THE ALPHA WHO KNELT

Chapter 7

The howling died slowly, and Ronan approached.

"Shift back," he said quietly. "Let your wolf rest."

The return to my human form was easier than the shift out of it like stepping from deep water onto familiar ground. Within moments I was kneeling in the clearing, and Luna Helena was wrapping a soft robe around my shoulders before I'd fully caught my breath.

"How does it feel?" she asked.

"Like I've been only half of something this whole time," I said honestly. "And now I'm whole."

She smiled the way she smiled when something is true enough that it doesn't need improving.

The pack pressed close to offer congratulations, and I let myself receive them fully the hugs from the older women, the wide-eyed questions from the younger wolves who hadn't shifted yet, Elder Maeve's dry nod of approval that meant more than the enthusiastic ones. Through it all, I kept catching glimpses of Ronan watching me from across the grove. Something was different in the way he was watching more alert, more present, as though a signal he'd been receiving at low frequency had suddenly been broadcast on every channel at once.

He sees us now, Sapphire said with quiet satisfaction. Good.

When the crowd had thinned, Ronan made his way over.

"Congratulations," he said. His voice was carefully even, but his amber eyes weren't. "Your wolf is something."

"Her name is Sapphire." I held his gaze. "She says she's been aware of Ranger for quite some time, even when she couldn't fully reach him."

Something moved in his expression real, and then carefully managed. "She'll settle in well."

"I don't think settling in is exactly what she has in mind," I said pleasantly.

Before he could respond, Vivica appeared at his side with the precision of a woman who monitors distances. She linked her arm through his without glancing at me, which was entirely the point.

But tonight, my wolf was awake.

"Vivica." I let the smallest edge of Luna authority colour my voice not aggressive, just present. "How kind of you to come to the ceremony."

Vivica turned. The surprise on her face was brief and then guarded. "Of course. Elara. Congratulations."

"Thank you. It means a great deal to have the full pack here for such a significant occasion." I looked at her arm through Ronan's with a steadiness that said clearly what I didn't say aloud. This is my ceremony. This is my grove. This is my mate.

The silence that followed was not long. But it was loud.

Ronan stepped back slightly from Vivica a small movement, almost unconscious. His eyes were on me.

Good, Sapphire said. Let him look.

"I should rest," I said, pleasantly, finally. "It's been a significant evening. Enjoy the rest of your night, both of you."

I turned and walked to where Luna Helena was waiting at the grove's edge spine straight, head up, at a pace that was neither hurried nor performing. Behind me, I heard Vivica begin talking filling the space, as she always did and I heard Ronan give a shorter answer than she was probably hoping for.

"Your wolf has extraordinary instincts," Luna Helena said as we walked back toward the house.

"She's angry about a lot of things," I said.

"Anger, properly held, is not a weakness. It's a direction."

"What if my instinct is to accept things I can't change?"

Luna Helena was quiet for a few steps. "Then perhaps," she said carefully, "your wolf has come along at the right time."

°°°°°°°°°°

That night I lay in my bed and let Sapphire settle beside me in my consciousness a warm, certain weight, like someone you trust has come to sit with you in the dark.

He is starting to see, she said.

"One look doesn't change anything," I said.

He is starting to see, she repeated. That is how everything begins.

Through the shared wall between our rooms, I could hear the low murmur of voices Vivica had stayed, as I'd known she would. It should have hurt the way it usually hurts. Instead it felt, for the first time, like a temporary state of affairs rather than a permanent condition.

Let her have tonight, Sapphire said with quiet certainty. We have the rest of his life.

I closed my eyes and dreamed of running four legs, full speed, the forest opening ahead of me like a gift and when I woke in the morning, something had changed.

Not everything. Not yet.

But enough.

The girl who had endured was still there. She had simply been joined by something fiercer. Something that had claws and a voice and a long, patient memory.

Together, we were going to be something Ronan Blackwood could not afford to overlook.

And we were only sixteen.

We had time.