Light. Heat. A searing pain at my wrist that made me cry out. The bond—already humming with James, already reaching toward the feral—tore openin a new direction. I felt the stranger flood into my awareness—shock, confusion, a desperate longing he didn't understand—all of it pouring through a connection that hadn't existed three seconds ago.
The mark on my wrist blazed white.
I looked down. Watched a third arc carve itself into my skin, joining the other two—still not touching, but closer now. Three curves. Three mates.
The wolf had gone still.
Completely, utterly still. His yellow eyes were fixed on my wrist, on the glowing mark, on the evidence of what had just happened. The snarling had stopped. The thrashing had stopped. He was just... staring.
And through the bond—through all of them now, James and the feral and this stranger whose hands were still gripping my arm—I felt something shift.
The feral wolf's presence, distant for days, suddenly surged forward. Not attacking. Not retreating.
Recognizing.
"Lumi." James's voice was strained. "Your wrist."
I couldn't answer. The pain was fading, but the mark still glowed faintly—three arcs, almost touching, branded into my skin.
The stranger—Dr. Holloway, I remembered, he'd said his name in the doorway—released my arm like I'd burned him. He stumbled backward, staring at his own hands, then at me, then at the mark.
"That's not possible," he said. His voice was hoarse. "I've never—I didn't—"
On the bed, the wolf made a sound.
Not a growl. Not a snarl. Something smaller. Questioning.
His yellow eyes moved from Holloway to James to me, and for the first time since the mountain, I saw something human looking back.
Something that recognized me.
Something thatknew.
"Holy shit," James whispered.
The wolf's gaze dropped to my wrist. To the mark. To the three arcs that proclaimed what we all were to each other.
Then he laid his head down on the bed, pressed his muzzle against my thigh—
And his body began to shake.
Not trembling.Shifting. The ripple of fur receding, bones cracking and reforming, the sounds I'd heard when James transformed but slower, more deliberate.
I watched, frozen, as the wolf disappeared.
And a man took his place.
He followed her voice out of the dark.If he can’t remember who he is—or learn to share her—he’ll lose her forever. Start reading Northern Light, Book 2 in the Frosthaven Academy Northern Series now.
Can the feral learn to share . . .or will instinct win?
Read his POV bonus scene.
Chapter twenty-four
Memo from Headmaster Twilson
To:The Council
