1. One

one

T he cold wind carried the promise of more snow as I raced toward the top of Mount Warrior, paws pounding the fresh layer of powder that covered my earlier tracks. Ominous gray clouds gathered overhead, and thunder echoed through the canyons.

A storm was brewing.

Normally that thought might’ve thrilled me. I loved sitting on my back deck while lightning streaked the sky and the earth shook violently. When I was young, my father used to tell me the storms were Gaia expressing her anger with the humans. I tended to disagree. In my mind, they were reminders of the goddess’ power.

Tonight, however, was no ordinary night. The Twin Comets would grace our skies in a few hours, and the Ophiuchus wolves would celebrate with a gala. I wouldn’t have ventured so far from the pack lands alone—especially not right before such an important evening—but I felt uncharacteristically nervous about the celestial event.

The disquiet had started several months back father announced the Twin Comets’ impending passing. It had grown steadily until I could no longer pretend the feeling didn’t exist. I’d mentioned the sense of foreboding to my best friend Evera, who reminded me that the prophecy spoke of prosperity and peace for our pack. She assured me it was nothing to fear.

I still couldn’t shake the shadow of dread that followed me everywhere.

I picked up my pace as I entered Emerald Valley, cutting around the busy village and taking a scenic route for the last stretch before home. The alpha’s palatial house came into sight. His worry crackled along my spine, making my fur stand on end.

My father hadn’t heard from me since breakfast. For most twenty-somethings living on their own, this might’ve seemed like helicopter parenting. But for a father who was the pack’s alpha wolf, letting his only child move out was rather lenient—even if only next door.

Instead of going to the front door, I darted to the back of Dad’s house and leapt up the short flight of stairs leading to the deck. I shifted and shimmied into the jeans and sweater hanging on a hook by the glass doors. Even though I no longer lived under his roof, Dad still left clothes out for me right beside his, along with a pair of slippers just inside the back entranceway.

My father’s laughter rang through the house, a deep yet melodic sound I’d heard little in recent years. Not since the death of his best friend and Beta, Tavin Williams. For a time, I thought I might never hear it again. I paused to listen for several seconds.

“Drake?” Dad called from the living room. “I didn’t think you’d be gone so long.”

“Yeah, it’s me,” I replied, already walking toward the sound of his voice.

He stood in front of the stone fireplace, a glass of scotch in one hand. Our current beta, Tavin’s son, Finneus, was a few feet away. Both men wore tailored tuxedos and shiny loafers. Dad had brushed back his light hair and combed his beard. His hazel eyes sparkled as he watched the son-he-never-had fumble with the bowtie around his neck.

I experienced a slight twinge of jealousy, which I quickly tamped down. My father loved Finneus like his own, but he always made it clear I was his favorite.

“Be a dear and end his misery before he chokes himself,” Dad said, waving me closer.

I eyed my father’s perfectly knotted bowtie pointedly.

“I’ve got this,” Finneus insisted, his fist clenching as he unraveled the two ends again. His dark eyes met mine. “Where have you been, anyway?”

I didn’t love his tone, but the whole bowtie thing really had him flustered, so I kept my voice mild when I answered.

“Out for a run.” I shrugged. “Why, did you need me?”

Finneus ignored my question. “You should be getting ready.”

Technically, he outranked me, yet he rarely barked orders at me like this. I frowned but refrained from snapping back.

“Go on, Drake,” my father added, his tone much less severe.

I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Be back soon,” I promised.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed. “I can’t wait to see this dress you keep talking about.”

I flashed him a smile. “Oh, I swear, it is worth every penny. The passing of The Twins only happens once in a lifetime. Literally. I couldn’t bear disappointing you and Gaia by wearing a subpar gown.”

My father loved to grumble about my clothing allowance, yet when I offered to get a job and pay for my own bespoke creations, he flat-out refused. The alpha’s only child could not sling beers at the village pub, after all. And, honestly, I wasn’t qualified to do much else.

