Four days before the Alignment

I was officially on the run.

After rejecting Darius at the ceremony and betrothing myself to Raydir, I had run back to the palace to pack as much as I could carry in one riding satchel. With a final look around my bedchamber to make sure I had packed everything I wanted—clothes, family mementos, my hunting knife—I ran out to the barn. My bow and quiver lay in their usual spot, and threw them over my shoulders before mounting Majesty. We rode off into the storm, not looking back.

Twenty-four hours after my ceremony, Raydir and I hiked through the forest, riding side by side. Occasionally, we’d stop to let the horses graze and make sure that we weren’t being followed. In all honesty, I was safer than Raydir. I would be able to show my face in town, but once the curse set in, Raydir would be an outcast. That’s why we needed to get somewhere safe and far away. We wouldn’t be able to stay away, as our food would run out eventually, but it would give us enough time to make a plan. Darqua, the hidden valley, was rumored to be the settlement for anyone hit by the curse. So that’s where we planned to go, hoping to seek refuge with others who had also rejected their Chosens. The valley was an almost five day journey by foot, and only a little faster by horse. But, of course, no one who had gone to the valley ever returned, so we hoped the map was still accurate.

It was almost nightfall by the time we had to stop again. One of the rivers that separated the dukedoms fell along our path, the rushing water a calming contrast to our beating hearts.

“How are you feeling?” Raydir asked me. We stopped briefly by a tree to drink some water. My legs wobbled beneath me, but I knew we had to keep going. We had to make it to the valley in time for the Alignment.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” He looked over his shoulder. The moons had already begun to rise, and we were losing daylight fast. “We should rest here for the night.”

“Ray, we’re still too far out. We won’t make it to the valley by the Alignment if we rest now. We can still walk for at least another hour.”

“Ar, if we keep going, you’re going to collapse. You look exhausted. Plus, the horses need the rest too. We’ll wake by first light and get an early start, ok?”

I nodded slowly. “Okay. Should we eat the food we brought?”

“We should ration as much as possible. Maybe see if you can catch a few quail?”

“Good idea. I’ll be back soon. If you need me, just whistle.” I kissed him, a saltiness lingering on his lips.

“I’ll start a fire. Be careful.” He brushed his fingers across my cheek before letting me go.

I walked along the river to where we’d passed a covey of quail. They cooed and waddled away as I stepped closer, carefully avoiding any large twigs on the ground. Aiming my bow, the arrow shot cleanly forward.

“Keep your eye on the prize,” my father had taught me. “Aim for it, believe in it.”

Once the arrow hit, the rest of the birds began to squawk incessantly, flapping their wings and scattering away. I took that opportunity to shoot another arrow, downing a second.

Satisfied, I returned to our base camp with our dinner. But Raydir wasn’t there.

“Ray?” I called out frantically, letting out our whistle, praying for a reply.

Silence. Then: one long note, three short notes. Raydir appeared from the edge of the river shirtless and barefoot. The cuffs of his pants were also damp from the river.

“Sorry, I was just cleaning up.” He wiped his palms together. “I figured I’d let my shirt air out while we camped.”

I swallowed, my gaze trying so hard to divert from his eyes. “That’s smart. If we can wash along the way, we’ll be able to salvage more of our clothes.” Had he always had those…abs?

“Do you need any help with the dinner?” he asked.

I held up the quail. “We just need to roast them over the fire. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“You’ve done this before?” We each speared our quail and began to roast them over the fire.

I stared into the firelight, listening to the soft crackle beneath the kindling. “Bella and I…we camped out behind the palace when we were little. Father helped us roast quail just like this. Freshly caught, he’d said, for his special girls.”

He pushed some stray hair behind my ear, letting his fingers linger against the warmth of my cheek for just a few extra seconds. “I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you, leaving your family.”

“It can’t be any harder than it is for you,” I countered. “You were to be the heir of your father’s throne. You were meant to marry Emilia. But instead you chose to give that all up, your status, your life…for me.”

“You had a life, too. These last three years without Bella have been so hard on you, I’ve seen that. You’ve changed, Ar.”

I lifted my quail from the fire. Almost done, and it smelled delicious. “Is that a good thing?”

“Absolutely! You’re not the same girl I fell for at nine years old—and that is a high compliment.”

We ate our quail in silence, listening to the sound of the crackling fire and the hooting of the owls in the distance. If we weren’t on the run, it would be almost peaceful.

“Surely you miss your family,” I said quietly. “I know that I do.”

“I do miss them.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But being with you, I’ve always been willing to risk the consequences. As much as this is your decision, it is my decision too.”

