Severed Ties: Rise of the Silver Wolf novel · Chapter 3 of 48

Chapter 3: Come Home

Her mother begs in front of Strathmore wolves and the intern slot goes to Thea, not Daphne; Daphne grabs her wrist and Thea's strength drains out.

I got out of the truck in Ewan's coat and bare feet, and the gravel cut into them.

My mother ran at the gate.

Two Strathmore guards in grey jackets stepped across it, and she stopped with her hands out.

"Thea, baby, I know you're angry. I would be too."

She was crying so hard her mascara had run.

"But we can fix this. Daphne can't shift, the Elder's looking at her, the scouts are leaving. Please, come home."

I looked at my sister.

Daphne stood by the car with her arms wrapped around herself.

Her hair was flat, her face was grey, and she was shaking.

She looked at me for the first time all night.

"Thea," she said. "I feel so cold. I tried to shift in the car and nothing happened. It's gone."

"It was never yours," I said.

I didn't know why I said it, only that it was true.

Daphne flinched.

"Don't be cruel," my mother snapped. The tears stopped. "Your sister is sick, and you're standing there in a stranger's coat."

"It's my coat now," I said.

A thermos came out of her purse.

It was the same battered green thermos I had carried to school for twelve years.

"Here. Have your tea. You've had nothing since last night."

She unscrewed the cap and held it out, and the bitter smell rose in the cold air.

My stomach turned.

I smelled it clearly for the first time in my life, and under the herbs there was something sharp and metallic.

"What's in it, Mom?"

"Just your tea."

"What's in it?"

Her smile didn't move.

"Honey, it's chamomile, and rosemary, and a little something the old women use for weak constitutions."

"I'm not weak," I said.

I took the thermos and poured it out on the gravel.

It steamed on the stones.

My mother made a small noise.

"Judith," my father said. He had stayed by the car, his big hands in his pockets, and he finally came forward. "Let's not do this in front of strangers."

"Alden Corvane," Ewan said, "you're standing on my land."

Dad stopped.

My father had never been afraid of anyone, but he took a step back.

"We want our daughter," he said. "She's eighteen and confused. She cut herself off in a moment of heat. You're an Alpha, you know that doesn't count."

"It counts," Ewan said. "The Elder read it out. The stone lit."

"She owes this family," Dad said, and his voice rose. "We fed her for eighteen years. We put a roof over her. And that sister of hers is the best thing that ever came to Pinecrest, and she needs her."

"Needs me for what?" I asked.

Nobody answered.

My mother's eyes went to Daphne.

Daphne's eyes went to the ground.

I stood there with the cold burning up through my feet and understood that nobody in my family had said the word sorry.

"No," I said.

"Thea," my mother begged.

"I said no. I'm going inside."

Behind Ewan the iron gate groaned open, and a tall woman in a grey Strathmore jacket came down the path with a clipboard.

She looked at me, then at the three of them.

"Alpha," she said. "The scouts met at five this morning. Greywater and Halloran withdrew their offers to the Corvane girl. Strathmore's internship slot goes to Thea Corvane."

She looked at my sister, not unkindly.

"Not to her. I'm sorry."

"What?" Daphne said. "That's mine. I was Alpha-grade. They wrote it on the board!"

"A board isn't a wolf," the woman said.

Daphne's voice cracked into a scream.

"You took it! You and your stupid Hearth Stone and your stupid blood, you took my wolf!"

"I took nothing."

"Liar!"

I turned my back on all of them and walked toward the gate.

I made it three steps.

A hand grabbed my wrist.

Daphne's fingers were icy.

I turned to tell her to let go.

Her eyes flashed gold.

It was only for a heartbeat, but I saw it, and I felt it too.

Something poured out of me through my wrist, hot and fast.

My knees buckled.

My sister gasped, and color rushed into her cheeks.

The last thing I saw was the gravel coming up at me.

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