Dad didn’t laugh or feign irritation. His expression went blank, the spark in his eyes dimming.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Of course.” He clapped Finneus on the shoulder. “Tonight is a celebration, even if this isn’t the start of the prophesized dawn.”

“No other signs have appeared?” I arched an eyebrow in question.

Until recently, I wouldn’t have needed to ask, since Dad always discussed pack business with me. It was only recently he started filtering certain topics, namely anything to do with the prophecy. Maybe that was why I couldn’t banish the dark thoughts.

My father shook his head. “Not a single sign. Isn’t that right, Finn?”

“Hmm?” The beta dropped the ends of the bowtie and nodded. “I met with seers from five continents. None of them had anything to report.”

Their assurances did little to settle my queasy stomach. “The elders—”

“Have wrongly identified numerous astrological events as the start of the prophecy,” Finneus said, cutting me off.

Dad gave my shoulder another squeeze. “Go on and get ready, Drake,” he said, a finality to his voice that meant the discussion was over. I smiled dutifully and said my goodbyes before leaving the two men to their scotch and bowties.

When I opened the front door of his house, I blinked rapidly as knuckles tapped my forehead.

Penn Williams peered down at me, alarm darkening his gray eyes. “I-I’m so sorry,” he muttered, snatching his hand back.

We stared at each other for a long, awkward moment. I had known Penn my entire life, and he and Finneus had lived with us for a time after their father died. We hadn’t seen each other nearly as much in more recent years, not since Finneus had started sending his brother on missions that took him away from the mountains. Penn had always been cute, but while I wasn’t looking, he’d grown from a teenager into a man. An unbelievably handsome man.

I waved off his apology. “Your brother is losing a battle with his formal wear.” I eyed Penn’s bowtie. “Maybe you can give him a hand.”

His gaze narrowed as he stared past me into the house. He lowered his voice when he asked, “Does he seem weird to you?”

My nerves frayed further. “Weird how?” I asked.

Storm clouds rolled into his eyes as he shook his head. “Forget it. It’s just this party; he’s on edge. Basil has had him hunting down mystical signs for weeks now. I think it’s got Finn paranoid.”

Penn and Finn were the only people who referred to my father by his given name; no other pack members would’ve dared. Not even our more distant blood relations.

“But Finneus didn’t find anything,” I pointed out. “Why is he so uptight about it?”

“You know Finn.” Penn looked down at his shoes. “He doesn’t want to disappoint Basil.”

I understood the feeling.

Silence passed between us. My eyes swept Penn from head to toe as I chewed on my lip. The tux really suited him, accentuating his broad shoulders and trim waist. He’d tied his shoulder-length blond hair back and had even shaved in honor of the occasion. His stubble-free jaw was more defined than I remembered.

He caught me checking him out and quickly moved aside to let me pass, a smirk toying at the corners of his mouth. My cheeks flushed as I brushed by him.

“See you in a bit,” I called over my shoulder.

Crossing the lawn between my father’s house and mine, I berated myself for the awkward moment. Neither of the Williams brothers were datable—they were practically family—but they sure made excellent eye candy. They shared the defined jawline and cheekbones passed down from their late mother, but Finneus’ dark eyes and chestnut curls couldn’t have been more different than his younger brother’s lighter features.

I checked my phone, which I’d left on the table in the foyer before heading out on my run. Sure enough, there were five missed calls from Dad. He could’ve reached out to me through the alpha bond that allowed him to connect with all the pack members’ minds while in wolf form. The fact he hadn’t was hopefully a result of a repetitive conversation we had about boundaries. Still, I made a mental note to apologize for worrying him.

My place had two bedrooms. I’d converted one into a massive closet and dressing room since it wasn’t like I had any out-of-town guests… ever. Our pack kept to ourselves, and the exact location of our territory was not common knowledge. We were so far up in the mountains, no one just stumbled across us either.

I flipped on the curling iron and then undressed for a quick shower. There wasn’t enough time to linger beneath the hot spray. I wrapped myself in a silk robe and plopped down at the vanity to start my makeup.

