glanced at me and then quickly looked away, their eyes sharp with curiosity or heavy with suspicion. The whispers didn't stop, but they softened, carried on the wind like secrets too dangerous to say out loud.
But by the third night, the silence cracked.
The sound of drums woke me. Not loud, not wild—slow, steady, pulsing like a heartbeat through the dark. I sat up in the furs, my chest tight, my wolf bristling with unease.
Darius was already awake. He stood at the doorway, his broad frame blocking most of the moonlight. His voice was flat, but I caught the edge beneath it. "They've called for you."
I swallowed hard. "Called for me?"
His gaze flicked toward me, icy and unreadable. "The elders. The pack. They want proof."
My throat went dry. Proof.
Of what? That I wasn't cursed? That the silver glow meant something divine and not something dangerous?
"What if I fail?" My voice cracked on the last word.
Darius's expression didn't shift. "Then they will decide for themselves what you are."
The cold truth of it hit me like ice water.
The village was awake when I stepped outside. Torches lined the path, casting long, flickering shadows across the dirt. Wolves gathered in a circle near the central clearing, their faces sharp in the firelight. Their eyes tracked me as I walked, whispers following with every step.
Some eyes held reverence. Others held doubt. A few glared openly, their suspicion burning hotter than Kael's bond.
The drums didn't stop. They thudded slow and steady, echoing in my chest. My wolf paced beneath my skin, restless, warning me this wasn't just a gathering—it was a test.
When I reached the center, the crowd parted. Four elders stood waiting, their faces weathered, their eyes piercing. One of them stepped forward, the same scarred male who had challenged me before. His voice carried across the clearing.
"You claim the Goddess touched you."
"I never claimed—" I started, but he cut me off with a raised hand.
"You glowed. We saw it. But power can be a blessing or a curse. Tonight, under the full moon, we will see which you carry."
The crowd murmured, approval rumbling like distant thunder.
My stomach churned. "And if you decide I carry a curse?"
"Then you will leave this place," he said coldly. "And the packs will decide what must be done if you return."
A chill swept through me. Leave? Where would I go? Kael's fire tugged at my chest, tempting, dangerous. But if I was cast out from Darius's pack, I would be alone between two forces that wanted me for themselves.
I wasn't ready for this. But the drums wouldn't stop. The eyes wouldn't stop staring. The Goddess wouldn't stop whispering.
Stand. Show them.
They led me to the center of the clearing, where the ground was packed hard from years of ritual. The full moon hung above, silver and sharp, its light spilling across my skin.
"Call it," the elder said. "Whatever power you claim. Whatever gift the Goddess gave you. Show us now."
The weight of his command crushed me. My hands trembled at my sides. My chest ached, the bonds pulling tight, fire and ice pressing in.
I can't.
But my wolf growled inside me. She didn't agree. She wanted this—needed this.
I closed my eyes and tried to breathe. I thought of the night Kael and Darius fought, of the way my voice had stopped them, of the silver light that had spilled from my skin. I tried to find it again.
At first, nothing happened. Just the pounding of my heart, the steady throb of the drums.
Then—heat. Cold. Both at once. The fire of Kael's bond seared through me, demanding. The ice of Darius's bond cut through, steady, unyielding. They clashed inside me, tearing me apart.
I gasped, dropping to my knees. Pain tore through my chest, my vision blurring.
The crowd murmured again, louder now. Doubt. Fear.
"She can't control it."
"She's cursed."
"She's breaking."
"No!" My voice cracked as I pressed my palms into the dirt. "I'm not breaking."
My wolf howled inside me, fierce and wild. And something in me snapped.
The silver glow surged.
It started in my chest, spilling out like liquid light, racing down my arms, flooding the clearing. The murmurs turned to gasps as the ground itself shivered beneath us.
The fire of Kael's bond and the ice of Darius's bond clashed again—but this time, I didn't let them tear me apart. I pulled.
I drew them both in, gripping them like threads, weaving fire and ice together in my core. The pain was blinding, but the power was stronger.
The glow burst outward, brighter than before, spilling across the circle, touching every wolf gathered.
They dropped to their knees. Not in fear—instinct. Submission.
The drums stopped. Silence fell, broken only by the sound of my ragged breathing.
When I opened my eyes, the elders were staring. Not with suspicion now. With awe.
The scarred elder stepped back, his voice low and shaken. "The Goddess has spoken."
The crowd echoed with whispers again, but the tone had changed. Reverence. Wonder.
And yet, as I stood trembling in the silver light, one thought sliced through the awe.
If I could pull fire and ice together… if I could hold both bonds inside me…
Then what was I becoming?
Later, when the crowd finally dispersed, I sat alone by the fire, my body trembling with exhaustion. Darius stood nearby, silent as always, but his eyes never left me.
"You held both," he said quietly.
I met his gaze, my throat dry. "I didn't know I could."
His jaw tightened. "That power will change everything. Wolves will worship you… or fear you. Some will want to use you. Others will want to destroy you."
The truth in his words sank deep.
I thought of Kael, waiting in the shadows, his fire bond burning hotter every day. I thought of the way his wolves had followed him with fierce devotion.
And I realized something that made my heart pound harder.
The packs weren't just watching me. They were choosing sides.
And soon, they wouldn't just be fighting for me. They'd be fighting because of me.
That night, when sleep finally came, the Goddess's voice returned in my dreams.
You are not cursed, Aria. You are the bridge. Fire and ice, war and peace. Only through you will they survive.
Her words sent a chill through me.
Because bridges weren't built to last forever. They were built to be crossed.
And sometimes, to be broken.