On a windy road, the carriage lurched forward. Rain droplets splattered against the windows of the carriage as it creaked and groaned along the path.

“Are we almost there?” I asked, clutching my sister’s hand. I hated these types of roads.

“Almost.” She kissed my forehead. “Keep your eyes on me, Ar.”

“Bella, I don’t think we should be out here like this.” I tore my gaze away from my sister to the rain-covered windows. Howls sounded in the distance, but they couldn’t have been too far away. We were right on the edge of the woods.

“We’re fine,” she tried to assure me, smoothing out the fabric of her dress.

The carriage hit a bump and I shrieked. Arabella was now slumped over on the seat next to me.

“Bella?” My voice wavered. “Bella, wake up!” When I finally turned her face to me, I screamed.

The face, not of my sister—but of a wolf—stared back at me.

I shot straight up in bed, sweating. Raydir rolled over next to me and frowned.

“Ar? You okay?” he asked softly.

“Yeah.” I blinked my eyes in the darkness. “Just a dream. Sorry I woke you.” With a shaky breath, I laid back down. Raydir wrapped an arm protectively around my waist.

“I got you,” he whispered. “You’re safe with me.”

***

Time seemed to move faster in the valley. The days were filled with adventure, the nights peaceful and exhilarating. And before I knew it, the next Alignment loomed closer and closer.

Raydir and I had begun to find our rhythm, yet as the days moved forward, I spent my evenings playing nurse and tending to his bruises. He promised me he would be more careful in training, but he was more stubborn than me which was something I’d cherished in our childhood. Now? It worried me.

We were still taking things day by day in our relationship, but we were nowhere near ready for the marking. It never felt like the right time, and Raydir respected that. The only downside was that the link that had appeared on the first Alignment had completely diminished since then.

It was early in the morning. Raydir was sitting on the floor of the cabin with a bunch of different plants spread out in front of him. He was practicing making different healing potions and I was helping. Or at least I was trying.

“What’s this one?” I asked, holding up a leaf.

Raydir and I sat spread out on the floor of our cabin.

“That’s a basil leaf,” he replied.

“So?”

“So it’s for food, not medicine.” He brushed my hair away from my face. “I don’t know how it got mixed in here.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “One day there’s gonna be a need to cure something and the answer is gonna be basil and you’re just gonna not use it because it’s food not medicine.”

Raydir laughed. “Arwyn, that’s not how this works. You can’t just use anything.”

“You don’t know! It could happen!”

Raydir shook his head. “It’s a good thing I’m the healer.” He tickled my sides.

I shrieked and leaned over to pick up something else. “Okay, what’s this one?”

“That’s ginger root.”

“And what’s it used for?”

“We put it in concoctions to help settle the stomach,” he said. “Some of these things have a nasty after taste so it helps keep the medicine down.”

“Mm. You know, people use ginger in food too.”

He smirked. “You’re impossible to please, you know that?”

I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Okay, so what’s next?”

“Let’s try something.” Raydir rifled through the plants and pulled out a spiky one. “This is aloe vera. We use the juices to help heal injuries.”

I looked down at the spiky leaves. “And how do you do that?”

“Like this.” He sat behind me and covered my hand with his. He placed a bowl in front of us and hovered the aloe vera plant over it. “Concentrate, then squeeze the juices out.”

I stifled a laugh but watched in awe as it worked. “Wow, that’s amazing. How did you do that?”

Raydir grinned. “It’s part of my power.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I love it.”

He hummed happily and traced his fingers against my skin. “So, any plans for the day?”

“Mm, Cae and I are going to see what we can catch down at the lake.” I brushed my thumb over his lower lip. “What about you? You’re taking it easy, right? You promised.”

He leaned forward and kissed me. “Yes, I did. I’ll only be doing training on alternate days and otherwise I’ll be at the medical cabin.”

"Oh?" That must’ve been why he was working with plants this morning.

Raydir let out a soft hum. “I’ve taken a position as a healer. It turns out my knowledge of medicinal properties of plants will come in quite handy.” He stretched out his arm toward a vase that sat on the windowsill across the room. A single pink rose instantly emerged through the opening.

“That’s fantastic, Ray. Really.” I grinned.

“Don’t make any plans for tonight,” he said. “I have something planned for your birthday.”

I blinked. “My birthday was over a month ago.”

“I know.” He smirked. “We’ve been kind of busy since then. What with leaving the dukedoms and all.”

