Candace
Four months after Anwen left to become Alpha King of Sundrop, I struggle to focus on the embroidery in my lap as the carriage bounces along a rutted road.
"She was here for a week!" Ingrid laughs. "You can't be that excited to see her again."
I stick out my tongue at my younger sister. "How do you know I'm not excited to see Anwen and Estrella again?"
"Because you've been up in the rook, sending letters back and forth with Lady Eva every fucking week?" Finn replies.
Ingrid and I both flinch at his profanity. That feels sillier and sillier, the more time passes since Kieran took the throne. It was Mother's rule-fine ladies do not swear, nor do they endure swearing. But it's an old habit that's dying harder than I hoped.
"We're friends," I mumble. "It's not my fault you didn't meet anyone when all the delegates were here."
Finn scoffs, but there's nothing he can say to that. He didn't meet anyone. And Ingrid, as usual, didn't even try. I don't know why. She's beautiful, talented-everyone would love her. But every time people start showing up at the castle, Ingrid basically locks herself in her room until they leave.
I rub my temples. A headache brews behind my eyes, and I wonder if I'll have the dream again tonight. For two weeks, almost every night, it's been the same. Just like before Raven's Haze, I'm in the forest. I think it's the one outside the castle, but there's something weird about it. I haven't been able to put my finger on what. But in this forest, the Haze descends. And then... there he is. My mate. Huge and powerful against the trees, his coat so dark I can't tell whether it's black or something else in the night. I put my hand on his shoulder-and it's sticky. When I pull my hand back, it's covered in blood. And then I wake up.
Ingrid nudges me. "You all right?"
I nod and pick up my embroidery again.
'Do you see that?' Kieran asks through mind-link.
He and Raven rode ahead of the rest of us. She needs to set up some kind of supplies or something-I've really been trying to pay attention, but it's hard to understand when she gets excited about this potion she and Estrella have been working on.
'No?' Finn replies.
I try to peer through the curtains, but it just looks like every other bit of rocky land we've passed through since leaving for the border of Escuro.
'What is it?' I ask.
'It looks like the Haze.'
My stomach drops. That's not possible. I just turned twenty-one a couple of weeks ago. I figured the dream was... I don't know, an early warning. There was no sign of the Haze rolling in.
'That should make things more exciting,' Raven says tiredly.
She really shouldn't be out here in the first place. She's almost seven months pregnant, and sure, the nausea has stopped, but she's as big as a boulder and just as slow. But of course, she refused to wait when she had the ability to help her people.
It was Anwen's idea to invite all the other kingdoms. He and Estrella were already going to be there representing Sundrop, so he said it was only reasonable to make it an international event. A formal gesture of peace. So the Haze is rolling in right before a dozen or more kingdoms arrive.
I fix my hair, like the other delegations can already see me, and wish I could see the color of my mate's pelt in the dreams.
***
When the carriage finally rolls to a stop, Finn and Ingrid pile out. It takes a lot of focus not to grab Ingrid and fix her dress and hair as well. But she's nineteen now. Old enough to make her own decisions. So I sit alone in the carriage, fixing myself in a small hand mirror until I'm perfect.
I snap the mirror shut, climb out, and am immediately greeted by a flurry of deep blue fabric. When it wraps itself around me, I recognize Eva by smell-cinnamon and jasmine, underpinned by the iciness of all Snowcrest nobles, like the scent of the air a few hours before it snows.
"I missed you!" she squeals.
I hug her back. Ingrid accuses me of being overly social, but very rarely do I connect with someone like I did with Eva. "I missed you. There's been no one to talk to about the birds around the castle."
Even though I can't see her, I can feel Ingrid roll her eyes. She also says birdwatching is weird and lame.
"By the Goddess, do I have things to tell you." She pulls back and grins at me. "The sparrows started migrating early."
"Really?"
Before she can reply, a hush sweeps over the crowd. Snowcrest isn't the only delegation here, judging by the assortment of colorful tents I can barely see through the fog already collecting-the Haze is going to happen tonight. I'm sure of it. And the only thing that can make everyone fall silent at once trundles up behind me.