Smoky eye shadow made my green irises pop. I used liberal amounts of highlighter to accent my cheekbones and finished with crimson lipstick. Once loose blonde curls tumbled down my back, it was time to get dressed.

From the front, the gown I’d commissioned was a gorgeous black slip that hugged my curves in all the right places. From behind, it was a showstopper. In the tri-fold mirror, I angled my body so I could see the gold snake winding across my back and holding the dress together like stays. The reptile’s emerald eyes glittered in the overhead light, along with the small ruby tongue.

Antonio, my go-to human designer, had outdone himself.

I slipped my feet into a pair of black heels and added a gold python bracelet around my wrist. Pounding on the front door echoed from below as I gave my reflection a last glance.

The beta’s irritation reached me all the way upstairs.

“Coming, Finneus,” I muttered.

I heard the door open, followed by his footsteps in the foyer. Not knocking at Dad’s house might’ve been acceptable, but I didn’t appreciate the intrusion. Even my father didn’t enter my place without an invitation.

By the time I reached the bottom of the staircase, Finneus had plucked a velvet cape with a hood from my coat tree and held it out to me. Either he’d finally won the war with his bowtie, or Penn had tied it for his brother.

“No way in hell I’m covering up this dress with that, I don’t care how cold it is,” I declared, twirling to show him the back.

“You look nice, Drake,” he admitted with grudging approval.

Personally, I thought nice was an understatement, but it was high praise from the beta.

Finneus offered me his arm. “Your father and Penn are waiting.”

I smiled up at him, noting the lines around his mouth and the shadows beneath his eyes. My expression faltered.

“Are you sure that everything is okay?” I asked, threading my arm through his.

He was quiet for a long moment as the two of us exited my house and started down the front walkway.

“Nothing that you need to concern yourself with,” Finneus said at last.

“I am the alpha’s daughter. Everything to do with our pack concerns me,” I said, my tone harsher than intended. “If you found something that suggests—”

“If I did, that would be between Basil and me,” he snapped, cutting me off mid-sentence. He sighed loudly, his voice less angry and more tired when he spoke again. “You have nothing to worry about, Drake. I told you that. Let it go. That’s an order.”

Wolfpacks, particularly ours, were steeped in tradition and hierarchies. I respected and accepted Finneus as my beta, though I would’ve appreciated him a lot more if he stopped throwing his power around like my father had named him his heir.

Eventually, that could happen, since our pack didn’t allow women to inherit the honor. But, at fifty-five, my father had several decades left in his reign. Finneus had a while to wait, and a lot could happen between now and then.

I squared my shoulders and straightened my spine as we neared the spot where my father stood with Penn and several pack elders. Everyone turned to look at Finneus and me. I knew the thought on all their minds—we made a handsome couple. They wanted us to marry, to keep the alpha bloodline strong, and the line of succession simple.

Luckily, Finneus was as amenable to that idea as I was—which is to say, not at all—and my father had never pressured us into the match. He did little things though, like sending Finneus to escort me from my house, as if we might fall in love if he threw us together enough.

Dad extended his hand to me, calloused fingers wrapping around mine. He spun me under his arm to get the full effect of the dress I’d promised would wow him.

“My beautiful daughter,” Dad mused. “You look so much like your mother.”

“Gaia, may she rest in sweet slumber,” the others said in unison.

This was the expected response when someone mentioned deceased members of the alpha family. My mother had died giving birth to me. Against the advice of the elders, Dad never took a second wife and continued to mourn the loss of his true mate to this day.

My father pulled me close and dropped a kiss on my cheek. “I am so proud of the woman you’re becoming, Drake. She would’ve been, too.”

A lump formed in my throat. My father never showed affection in front of others, and he rarely mentioned my mother. The fact he felt both nostalgic and loving on this night of all nights didn’t sit well with me.

Just as I had with Finneus earlier, Dad slipped my arm through his and we started toward the Temple of the Alphas and the Twin Comets’ Gala. The others walked several paces behind us.

The ominous dread still weighed on me. It grew heavier when Dad spoke again, though I didn’t understand what he meant.

“I love you, Drake. Blood is blood. Never forget that.”