Chapter 2 What's Left

Wren didn't sleep. She lay on top of her covers still wearing the claiming dress, because taking it off felt like admitting the night had actually happened, and some stubborn part of her wanted to pretend it hadn't. By the time grey light crept through her window, she'd stopped pretending. The dress was ruined anyway. She'd torn the hem walking home, catching it on a root in the dark, too numb to notice until she was already inside. She peeled the dress off slowly and left it crumpled on the floor. Downstairs, her mother was already at the stove, back turned, shoulders drawn up around her ears like she was bracing for something. She didn't say good morning. She didn't say anything at all. "You could have said something," Wren said. "Last night." Her mother's spoon stopped moving in the pot. "What was I supposed to say, Wren?" "I don't know. Something." "Kade is the Alpha's son." Her mother said it like it explained everything, like it was a wall Wren was supposed to understand not to push against. "You think I could have stood up in the middle of that ceremony and told him no?" "I'm not asking you to have fought him. I'm asking why you didn't even look at me." Her mother finally turned around, and for one second Wren saw something crack in her face, something that might have been shame. Then it was gone, folded back into the same tired blankness that had followed Wren through most of her life. "Eat something. You'll want your strength today." Her mother set a bowl down on the table without looking at her, hard enough that broth sloshed over the rim. She wiped her hands on her apron and turned back to the stove. Wren didn't touch the bowl. She left the house twenty minutes later and headed for the training grounds, because staying inside one more hour felt like it might actually kill her. The whispers started before she reached the gate. Two wolves broke off their conversation the moment she came into view, eyes dropping to the ground, feet shuffling back a step to let her pass. "There she is." "Can you imagine waking up this morning knowing your own mate did that to you? In front of everyone?" "I heard the Alpha Prince is already moving Selene into the east wing." Wren kept walking. She'd gotten good at this over the years, the trick of hearing every word and reacting to none of them, but this morning the wall she usually put up felt thinner. Cracked in places. A girl she barely knew, someone two years younger who trained on the far side of the grounds, actually laughed out loud as Wren passed, a short ugly bark of a sound, quickly muffled behind a hand. Wren's face burned. She didn't stop walking. Near the sparring ring, a small girl she used to watch on festival nights tugged her mother's sleeve and pointed. The mother grabbed the girl's wrist, yanked it down fast, and steered her toward the far side of the ring without a word, without once meeting Wren's eyes. Wren found an empty patch near the tree line and started running through her forms alone, because at least her body still knew what to do even when the rest of her didn't. Strike, pivot, strike. She hit the training post harder than she needed to, again and again, until her knuckles ached and her breath came ragged and for a few minutes the whispers in her head were drowned out by the sound of her own fists. "You're going to break your hand doing that." Wren spun around, fists still raised, heart slamming. She lowered them slowly when she saw who it was. Selene stood a few feet back, arms crossed, dressed like she hadn't spent the previous night watching her sister get destroyed. If anything, she looked better than usual. Rested. Glowing. "What do you want," Wren said flatly. "To see how you're doing." Selene's mouth curved, not quite a smile. "You disappeared so fast last night. I wanted to make sure you were all right." "I'm fine." "You don't look fine." Selene's gaze dropped, slow and deliberate, taking in the sweat, the torn hem still visible where Wren hadn't fully hidden it, the raw skin on her knuckles. "You look like you didn't sleep at all." "Funny. Neither did you, probably. Too busy celebrating." Something flickered behind Selene's eyes, there and gone so fast Wren almost missed it. Almost. "You should be happy for me." "Should I." "Kade and I are good together. We always were." Selene stepped closer, lowering her voice like she was offering comfort instead of aiming a blade. "This isn't personal, Wren. He just needed someone who could actually stand beside him. Someone the pack would be proud of." Wren's jaw tightened. Her hands curled at her sides. "Get away from me," she said quietly. Selene's expression didn't change. She reached out instead, fingers brushing Wren's arm, light as a whisper. "I only want what's best for you. Truly." Wren jerked back before she could stop herself, and the movement was sharp enough that Selene's hand fell away and her mask slipped, just for a second, just long enough for Wren to see the flash of real irritation underneath. The mask went back up almost instantly. Selene smoothed her skirt, tossed her hair, and turned to go. "Oh," Selene said, pausing, not quite looking back. "The Alpha's called a pack meeting for sundown. Wedding announcement. You should be there." "Why would I be there." "Because everyone will notice if you're not." Selene's smile was back in full now, sweet and poisonous. "And you wouldn't want them thinking you couldn't handle it." She walked away. Wren turned back toward the training grounds to gather her things. That was when she saw him. A stranger stood at the far edge of the clearing, half-hidden in the shadow of the pines, watching her with an intensity that made the hair rise on the back of her neck. Tall. Unfamiliar. Dressed like he belonged to no pack she recognized, and carrying himself like a man who had never once been laughed at in his life. He didn't look away when she caught him staring. He didn't smile either. He simply held her gaze, steady and unreadable, until a low growl rippled through the wind, one Wren felt in her bones before she consciously heard it. Behind the stranger, half-swallowed by the tree line, something enormous shifted in the shadows. Not a wolf. Something else.