Mira Ashwood's POV
The light faded as quickly as it came.
I blinked, trying to clear the spots dancing in front of my eyes. What just happened? One second, Shade Nightborne's fingers were reaching for me. The next, everything went white and bright, like someone set off a firework inside my brain.
Shade stumbled backward. His silver eyes went wide actually wide, like he'd just seen a ghost. The glowing tattoos on his arms flickered and dimmed.
"What are you?" he whispered.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My arm tingled where he'd touched me. It felt warm, like I'd been sitting in the sun for too long.
Around us, the rogue wolves started growling. One of them, a massive gray beast with scars across his face, stepped forward.
"Boss? You okay?" The wolf's voice was rough, like gravel scraping against metal.
Shade didn't answer. He just stared at me, his hand still raised in the air. For the first time since I'd seen him, he looked confused. Maybe even scared.
That made two of us.
"I didn't do anything," I said quickly. My voice came out shaky. "I don't know what that was. I swear."
Shade's jaw clenched. The confused look disappeared, replaced by something harder. Angrier. "Seize her. Lock her in the east tower."
"What? No!" I tried to scramble backward, but my legs were like jelly. "Please, I didn't mean to"
Two wolves grabbed my arms. Their claws dug into my skin, not enough to break it, but enough to hurt. They hauled me to my feet.
"Wait!" I struggled against their grip. "I'll leave! I'll go back to the village! You'll never see me again!"
Shade finally lowered his hand. When he spoke, his voice was ice-cold. "No one leaves the Mistwood. Especially not you."
They dragged me away from the clearing. I twisted and kicked, but it was useless. These wolves were ten times stronger than me. Behind us, I heard Shade giving orders to the others, but his voice got fainter and fainter.
The castle no, the citadel loomed ahead. It was made of dark glass and black stone that seemed to swallow the moonlight. Towers stretched up into the foggy sky like claws reaching for the stars.
They pulled me through a heavy wooden door, down a long hallway, and up a spiral staircase that went on forever. My legs burned. My lungs screamed for air. Finally, we reached a door at the very top.
One of the wolves shoved it open and threw me inside.
I landed hard on the stone floor. The door slammed shut behind me. I heard a lock click.
I was trapped.
For a long moment, I just lay there, breathing hard. My whole body ached. My dress was torn and covered in mud. My hair stuck to my face in gross, wet clumps.
This was it. This was how I was going to die. Locked in a tower in a haunted forest, caught by a crazy rogue king who thought I was some kind of freak.
A sob bubbled up in my throat.
No. I pushed myself up to sitting. I would not cry. I'd already cried enough tonight first at the festival, then in the truck. I was done crying.
I looked around the room. It wasn't what I expected. There was a bed with actual blankets, a small table with a chair, and a window that showed nothing but fog. In the corner sat a bucket of water and some clean cloths.
At least they weren't planning to starve me. Yet.
I dragged myself over to the water and washed the mud off my face and arms. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold the cloth. The tingling in my arm where Shade had touched me was getting worse. It felt like tiny lightning bolts zipping under my skin.
What was that light? Why did Shade look so shocked?
I didn't have any special powers. I was just an omega. The weakest kind of wolf. Everyone back home said so.
Home.
The word made my chest hurt. Did I even have a home anymore? Silas had rejected me in front of everyone. My own sister had stolen my mate. The whole pack had laughed at me.
Maybe being locked in a tower wasn't so different from being back in the village. Either way, I was alone.
I crawled onto the bed and pulled the blanket around my shoulders. Outside the window, the fog swirled and twisted like it was alive. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled.
I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, someone was shaking me awake.
"Get up."
I jerked upright. Shade Nightborne stood next to the bed, his face hard and unreadable. How did he get in? I didn't hear the door open.
"What do you want?" I scooted backward until my back hit the wall.
"Answers." He grabbed my wrist not the same arm as before, but my other one and pulled me to my feet. "You're coming with me."
"Where?"
"Somewhere you can't lie."
He dragged me out of the room and down the stairs. I tried to pull away, but his grip was iron. We went through hallways and down more stairs until we reached a huge room filled with books. Thousands of them, stacked on shelves that reached all the way to the ceiling.
In the middle of the room sat a strange mirror. It was taller than Shade, with a frame made of twisted black metal. The glass wasn't normal it rippled and moved like water.
Shade shoved me toward it. "Look."
"At what?"
"Just look!"
I stared into the mirror, expecting to see my reflection. Instead, I saw... memories.
The Harvest Moon Festival. Silas on the stage. But this time, I could see something I hadn't noticed before. Behind Silas stood my sister Elara. She was whispering something to him, her hand glowing with a weird purple light.
Magic.
"No," I breathed. "That's not possible. Elara doesn't have magic."
Shade's voice was quiet behind me. "Keep watching."
The scene changed. Now I saw Elara in a dark room, talking to people in hooded robes. They were giving her something a vial of glowing liquid.
"For the rejection ceremony," one of them said. "Make sure the alpha drinks this. It will bind him to our will."
Elara took the vial and smiled. "And once he rejects my sister, you can take her?"
"Yes. The Mirror-Touched girl will be ours."
The image in the mirror shattered.
I spun around to face Shade. "What does that mean? Mirror-Touched? What are they talking about?"
Shade's silver eyes bore into mine. "It means your sister didn't steal your mate because she wanted him. She did it to hand you over to a cult." He stepped closer. "It means you were never supposed to survive that festival. And it means that light you created when I touched you?"
He grabbed both my arms this time.
The room exploded with blinding white light again, but this time it didn't stop. It grew brighter and brighter, and I felt something inside me crack wide open like a door I didn't know existed suddenly burst off its hinges.
Power flooded through me. Real power. The kind that made my bones hum and my blood sing.
Shade's tattoos blazed so bright I had to squint. But he didn't let go. He leaned down until his face was inches from mine.
"It means you're the rarest creature in the supernatural world," he said. "And every monster out there is going to want you dead."