CHAPTER 1

Even though it's a story that's been told to me a thousand times, I

cannot deny the swell in my throat when I think of my mother. It's

an unquenchable inferno of pain, and agony, and memories, that I

block off with a fractured wall. No weakness. Strength, only.

"Fight me," I say aloud, eager for a reprieve from this torturous

wait. Sage furrows his eyebrows in hesitance.

"Go on, fight me," I repeat when Sage doesn't move. My fingers

latch onto his jacket as I tug him from the ground forcefully. Since

his own Change two months ago, Sage has been wary to spar with

me. It takes time after the Change to know your own strength, and

I see his fear in injuring me.

"We've been through this. I'm not a pane of fragile glass, ready to

shatter when I do fall. Besides, now fighting you is finally

somewhat of a challenge," I tease. His lips curve into a reluctant

smile as I guide him to a larger patch of grass.

"Fine. As you wish, princess."

A low growl rumbles in the base of my throat, I hate when he calls

me that. And he knows it too, but it provides enough fuel to

empower my strength as I take stance - my right knee bent just

slightly as my left holds my weight, fists clenched and mind ready.

Sage has the advantage of sight amidst darkness, but I don't let

that intimidate me.

Searching for strengths in your opponent only highlights your own

weaknesses.

I know his body well; his broad shoulders and protruding muscles

give him the strength to crush me beneath his fingers if he so

much as decided it, but the extra mass only slows him down.

He charges at me, kicking his legs in the air one after another in a

tornado-formation as his boot looms toward my temple. His body

soars high, and I crane my entire body backward to dodge the

oncoming kick. Thrusting the palm of my hand against the base of

his throat, Sage falls to the ground heavily, gripping onto his neck

as the breath leaves his lungs and catches in his windpipe.

As a child I realised I wouldn't be able to defeat my opponents on

strength alone. And as a woman, I would always be viewed as less

than threatening to the other Lupina brutes. My interest in human

anatomy burgeoned. As well as weaknesses which I could

physically see, I wanted to learn those vulnerabilities that lay

beneath the skin.

"Fighting dirty, as always. You know it's cheating, Kade," he chokes

out through a playful smile. I wink, before throwing my foot

towards the base of his stomach. He rolls away from my kick

suddenly. My eyes widen once he latches his fingers onto my

ankle, pulling me down to earth. I feel my body smack against the

dirt and I crawl backwards from Sage—who now has the upper-

hand. He throws himself towards me, eager to trap me beneath his

weight, but I bring my knees to my chest and place my feet against

his shoulders before thrusting outward, and Sage, off of me. He

staggers backwards from my blow, and I quickly advance on his

momentary pain and pin him under my own bodyweight.

"Do you think the Pantera will play nice when you're faced with

them on a battlefield?" I question lightly.

My weight alone can't trap Sage, so I dig my forefinger into the

skin by his ribs at another pressure point. If he tries to rise, he'll

experience an excruciating pain. Details that would make my

methods sound a little gory.

He throws his head back in realization and laughs, he knows my

move well. The heat of his body beneath mine makes me forget all

about the wind's bitterness, the way the tendrils of its chill wraps

itself around my spine. I tighten my legs around his waist, leaning

forward and whispering into his ear, "I win."

Sage chuckles and, whilst still remaining on his back, brushes the

back of my knee with his fingertips lightly, causing me to squeal

and release him as the tickle of his feather-light touch leaves me

weak to the overthrow. And now he's the one on top of me, his

legs on either side of my body, looking down into my eyes as his

lips form a merciless smile. My heart sinks when he encloses my

wrists with his deathly grasp and I cannot move.

"Sorry, princess. I'm afraid I win this time."

The hollow feeling in the pit of my heart isn't from losing the battle,

but from the acknowledgement that as of tomorrow, Sage might

not be in my life anymore. He, too, is a constant in my life I've

never imagined living without, never even considered it a

possibility. As if sensing my thoughts, he rolls off of me and

flashes me a piteous look.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure after tomorrow you'll be kicking my ass

again in no time. You're still the strongest human I've ever fought,"

he offers. I force a smile and know it's a weak attempt at easing

my nerves.

But those thoughts are malignant, and should I search for them,

they're all I'll ever see.

My body stills hums with the adrenaline of our fight, it moves

along my body like an electric current and ignites my soul. We both

stare up at the moon which now has reached the point at which it

will begin to sink beneath the horizon line and dip back into the sea

—that half-way mark that unfolds the sky as another day passes.

Sage's blonde hairs shimmer beneath the glow of night, and the

glint of his teeth flash as he smiles at me. My own hair swallows

the light hole, traps it in the clench of dull darkness. I wonder if

that too will change as I Change.

