Chapter 1
I’d been promised to Alpha Darius from the day I was born.
From my first breath, I was a political pawn and little more. I like to think that my parents wouldn’t have known what the young, scrappy pup would turn out like, but he was a carbon copy of his father, Alpha Kaden. By age five, he was already threatening to kick anyone who annoyed him out of the pack when he came of age.
Such charming mate potential, am I right?
But I had very little (read, zero) say in the matter. All I could do was train hard, become as strong as possible, and hope that I would be able to hold my own against him. That’s how I quickly became the fastest, strongest, and most battle-ready young wolf in the Frozen River pack.
My 21st birthday was approaching, and already I could feel the soft pull of my future mate in the back of my mind. It grew stronger every morning, urging me to seek him out. But I already knew who my mate was, so I swallowed down the pull and focused on the training dummy in front of me.
“The full moon is coming up, Aria. You’ll finally get to take your place as Luna of the Ice Fang pack! Aren’t you excited? I wish I could know who my mate would be, already.” My best friend Fiona looked at me with such longing that I wanted to smack her upside her stupid blonde head.
“I’d rather stay here and be a regular pack member without a stupid rank, if it meant I didn’t have to spend my whole life pretending that I don’t know how nasty Alpha Darius is. Haven’t you heard how he treats his pack more like a military than a family? How anyone who doesn’t fit his mold ends up a Rogue? I’m honestly surprised that anyone lasts under those kinds of conditions.” I shook my head, my short, black hair barely moving.
Fiona took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “I know you’ll be fine, Aria. You’re strong enough that you could be an Alpha in your own right, if you needed to be. Besides, I’m sure the mate bond will make him sweet to you. Love does that, you know?”
It took everything in me not to scoff in her face. I highly doubted Alpha Darius even knew what the word ‘love’ meant. And if he did, he’d probably exorcised it as weakness years ago. “I shouldn’t have to be strong just to feel somewhat safe around my mate. But this is my fate, and Darius is…Darius. I just hope the Moon Goddess watches over me.” I dug my powerful claws into the wood of the training dummy and flipped it as easily as a pancake.
Fiona watched with a mixture of fear and adoration in her eyes. “I think She already is. Your wolf is larger and more powerful than anyone in the recorded history of Frozen River! And you get stronger every single day.”
“I don’t need flattery, Fiona.” I rolled my head, loosening some of the tension in my neck. “I just need to get some of this pent-up anxious energy out before the ceremony tonight. And talking about stupid Darius isn’t helping.”
She lowered her tail slightly and shook out her fur. “Fair enough. How about that Rogue? I heard he was spotted hanging out near Bridal Veil yesterday. He disappeared into the quakies before anyone could catch him. I wonder who he really is? Nobody has seen his face, just flashes of fur between the trees and his unfamiliar scent. You know what I heard?”
I shook my head, only half listening. “No, what?”
“I heard he doesn’t even smell like a proper wolf! Like…something we haven’t smelled in this territory before. I even heard rumors he might have come from some dire werewolf pack. What would a dire werewolf be doing on this side of the canyon, though? They’re supposed to mostly keep to the Uintahs and out toward Vernal, if they exist at all.”
“As they should.” My snout lifted slightly in disgust and alarm. “I hope for all our sakes that the rumors are just that, rumors. Because even though nobody wants to admit it, there isn’t a pack alive that can take on those prehistoric monsters, if they aren’t extinct. There are reasons they haven’t had their territory encroached in recorded history.”
Fiona whimpered slightly, instinctively lowering her belly toward the ground. “Yeah.” She finished her descent, rolling onto her back. She scratched her shoulders on the brown, dormant grass, then looked up at the sky. “It’s getting late.”
I’d been ignoring that. I knew I really needed to go get cleaned up and find my stupid, itchy ceremonial robes, but putting them on would only make this whole thing real. By night’s end I’d be bonded to Darius, and my days of living here with my birth pack would be over.
“Yeah.” I kicked the training dummy with my large back paw and snorted. “Let’s go before Dad starts looking for me. Today isn’t the day to push his patience.” Together Fiona and I made our way out of the forest and back into town. We shifted at the edge of the trees and dressed before stepping into the rippling field on the edge of our settlement.
The bonfire was already being set up in the center of the field. Logs ten feet tall formed the center, with smaller branches and kindling filling the space inside. “Everyone in the state is going to see this damn mating fire,” I complained. “Just because an Alpha is bonding doesn’t mean we need to tell St. George about it from here.”
“Oh, you’re being so dramatic. At least you know who your bond will be with, and that you’ll get it tonight. I’ve been stepping in the firelight for five years with nothing to show for it.” Fiona pulled a piece of alfalfa, tall and ready for harvest, and chewed on the stem.
I shrugged. “I’d be fine without a mate bond, honestly. Just give me a quiet romance with someone who actually loves me and I’d happily give up the extra power. I don’t need it.” A frustrated sigh hissed through my lips, and I focused on the wolves farther afield, checking the circle for any breaks.
I’d heard our bond circle ceremony was slightly different than other packs’, but didn’t know how true that was. Our circle had been created at the same time as our pack and encompassed an entire acre of land. All unbonded wolves of age stood inside the circle and followed the thread to their bondmate. Quick, easy, and less time-consuming than testing every male with every female. Our pack had well over two hundred wolves ages 21 to 35. And out of all of them…I was the unlucky schmuck who would be stuck with Alpha Darius.
