y

wasn't empty. It felt like a room wh

he hall and waited. For a

say yes, it's

blood was drying stiff on

the floor. He had one hand flat against his br

l the years I had known him, there was no apo

the bond had been, now cold and

and a bride standing over her bleeding friend, and they were already d

acked. "No, I don't ac

and outstretched

ck of her skull and her eyes half-lidded. She was staring at me with all the stubborn, unwa

nly: Don't you dare l

one person who loved me wit

ed my wrist, the way you'd

eft the

slammed into the same bronze plinth that had split Skylar's head. I

en surprised. It felt

into the silence. "She bled for your p

wall had gone rigid, their eyes darting between me

else?"

o

o carry. I gripped it at the waist and tore. The seams gave way like wet paper. I ripped a

kylar m

ty is

e the

ed her onto my back. She weighed almost nothin

with the torn skirt dragging behind

from the hall behind me, hoa

gh it: "Kael! Don't leave me!

altered and

er me, or he could stay and soothe her hysterics.

t matter

and into the strip of forest that bordered the Blackwood

s simply sto

nt we both lay there staring up through the green canopy, our breath loud in the quiet. Whatever

ned m

a wad of ruined wedding silk wr

a very sad mars

age. "This is couture. Limited edi

bandage in the his

tle crooked, a little pale. "We are both a disaster, Aysel. You k

d into something else halfway out, and I pres

er fingers came up as if to touch my arm,

id you do that? Your scent, you

t her and gave

t

been disappointed too many times learn to keep somethi

erself upright and pu

of those miserable bastards. Now that you've left, it's

smelled of blood and bridal bouquet, and for the

e caught so

s: wet fur that hadn't been washed in weeks, stale s

r ever since the hall. I'd been

xposed to me, and one scent stood o

k scent to mask the stenc

I should have he

ran down

gainst a tree trunk. Her eyes went wide, but I was

n,

epped out from b

were stitched ac

they do

by sentries today, because a dozen

hadowbane wolves didn't send strays to do their work, much

front of Skylar.

ely staggered. The second came from the side, and claws raked across my

into Skylar. She caught me,

shou

ar, please

di

ough the trees, I could just make out the chapel

sentries, for the guests, for anyo

ld, searching the path

er walked beside him with one hand on Celestine's shoulder, hurry

down. She was murmuring something to Cele

because of Celestine's tears. All I neede

of th

ere wa

ulder, toward the bushes where we were. Agai

he know something was going

me to think

re much about you," one of th

an to blur. Then I saw one

ld me, and they tightened. "Don't touch

d, and his claws slid out. "S

ched f

p in my chest

ingertips. The pain in my shoulder faded away completely.

ose from my throat, and

i

y memory, as if I had always known it

drove my elbow back into the ribs of the

crawl. I saw the claws on the man reaching for Skylar, the pulse hamm

he dirt before he c

t. I was on the man who had reached for Skylar before he could draw a breath

wo fled int

d roaring, but something heav

d around me and pressed down on the fire in my veins, like a hand

he heat ebbed. I stop

rself," a

led around. A man was already moving p

dark hair, the glint of something metallic

efore I could

sleeve was gone entirely. Beneath it, thank every star, was the skin

structural integ

all the way up to my throat. It was far too big-t

g on my claws, and my wolf was still pacing s

inside me wasn't the gentle, late-blooming crea

l with a flick of the wrist. Ordinary wolves do

inary, and sooner or later someon

I'd figured out t

eak but steady. "What the hel

he darkness where he'd vanished. "He t

the at

ack to the pack. Get help. Get someone to check

at me as if I'd grown a second head.

iently. And he ran toward them awfully fast

sel

Sky

ared at me. "If you're not back i

n branches and the smell of fresh blood u

n the dirt. Neither had bee

he stranger, his back to me, calmly

still pounding in my ears. The jacket hung he

o many q

and not a single one left alive to explain why. The only ones who

she kept watching that spot, as though

ingle whiff of this man's sc

ver my head, she had gone still, as if a hand h

hat. Not with str

wa