“I’m worried,” I admitted, staring into the fire. My senses were terribly on edge. The snap of a twig, the whoosh of the wind, it all echoed the possibilities of danger.

“Me too.” Raydir pulled me into his arms. “But all we can do is keep moving forward and set our focus on getting to the valley. Once we’re there…”

I nodded. Neither of us knew what our fate would be once we arrived in the valley.

“We should get some rest,” Raydir continued. The fire had died down quite a bit as we tunneled next to each other on the forest ground, one soft blanket to cover us. I closed my eyes, listening to the sound of his heartbeat, and prayed we’d make it to the valley.

Three days before the Alignment

I woke up with an oddly dry taste in my mouth. Wiping at it with my fingers, I realized I’d been drooling.

Great, that’s attractive.

My eyes took a minute to adjust to the still-dark sky. By the slight lighter hue in the distance, it looked close to sunrise which meant we would have to leave soon. Glancing at Raydir next to me, his chest rose and fell in continuous soft breaths, his lips moving incoherently in his sleep. I carefully slipped out of his embrace and stepped over to where we had left Majesty and Orion. Out of eyesight from Raydir, I tugged at the laces of my corset dress, letting it fall to my feet, and kicked off my boots. The water looked serene in the fading moonlight, and after two days of constant walking, I needed to wash.

The water felt cool on my skin as I dove in, a calm my body desperately craved. My hair tumbled down my back, now in wet clumps as I submerged and wiped droplets out of my eyes. I inhaled deeply and let out a shaky breath. A slight mustiness hung in the morning air that bordered on the brink of summer—my favorite time of year.

“Ar?” Raydir’s voice called out, slightly gravelly from sleep. “Where did you go? We really need to get going.”

Crap. How much time has passed? I’ve been gone for five minutes! “Uh, just a minute!” I swam to the edge of the water then realized I had nothing to cover my naked body. My fingers thrust forward, one hand reaching up, the other trying to hide my chest. Majesty’s blanket was just out of reach. Grunting, I stretched my body forward a little more—a little too much more—and let out an eek! as I teetered face-first on the grass. I wriggled up and hid behind Majesty’s coat, wrapping myself in his blanket.

Raydir caught my gaze from the other side. “Are you ok?”

I nodded, shivering now that I was out of the water. “Yeah. I just thought I’d go for a swim before we headed out.”

His eyes traveled from my face to my neck down to where the horse blocked his view. “Naked?”

Heat crept into my cheeks. “Wet clothes make me cold. Do we have anything for breakfast?”

“I can whip us up something,” he replied, shoving his sleeves to his elbows.

It was cute that he wanted to take charge like that, and I wished he’d been able to cook for me before we were on the run. “Are you sure we have enough time? Maybe we should just eat some of our food instead.”

Raydir shielded his eyes from the sun. “Let’s do that. The sooner we hit the road, the closer we’ll be to the valley by sundown. I’ll prepare while you get dressed.”

“Thank you.” I waited until he walked away before rummaging through my satchel for a fresh outfit. Back at our base camp, Raydir handed me a few slices of bread and the last of our quail from the night before.

We ate quickly and mounted our horses, continuing along the path toward the valley.

“So I wanted to ask about your Chosen,” Raydir said as we trotted along. “Darius Harford. How much do you know about him?”

“What does that matter?” I asked, keeping my gaze set ahead of me. “I chose you, not him.”

“True, but”—he ducked to avoid a tree branch—“there was a look of realization in your eyes when the Master of Ceremonies said his name. You know how he is, don’t you?”

I scoffed. Now was not the time for him to be jealous. “Ray, you’re not seriously asking me that question are you?”

“I just want to know. You knew him before the ceremony, right?”

“Yes, but I don’t understand that relevance. We’re never going to see him again, right?” A part of me hoped that wasn’t true, but was that something Raydir had to know?

“I was just curious,” he replied. Something in his voice set off an alarm bell in my head. He wasn’t being honest with me, that I knew. But what was it about Darius that had Raydir so set on edge? What bullet had I dodged?

Two days before the Alignment

The further we got away from the water, the more exhausted and agitated we became. Our food supply had depleted substantially. The moons were almost in full alignment, and Raydir started to have nightmares about what was coming. I sincerely hoped those predictions were wrong.

He woke up sweating, screaming, crying, thrashing.

“Ray! Ray!” I cried, trying desperately to calm him down.

His eyes flew open, panic washing over his face. “Arwyn, I—I’m so sorry. I don’t know what…” His breath shook as he adjusted to our surroundings. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, of course not.” I brushed my fingers over a speck of dirt on his cheek. “Do you want to tell me what the dream—the nightmare—was about?”