“That’s very true.” I pretended to think about this. “Okay. I won’t make any plans to go running away with anyone else before then.”

He laughed and leaned over the bed to kiss me. “Go have fun today. I promised to be good, you have to promise to have fun.”

I opened my mouth to say something but decided against it. The next Alignment was slowly approaching, and Raydir’s nightmares had slowly returned. They seemed to be worse than before, taking at least two cups of ibisco tea to calm him down at night.

“Arwyn.” He brushed his fingers over my cheek.

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“Yes. I’ll have fun. I promise.” With one last kiss, I rolled off the bed and went to change for the day.

I met up with Caesaria at the lake as was our daily routine. Over the last month, we had grown closer, spending the days exploring the valley and competing against each other with our archery skills.

“How are you now that the next Alignment is approaching?” Cae asked me after our morning swim.

I wrung out my hair. “Nervous. Ray is struggling again. He’s an active sleeper and I have the bruises to prove it.” Despite having two bedrooms, we’d taken up residence in only one because we hadn’t wanted to be away from each other.

“Have you felt anything?”

“Yeah.” I climbed back into Majesty’s saddle. “I haven’t said anything to Ray because I don’t want to worry him.”

“What have you felt?” she asked.

I looked out into the distance. “Just like something bad is about to happen. I’ve been dreaming a lot about my sister lately.

“Hmm.”

“What?” The wind whipped my hair around my face.

“Nothing. I was just thinking. C’mon, let’s go. I wanted to take you on one of the trails today.” Caesaria pressed her heels into her horse’s side, starting him at a slow trot.

We led our horses along the dirt path, careful to avoid low tree branches. The hum of insects filled the uncomfortable silence that settled between us.

Raydir and I used to go for trail rides all the time when we were younger. He would take Orion and meet me at our clubhouse. From there, we would go exploring and pretend we were conquering the world together.

“What’s at the top of the waterfall?” I asked when we slowed our horses to a stop in a clearing. A bubbling brook ran to our right, and we let the horses take a few minutes to graze and drink.

Caesaria stroked her horse’s tawny coat with her fingers. “No one really knows. The path to get up there is treacherous at best. It’s not something I advise.”

“So you’ve tried going there before?” I closed my eyes and let the sun warm my skin.

“Once. But I had to turn back because I twisted my ankle in the process,” she explained. “Trust me, it’s not worth the pain.”

She dropped the subject after that and we continued on.

When we turned back a while later, the sun was starting to lower in the sky but it was still very bright and warm. We stopped by the Grand Cabin to deliver our catch of rainbow macrou, a rare find in the lake, to the cooks. They were pleased with our find and promised to make a fantastic dinner out of it.

Content with that, we walked in the direction of our cabins before Caesaria stopped abruptly.

“What is it?” I asked.

She shook her head. “You’re not gonna like it. Ray and Darius are fighting.”

I groaned. This wasn’t going to end well. “I’ll take it from here. See you.” I ran down the hill to the cabin where Ray and Darius were, in fact, arguing outside by the wood pile.

“Hey!” I yelled at them.

Raydir turned to me and his face blanched. “Arwyn.” He shifted uncomfortably.

“What are you doing?!” I crossed my arms over my chest. “What’s going on?”

Darius glanced at Ray. “I told you we should’ve done this inside.”

“Shut up, Darius,” Raydir growled.

I looked between them. Their expressions told me absolutely nothing. “Ray?”

Raydir sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “There is something about the wolf spirit—curse, whatever you wanna call it—that we haven’t told you.” The black obsidian praesidium crystal now hung on a thick cord around his neck catching the light every so often. He tugged at it nervously.

I raised my eyebrows. I thought he’d told me everything upon Darius’s arrival a month ago. “Go on.”

“Do you remember that day we met for lunch?” he continued. “I told you we’d figure something out so that we could be together. I knew I wanted to protect you, so this was the only way I knew how. Darius…he has a way to keep the wolf spirit suppressed, but it’s only on a temporary basis. And it comes with a cost.”

My glare deepened then softened as I processed what he was saying. “What cost? Is that why your nightmares were so bad before the first Alignment?” I suddenly felt a bad taste in my mouth.

Raydir shifted his weight, looking uncomfortable.

Darius cleared his throat. “The suppression is the result of a pact between the two parties—that would be us”—he gestured between himself and Raydir—“and basically it means that Raydir carries not only his own wolf, but your wolf as well.”