A heavy-looking, barred prison wagon. Raven had one additional request-that Mother witness the revitalization of Escuro with everyone else. She can't show Father anymore, but she admitted to me that she needed the people who did this to know their stain on the world could be removed.
Eva blinks and turns to Hollis. Through the angle of the sun, I didn't even realize he was standing next to her. He doesn't look at me-he's always a tough nut to crack, but he's got a nice laugh when I do-and his face is as impassively unimpressed as usual.
I don't want to hear their thoughts. While she's distracted, I slip away to find our tent.
***
That night, I lay on my cot, trying to drown out the first howls splitting the night with my thoughts. I am stronger than the fire trying to burn me alive from the inside out. I am-
'What are you doing?' Ingrid asks.
Wasting my time. Like a chisel in the dam of my self-control, Ingrid's question sends me flying out of bed, shedding clothes in my wake.
'Good luck!' she calls.
But I can't hear her anymore. I can't hear anything but my thudding heartbeat and the howling. Fire burns through my chest and out, throwing me into a shift. Fine, white fur explodes out of my skin. My smell sharpens to almost painful clarity. I never realized the Haze itself had a scent, something cool and pleasant like clean water or fresh clothes. Instinct sends me pounding away from the tent, one among dozens, maybe hundreds of young wolves.
I follow my nose.
Nothing appeals to the east, where the bulk of Escuro is staying. Nor to the west, where most of the delegates-
There. Pine, amber, snow. I turn to the north and sprint toward my mate.
Time ceased to mean anything as soon as I shifted, but I can feel it stretching. It is taking a long time to reach him, longer than it should. In the morass of instincts and want, I just put my nose to the ground and run faster. His scent grows more intense with every step. He has to be here. I can almost taste him.
I explode into a clearing at the same moment he does. He's exactly as I dreamt him, and I can't imagine waiting, trying to find a tent now. Still in a daze, lost in the Hazy, I shift into my human form skid to a stop in front of him.
Just like in my dream, I put a hand on his shoulder. Just like in my dream, it comes away sticky. Before I can worry, he shifts and crushes his mouth onto mine.
He tastes even stronger than he smells. I lick along his lips, trying to soak up every morsel. He opens his mouth and plunges his tongue into mine, possessive and insistent. His muscles tense as he wraps his arms around me-he's strong, even as a human. He lifts me, and I wrap my bare legs around his waist. My center rubs against the ridged surface of his stomach, sending sparks I've never felt before skittering through me. I moan, and he groans in response.
The world shifts, and I realize he's laying us down in the grass. My back touches the dew. I cling to him, digging my nails into his skin to make sure he can't release me. I can't let him. I need him.
Thick fingers swirl across the apex of my legs, and I nearly scream. I've never even touched myself before, but he feels so right. I roll my hips into his touch.
He growls and rips himself away from my mouth to bury his face between my legs. The touch of his tongue is even more intense than his fingers, more targeted on the spot that makes me see stars and babble wordlessly.
I scream, and my whole body tenses as hot, bright pleasure rips through me. But the Haze isn't done with either of us yet. He lowers my hips back to the grass, and I throw myself at him before he can even think to stop. We tumble to the ground together, and I land on top. That fire inside me burns even brighter as I take in the array of shallow scratches covering his arms and part of his chest, all dribbling blood.
A howl tears from my human lips. Whoever hurt my mate is in danger. Just as soon as I finish making him mine.
I line my hips up with his and spear myself on him. There's a single second of pain as I stretch to fit-then, nothing but the scent of him and fire. He grabs me and lifts me, then drops me back down. More want sears through me. With a roll of my hips, I let him fuck himself with my body. Being handled like this is tantalizing, spurring me ever higher.
His rhythm grows uneven. He releases one of my hips and fists a hand in my hair to pull my torso down against his. I immediately put my mouth on him. His blood turns his taste to copper, but I won't let go. Not when I can feel a second peak curling in my gut, when he cups one of my breasts and plays with it like a toy.
He grunts. His body goes stiff. And his teeth sink into the skin around my collarbone with a rush of sweet pain. With it, I careen over the edge and bite into the meat of his shoulder.
Euphoria washes through me. I slump onto his chest, boneless, and instantly fall asleep.