The Fifth Howl

Chapter 9 First Mark

My hand hovered over Silas's offered neck.

He was so pale, so still, like if I breathed too hard he would shatter. His pulse was right there, thin blue vein under moon-white skin. I could smell him - old books and night air and something clean, like snow.

Soul first, Lyra whispered. Soul can hold pain. Soul remembers.

I leaned forward. The room went dead silent. I could hear Jaxon's fire crackling on his back, Kade's shadows hissing against the wall.

"Wait."

Rhys's voice. Sharp.

My hand stopped an inch from Silas's skin.

"If we do this wrong, the Inquisitor will know," Rhys said quickly, blue eyes blazing. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the mark behind Silas's ear - the soul swirl that was glowing violet. "A true Fifth Tether mark isn't a Luna bite. It's not on the neck. Look at her forest vision. The chains were on her wrists, her throat, her heart, her mind. Four different places. Four different wolves."

Silas's eyes widened. "The old texts... the First Tether..."

Kade understood first. "Goddess. Not one mark. Four."

Jaxon stared. "Wait, wait, wait, so we ALL have to bite her? In different places?"

"In different places that correspond to our gift," Rhys said, already pacing, mind working at light speed. "Silas - Soul - marks the heart. Kade - Shadow - marks the throat, where voice and breath are. I - Mind - mark the temple. Jaxon - Fire - marks the wrist, where blood burns hottest."

My mouth went dry.

Four bites. Four marks.

"And," Silas whispered, touching his own chest where his soul marks were, "she has to mark us back. In the same places. Otherwise the chain only goes one way. It will snap."

All eyes turned to me.

I was wearing Kade's shirt, sitting in a blanket nest, nineteen and two hours ago I was wolfless trash who cleaned toilets. Now four of the most dangerous boys on the continent were talking about biting me in four sacred places.

Lyra was not helping. She was purring so loud my bones shook.

Yes. Yes. Let them.

"Does it... hurt?" I asked, voice small.

Jaxon immediately knelt by the nest, taking my hands. His hands were burning hot, but not burning me. "It feels... it's not pain. My dad marked my mom, he said it's like... like finally scratching an itch that's been there your whole life. And warm. Really warm."

"Your dad marked your mom when she was in heat," Rhys said flatly. "This is different. This is a god-bond. It will have power backlash."

"Thanks, Professor Mood-Kill," Jaxon muttered.

Kade was still standing by the window, shadows violent. "We should not do this before the Inquisitor comes. If we do it wrong, if her wolf rejects one of us-"

"She won't reject us," Silas said quietly, with more confidence than I'd ever heard from him. He looked at me, silver eyes soft. "She's been calling us since she was seven. We've been answering."

That did it.

I looked at Kade, at his clenched fists, at Rhys with his glowing mind-marks, at Jaxon holding my hands like I was glass, at Silas offering his heart.

I made my choice.

"Silas first," I said.

Kade made a low noise in his throat, but he didn't argue. He knew.

Silas moved back in front of me. This time, I was the one who reached for him. I pushed his hair back fully, exposing his neck, his collarbone, and lower - the pale skin over his heart where a faint silver wolf mark glowed.

"Here?" I whispered, touching over his heart. His breath hitched.

He nodded, unable to speak.

"How do I...?"

"Claws," Rhys said softly, from behind me. "Lyra will know. Let your wolf forward, Elara. Don't think human."

I closed my eyes.

I let go.

For nineteen years I'd caged her. Held her down. Told her to be quiet.

Now I said: Come out.

Lyra surged forward.

My eyes snapped open, violet blazing. My claws extended, black and violet-tipped. My teeth sharpened. I could feel my wolf grinning through my mouth.

I pressed my palm over Silas's heart.

And I marked.

I didn't bite with my human teeth. I pressed my claws, light, and dragged, not to draw blood, but to draw light. Violet light welled under his skin, following my claws, burning a perfect, small wolf paw surrounded by four tiny stars into his chest.

Silas arched, gasping. Not in pain. His silver eyes rolled back, glowing pure violet. A wave of pure, cold, beautiful soul-power exploded out of him, knocking Jaxon back, making Kade's shadows shriek.

He grabbed my wrist, holding my hand over his new mark. "Your turn," he breathed.

He leaned forward. His teeth - sharper now, soul-wolf teeth - found the skin just above my heart, where my own heart hammered under Kade's shirt.

He bit.

It was not a bite. It was a brand. Cold fire flooded my chest, my back bowed, I cried out - but it wasn't pain. It was like ice water after a lifetime of burning. Like someone finally said I see you to a part of me that had been screaming in the dark for nineteen years.

A mark bloomed over my heart. Silver and violet, a wolf soul.

When we broke apart, we were both breathing hard, foreheads touching. Silas's mark glowed through his shirt. Mine glowed through Kade's.

One chain broken, Lyra whispered, joyful. Three remain.

Upstairs window - a bell rang. The Academy bell for noon.

Rhys paled. "The Inquisitor. He's here."

Kade looked at my glowing chest, at Silas's glowing chest, and his grey eyes went black with something possessive and furious.

"Put a sweater on," he ordered me, voice like gravel. "Now. No one sees that until it's all four."