The Last Nightshade

The Ridge

The figure stepped forward. Out of the trees. Into the open. A wolf at first, dark fur against white snow. And then the air shimmered, the way it does when a wolf shifts, and a man was standing there instead. Tall. Broad. Naked from the shift, but proud in a way that made my stomach turn.

Jaxon.

He was staring up at us. At me. And even from this distance, I could feel the weight of it. That look. That cold, familiar look I'd known my whole life.

You're nothing.

My hands curled into fists.

"He knows you're here," Kael said. "He's known since the moment you crossed into my territory. He's been watching. Waiting."

"For what?"

Kael turned his head. Looked at me. And for the first time since I'd met him, there was something in his eyes that looked like cruelty. Not directed at me. At the man below.

"For you to become something he can't ignore."

I stared at Jaxon. At the man who'd ripped my heart out in front of the entire pack. At the man who'd smiled while I crumbled.

And my wolf snarled.

Him.

Yes, I thought. Him.

I didn't move. Didn't wave. Didn't shout. I just stood there on the ridge, in the cold, and let him look. Let him see me. Not crumpled in the snow. Not broken. Not nothing.

Standing next to the Alpha of the Blackmoon Pack like I belonged there.

Jaxon's posture changed. Just slightly. His shoulders squared. His chin lifted. Even from here, I could feel the anger rolling off him like heat.

Good.

Let him be angry.

"Come on," Kael said. "We're done here."

He turned and walked back to the truck. Just like that. Like he hadn't just dragged me out here to stand on a ridge and let my abuser stare at me.

I didn't move.

"Raven," Kael said, without turning around. "We're done."

"Was that the point?" I asked. My voice came out low. Tight. "Bring me up here so he could see me? So he'd know I'm alive?"

Kael stopped. Stood still for a long moment with his back to me. When he answered, his voice was flat.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because fear makes people stupid." He turned his head just enough to look at me over his shoulder. "And when Jaxon Blackwood is stupid, he makes mistakes. When he makes mistakes, he shows his father's hand. And when his father shows his hand..."

He let the sentence hang.

I finished it for him.

"You'll know what they're planning."

Kael nodded. Just once.

Then he climbed into the truck and waited.

I stood on the ridge for one more breath. Two. And then I turned my back on Jaxon Blackwood for the second time in my life.

But this time, I didn't run.

This time, I walked.

The drive back was quiet.

But it was a different quiet. Not the held-breath silence from before. Something heavier. Something that had settled between us like a stone.

I stared out the window and watched the trees blur past. My wolf was still pacing. Still hungry. Still angry. And underneath the anger, something else had taken root.

Hope.

Small. Stupid. Dangerous.

But there.

Because I'd stood on that ridge. I'd looked at the man who destroyed me. And I hadn't fallen apart.

I'd survived.

"Kael," I said.

He didn't look at me. "What?"

"What happens now?"

He was quiet for a long moment. The truck rumbled over a rough patch of road. Snow sprayed up against the windows.

"Now," he said, "we train. Harder. Faster. You're not ready for what's coming."

"And what's coming?"

He turned his head. Looked at me. And for the first time since I'd met him, I saw something in his eyes that wasn't cold. Wasn't controlled.

Fear.

"War," he said. "And you're the reason for it."

He dropped me at the training ring.

Vara was already waiting. Arms crossed. Face blank. The bruise I'd given her was still there, a dark bloom along her jaw, and when she saw me, she smiled.

Not a nice smile.

"Good," she said. "You look angry."

"I am."

"Then let's use it."

She moved.

And this time, when she swung, I didn't just dodge. I didn't just block. I hit back. Harder than before. Faster than before. My wolf surged up inside me and I let her.

The ring echoed with the crack of knuckles. The slap of feet on earth. The low, rough growl that built in my chest and wouldn't stop.

Vara laughed.

"There she is," she said.

And for the first time in nineteen years, I felt like someone worth fighting for.

I didn't go to the main hall that night.

Didn't want the eyes. Didn't want the whispers. Didn't want to sit at a table with wolves who still saw me as Moonlight trash.

So I sat on the balcony. Alone. Watching the moon rise over the mountains.

I heard him before I saw him. The weight of his boots on the stone. The shift of air as he stepped out beside me.

Kael didn't say anything. Just stood there. Close. Silent. Looking at the same moon I was.

"Jaxon will come for me," I said. "Won't he."

"Yes."

"When?"

"Soon. A week. Maybe less."

I nodded. Let the fear settle. Let it sit. Then I let it go.

"Good," I said.

Kael turned his head. Looked at me. "Good?"

I met his eyes. Silver and cold and tired. And I didn't look away.

"He thinks I'm nothing," I said. "He thinks I'm still that girl. The one who scrubbed floors and kept her eyes down and believed every word he said."

My wolf pressed close. Purred.

"He's wrong."

Kael didn't smile. Didn't nod. But something in his eyes shifted. Something warm. Something alive.

"Tomorrow," he said. "We start harder training. You're going to learn how to fight. How to shift. How to use what's inside you."

"And then?"

"And then," he said, "when Jaxon comes, you're going to be ready."

I looked out at the dark. At the trees. At the moon. And I felt something I hadn't felt in a very long time.

Ready.

"No," I said.

Kael went still.

"No?" he repeated.

I turned. Faced him fully. And for the first time since I'd met him, I wasn't the one being seen.

He was.

"No," I said again. "I'm not waiting for him to come to me. I'm not going to sit here like some damsel while he decides when to strike."

Kael's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

I stepped closer. Close enough that I could smell him. Pine and snow and that dark electric thing that made my skin prickle. Close enough that I could see the flecks of silver in his eyes.

"I'm saying," I said quietly, "that when the time comes, I'm not going to be the one who waits."

I let the words hang.

Then I turned. Walked back inside. Left him standing on the balcony in the cold.

And for the first time in my life, I didn't feel like nothing.

I felt like war.