“The curse.” He swallowed and looked at me, his green eyes filling with tears. “I—I lost you. And I couldn’t recover. I just…how do we know the valley is safe? What if we don’t reach it in time and I hurt you…”

I covered his hand with mine. “Hey, look at me. You will never hurt me, ok? And when you shift, I will be there every step of the way. I promise. We’re in this together until the end.” I leaned forward pressing a soft kiss to his lips, our noses squishing together. Our mouths parted slightly, allowing us to explore the other, taking our time. He tasted like the honeysuckle we’d picked along our journey, every moment as sweet as him. Warmth spread through me as he deepened the kiss, letting his tongue dance with mine. Oh, god, he’s never kissed me like this before. I craved more, fingers pulling at his wrinkled shirt.

His arms snaked around my waist, pulling me flesh against his body as his thumbs rubbed circles against my sides. Wow. He is…muscular. I wonder what he looks like—No, stop. This isn’t the time.

“Ar,” he mumbled against my mouth “are you ok?”

I realized I’d stopped kissing him, my breath coming in short spurts, hot against his lips. “Yeah, I just got lost for a second.”

He smirked. “Do you want to go back to sleep? We have another long day ahead of us.”

I tucked my hair behind my ears. “Yeah. We probably should.”

We laid back down, my head on his chest, his hand in my hair. I closed my eyes and willed sleep to come.

One day before the Alignment

This was it. We had almost made it to Darqua. In a few hours, this would all be over. Or would it have just started? Raydir and I had just enough berries to get us to the valley before we’d need more food. In the distance, the sound of rushing water filled the silence as we walked. Closer. Closer.

These last few miles would be the most crucial. Majesty and Orion were running out of energy quickly, but there seemed to be a change in terrain ahead.

Raydir stopped, crouching to run a hand over the ground. “We’re getting close to the valley.”

“You can tell just by touching the ground?” I asked, impressed. It was like he’d become part of the forest since we began our journey.

“Yeah. I guess it’s just…I don’t know, I’ve always had a natural sense of direction. So I guess it’s just part of it. We need to keep going if we want to make the valley by the evening.”

“We need to let the horses graze,” I said. “If they get too tired, we won’t make it to the valley tonight.”

Raydir raked a hand through his hair. “Then we’ll let them graze when we stop for lunch. Just a bit further, I promise.”

Reluctantly, I nudged Majesty forward. We walked our horses in silence for a while. Occasionally, I glanced over at Raydir who looked more exhausted with each step.

“You didn’t sleep did you?” My voice was quiet to avoid hearing the evident quiver.

“Last night? Of course I did.”

I shook my head. “No, you didn’t. Not after the nightmare. When we fell back asleep, you stayed awake.”

“Someone had to keep watch,” he mumbled. “I wanted to make sure no one was following us.”

“Ray, we’re almost five full days out from the dukedoms. If someone was following us, we would’ve known by now.” I pushed my arm out in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. “What’s the real reason?”

“To protect you.” Fear swam in his eyes. “Arwyn, that nightmare scared me to my core. I can’t bear the thought of ever hurting you, ever losing you.”

“And you won’t. I promise.” I kissed his cheek, and we continued on our way.

A few hours later, we arrived at the edge of the valley. A protection barrier in front of us shimmered a rainbow of colors. They really did want to keep this valley away from the non-wolf community of the dukedoms.

“I guess this is it,” I said. “Once we go through, there’s no turning back.”

Raydir nodded. “Then let’s do this.”

I reached my hand out, and the barrier rippled as we stepped through. Several men and women stepped forward, aiming bows and arrows right at us.

Not the warm welcome I was expecting, I thought to myself as Raydir squeezed my hand. So here goes nothing.

“Um, hi!” I called cheerfully, waving. “I’m Lady Arwyn of Gwyniar and this is Lord Raydir of Alvenora. We’ve come here—”

“We know why you’re here,” a voice boomed from one of the hilltops. A tall man stepped forward. “Arabella was your sister.”

My mouth dropped open. “Y-you’re Bennett.” After all of the times that Arabella had talked about her ‘prince charming’, I had never once actually met him. He was like his own fairytale, and sometimes I wondered if he really existed. And when I realized how much he loved Arabella, I wished every moment forward that I would find my prince charming some day.

He inclined his head to me. “I was her fiance.” He stepped forward, beckoning to one of the women who stood by his side. “Rosamund, take these two to a cabin. And welcome to Darqua.”