Page 1 of Wolf's Reckoning
Chapter 1
Rowen
The morningmist clung low to the earth, thick as wool, twisting around the worn stones of the clearing.
The pack gathered in a semi-circle, quiet, solemn, respectful. I stayed back, half-hidden beneath a drooping pine, watching the Binding unfold.
Kneeling before the druid were two shifters—a girl barely past her first heat and a boy too stiff in his borrowed suit.
Both bowed.
Both allegedlychosen.
On paper, an unexpected match. Under the Goddess, a perfect match.
I caught the tremor in the girl’s hands as she lifted the iron dagger. Saw the way her breath shuddered out as she carved their names into the old heartwood slab between them. Was it from fear?
Or worse…resignation?
My wolf shifted uneasily under my skin, feeling restless; it felt like it was pacing backward and forward. The trueBinding would take place tonight, under the full moon, where they would perform the rites again, just them, the druid, and the spirits of the pack.
This Binding was for the living. Tonight’s would be for the Goddess and the dead.
The moon Binding would be similar to this. Their names would be carved into Heartwood, only this time, it would be the ancient tree that stood in the thickest, most ancient part of the forest.
Their bond would be “sealed in wood and soul.” It was said that if it was broken after the rite, doing so risked madness or death.
Or a really messy divorce. I bit back my smile at my thoughts. I watched the two rise shakily to their feet before the druid of the pack.
I’d heard that the girl was caught off guard when her heat hit her. The boy was known to her, and the coupling was consensual, but I questioned if he was her choice; a glance to my left revealed a young male shifter struggling to hide silent tears, which suggested the girl might have chosen differently if she had been able when her heat hit her.
Her family was a proud holder of traditions. Theoldtraditions. The ones as ancient as the mountains that sheltered us.
As I watched them embrace their parents, I wondered if this was what we were meant for. Did the Goddess really want us to be bound to each other like this? A partner for life because of an unexpected heat. Bound together from fear, or perhaps surrender? Not through choice.
My gaze wandered over the pack that had gathered here and were now congratulating the two newlyweds. I watchedtheir parents accept the celebratory handshakes and backslaps. They were smiling, but their lips were thin, their eyes sharp as they watched the boy who cried as he hung back from the crowd.
“You look…contemplative.”
I turned to my side, smiling in greeting at Adair as she sidled up beside me. “I didn’t expect you here,” I told her truthfully.
Adair was younger than I was, but her wisdom and her maturity often made me forget that I was three years her senior. Her short, golden brown hair was thick and a little wild, like she chopped it haphazardly herself one night out of frustration and never looked back. She had more important things to consider than the way she looked.
See? Mature.
Adair shrugged. “I wanted to see for myself that they were willing,” she told me, her voice lowered. A wolf’s hearing was sharp, but even I had to strain to catch her softly spoken words. “I heard they were together for the full five days of her heat,” she murmured.
“Really?” That changed things, and my wolf settled.
Adair nodded. “Yup, their parents were quick to arrange this, because nothing saysyou better marry me in the morningmore than five days of unrestrained fucking.”
My bark of laughter caused others to turn my way, but I simply met their curious stares. I was used to being subject to the pack’s scrutiny. As the alpha’s daughter, I had endured their stares, their gossip, and their speculation my entire life.
“Neither of them approached you?” I asked her for clarification. The pack elders respected Adair because she toed the linejustenough. For the younger pack, she wassometimes seen as the person to go to when you’d screwed up and needed real advice, not lectures.
Or rituals.
“No.” She gave me a serene smile, reached out, and patted my hand. “Goddess Luna is happy with these two, I believe.” She glanced back at the two newlyweds, who were smiling at each other with joy. “They look happy too.”
