Elowen POV
I'm running through the forest when I smell blood half a mile away, and that's when I know something impossible is happening.
"Faster!" Vesperine shouts behind me. "You're wolfless—you'll be prey in the Hunt without speed!"
But I'm not listening because I can smell things I've never smelled before. Hear sounds that should be impossible. My grey eyes keep flashing gold in puddle reflections.
It started three days ago. Sharper senses. Strange instincts. Heat pooling in my chest where emptiness used to be.
My wolf. After twenty-three years of silence, she's waking up.
I should be terrified. Excited. Something.
Instead, I just keep running.
We've been training for a week—survival skills, tracking, evasion. Preparing for the Hunt like I'm preparing for war.
"Stop!" I call out, skidding to a halt. "Something's wrong up ahead."
Vesperine catches up, breathing hard. "What do you—"
"Blood. Fresh. Maybe twenty minutes old. East, past those trees."
She stares at me. "Elowen, you're wolfless. How can you possibly—"
"I don't know!" The admission bursts out. "But I can smell it. I can hear a heartbeat from here, weak and fading. Someone's hurt."
We find the injured deer exactly where I sensed it. Vesperine looks at me like I've grown a second head.
"Your wolf," she breathes. "She's emerging."
"That's impossible. I'm twenty-three. Wolves emerge at puberty or never."
"Unless trauma triggers a late shift. Unless your bloodline—" Vesperine stops, eyes widening. "Elowen, what do you know about your mother's family?"
"The Miravels? Just that we've always been small pack, good at diplomacy—"
"No. Your mother's maiden name. Before she married into Miravel."
I think back, trying to remember my mother's stories. "Nightborn? I think? She never talked about them much. Said they died out before she was born."
Vesperine goes pale. "Nightborn. The extinct bloodline that awakened through extreme emotional trauma. The ones who could—"
A crack echoes through the forest.
We both spin around.
Lyria steps out from behind a tree, hands raised peacefully. She's alone, no guards, wearing simple traveling clothes.
"I'm not here to fight," she says quickly. "I came to help."
"Help?" I don't trust this. "You're Thaddeus's lover. Why would you—"
"Because he's obsessed with you." Lyria's beautiful face twists with pain. "Every day, it's 'how do I win Elowen back?' He doesn't sleep. Barely eats. Just plans and schemes. I've been in love with him for ten years, and he's never looked at me the way he stares at your closed door."
Despite everything, I feel a flash of pity. She loved him longer than I did.
"What do you want?" I ask wearily.
She pulls out a package. "These arrived for you yesterday. Thaddeus intercepted them, planning to hold them hostage until you agreed to see him. I stole them."
Inside is a silver mask with amber inlay—beautiful, clearly expensive—and a scent-blocking charm that hums with powerful magic.
"Who sent these?"
"The card just said 'from a friend.' But Elowen—they're genuine. High-level enchantments. Someone wants you to succeed in the Hunt." Lyria meets my eyes. "If you find a real mate, maybe Thaddeus will finally let you go. Maybe I can stop being second choice. Maybe we both get to be free."
It's the most honest she's ever been with me.
"Thank you," I say quietly.
She nods, blinking back tears. "Find someone worthy this time. Find someone who sees you first."
She disappears back into the forest, leaving me holding the mask and charm.
"That was unexpected," Vesperine mutters.
"Everything about my life is unexpected now."
We return to training, but I can't focus. My senses are too sharp, too overwhelming. I can hear Vesperine's heartbeat. Smell her breakfast from hours ago. Track a rabbit's path from twenty feet away.
My wolf is definitely waking. And she's powerful.
The night before we leave for Veilwood, I'm packing when I hear voices downstairs.
Male voices. Three of them.
No.
I storm down to find Thaddeus, Cassian, and Alaric in my rented sitting room, all looking desperate and determined.
"How did you get in here?" I demand.
"We need to talk," Thaddeus says.
"We have nothing to—"
"I'm abdicating," he interrupts. "Giving you the High Alpha crown. Full control of all territories. Everything. Just don't go to the Hunt."
My jaw drops. "You're insane."
"I'm desperate!" His ice-blue eyes are wild. "Elowen, please. I'll give you anything—"
"I'll give you my entire fortune," Cassian cuts in, pulling out a ring. "My family ring. My title. Everything I own. Just give me one more chance—"
"I'll testify against both of them," Alaric says. "Publicly destroy them. Give you revenge served on a silver platter—"
"STOP!" I scream.
They all freeze.
"You're offering me bribes," I say slowly. "Crowns and rings and revenge. Things. You're still trying to buy me like I'm property."
"That's not—" Thaddeus starts.
"Not one of you has said 'I'm sorry for hurting you.' Not one of you has asked what I want. You're still making this about you. Your guilt. Your need to fix it." I grab my packed bag. "I don't want your bribes. I want you gone."
"Elowen—" they chorus.
"I'm going to the Hunt. I'm going to disappear behind a mask where none of you can find me. And maybe—just maybe—I'll find someone who sees me as a person instead of a prize."
I push past them, Vesperine flanking me protectively.
"If you love me," I say without turning around, "you'll let me go."
We ride out at dawn. Behind us, three Alphas stand in my doorway, watching me leave.
I don't look back.
The Veilwood is ancient and wild when we arrive. Two hundred masked wolves gather at the Hunt grounds—all anonymous, all searching.
I wear my silver and amber mask. The scent-blocker makes me invisible.
The Hunt Master explains rules I barely hear. My wolf is stirring restlessly now, alert and focused on something I can't identify yet.
"Trust your wolf," the Hunt Master says. "The Moon Goddess guides those ready to find their fate."
The moon rises—blood-red and full.
The Hunt Master howls.
Two hundred wolves explode into the forest.
I run with them, heart pounding. This is freedom. This is—
The scent hits me.
Pine smoke. Winter rain. Ancient magic so powerful my knees nearly buckle.
My chest erupts with heat. My wolf roars awake after twenty-three years of silence, clawing toward that scent with desperate, primal hunger.
My eyes flash gold.
And somewhere in this forest, someone else's wolf is howling back.
The mate bond slams into place like lightning.
No. Not again. Not a fourth Alpha to break me—
But this feels different. This feels like coming home and catching fire and drowning all at once.
This feels real.
I follow the scent without thinking, my new wolf senses guiding me through trees and streams, tracking that impossible smell like my life depends on it.
A massive shadow moves ahead. Another masked wolf—silver mask like mine, but bigger, darker, radiating Alpha power that should terrify me.
Instead, my wolf purrs.
The figure turns, and even through the mask, I see his eyes.
One grey. One gold.
Heterochromatic. Just like—
No. It can't be.
The wolf steps into moonlight, and I see scars covering his arms. Old. Silver-white. The kind you get from wolfsbane poisoning.
My breath catches.
"Mate," his distorted voice growls. Not a question. A fact.
And I know—somehow, I know—this fourth bond will either save me or destroy everything I have left.