The Secret in My Blood
1848 Words
The Secret in My Blood
At sunrise, I stood before the Nightfall Council wearing borrowed clothes and carrying nothing that belonged to this place.
Five people sat behind a long black table carved with the silver wolf of Nightfall. Rowan stood against the wall. Mara waited near the door.
Kael sat in the center.
An older man with iron-gray hair studied me as though I were a weapon someone had left on his doorstep.
“Aria Vale,” he said. “Born Silvercrest. Former fated mate of Alpha Darius Ravencrest.”
“Former,” I repeated.
His eyes narrowed.
“Pregnant.”
My hand moved instinctively toward my stomach.
Kael’s voice cut across the room.
“Elder Soren.”
Soren looked at him.
“What?”
“You are reviewing her request for asylum. Not conducting an inventory.”
A woman seated beside Soren hid a smile.
Soren did not.
“Her pregnancy may create a succession dispute with Silvercrest.”
“My child is not a political document,” I said.
Soren leaned back.
“Then tell us why Nightfall should risk war for you.”
Kael started to speak.
I beat him to it.
“You shouldn’t.”
“I am not asking Nightfall to fight Silvercrest for me. I am asking for the right to remain somewhere Darius cannot order me back simply because I was born in his territory.”
Another council member, a dark-skinned woman with silver braids, folded her hands.
“I am Elara Voss. Tell me something, Aria. If we refuse, what will you do?”
“Leave.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Pregnant?”
“Yes.”
Her gaze held mine.
“You would rather walk into neutral territory with no protection than return to Silvercrest?”
“Yes.”
Soren tapped one finger against the table.
“That sounds emotional, not rational.”
I looked directly at him.
“Last night my mate publicly rejected me because he believed I was too weak to become his Luna. Minutes later, I discovered I was carrying his child. Before sunrise, he sent a legal demand claiming I was being detained here when I came willingly.”
I paused.
“If refusing to return to the man who humiliated me and then lied about my choices is emotional, fine. But it is still my decision.”
Soren looked at me again.
“Why did your wolf awaken last night?”
My stomach tightened.
“I don’t know.”
“You are twenty-four.”
“Yes.”
“Were you previously wolfless?”
“That is what everyone believed.”
“And now?”
Nyra stirred inside me.
Do not perform for them.
I agreed.
“Now I have a wolf.”
Soren’s expression hardened.
“Several warriors claim you forced Silvercrest wolves to submit without an Alpha command.”
“I didn’t force anyone.”
“But they submitted.”
“I don’t know why.”
Kael finally spoke.
“She’s telling the truth.”
Soren turned toward him.
“How can you know?”
“Because she looked more surprised than the wolves.”
Soren glanced at Kael.
“You are unusually invested in this.”
“I gave her my protection.”
“Before consulting us.”
“Yes.”
“You placed Nightfall between Silvercrest and the woman carrying Ravencrest’s possible heir.”
“Yes.”
Soren leaned forward.
“Why?”
Kael’s eyes moved to me.
“Because she said no, and Ravencrest kept walking.”
Elara spoke first.
“Nightfall law is clear. An adult who enters our territory voluntarily may request asylum if returning them would expose them to coercion.”
Soren frowned.
“Silvercrest disputes that she left voluntarily.”
“I was there,” Kael said.
“So was I,” Rowan added. “She crossed the border while Ravencrest’s warriors were chasing her.”
“They were ordered to bring me back,” I said.
Elara nodded.
“That satisfies the coercion requirement for provisional protection.”
“Provisional,” Soren emphasized.
Kael’s gaze cooled.
“What are you proposing?”
“Thirty days. During that period, Aria remains free to leave. Silvercrest may present its claim through the treaty process. Nightfall will not surrender her without her consent.”
“And after thirty days?” I asked.
Elara answered.
“If you wish to remain, the council considers permanent pack residency.”
“Would I have to join Nightfall?”
“Eventually, yes.”
Soren looked toward the council.
“We vote.”
One by one, hands rose.
Elara.
A thin man at the far end.
Then another elder.
Soren kept his hand down.
The fifth member hesitated before raising hers.
Four to one.
Elara looked at me.
“Provisional asylum is granted.”
Soren pointed toward me.
“Do not mistake this for approval of whatever conflict follows.”
“I won’t.”
“And if you are carrying Darius Ravencrest’s heir, Silvercrest will not simply forget you exist.”
“I know.”
Kael stood.
“The hearing is finished.”
I followed Mara toward the door.
“Aria.”
I turned.
Kael remained beside the council table.
“You are not a prisoner here.”
“I heard you the first three times.”
A faint smile appeared.
“Good.”
Mara insisted on another examination.
“I was examined six hours ago.”
