Page 36

The canyon is an entirely different beast in the rain. My paws slide out from under me, slick with mud, and the water funnels down into the crevice. The rain pounds into my eyes, instantly soaking my fur.

I can’t remember the last time it rained like this. Likely, it was when there was still a river cutting through this rock, the influx of rain helping it to cut through rock and earth and creating the canyon we’re racing through.

Veva is somewhere behind us. My mind flashes with the look on her face in that hallway. Not closed off, but distracted. No matter what happens with Sarina, I needed her to know.

Normally, Dorian is faster than I, but the fear of losing Sarina courses through me, pushing me faster, my paws hitting the ground with a rhythm that sends an itch through my bones.

When we emerge from the canyon, I skid around the corner, blinking fast to keep the rain from my eyes. The entire area is drowning in the scent of the Grayhides, the smell of it as strong as if it were in the rain itself, washing down over the muddy ground.

There’s a brief break in the rain, and I see her.

A small, copper-colored wolf, her fur glinting through the rain. It’s Sarina. Even through the rain, and even with the fact that she’s shifted, I know it’s her.

Because, for the first time since seeing her in the market, I catch her scent.

It nearly knocks me over, the realization that Sarina’s scent truly is a mixture of mine and Veva’s. Before, when Sarina said she was turning ten, I’d known. I’d known that Veva was lying to me about the truth.

But knowing then is not like knowing now. This knowing, of smelling my scent on that girl, knowing I’m half of the fabric of her—it settles into me. My family. My daughter.

And she is in the hands of another man.

Someone crouches, holding her body over his knees, cradling her, and fury rises up in the back of my throat, propelling me forward.

My daughter .

I’m flying toward her, ready to rip the man to pieces, until I see another shifter coming in from the left. And another from the right. The shifter with Sarina in his lap grabs her and stands, readying himself to fight.

Aidan , Dorian sends, flying up beside me, heading for the Grayhide on the right. You take left!

There’s no time to think, so I do what he says. I fly to the left, knocking into the shifter with all my force. His head slams against the rock, and he shifts back to man.

I make quick work of him, the warm, coppery taste of his blood like bile in my mouth when I clamp my teeth around his jaw and rip, pulling his throat clear from his body. I drop the pile of loose flesh to the rock with a smack and turn to my daughter again.

On the other side of Aidan and Sarina, Dorian is pinning the other wolf to the ground. He also gets his maw on the wolf’s neck, but he whips, hard, until there’s a faint crack and the wolf drops, spine splintered, lifeless on the ground.

Aidan is soaked, covered in blood, but I can smell that it’s his own, and not Sarina’s. I shift, fall to my knees beside him, and he hands Sarina over to me. I clutch her to my chest, the tension in my body unfurling when I realize she’s okay . Her heart beats steadily, her body warm against mine.

“ Sarina !” the scream that rips from Veva’s throat as she runs toward us is so full of emotion it mangles our daughter’s name, and she falls to her knees, hitting the ground so hard it makes me wince.

Veva has shifted back, and I move forward toward her, so we can hold Sarina between us.

“She’s alive,” I say, voice quiet, and I realize the rain is letting up, moving to a light drizzle. “She’s okay, Veva.”

“Oh, gods ,” Veva gasps, clutching the little wolf to her chest. She buries her face in the wet copper fur and cries for a moment, and I realize it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Veva cry like this.

Dorian is still in his wolf form, and he crouches down in front of us, his eyes meeting mine. Blue and serious, I know what he’s saying.

“Come on,” I say, lifting Sarina, watching as Veva’s hands still grasp for her. “Let Dorian take her back, she’ll get to the healers sooner that way.”

Together, we work to secure Sarina to Dorian’s back, then he’s off, making his way back toward the town. Even with Sarina on his back, he can move faster than us.

Veva and I are about to shift back when Aidan makes a small noise, and I turn to him, catching the wound on his side.

“Oh, shit ,” I hiss, and Veva turns, her mouth dropping open when she sees the large, basketball-sized chunk of flesh that’s missing from Aidan’s side, the puncture points of teeth clear as day with the way he’s lifted his arm.

He winces, drops his arm, shaking his head. “It’s…nothing.”

