Chapter 30

A log split in the fire, and Scarlet rolled over on the bed. She was finally warm, and didn't want to wake up. She moved her cheek back and forth on the pillow, but her antler caught. She sighed, reaching up to dislodge it and rolling onto her back, a large loose shirt twisting around her.

Her eyes flew open. Antlers. She felt the small tips, her small rabbit ears, and her eyes watered as she traced her nose and jaw. She was back to the way she'd been after drinking the glocken berry tea, back to what she'd been before mating.

"Ah, I see you are awake," a soft voice said from the corner of the tent. Scarlet blinked away her tears and lifted her head. Elva sat in the rocking chair, slowly pushing herself. Her eyes glowed softly in the firelight, but the wisdom and understanding made Scarlet tear up more. She laid her head back on the pillow.

"Are you alright, Luna?" It was the hesitancy and pity that made her jolt into action.

She sat up, her fist hitting the bed as she glared across the room. "Am I alright? No, I'm not alright. Look at me! I'm back to whatever freak this is. I thought the mate bond had fixed it, had made me a Growler. Or did I imagine all of last night?"

She wiped furiously at her cheek to remove the offending tear as the Elder tilted her head.

"The entire tribe is singing your praises right now."

She frowned. "Why?"

"You took down a full-grown boar and an ice monster on your first shift. No one else in the history of our people has done anything like that before."

With a heavy heart, Scarlet sucked in a sharp breath. The pain in her chest was a constant reminder of her cursed nature. She yearned to be like the other humans—or hells, she'd be alright being like all the other Growlers. It was a never-ending internal struggle for acceptance and belonging within any species that she'd finally achieved… only to have it all melt away like snow.

Her throat was tight as she asked, "Will I be able to shift again? Why don't I look mostly human like all the other Growlers? Why do I still have these fucking antlers and ears and nose?"

Elva stood and walked slowly around the fire to the small kitchenette area. She riffled through another chest and turned with a plank of smooth wood in her hands, a scattering of dried meats and a mug of something on top.

She brought the tray to Scarlet and placed it on her lap before sitting beside her on the bed. "Who knows why the goddess blesses as she does?"

The Elder patted Scarlet on the knee, but Scarlet swallowed hard at the pitying action. That look was almost as bad as the mean comments from villagers back in Vidrland. Scarlet took another bite of the meat and chewed while she thought.

She took a drink, then said, "It's not a blessing. It's a curse."

"A curse is in the eye of the beholder. One man's curse is another's blessing. It's been said of the Growlers for hundreds of years. Don't the people in Busparia talk about us like we're cursed? And yet, to the man dying on the side of the road, we're a blessing."

Scarlet looked away, her chest tight as she shook her head and continued to eat. "This is different. It wasn't a choice of salvation when I was twice cursed."

"And you cannot live like this? Take what you see as a curse and turn it to your advantage?" Elva asked.

Scarlet frowned, swallowing more of the tea. "Before the glocken berry tea, my antlers were a fourteen-point spread and my ears hung to my shoulders. Everything was so loud and my head and shoulders hurt every day. I couldn't sleep."

Elva waited while she took another bite. She couldn't deny that these two small antlers and tiny ears made life much easier. "To knowingly live like this? I can't do it. I'd constantly be wondering if I tried every option, exhausted every avenue to fix it. When I shifted into a Growler last night, I was finally free . I was a normal Growler just like everyone else. I was accepted and welcomed on the run. I—I can't go back to this ."

Elva's eyes glowed brighter and the fire flashed higher. "You're a Growler now, and the tribes will accept you as the amazing Luna you are. You'll learn how to control the shift. Just be patient."

Scarlet tried to run her hands through her hair, but grabbed her horns instead, scratching the skin around each. "Ugh, I've been patient for six fucking months. I've tried everything to get rid of these cursed antlers, and I finally felt what it was like to be normal and accepted for once in my fucking life. Can't you—yes, you can do the Growler spell!"

Elva's brows rose. "What?"

Scarlet took her hand. "Yes, you can turn me into a Growler."

Elva frowned and shook her head. "No, I don't think it works like that. The mate bond already made you a Growler. You just need to develop the skill."

"But not enough of one, or I wouldn't have these fucking antlers back. The goddess can do it, you know she can."

Elva jerked back and crossed her arms with a scowl. "The goddess frowns on turning those who don't need it. The spell is only supposed to save someone from death. Anyone who turns into a Growler outside of the spell is the work of the goddess. To perform the spell when she's already blessed you? It's sacrilege."

