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Here we were again at the point of impasse. He was a human. I was a Wolf. We would never fully understand each other’s lives. I knew Wolves had mistreated humans in the years since they banished the monsters and were placed on their thrones... but Wolves were not wholly evil as some humans thought. Long agohumans landed on our Wolf shores, and we’d guarded them from the harsh new world. We were once the humans’ saviors, protectors,Godsto them. What had happened along the way to change that? Where did it all go so wrong?

“So we are heading toward a secret road to Valta?” I tried to carry on the conversation, but it felt uneasy now with all the unspoken truths floating between us.

“It’s a commonly used farming route to deliver goods to Taigoska from Lower Valta,” Navin said. “It’s a secret only to Wolves through their own sheer ignorance.”

I grabbed him by the elbow right as he whirled toward me, those bronze eyes heated. I glowered back at him.

“I get it,” I said. “I get that you hate Wolves for all they’ve done to your people. There’s no need to dance around this anymore. I suppose men both Wolf and human alike are the same in one regard: you never say what you fucking mean.” My grip on his elbow tightened. “Do us both a favor and speak plainly: you hate them. And if you hate them, you have to hate me.”

I released him and took a single step before his hand shot out, his large legs easily outmaneuvering me and caging me in against the crumbling temple wall on the outskirts of town.

I could’ve ducked under his arms. I could’ve pulled out my knife. I could’ve tipped the balance of power once more in my favor... but I didn’t. I let him stand there, towering over me, leaning into me. A white-hot thrill ran down my spine, imagining what it would be like if he could truly overpower me.

“I never said I hated you.” His words were tight and barely restrained, the venomous warning of a scream.

There he was. The real him.

“But you hate everything that I am!” I shouted back, pushing further, not letting his closeness cow me. “Tell me, did you pursue me out of morbid curiosity? Was it a form of self-loathing? Was I some sort of oddity for you to explore? Some vile taboo conquest you could—”

His lips silenced me. His mouth collided with mine in ascorching kiss, and I instinctively rose up on my tiptoes to meet him. My fingers twisted in his cloak and tugged him closer as his tongue plundered my mouth. How could he keep pulling me in like this? What spell did he hold over me that so easily had my heart racing and my limbs buzzing?

Our kiss was more fevered and urgent than the one we’d shared many weeks ago. His teeth scraped over my bottom lip, sucking it into his mouth. The low hum he let out sounded like the last resonant note of a song. Then he pulled away, leaving me toppling forward, lips parted and breathless. I barely caught my footing, my body bending toward him with a fevered magnetism.

Navin took another step back, steam swirling around from our panting breaths, the distance making my cheeks heat in a furious blush. I swallowed the shame of that kiss, composing my expression into nothing but steel as I met Navin’s darkening gaze.

“I only knew I wanted you. That’s all,” he murmured. “Just you, Sadie.”

Just me.

He said it like I couldjustbe a human for him. As if I existed outside of anything else—no culture or kingdom or space—just me in isolation. But I didn’t exist like some faery floating in the ether. I was a product of all that I was raised to be. I was a product of my people, good or bad, evil or righteous, and whether I chose to carry on that legacy or not it still irrefutably existed within my blood. There were parts to me that I couldn’t deny, parts I didn’twantto deny. Navin needed to pretend I was a human to want me at all.

I held his stare, letting the primal ferocity of my kind leak into my expression as I said, “WhoI amis a Wolf.”

Then I ducked under his arm and moved with my true speed. He reached for me, but I quickly sidestepped him, reminding him that I was faster and stronger than I seemed, too. We would only play these games whenIallowed it. Let him never forget I was not some human girl that he could tower over and kiss if I didn’t want him to do exactly that.

As I raced over the frozen tundra, my thoughts became a tangled web. I wanted his secrets—needed them—for Calla, for Olmdere—but I couldn’t do it this way. I couldn’t open myself up to this man and guard myself from him at the same time. It had to be one or the other.

I found Maez whistling merrily as she milled about the wagon.

She raised her hand in a half wave. “Hey, I—”

“I can’t do this, Maez,” I said, my throat constricting. “Not like this.”

She spun on her heel and followed after me. “Okay,” she said in a calming voice, her swift change in tone denoting how much she sensed my jumbled mess of feelings. “Okay, Sads, we’ll find another way.”

Calla

I hung halfway out the window, watching the golden leaves dance down upon our convoy of mounted guards and carriages. It had taken three days to send word to Taigoska and assemble our traveling party. Three days we didn’t have.

Hector, Briar, and Mina had taken the front carriage, Grae and I behind. Four human guards rode ahead and in the rear. We were a formidable presence rolling through the small rebuilding villages of Olmdere, so it wasn’t surprising to see many citizens taking to the streets to wave; I returned each of their smiles and greetings long after my arm was numb and my lower back was aching. It was all a show. They saw this as a sign of our strength, or a return to what used to be. Yet, despite the gleaming carriages and gilded cavalry, I knew this little force wouldn’t be enough if the Silver Wolf pack somehow made it into Taigos. Four Wolves and five humans? Less a force and more a farce. Even with the hundreds of Ice Wolves at our side, the Silver Wolf pack was unparalleled in their fighting skill. I was trained by Vellia to be at their level, but there was only one of me. Grae and a few other Wolves had that training as well, but it wasn’t enough. I waved and smiled even as I was loath to admit that I’d need twice as many Wolf allies to win any real fight.

Grae hooked his finger into my belt loop and tugged me back inside, a golden leaf dancing through the window after me.

“One inch farther and I’d be hoisting you in by your ankles,” he said with a chuckle.

I picked up the leaf and twirled it by the stem. “We didn’t get to truly appreciate its beauty last time.”

He tensed. “Last time we were almost eaten by a juvleck.”