“You can’t shift back, can you?” I ask, when Aidan starts limping in the general direction of the town.

“It’s fine,” he grinds out. “I’ve been wanting a nice walk.”

“No way,” Veva reaches out, grabs my arm, gestures to him. We’re both thinking the same thing—Aidan might not even make it back to town, with how much he’s bleeding.

I catch Aidan by his healthy arm and keep him from walking away, and when he turns to me, I see just how pale his face is.

“Get him on the ground,” Veva says, rubbing her hands together. We’re still in the mud, but Aidan lowers to the ground with my help, not complaining about the suck of the mud against his back.

“I’m not a healer,” Veva says, shaking her head as she crouches down. “But I think I can patch this up…enough.”

“You don’t have to—”

Veva shakes her head, already raising her hands, and I feel the hum of magic in the air around us.

“Aidan,” she chokes, briefly lifting her eyes to the horizon. “You saved our daughter. I’m saving you . Got it?”

He laughs, then winces, even more color draining from his face.

“Trust me,” I joke, “it’s not worth it to go up against her.”

“Okay,” Aidan laugh-sighs, letting his eyes drift to the sky. He smiles slightly, looking like he might fall asleep. “I won’t.”

***

“He’s going to be just fine,” the healer says, wiping her hands with a cloth as I walk into the room. “Nasty bite, but your mending saved him. Even if it wasn’t pretty.”

“Oh, thank the gods,” Veva sighs, dropping her head into her hands. She sitting at Sarina’s bedside, watching our daughter sleep.

Sarina shifted back when the healers got her, going through the excruciating pain of her first shift after the whole ordeal. According to the healers, she’s going to be just fine. One of them said she’ll have a pretty interesting story to tell.

When the healer leaves, I take a seat on the other side of Sarina’s bed, staring at her. At once, I’m hit with the grief of the years I’ve missed. Seeing her as a chubby toddler, watching her eat solid foods. Teaching her to read, seeing her climb and run.

“I’m sorry, Emin,” Veva says, surprising me by being the first to speak. When I meet her gaze, she’s staring at me intently. “I should have responded to you earlier, I was just so…”

I wave a hand, “It’s okay. It was a lot. It was just important to me that you knew.”

Veva nods, reaching out and taking one of Sarina’s hands in hers. She sucks in a breath, then meets my eyes.

“And you…still mean it?”

“Veva,” I let out a little laugh, something between a breath and a sigh. “I will always mean it.”

“You will?”

Holding her gaze, I reach into my pocket, finding the velvet box, which is slightly matted from all the rain. I pull it out, open it, and set it on the bedspread facing her.

She stares at it for a long moment, then lifts her head, finding my eyes.

“Is that…?”

“Yes.” I swallow, glance at the ring. “I’ve been wanting to ask you since the moment I first saw you at that market, Veva. Even if Sarina…even if she wasn’t mine, I’d want her, because she’s a part of you. And I want every part of you.”

A tear slips down her face, and she reaches across the bed, taking my hand in hers, so she’s holding Sarina in one palm and me in the other.

“I want that, too,” Veva says. “Every part of you. I want us to stay, to be a family together. I never thought I would say it, but…Ambersky is my home. And I love being here with you.”

“Okay, then.” My words are soft, and I glance at the ring again. “Veva Marone, will you marry me?”

She lets out a little choked sound, burying her face in her shoulder for a moment. Then she whirls around, looking at her other hand. I see Sarina squeeze it in a pattern—one-two, one-two.

“ Sarina ,” Veva gasps, turning and cupping Sarina’s face in her hands. “Oh, hey baby. Do you want some water—?”

“ Mom ,” Sarina laughs, looking over at me with an eyeroll that says can you believe this woman ? “I want you to say yes to Emin’s question.”

I bite my tongue, bite back the impulse to ask her to call me something else. Not Emin—Dad. But I know that will come later.

“Oh,” Veva laughs, her hands shaking as she runs them down her shirt. “Okay. I mean—of course it’s a yes. It’s a yes , Emin.”

Smiling, I take the ring, lift her hand, and slide the ring onto one shaking finger. Time pauses, and we stay like that for a moment, our hands together, our gazes locked.

“Okay,” Sarina rasps. “Great job. Now, actually, I do want some water.”