Chapter 39
Meg
I hurried to seal the last of the letters that needed to be sent in the morning and put out the candles in Alpha Kera’s office before heading home for Sunday dinner.
My eyes burned from copying the message to the various packs in our region, detailing the events of the magic festival fiasco, and I was running late and on fumes. I also hadn’t seen my sister in weeks. It was the longest we’d ever been apart. I was anxious to get to her.
I undressed in the dark forest, leaving my change of clothes in the basket we kept closer to town. My bones broke, rearranging to those of my wolf, who shook out her brown fur and landed on the forest floor with her paws.
Finally. She took off on a trot, heading down the well-worn path through the woods that would take us home.
Sorry it took so long. I closed my eyes, needing a minute. It’d been a rough day. Since Tisiphone left, Alec had been showing up to work less and less. I still had all our clients to take care of. Plus, Alpha Kera was pushing me harder these days.
She shouldn’t make you write her letters. My wolf growled as she trotted through the moonlit woods with the leaves and pine needles crunching underpaw. It’s a waste of your talent.
I ignored my own wolf. It was no use arguing with her. Alpha Kera wasn’t wasting anyone’s time. She had a plan. I was sure of it. One day, I’d be required to fill her shoes, so she was testing me now.
Then why does she keep you under her thumb?
It wasn’t my beast’s fault she was frustrated. As the only other alpha wolf born into this pack, there was bound to be some tension. Alpha Kera had told me herself how hard it was to wait for our time to come into our fated roles—especially as alphas.
It wasn’t like I was forced to stay here. I was twenty-four and could leave at any time. I could also challenge Alpha Kera if I wanted to. Hell, she’d trained me to do it. But I didn’t quite feel like fighting my own aunt to rule our family pack.
Unlike my beast, I had patience.
But she treats you like a beta.
That’s enough. I put my metaphorical foot down, growling at my own wolf.
Shh. She growled back. Something is out there.
The scolding I was about to give her died on my tongue as the woods I knew like the back of my paw suddenly fell silent.
An eerie fog drifted through the low-lying tree branches, distorting the glow from the moon. My wolf stepped softly, ears twitching on alert, while the temperature seemed to drop twenty degrees in a minute.
Her breath misted around her face as she inhaled and exhaled slowly, sniffing the air.
I stayed quiet and still so she could use all her senses without distraction.
A caw sounded from a branch overhead.
Keep moving, I told my wolf, feeling the fur along her spine stand on end. The mist thickened.
She took a step.
Caw. Caw.
Two birds sang above us now. And then came the rustle of a third’s wings.
My wolf bared her fangs. The mist cleared. A raven-haired woman was in our path, wearing a tight black leather bodice with gossamer skirts floating where her legs should be.
She cocked her head to the side and smiled. Her features were sharp, deadly. Not of this world. Neither was the black hollowness of her eyes.
Or her voice. “Alpha, I’ve been waiting for you. Shift and let’s chat.”
My bones broke without my permission. My wolf howled, fighting and thrashing against the change. Pain rippled through me at feeling my skin yanked from the outside in an unnatural way.
Panting, I jumped to my bare human feet, ready to fight in this form if I had to as I readied my stance. “Who are you and what are you doing on my territory?”
“Is that how you greet a messenger these days?” The woman tsked as she sized me up.
I stood taller, sensing the crows above me, but I couldn’t catch their scent. The woman didn’t have one either. When she moved, slowly and without feet, my hands dropped to my sides.
Terror unlike any I’d ever known choked me. The dark fog thickened. The moon was no more than a suggestion now. She—or it—seemed to make her own glowing light as the apparition moved closer.
My wolf growled in my ears as I raised my chin, standing my ground. “You say you’re a messenger. Tell me your message.”
The woman stilled, but her hair and dress kept moving as she studied my face. “Do you truly not know who I am?”
I gave a slight shake of my head. Every instinct was telling me to run. To not offend this… being. But I forced myself to stand steady. If I was the only thing between her and my pack, I couldn’t give her an inch.
“Pity.” She frowned, floating backwards. “Once, you would’ve known my name. And alphas like you used to pray to me, but it seems those times have changed now.”
I took a full breath, the first I had since she came near, and released it again. “I don’t understand. Who are you exactly and what are you doing here?”
The woman sighed. “It’s so boring to have to introduce yourself.”
The crows above me cawed, agreeing, it seemed. I startled.
She smiled. “You may call me Morrigan.” The woman waved her hand and the fog around us cleared. The moon was bright once more, and the crows squawked as they flew away.
Morrigan’s skirts were replaced by black leather pants and boots as she landed on the path in front of me. Made flesh. Right before my eyes.
I took a cautious step back, raising my hands as I readied to fight again.
Morrigan smirked. “Contrary to what the tales may say, I don’t actually want war this time. So we’re going to make a little deal to save your precious pack, and the rest of humanity.”
“I’m sorry… What?”
Is that a threat?
I think she’s trying to help.
“Come on.” Morrigan started walking, heading down the path to my childhood home. “We don’t have time for your little wolf games. The gods are coming.”
The… gods?
I must’ve fallen asleep on the desk in Kera’s office. That was the only explanation for this sudden madness.
“I thought you’d be quicker than this.” Morrigan snapped her fingers.
As if she held an invisible leash, I went flying towards her. Growling, I tumbled forward and caught myself on a tree. My fight or flight instinct took over as I spun around on sure footing before reaching out and grabbing her by the throat.
“Stop,” I said, fear still catching up with me. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Oh, you’ll do.” Morrigan’s grin was terrifying as the whites in her eyes turned black again.
She didn’t even react to my hold on her neck, but her tone took on a haunting cadence.
“The gods are going to wake. We need to stop that from happening. It can only be done with a sacrifice. One to counter the spell you all started.”
Slowly, I lowered my hand. Her skin was so cold. Unhuman. Even flesh, she wasn’t from here.
“What kind of sacrifice?” My voice sounded small.
“Life for death. Love to counter fear.” Morrigan traced her cold finger over my lips and then brought it to her tongue to taste. “A balance in the scales if you will. One soul given freely, in sacrifice to the greater good, to prove your loyalty to those who created it all and fix what is broken.”
“One soul, you say.” I stood straighter, knowing I’d die before I let this woman anywhere near my family, even as inky black fear threatened to choke me. “Who?”
“I’d have thought that was obvious.” Morrigan winked. “Megaera Cerberus, I’ve judged your heart, and decided you should be the sacrifice.”
*