Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
The words hang in the air between us, heavy with implication. I stare at him, searching his face for signs of deception and finding none.
“Your father?” I echo, struggling to process the revelation. “Thaddeus is your—but—”
“Why does he want me dead?” Ryker’s laugh holds no humor. “He doesn’t know.”
He turns back to the Vision Well, his reflection fractured by ripples that seem to form without cause.
“My mother was an alpha, born to the Grayback Pack. Thaddeus was already Grand Alpha when he met her during territory negotiations.” Ryker’s voice takes on a distant quality, as if reciting a story told many times.
“He became obsessed with her, convinced that combining her blood with his alpha line would create offspring of unprecedented power.”
My heart aches, already sensing where this story leads.
“He took advantage of her innocence, and installed her as his mistress, hiding her away from his official mate in the Grand Pack.” Bitterness edges his words.
“For two years, she lived in seclusion, a prized possession rather than a wolf. It was only when she discovered he already had a mate that she left. But by that stage it was too late—I’d already taken root. ”
Ryker’s hands clench at his sides. “I was born with these eyes.” He gestures to his mismatched gaze—one gold, one blood-red. “The mark of what the ancient texts call ‘shadow blood.’ My mother saw it as punishment for her indiscretion.”
I hesitate only a heartbeat. Then I step closer.
He doesn’t move. Doesn’t reach for me. Doesn’t draw me in like he usually would.
I gather my courage and reach for him.
My hand lifts, fingers trembling slightly, and I gently brush beneath his left eye—the brilliant gold. Then the right—deep crimson, the color of blood and dusk and power.
My touch is featherlight. Reverent. As if I can erase the years of shame stitched into his skin with nothing more than a caress.
“They’re beautiful,” I whisper. “You’re beautiful.”
His gaze burns into mine.
“What happened?” I ask, still stroking his cheek, though I fear I already know.
“My mother feared Thaddeus finding out so fled with me to the mountains where she found sanctuary with a small, struggling pack. This pack was the beginning of what would eventually become Shadowmist.” His expression hardens.
“We survived. Grew stronger. She taught me everything about our kind’s history, about the prophecies surrounding shadow blood. And about Thaddeus’s greatest fear.”
“Which is?”
“That he would die by his son’s hand.” Ryker’s smile is razor-sharp. “A vision that came to the last seer before her death. The same vision you saw when Thaddeus forced you to look.”
Realization dawns, cold and clarifying. “That’s why he reacted so strongly. He recognized it.”
“Yes.” Ryker’s hand finds mine again, his touch anchoring.
“When my mother died, I swore I’d fulfill that prophecy.
Partly for vengeance, but mostly because he needs to be removed.
Our kind have suffered under him. The packs are fragmented, fighting between each other.
They’ve forgotten the old ways, becoming more human with every year that passes. ”
“And your prophecy?”
He swallows. “That shadow blood will heal the fractures Thaddeus created between the packs.”
The weight of his revelation settles. This isn’t merely a territorial dispute or injured pride—it’s a blood oath born of lies and hate.
“And me?” I ask quietly. “Where do I fit in this prophecy?”
His gaze softens as he meets my eyes. “You weren’t part of what Cheyenne saw. You’re the variable no one predicted.” His hand comes up to cup my face. “Which makes you the most valuable piece on the board.”
The responsibility of that position should terrify me, but instead, I find myself standing taller. If I’m unpredicted, I’m also unconstrained by prophecy’s rigid paths.
“What happened to your mother?”
His lips quirk into a smile. “She met her true mate—a wolf in the Fallow Pack—a few years after the Blood War. She moved there to be with him. She and he live there under the leadership of their son—my brother.”
I cock an eyebrow. “Are you saying I have a mother, father, and brother-in-law, and my brother-in-law is another alpha?”
“Is that a problem?”
I throw my hands up, spinning away. “Is that a problem? Ryker! When were you going to tell me?”
“I—”
I hold my hand up to him, halting his excuses. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m to be surrounded by dominant badasses.”
Quick as a flash, he has me back in his arms, holding me tight. “Is that so bad, little wolf?”