Scarlet's heart beat fast. "It's not if the goddess just started the process, and you're supposed to finish it."

Elva frowned, and Scarlet knew she was wavering. She pressed her advantage. "Please, Elva. I came here to get help. Wulfric promised you could help, and Grandma sent me here knowing the spell would work."

Elva hesitated, so Scarlet continued. "We both know the Growlers won't fully accept me like this, no matter how many things I killed on my first shift. Doesn't Wulfric deserve a mate who can make him proud?"

Scarlet held still, letting her words hang in the air. Wulfric wanted her to stay here as a Growler, learn their ways and be his mate forever. If she wasn't a true Growler but an outsider, then she'd never be accepted as his mate or his equal.

She knew her words were true, and it was callous of her to use them as a weapon against the sweet woman. But she'd come here for the spell, and she wasn't going to back down now.

Elva finally sighed. "Alright, we'll try it, but don't come crying to me if it doesn't work as you expect."

Scarlet released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Elva took the now empty tray and cup to the sink.

"Lay on the bed. This will be easier if you're prone." Elva picked up her staff with the green stone on the tip from beside the rocking chair.

The old woman stretched out her staff and started to chant in the same language she'd used outside at the alpha challenge. Softly at first, but then her voice grew in momentum with every word. The purple and green swirls of magic curled around her, and Scarlet's vision went white.

She couldn't see anything, but she could feel every tendon and bone in her body moving, pulling, tearing, shifting. She screamed and closed her eyes, her body going rigid on the bed.

Then everything stilled. She floated in the whiteness, and her dad's voice echoed in her head.

"Hey there, Pipsqueak," he said.

She looked around, but couldn't see anything but white. "Dad?"

Her heart should've been pounding in her ears, or she should've been sweating or something. But all was quiet, peaceful, and content.

"It's me. I can't stay long. Your time isn't over, and you have so much left to accomplish, my girl."

"Dad," Scarlet said, a pressure building inside her.

"It's alright. I just wanted you to know that I love you. And remind you that it's alright to love someone, to be vulnerable."

Scarlet tried to scoff, but her father called her on it like he'd always done.

"I know, I know," he said with a chuckle. "You're strong, like your mother. But being vulnerable with someone you love is so worth it, Pip. Trust me. There's nothing that can compare. If you have the chance with this Growler to be happy and find the kind of love your mother and I had? Scarlet, you have to take it. Promise me you'll take it."

The pressure built, the air growing heavy and his voice fading.

"Dad? No, come back."

"Promise me."

"I promise, I promise. Just stay with me," she sobbed, the whiteness somehow still the same, even though she felt like she was spinning out of control, falling into an abyss.

"I love you, Pip."

Every bone in her body twisted, and she screamed in pain. It sliced through her, bending her in unimaginable ways. She tried to claw away from the pain, but a heavy weight settled over her.

Then the familiar blackness of sleep enveloped her.

Wulfric sat in the longhouse and stood at the high table in his fanciest beaded clothing. Hair combed, freshly washed, he welcomed the visiting alphas from the other tribes in the center of the room.

Scarlet still slept off the effects of her first shift. He hadn't wanted to leave her, but there had been so many questions that morning about the ice monster.

The Elders had placed it in the lone tent under guard when he'd finally stumbled into camp with Scarlet in his arms just before dawn, the litter and others following them and shivering from the cold. They'd inspected it while he'd bathed and tried to sleep for a few hours.

It hadn't worked. His mind was furiously making plans, and he kept remembering different things to talk to different people about. So he'd gotten up, bathed, and had met with the Elders before the noon meal.

He'd spent the meal with his tribe, calming fears and telling the story of Scarlet taking down the boar and then the ice monster. They were all excited by the changes in the Luna after the mate bond had been completed. They saw it as proof of the goddess' approval.

Messengers had arrived saying that the betas would not be joining as planned because the other alphas were coming instead. They'd each been escorted to a guest tent to clean up from the journey and rest until the meeting. Now they all took their places around the firepit in the center of the room. They sat cross-legged on cushions and passed around a rolled bacca leaf, each taking a puff and adding to the smoke that rose into the hole in the ceiling.

"Welcome, brothers. I appreciate your presence today, so quickly after the full moon ceremonies," Wulfric began. Nomani and Barley sat at their normal seats at the high table, talking quietly to each other as they observed and listened.

"A lot has happened in the past few weeks in your camp, Ironpaws, and it affects all of us," the alpha of the Nightstalkers said.

Wulfric nodded. "I won't deny it. I know my messengers relayed the events, but let me assure you, I am still solidly the alpha. The original challenge was illegal, and I quickly dispatched the challenger in an officially recognized match. Elders, do you corroborate?"

