Page 96 of Oath of Revenge

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.

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