Chapter Seventeen: A Warning in the Wind
The feather burned in her hand.
Not in flame — but in memory. She had seen one like this before, years ago, tucked inside her mother's journal. Her mother had been a healer, not a warrior. But some truths had been buried deep.
Too deep.
Rina sat by the fire that night, the feather resting between them as Kael sharpened his blade. The soft scraping of steel filled the silence.
"You recognize it," he said.
Rina nodded. "My mother had one. She never told me where it came from… only that it meant danger. Old blood. Forbidden magic."
Kael's hand paused.
"Rogues?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No. This isn't theirs. It's older than them."
Kael's golden eyes narrowed. "Witchcraft."
She looked up sharply. "You believe in that?"
"I believe in anything that threatens you."
The next morning, a storm rolled in over the mountains, violent and unseasonal. Lightning split the sky as wolves hurried to secure the village. Rina moved among them, calm but watchful.
A young wolf ran to her, out of breath. "There's someone at the warding line. She won't cross."
Rina and Kael arrived moments later. The woman on the far side of the boundary wore a cloak of raven feathers and a silver ring twisted with runes. Her eyes were green — eerily like Rina's.
"I bring a message for the Alpha-mate," the woman said, voice dry as wind through dead leaves.
Kael stepped forward, protective. "You'll speak through me."
But the woman's eyes never left Rina. "She is not just your mate anymore. She is marked. The curse is waking in her blood."
Rina's heart thundered.
"What curse?" Kael demanded.
The woman smiled, slow and knowing. "Ask her mother's bones. Or let me in, and I'll tell her everything."
Then she vanished — as if swallowed by the wind.
That night, Rina stood before the hearth, hands shaking.
Kael placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "You don't have to carry this alone."
"She knew," Rina whispered. "My mother knew what I was. She kept it from me. From everyone."
Kael turned her to face him. "Whatever comes, you face it with me. We don't break. We rise."
And in that moment, wrapped in his arms, Rina didn't feel cursed.
She felt chosen.