Nomani nodded, and Barley said, "Aye, alpha. The official challenge wasn't even close. Wulfric won his third challenge in the years he's been alpha."

Nomani cleared her throat. "Each of your Elders know the significance of the third challenge. When we became an Elder, we were privy to secrets of our people. One of those secrets involved an alpha who would win three challenges. When Wulfric won, the Elders here performed an ancient spell which removed the memory block from all turned Growlers."

The Duskkeeper's alpha crossed his arms. "And all hell broke loose in my tribe."

"Mine too," said the Battlefangs alpha.

The other two nodded. Wulfric puffed on the bacca and passed it as he blew smoke in the air.

"I apologize that it was a surprise. It was a surprise to me as well. My new mate and I have worked the past two days to calm our people and reassure them that we will take action."

Silentclaws, the oldest of them all, grunted. "We don't need to take action. Things are fine the way they are. We will protect our people and will live as one like we always have."

Nomani went to the door and took a basket of fresh bread from a Growler, closing it behind her. She brought it to the alphas around the fire as Wulfric addressed them.

"Are the turned not asking after their families in Busparia?" Several of them nodded, so he continued. "There are several who want to march into Busparia today and find their former families. We've all heard the rumors about Busparia. The monsters, the terror, the martial rule. If our Growler families were stuck under such harsh living conditions, wouldn't we stop at nothing to rescue them?"

Again, several nodded. Nightstalkers' alpha said, "My people have already made a plan to sneak into Busparia to find them."

"Mine swear they can sneak in under the cover of darkness, kidnap their families, and return all in the same night," Duskkeeper's alpha said, rolling his eyes.

Battlefangs' alpha chuckled and crossed his arms as he rocked side to side. "They obviously don't remember the geography of Busparia. They can't get in and out in one night."

Wulfric glanced around. Battlefangs was young and jumpy, but he and Nightstalkers were both turned Growlers. Nightstalkers had been alpha for more than twenty years though and had wisdom that Wulfric often sought when he had first learned to lead.

He took a deep breath and explained about the Dragon Claws, the ice monster, and the prophecy.

Silentclaws stroked his thick white beard. "I wonder if these Dragon Claws are the missing Growlers that have gone into Busparia over the years."

Nightstalkers nodded. "Perhaps it wasn't the goddess' will for us to stay locked in this forest after all. Perhaps it's been the kings of Busparia this whole time."

Battlefangs' eyes glowed with anticipation. "So something is controlling these other Growlers, probably the new queen of Busparia, and if we don't stop them, an ice age will freeze our balls off."

They chuckled, and Duskkeepers said, "That's true. If we do nothing, we won't survive a longer winter. A year or two of perpetual snow would ruin our livestock with no grass or hay to feed them."

Wulfric took a deep breath, passing the bacca without partaking. He'd hit his personal limit and needed to think clearly to convince them. "This is why I'm proposing a treaty with the dragon kingdom in the north."

The others stiffened, and the overlapping of murmurs rose among the alphas.

Silentclaws hit his knee with a fist. "We will not subjugate ourselves to anyone, much less some upstart dragon ."

"I agree, a treaty isn't the wisest action," Nightstalkers said.

Wulfric held his hands out, palms up. "And what choice do we have? We can't just go into Busparia and risk our people, when it's been proven that none of those who have gone have ever returned. We need allies who can get in and out of Busparia and check on our families, who might be able to bring them into the forest where we can reconcile in a neutral place."

"Why can't we just bring them to our camps?" Battlefangs asked.

Nightstalkers swallowed a piece of bread. "Don't you remember the first time you came to camp as a Growler? Imagine how intimidating and scared they would be to walk into the den of monsters they've been told to avoid since the time they were babies."

"Be that as it may, they're not going to just help us recover our families," Duskkeepers said. "They'll want something in return."

Wulfric took a piece of steak from Nomani as he replied. "My new mate is a fount of information, as her brother is the dragon king to the north."

The other alphas all paused, every eye turning to him as he tore into the hunk of steak. He waited them out, maintaining the upper hand.

Battlefangs eyes glowed softly. "I've heard that she's not a true Growler. What is she?"

Silentclaws snorted and took his own piece of meat. "It doesn't matter. If she's not a Growler, she can't be his mate."

Surprisingly it was Barley who came to her defense. "I can attest to the mate bond. I saw it snap into place when they completed it, and it was the same as every other fated mate I've ever seen. It was definitely not the regular chosen mate ritual."