“And six hours ago you had just crossed a border after a rejected mate bond.”
“I’m still the same person.”
“That remains to be determined.”
I stared at her.
She smiled.
“Healer humor.”
“It needs work.”
Her clinic smelled of herbs and antiseptic. Modern medical equipment stood beside shelves filled with old glass bottles.
Nightfall seemed unable to decide which century it preferred.
Mara drew a small vial of my blood.
“What are you testing?”
“Several things.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is technically an answer.”
I was beginning to understand why she and Kael tolerated each other.
She placed the vial into a small machine.
“Your wolf’s awakening at twenty-four is unusual enough. The way your body reacted afterward is stranger.”
“You mean making warriors bow?”
“That too.”
My stomach tightened.
“You know what caused it?”
“No.”
At least she was honest.
The machine beeped.
Mara looked at the screen.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She didn’t answer.
“Mara.”
She removed the vial and held it toward the light.
Then she walked to a cabinet and returned with a silver tray.
“Roll up your sleeve.”
“Why?”
“I want to check something.”
I did.
She examined the inside of my elbow, then my wrist.
Nothing.
“Turn around.”
“Mara.”
“Please.”
Something in her voice made me obey.
She moved my hair away from the back of my neck.
Her fingers stopped.
“Did you know you have a scar here?”
“A scar?”
“Very small.”
I touched the spot.
“I don’t remember getting one.”
“Think.”
I closed my eyes.
Then a memory surfaced.
White walls.
The Silvercrest clinic.
A healer named Dr. Varrin telling fifteen-year-old me that my wolf was simply developing late.
A needle.
Not in my arm.
At the base of my neck.
My eyes opened.
“When I was younger, Silvercrest healers gave me treatments.”
Mara went still.
“What treatments?”
“They said they were trying to stimulate my wolf.”
“How often?”
“At first every few months. Later, once a year.”
“For how long?”
“Until I was nineteen.”
Mara stared at me.
“What?”
“Who prescribed them?”
“Dr. Varrin. He treated my family.”
“Is he still alive?”
“Yes.”
She looked back at the vial.
Fear crawled through me.
“Mara, tell me what you found.”
She hesitated.
Then the clinic door opened.
Kael entered.
I frowned.
“Do people knock in this pack?”
“Occasionally.”
Mara didn’t laugh.
Kael noticed immediately.
“What happened?”
“I need another test.”
His expression sharpened.
“For the baby?”
“No.”
Mara looked at me.
“For Aria.”
My pulse accelerated.
She took a second vial from a locked cabinet. Inside was a pale blue liquid.
She added one drop of my blood.
The liquid turned black.
Mara cursed.
Kael moved closer.
“What does that mean?”
“I hoped I was wrong.”
My hands became cold.
“About what?”
Mara set the vial down carefully.
“There are traces of an old binding compound in your blood.”
I stared at her.
“A what?”
“A suppressant used to weaken the connection between a wolf and its human host.”
Kael’s face went completely still.
I laughed once because the alternative was screaming.
“That makes no sense. Those treatments were supposed to wake Nyra.”
“They may have done the opposite.”
“No.”
Nyra suddenly surged inside me.
A growl tore from my throat.
Not mine.
Hers.
Mara stepped back.
Kael didn’t.
Memories crashed through me.
Years of injections.
Bitter tonics.
Healers shaking their heads.
Darius telling me to be patient.
Celeste whispering that some women simply weren’t meant to be wolves.
“No,” I said again.
Mara’s expression softened.
“The compound should disappear from the bloodstream within months.”
“Then how is it still there?”
“That is what concerns me.”
Kael answered before she could.
“Someone kept giving it to her.”
I looked at him.
Mara nodded slowly.
“Repeated exposure would explain the residue.”
My stomach twisted.
“But I stopped the treatments five years ago.”
Mara looked toward my abdomen.
Then at me.
“That means either the compound behaves differently in your bloodline…”
She paused.
“…or you were exposed more recently without knowing it.”
The room suddenly felt too small.
“Who would do that?”
Neither of them answered.
I thought of Silvercrest.
My home.
My healers.
My father.
Darius.
Everything I had believed.
Nyra’s voice rose from somewhere deep inside me.
I was always here.
Tears burned my eyes.
“What?”
Her anger flooded through me.
Old.
Wild.
Terrible.
I tried to wake.
My knees weakened.
Kael caught my arm.
I barely felt him.
Nyra’s next words shattered something inside me.
They kept putting me back to sleep.
I looked at Mara.
She was staring at the blackened vial.
When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet.
“Aria, your wolf didn’t fail to awaken.”
Kael’s grip tightened slightly around my arm.
Mara met my eyes.
“Someone made sure she couldn’t.”
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