"Happy birthday, Kadence," Sage says. My heart twists and tightens

in my chest as nerves maliciously claw away at me. My eighteenth

birthday. When the moon rises once more, that is when I'll know

whether or not I will finally become the one thing I've trained to be

my entire life, whose history I've studied since I first learned to

read, whose world I've grown to love. My world. The only world I've

ever imagined living in.

A human life is not for me, but if I don't Change, that's the only

option I'll have. To become an outcast, to forget my entire family,

to forget their secrets and the magic of Skinwalkers. If I even so

much as whisper a word of what I've seen, I will be killed

immediately—daughter or no daughter of Aaron Riley.

"Kadence!" I hear from behind me, suddenly jolting me from my

thoughts. I turn to see my younger sister, Clara, running up the hill

to the View. The 'View' isn't a very original name for the cliff me

and Sage often sneak off to, but it's something that began from

the breath-taking sight once you'd stand at its edge. I always prefer

it at night. The sky becomes a purple glow for a canvas, little

specks of stars and street lights scattered across the horizon. It's

a constant reminder that even in darkness, light will always rise to

meet it.

"K-Kadence," Clara mutters breathlessly as she nears us. Sage and

I rise to our feet as my sister grips onto her chest, as if she's at

the finishing line of a triathlon.

"Breathe, Clara. What is it?" I question, noticing the panic etched in

the creases of her forehead. All humour of the night suddenly

becomes extinguished.

"Must...come home...Pantera sightings," she splutters out. I look to

Sage, whose face darkens from her words. Last time the Pantera

ventured onto wolf territory, my mother was killed—a ploy to

weaken my father. I remember the oozing, sticky substance, the

metallic and sickeningly sweet smell of blood, the dark strands of

human hair mixed with wolf as they caught her mid-change, the

blankness in her eyes as I found her lying in the woods. In the

span of seconds, they stole the light from her and replaced it with

a fog of nothingness; her soul tossed to oblivion.

I shake the images away. I won't think of the dead when I have the

living to worry about.

"Let's go," I say to Sage. He nods, and I run as fast as I can until

my lungs are burning and the human weaknesses infiltrate my

body, telling it to stop pushing so hard.

My sister trails behind as we dodge through the branches and

twigs scathing our path, so I grip onto her wrist and pull her with

the strength I have. We jump, duck, and trudge through the

remnants of trees. I listen to the rhythmic pace of our feet

crunching against the barren leaves. My sister's protests sound

from behind me, the harsh breath of forced air from the lungs.

Crunch.

The sound is foreign to our steady rhythm, that extra little beat

alien to our track —an injection of something that does not belong.

I grasp onto Sage's shoulders and stop both him and my sister

until we're frozen, and silence both consumes and spits us out.

Sage's eyes meet mine, and I know he has heard an extra

footstep. My sister's uneasiness heightens once we've stopped,

fear crawling across her face. She knows as well as I how

precarious life is for those who share a leader's blood.

My heart is out of my control now, throbbing wildly like an animal

released from its cage. My ears twitch when I listen for that extra

crunch once more. It could be something far less menacing than

Pantera, perhaps a rabbit or a bird, but can I risk it? Sage shakes

his head at me to say there's nothing there, and I know I should

trust his post-Change hearing above mine, but I can taste the

bitterness of danger on my tongue. He wasn't there when my

mother's body was found. He couldn't sense the cold scar of

danger in the surroundings. I can taste something reminiscent of

that in the air now.

"We have to get out of here," Sage's voice breaks through the

silence. I pause for a second and listen, intently, for that isolate.

My eyes dart throughout the forest, through the twigs and bark,

and I feel blind when my search turns up nothing. Silence. Never-

ending silence, but our ragged breaths and wild, beating hearts.

There are eyes on me; it's an irritation I cannot shake. The longer

we stay the more I feel drawn into madness by it.

We trudge through earth again until light cracks through the other

side of the forest and we're in my backyard. I can see some of the

clan inside through the window, along with my father. We burst

through the kitchen-door, my lungs ablaze and sweat sticking to

my forehead, along with my sister who looks like she might

collapse.

"Kadence," my father breathes out in relief as he wraps me in an

embrace. My body remains frozen and rigid as I inhale the scent of

my father, the familiar smell of musk and pine wrapping around

me. I'm glad to see him unharmed, but at least if he was hurt that

might explain why he sent my little sister out to come and get me

while the Pantera are on our territory. My human, fourteen year old,

vulnerable sister.

"Clara, can you go up to your room, please?" I flash her a weak

smile, and she plants her best frown before running up the stairs.

