I walk slowly up to the nearest cave opening and put my palm flat on the stone. With the barest thought, a pulse of my magic echoes into the rock, and I sit down to wait. It isn’t long before three women appear in the passage.
“Grace,” the oldest woman smiles and opens her arms to me.
“Gretchen,” I cry, running to her. I throw my arms around her slender waist and hold her as tightly as I dare, tears streaming down my face.
I can feel the others hugging me, too, and their love sweeps through me.
I’ve come home. Finally, I’m coming home, and this time, I’m going to stay.
“My dear,” Gretchen says, pulling back to wipe the tears from my cheeks. “Whatever is the matter?”
“I’ve come to stay with you,” I almost gasp, forcing the words through my trembling lips. “It’s time, isn’t it? I can stay with you, finally? Please say I can.”
Gretchen frowns, and my heart shatters in my chest. I grab her thin hands, feeling her bones as delicate as glass in my grip.
How old is she, really? I’ve never asked.
Gretchen tilts her head and smiles. “I’m the first of the order, Grace. I’m as old as these hills we’re standing under. I thought you understood that?”
I shake my head, feeling fresh tears spilling down my cheeks. “Please, Gretchen, you don’t understand,” I say, beginning to babble. “This isn’t like those other times I asked to stay, I swear! It’s different. They are making me move to another pack, and—”
“Let’s sit down,” Gretchen says, tugging on my hands and leading me into the passage. She sits down on the soft earth, and I sit in front of her, taking her hands again. Beatrix, one of the other witches, and Kyra, the youngest but most powerful, sit on either side of me. Both of them wrap an arm around me, and I feel comforted, but far from safe.
The secret coven of witches made themselves known to me when I was only nine years old. I was running in the hills on a full moon, trying to force my body to shift. The witches found me and told me that I never would, and that my destiny was to be a great witch instead.
I begged them to let me stay then, but they said I was too young. A few years later, when my parents died, I asked again, and they still denied me.
In the years that followed, as the abuse worsened, I asked many more times, and they always said no. After Alisha arrived, I realized they had probably wanted me to wait for her and be able to teach her before I revealed the coven to her.
Surely now, I’m ready. I’m about to have my purity stolen by a man I don’t even know. My sisters can’t let this happen!
“Tell me, Grace,” Gretchen says.
I take a shuddering breath and begin to let the story out. “They are appointing a new pack. Members from all three will make up the numbers. It will be called Riverside, and it’s near Caliente. The alphas believe it will stop the infighting and bring stability and peace.”
“And it is a good plan,” Gretchen says. “Do you object to it?”
“No,” I answer, shaking my head. “I was chosen to go, and I don’t mind that at all. But—they have named me luna, dear sister, and I’ll have to marry a man I don’t even know!”
Gretchen’s hands tighten on mine, and the three witches share looks. A cold feeling settles into my stomach as I feel a silent conversation sweep right over my head.
“Grace,” Gretchen says, very gently. I shake my head violently and try to pull my hands away.
“No!” I cry. “Don’t say it, please don’t say it! Don’t tell me no—”
“I have to,” Gretchen says, holding my hands even tighter. “This is not your place.”
“Please,” I murmur, my head dropping against my chest as my shoulders fall, all the strength going out of my body. “Please let me stay.”
“Gracie,” Gretchen says, tightening her grip on my hands. “Look at me.”
I do, focusing on her incredibly pale, gray eyes that are a lot like my own. Even with the distance between us, she has been mother, sister, aunt—everything to me, and I thought she treated me as her own daughter.
“I’m sorry for your pain, Grace,” Gretchen says. “I really am. But you must marry this man.”
“What?” I choke out, staring at her in disbelief. “You can’t ask this of me.”
“It’s a great honor,” Kyra says, rubbing my shoulder. “You’ve been chosen.”