His words are teasing, but his eyes are anything but.
His mouth slants over mine with a growl, one hand fisting in my hair while the other cradles my jaw like I’m something precious.
His lips are hot, demanding, tasting me like I’m the only thing in this world that could satisfy his hunger.
I melt into him for a moment—heat sparking along every nerve, blood thundering.
With an almighty shove, I push him back. “Stop.”
He does, immediately. “Are you okay?”
I wave a hand, dismissing his concerns. “I’m fine. I just don’t want to be distracted before I scry. We can do… umm… that, later.”
His lips curling into a self-satisfied grin. “That, hmm?”
I roll my eyes. “Stop making out with me and let’s get this show on the road. Show me how to use the Well.”
Ryker sighs heavily. “You sure I can’t talk you out of it?”
“Positive.”
He studies me for a moment, pride and concern radiating from him before he sighs again. “Fine. Come here.”
He guides me to the pool’s edge, himself behind me.
“Close your eyes,” he instructs, his voice dropping to the low register that vibrates through my bones. “Reach for our bond first. Anchor yourself in it.”
I do as he says, finding the connection between us instantly.
“Good,” he murmurs, his breath warm against my ear. “Now, keeping that anchor, extend your awareness to the water. Don’t look at it yet. Feel it.”
With eyes still closed, I reach out with my senses. The air above the pool feels different—cool but charged and alive with potential. I imagine my gift extending toward it, like fingers stretching to touch something just beyond reach.
“The Well responds to intention,” Ryker continues, his hands settling on my shoulders. “Focus on Thaddeus. On his plans for us.”
I form the image in my mind—the Grand Alpha as I last saw him at the Claiming ceremony, white hair gleaming in torchlight, face lined with cold authority. I think of his rage when Ryker claimed me, of his determination to reclaim what he considers his property.
“Open your eyes,” Ryker commands softly. “And look.”
I obey, staring as the pool’s surface transforms before me. The still water swirls, colors bleeding through its depths like ink dropped in clear glass. Images form and dissolve—too fast at first, then slowing as my focus sharpens.
“Now, step into it.”
I do as directed, the water closing over my head. For a brief moment I’m sucked down and into the deep pit where all air and life is cut off. Then I begin to float up, bursting to the surface with a short gasp.
“Okay?” Ryker asks, crouching beside the pool.
I nod, sweeping back my wet hair as I tread water. “I should have taken my clothes off first though.”
His gaze drops down to my chest. “Yes, you should have.”
I splash him, laughing before kicking my feet up until I’m on my back. Holding my head up, I ask, “What now?”
“Now lay back, close your eyes, and find what you’re looking for.”
I do as told; my eyes open as I stare up at the deep blue sky. For a while, nothing happens. I just float in the coolish water, watching as clouds slowly float by.
In the heartbeat between one moment and the next, it happens. The world tilts, and I’m sucked into a vision, a moment, a future, a present, so deeply that I cannot escape it.
Thaddeus appears, seated at a massive table surrounded by wolves I don’t recognize. Maps are spread before them, territories marked in blood-red ink. His finger traces a path through what must be Shadowmist lands, his expression cold and calculating.
“… must strike during the new moon.” His voice ripples through the vision, distorted but understandable. “When their powers are weakest.”
Another wolf leans forward—a female who’s shadowed from my view. “And the seer? She’ll see us coming.”
“Not if we use silver dust in our approach,” Thaddeus answers. “It clouds their sight. And with the new moon’s influence, her gift will be at its lowest ebb.”
The vision shifts, showing warriors gathering. Hundreds of them, from multiple packs, their fur marked with different territorial signifiers. An army being assembled, armed with silver weapons specially forged for wolf killing.
“The Shadowmist alpha dies,” Thaddeus declares to the gathered forces. “The seer returns to us for a proper cleansing. Any who resist are to be eliminated.”
Cold dread washes through me, but I force myself to keep watching, to see every detail of their planned assault. I try to memorize the routes mapped through our territory, their strategies for overcoming our defenses.