“And you just let this happen?” It didn’t sound like a good thing to take on the burden of two wolves.

“I chose to do this, Ar,” he replied. “For you. To protect you.”

“Protect me from what?”

“From the harsh wolf spirit. I—what you saw on the first Alignment—the softer of the two wolf types—we don’t know whose wolf that was coming through. The reason I’ve had such bad nightmares is just part of the burden of holding two conflicting wolf spirits.”

“Burden?” The words felt like a knife twisting in my heart. My gaze shifted. “And you just what? Agreed to this?”

“Raydir made a choice,” Darius tried to reason. “There is nothing I could’ve done to stop him.”

“You could’ve refused!” I cried out, standing up abruptly from the couch and pacing the floor. “You could’ve told me!”

“I was going to tell you,” Raydir said softly.

My mind reeled. In his defense, he’d tried. But not hard enough. “You had a month! A month to tell me you were carrying the burden!” I hated that word. “And every time you cry out at night, I hate myself for making you choose me—”

“Arwyn, you didn’t make me do anything. This—us—we are a mutual agreement.”

“I didn’t agree to this! What makes you think I couldn’t handle my wolf spirit no matter which one it was?” My voice broke in anger. “And you. What gave you the power—what gave you the right to interfere like this?!”

“Raydir was only doing what he thought was best for you.” Darius tried to pacify me.

“I’m talking about you,” I said through gritted teeth. “Is that why you ran into me in town before my ceremony? Was it all part of an elaborate plan?”

Darius shook his head. “When Raydir came to me, I wasn’t entirely sure who you were besides a classmate. I gave him a concoction to give to you. Then when you and I ran into each other, I realized you were the girl he’d spoken so fondly of.”

“Wait a minute. You poisoned me?” I screeched.

“It was an herbal mixture. Much like the hibisco tea here in the valley,” Raydir said. Guilt swam in his eyes. “I added it to your wine that day we had lunch before your ceremony. It’s called a wolf suppressor.”

“That was the start of it,” Darius explained. “It’s connected me with the two of you which is why I now have a mind link with each of you.”

Wait, what?

“With Ray, too?” I asked.

Darius nodded. “It’s part of the pact.”

At least I wasn’t in this alone. I glanced at Raydir. He looked as uncomfortable as I felt.

“If the herbal mixture suppressed my wolf, how did you transfer it to Ray?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Nevermind. I still don’t understand how this was supposed to protect me if it’s still inevitable that my wolf spirit will come out.”

“You don’t understand!” Raydir said, exasperated. His voice cracked. “I did this because you were never supposed to have your ceremony. I thought it was the only way to keep you safe. I could lose you, Arwyn, in more ways than one. And I don’t even want to think about that.” He stormed out of the cabin without another word.

I got up to chase after him. “Ray! Raydir!”

“Give him a minute,” Darius said, catching up to me outside the cabin. “If it’s any consolation, Raydir made me promise that I would protect you at all costs.”

There was that word again: protect. I pushed my hands against his chest and he stumbled backwards. “I don’t need protection. And I certainly don’t need you of all people to protect me.”

He reached for my arm. “You don’t know what the harsh wolf is like.”

“And you do?” I crossed my arms over my chest. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

He swallowed, a look of pain washing over his face. “I do. I know that Caesaria told you how we know each other. Did she also tell you which wolf she is?”

I shook my head. “No. Why?”

“She has the harsh wolf.” He lifted his shirt to show a scar running along his left side. “I’ve had this scar since Cae and I were ten years old. When she decided to leave Gwyniar, I chased after her. It was the night of an Alignment and when she shifted, she attacked me. The injury released my wolf spirit at the same time.”

My heart twinged with guilt for how I reacted to Raydir. Then I thought about something else. “You and Caesaria have the same gift. Does that mean that you have the same wolf type too?”

Darius nodded painfully. “Every pairing has a soft wolf and a harsh wolf, and Raydir…he’s just delaying the inevitable because one of you has the harsh wolf. And what he said about the First Wolf…rogues are dangerous. We don’t want that to happen.”

“Of course not. But he can’t hold both wolf spirits forever.” Especially if I had anything to say about it. We were in this together, had he forgotten?

Darius reached out a hand toward me. “Do you wanna go talk to him? Together?”

I let out a shaky breath. “No. I have to do this alone. I have to accept this fate.”