Page 28 of The Wolf King

My eyebrows knit as I piece together what he’s telling me, and why he’s telling me.

“You’re saying the Elderwolf was once able to change whenever he wanted,” I say. “That the curse wasn’t that he had to transform into a wolf, but that the power was taken away from him.”

“Aye.” The alpha’s voice comes out low and dark. “But the Sun had underestimated the power of the Moon’s love. So distraught to have been parted from him, to see him suffer from her prison in the sky, she ripped out her own heart. She cast it down to the earth so he could keep it, and he could always be close to her power.”

I frown. “And he found it?”

“He did. It landed in the center of Glen Ghealach, high up in the Northlands,and created the valley itself. And when he found it, he kept it close. Until one day, the Sun led the first men to him. Though he fought bravely, though he protected the heart that had been entrusted to him, there were too many of them. He was slaughtered, and the Moon’s heart was stolen.”

“You think it’s real?”

“Aye, we do. Of course, the story is steeped in myth—but there is evidence throughout history of a relic that has passed between hands. A type of rock, we think.” He swallows. “And there is evidence it holds the power for us to shift whenever we choose, to be free.”

His longing for freedom stirs something inside me as I finally understand.

“You think Sebastian has it. That’s why you planned the siege at his castle. That’s why you took me. That’s what you want to trade me for.”

“Aye,” he says, his voice dark as shadow and laced with intent. “We’re searching for theCridhe na Ghealach—the Heart of the Moon. Because with it, we’ll have the power to shift when we want. With it, we’ll have the power to win this war.”

Chapter Nine

We’ll have the power to win this war.

We ride onward.

The night is quiet except for the sound of the horse’s hooves and the whisper of the wind in the trees. It emphasizes how alone we are out here. How alone I am—with a man who is plotting against my father.

His chest rises and falls steadily against my back.

“What makes you so sure Sebastian has what you’re looking for?” I ask.

I sense him deciding whether or not to answer. “I have my sources.”

“You have spies in Sebastian’s castle, you mean.” I recall his certainty that he was going to escape when I tended to Ryan’s wounds. “They let you out of the kennels, I presume?”

“Aye. And they confirm what . . . what someone from the Lowfell Clan has been telling us.” His tone darkens and I get the impression that whoever this someone is, the alpha doesn’t care too much for them.

“But you didn’t find it.”

“It wasn’t where we thought it would be.”

I think of the carnage we left behind at Sebastian’s castle; the dead guards in the entrance hall, the flames in the courtyard, the shouting and the cries of death. “Your siege was pointless, then.”

His arm tightens around my waist. “I wouldn’t say that.”

My heart thuds faster as I realize I may be out of my depth.

I have no doubt Sebastian will wage war to get me back. I am his property, and I have been stolen from him. He will not let that go unanswered. But he does not care whether I live or die. Not really.

And the alpha is naïve if he thinks Sebastian will trade this powerful relic for me.

I am worth nothing.

I wonder what will happen to me when the Wolves finally figure that out.

***

We stop in a clearing by the bank of the loch, and the alpha dismounts.

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