The vision blurs again, colors swirling together before resolving into a new scene. This one feels different—sharper, more immediate, as if it’s happening in real time rather than the future.
Thaddeus stands alone in an ornate chamber, staring at his reflection in a mirror much like Ryker’s scrying bowl. But it’s what I see behind him that makes my breath catch—a shadow that should not be there, moving independently of its caster.
The shadow forms into a shape—a massive wolf with eyes that glow even in the darkness. As I watch, paralyzed, the shadow-wolf lunges forward, passing through Thaddeus like smoke. But the Grand Alpha doubles over as if struck by physical force, blood trickling from his nose.
“No,” he gasps, staring at his reflection with sudden fear. “Not yet. I’m not ready.”
The mirror cracks, a jagged line splitting his reflection in two. And in that fractured glass, for just an instant, I see something else—Ryker standing over Thaddeus’s body, blood dripping from his hands, his mismatched eyes blazing with triumph and sorrow.
The vision slams shut with jarring force, throwing me up and out of the Well. I flail in midair, caught between the end of the vision and reality. Strong arms catch me, steadying me against a solid chest.
“I’ve got you.”
I cling to Ryker, blinking up at him, shivering. His heartbeat thunders beneath my cheek, faster than I’ve ever felt it. His voice is steady, but his arms are tight around me, too tight.
“How long?”
He glances at the sky through the open ceiling. “Hours.”
I swallow, squirming to be let go, but he ignores my weak struggles and pulls me from the pool to lower us both to the floor. Ignoring my protests, he settles me in his lap as if I weigh nothing. His hands tremble—barely—but I feel it.
His hair is mussed, like he’s been running his fingers through it over and over, the way someone does when they’re trying not to panic. There’s tension in his jaw, and a faint crease between his brows.
He’s trying to look calm.
But I know better.
He was scared.
“What did you see?” he asks, voice soft—too soft for Ryker.
I’m shaking, the images still burning behind my eyes. “He’s planning an attack during the new moon. They’ll use silver dust to try and cloud our detection. He’s amassing an army of hundreds from multiple packs.” I take a steadying breath. “And there’s something else. Something I don’t understand.”
His arms retighten around me. “Tell me.”
“I saw you standing over his body,” I whisper. “I saw you kill him.”
Ryker goes utterly still behind me. Through our bond, I feel a complex surge of emotions—satisfaction, vindication, but also unease.
“The prophecy,” he says finally.
I turn in his arms, needing to see his face. “Yes and no. There was a shadow wolf that moved independently. It struck him, weakened him somehow.”
“Shadow-walking. It’s an ancient ability of those with shadow blood.” His hand comes up to touch my cheek, his expression intense.
“You have that?”
He shakes his head. “But it could be a metaphor for being stealth-like. Or it could be something else entirely.”
I nod slowly. “I guess that makes sense. It wasn’t clear.” The trembling in my limbs increases as reaction sets in. “There was so much blood, Ryker. So much death coming for us.”
His expression hardens with determination. “Then we prepare. The new moon is fourteen days away. We have time.”
“Against hundreds? From multiple packs?” Fear makes my voice sharp. “Even the Shadowmist can’t stand against those numbers.”
“We won’t face them alone.” His thumb brushes my lower lip. “We’ll unite the other packs and use your visions to anticipate their movements. Set traps. Fight in the shadows where we have the advantage.”
The confidence in his voice steadies me slightly. “And if it’s not enough?”
“It will be.” He presses his forehead to mine, our breath mingling. “You and I together—sight and shadow. We’re what Thaddeus fears most.”
Through our bond, his certainty flows into me, pushing back the panic that had begun to take hold. This isn’t the reckless bravado of an alpha who’s never known defeat—it’s the calculated assessment of a strategist who’s survived against impossible odds before.
“Come on,” he says, lifting me in his arms as he climbs to his feet. “Let’s get you washed and rested before tonight’s ceremony.”
Fuck.
A different kind of nervousness replaces my fear. Tonight, I’ll be presented to the pack as Alpha Female—officially acknowledged as Ryker’s mate before all the Shadowmist wolves.
And I’ve never felt less prepared for anything in my life.