“There you are, Aria! Your father was getting antsy. Come on, we need to get you cleaned up and dressed. You need to look your best for the ceremony tonight!” My mother’s voice stopped me mid-step and I sighed, swallowing back words of annoyance. I knew she didn’t have any say in this, either, but her unwavering support of my father had gotten old years ago.
I waved goodbye to Fiona and followed Mom across the field to our house. It was large, three stories tall with a massive garden and a field full of horses on the northern edge. Cars buzzed by on the main highway through town, the humans inside completely unconcerned by tonight’s proceedings. “The weird people” (aka us) had bonfires every solstice for generations. They didn’t even rubberneck at the firewood as they drove by.
Inside, my younger sister Sonnet already had my robes laid out on the bed. “I got these ironed for you. Grandma put the herbal thing in the shower and said she’ll wait for you in the parlor to apply your paints after you’re clean.”
“Thanks,” I murmured, trying to ignore the sad look in Sonnet’s eyes. She knew as well as I did that our lives were changing tonight. I gave her a hug and she buried her face in my shoulder, taking a deep breath of the forest scent that clung to my skin.
When she pulled back, she sighed and brushed a leaf out of my hair. “Just don’t let him push you around too much. I’m sure Dad would back you up if you beat Darius up before he could lay a hand on you.”
I snorted and picked up the robe. “Don’t worry. I won’t let him hurt me. But I also better get in the shower so Dad doesn’t hurt me, either.” We both laughed and I hurried into the next room. The scent of lavender, sage, and pine already filled the room. In the bottom of the shower was a small bathbomb-like puck with the herbs pressed into it. The hot water intensified their smell, supposedly ‘cleansing me inside and out’ or some superstitious nonsense. Old people tales, all of it.
But it did feel good to wash away the dirt and sweat of my training session. I massaged my scalp through my short hair and caught a reflection of myself in the wet glass. My green eyes were wide, more fearful than I thought I’d been showing. I opened and closed them a few times, adding a scowl for good measure.
That was better. The lean, muscular daughter of the Alpha who towered an entire head and shoulders above everyone else her age stared back at me, not veiling her displeasure at life. The mask was back in place.
I finished washing and drying, slipped into my underclothes, and belted the ceremonial robe around my body. It was beautiful, truly, hand-spun by Grandma in every color you could imagine. A music motif emerged if you looked hard enough and knew what to search for, notes hidden in the flowers and pack crest.
Dark was really coming on when I stepped into the parlor and found Grandma sitting on the settee with a serious look on her face. It softened as she saw me, and she pulled her creaking frame up to her feet. “You look beautiful, Aria. I can’t believe you’re 21 already! It feels like just yesterday I was holding you in my arms, still wet from birth.”
“Gross.” I kissed her on the cheek and slipped the sleeves of my robe down, exposing my shoulders and torso. Grandma laughed softly and dipped the horsehair brush into paints made from crushed juniper berries and other wild berries harvested nearby.
She tenderly began inscribing the symbols of our pack on my skin in swirling lines, only slightly shaky from the unstable hand of the artist. The brush tickled, but I did my best to stay still as the images took shape. Wolves, the moon, snowflakes…one symbol at a time, I became a walking homage to our ancestors and pack tradition.
When she was finished, Grandma put the brush in a cup of water and gently fanned me until the paint was dry. “I love you,” she whispered, her eyes glistening as she looked at me in my bonding clothes. “I wish I could save you from this.”
The words hit hard. I didn’t know she was against this whole thing, too! But I placed a hand on her weathered, wrinkled cheek and smiled. “It’s alright. Dad believes this is what’s best for the pack, so I’ll do it.” She took my hand and brought it to her lips, kissing my palm softly.
“You’re a blessing, little chickadee. Let’s get you to the circle.” Still holding my hand, she led me into the main foyer where Mom, Dad, and Sonnet were waiting. They, too, were dressed up for the occasion. Mom wore her ceremonial robe from her own bonding, while Dad’s bare chest had been painted like mine. Sonnet wore a flowing dress in a deep red color that covered her to wrist and ankle. Another outdated tradition, in my opinion, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“Alright, let’s go. Aria, you’ll follow behind me, with Sonnet and May on each side. Mom, you’ll bring up the rear.” Dad led us out the door, and we arranged ourselves as instructed: Him up front, Sonnet on my left and Mom on my right, with Grandma behind.
No sooner had the door opened than a loud shout echoed from the mountains on either side of us. The pack had gathered to line the path from our house to the bonfire, waving pack flags and grinning as we passed them. They fell in behind us and followed to the clearing, stopping at the edge of the circle. A celebratory air filled the area with cheers and shouts of excitement.
I could see the other groups of wolves my age across the field, separated into two groups. The men stood with white pants and painted, bare chests, staring with eager anticipation at the group of brightly-dressed women on the other side. Many of them made eyes at each other, little waves returned with flexed muscles.
Dad stepped into the firelight and the noise of the pack faded away, leaving only the roar of the bonfire. “Welcome, family, to the fall bonding ceremony. As I’m sure you all know, this is a special one. Our beautiful Aria is to be bonded to Alpha Darius, securing a safe and prosperous future for both Frozen River, and Ice Fang. Once their bond has been completed, we’ll proceed with the regular portion of the ceremony.”
A cheer went up, and Dad motioned for me to join him in the circle. I took a deep breath and took his outstretched hand. And, from the other side of the fire, I saw the hulking form of Alpha Darius step out of the crowd.
Here we go. My fate finally caught up to me.