Pushing the guilt away, I glare at my father, then to the other clan

members. Tarin is here, my father's right-hand man who acts as

well as an advisor and long-time friend, along with three other

men: Lorcan, Samuel and Alan.

"Couldn't have come to get me yourself? Or at least one of them?"

I ask as I nod to the other four members in the room. My father

sighs as he readies his hands in the air, a mannerism of his when

he's about to explain himself. An elaborate explanation no doubt,

with concrete points and solid evidence. And he'll somehow

convince me that it's okay to put his other daughter at risk,

because she's not the one who will take over his leadership

someday, and she's not a warrior. Though he'd never directly use

the word 'expendable' I often see it flickering on the surface of his

tongue.

"Save it, just tell me what's going on," I bite back. Tarin steps

forward, a middle-aged man with greying hair and aged skin. Still

an excellent fighter nonetheless. Older Skinwalkers are few and far

between nowadays. He brushes his stubbly chin with the back of

his hand, as if he's about to break some bad news.

"Samuel and Lorcan caught sight of Pantera on the western

outskirts of the ravine only a half hour ago. I've sent some men to

survey the area again but it seems they couldn't find anything,

which means either they've turned around or are just too good at

hiding. I'm betting on the latter," Tarin's mutters, practically

spitting his distaste.

"The Pantera wouldn't cross our territory without an important

purpose, and they wouldn't be scared off by a couple of Lupina to

go abandoning that task," Alan adds, running a strong hand

through his carrot-red hair.

"How many were spotted? Were you attacked?" I turn to Lorcan

and Samuel whose faces represent the epitome of hatred. It's said

even the scent of the panthers can drive the wolves into a

maddened bloodlust, desperate to tear the flesh from their skin.

Both men's primal, animalistic instincts are raging and spreading

like wildfire.

"There were two of 'em. Ran away too quickly before we could

Change, the bastards didn't even bother to confront us," Lorcan

chokes out through his disgust, his Irish lilt only stronger with his

rage. His fingernails dig into our counter-top in frustration as he

struggles to grasp onto control, so instead he finds the nearest

tangible thing.

"They didn't come to confront us," my father says. He steps in

front of the men, concreting his leadership on the matter. Of

course, he's right. If they came to attack, then they would've

attacked without a single hesitation or doubt. No, there was

something on the tip of my father's tongue.

"What do you think they want?" I demand.

Now everyone in the room is looking at me, and finally, it hits me

like the descent of a torrential wave.

"You think they want me," I mutter in realization, followed by a

grunt of annoyance. Just brilliant, I almost say. My father nods,

and I look back at Sage and Clara. Both of them give me a grave

look, as if they're already mourning me. I huff, I won't let the

Pantera get to me.

"It is your eighteenth birthday, and you will lead the Lupina when

I'm gone. Makes sense that they would go after you before you

Change, while you're at your most vulnerable," he replies. It doesn't

go without my notice that my father seems so certain I'll Change,

the possibility that I could merely be a human isn't

comprehensible. Especially for our bloodline. Throughout the

years, the Rileys have had to marry those with an untainted family

tree. It was something that seemed very old-fashioned, if not a bit

ancient, but it was one of the most important rules a Riley had to

follow. There was uproar when he wed my mother, someone who

could possess a recessive gene, someone who could completely

corrupt the bloodline. But my father wanted her, and there was

nothing my father would not have.

If the Pantera did manage to get to me, then that could potentially

weaken the Lupina in the long-run. Leadership is obtained through

blood in our clan, and if I was suddenly out of the picture then

Clara would be forced to lead. I love my sister, but she's neither

the fighting nor the leading type.

"They won't strike during the day, they know we'll have the

advantage if they do, and they definitely won't attack in the

Clearing. That'd be suicidal, every single wolf will be there to

witness my Change."

Everyone in the room contemplates my words. Samuel and

Lorcan's jaws clench tightly as a muscle in their neck throbs in

anger. They need to kill something, anything, to release the tide of

rage bubbling fiercely inside of them.

"I'll protect her," Sage offers, stepping forward to be heard.

"Good. Alan and Sage will be by your side until there is no longer

any danger, Kadence."

I can protect my own god damned self, I want to say. But I bite my

tongue, because there's no use in protesting my father's words

when he's probably right. I won't be a fool out of pride or

stubbornness, even the best of my father's men would struggle

against Pantera. Alan nods and remains quiet, as he usually tends

to do.

I'm being followed around for a day while vicious Pantera threaten

my life to prevent a Change that, if doesn't occur, will outcast me

to an empty existence as a silenced human. How joyous.

"Oh, and Kadence," my father begins, resting a heavy hand on my

shoulder. I feel his cold breath on my neck as he speaks, words

built on a tower of expectations.

"Happy Birthday, my little wolf."