Nomani nodded as she brought a tray of drinks. "I saw it too. The Elders were all outside the tent near our communal fire."

The door burst open, and Elva raced inside. "Alpha, quick."

All five of them jumped up, two spilling their cups in the process. Elva glanced between them, finding Wulfric. Her brow was wrinkled as she said, "The Luna. She's—she's shifted."

He strode around the fire. "What's the problem? She shifted into a Growler last night. It's early to shift back, but not unheard of."

Elva shook her head, clutching her side as shouts and howls echoed outside. "No, she's a rabbit ."

Wulfric sucked in a breath then raced through the door. A small streak of red shot through camp toward the central bonfire pit, followed by a dozen Growlers. They raced straight for him, and he could smell the paralyzing fear wafting off her.

Behind him, Silentclaws said, "Is that your mate? I told you it won't work."

"Gods, she's not one of us at all," Duskkeepers whispered in awe. Scarlet heard the comments and turned to dart around the giant firepit.

In her wolf form, she resembled a large jackrabbit with powerful legs and tall ears that helped her swiftly navigate through the terrain. Of course his mate would not be a simple cottontail rabbit—she was much more than that.

Wulfric watched in admiration as she used her long legs and tall ears to speed through the camp, evading their pursuers. She was unlike any creature he had ever seen before. She looked back at him with wide eyes before tripping over her own feet and letting out an angry rabbit's scream.

Wulfric leaped after the group, shifting and tearing through his clothes as he barked. "Enough. Leave her alone."

He could feel the power of his alpha position coursing through him, but it seemed to have little effect on the Growlers who continued their relentless pursuit. Wulfric refused to give up. With all his might, he leaped over the remaining Growlers and landed in front of Scarlet, crouched low and ready to defend her.

She looked up at him with wide eyes, her small body trembling beneath him. She was a stark contrast to his own massive and muscular wolf form. But they were mates, destined to protect and care for each other no matter their differences.

As Scarlet stumbled on her big feet, Wulfric spun around to keep her protected between his legs. He felt the grazing of her soft fur against his stomach and knew that he would do everything in his power to shield her from harm, even if it meant fighting every single one of his fellow Growlers.

"I said, stand aside," he snarled at the remaining Growlers, daring them to come any closer and harm his mate.

The pack skidded to a halt, flinging snow into their faces. "It's a rabbit. You can't expect us to not eat it," someone in the back of the pack yelled.

The alphas followed, forming a silent group of four behind them. Silentclaws crossed his arms and frowned.

"It's not an it at all. This is the Luna," Wulfric panted.

There were barks of denial and growls, but Wulfric yelled. "I said enough. She is protected and to be kept safe as my fated mate. She's a fierce warrior who can shift into a Growler and a rabbit. This is amazing. It's never been done before. There's never been anyone like her."

Someone snorted. "Who are you trying to convince, us or yourself?"

"She was pretty cool as a Growler, but all this other ?"

"I don't care," Wulfric said, his lip bared. "You will respect her as you respect me. If you keep pushing, I'll ban all rabbit and deer meat in the entire camp. Now go about your business until dinner."

"This is why we sided with Brody. He rules with an iron fist," someone grumbled as the crowd dispersed back to tents. When they were gone, it was only the four alphas and the three Elders.

"This is highly unprecedented," Nightstalkers said, stroking his thick jaw.

Battlefangs rocked from foot to foot. "I want to see her Growler form. Can she shift on command yet? That is so cool."

"It's not going to work. She doesn't belong here," Silentclaws said, stroking his beard. "She'll never be accepted."

Wulfric growled. "I remember the same being said of the turned, yet we are one people. It's the same with my mate. We are one, joined together by the gods themselves. Where she goes, I go, and I will not tolerate disrespect like this. Am I the head alpha or not?"

Silence fell among them, and Wulfric stomped a foot, making Scarlet flinch beneath him. "I asked a question. Answer me."

Duskkeepers was the first to speak, saying nervously, "Yes, that's what we agreed to two years ago when Battlefangs got this new pup of an alpha."

"Hey," Battlefangs' alpha said, punching Duskkeepers on the shoulder.

Wulfric growled. "Do any of you challenge me as head alpha? Do any of you have any better plans to save our people?"

Silence filled the edge of the camp. Tucked under the trees, they were barely within earshot of several who lived nearest the forest. None of them replied, and one by one, each alpha placed a fist to his heart and bowed his head.

Wulfric breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could say another word, magic gathered beneath him. He couldn't see it the way she could, but the Elders jumped forward with hands outstretched.

"Back up," Nomani gasped.