Chapter 2

I didn't open my phone until the next afternoon.

The group chat was past a hundred unread messages.

I tapped Sienna’s audio note. Her voice was light, accompanied by the rustle of her tail.

"Gale, I changed the mating chant for the entrance. The one you chose was too heavy. A mating ceremony should have some rhythm."

Right below it, Reid’s text: Agreed. The old one didn't fit.

But the old chant was the one my parents had shared before they went cold. It was the only trace of their scent they had left me. Reid knew that. Sienna did too.

Sienna’s text followed: Gale doesn't really care about these details anyway. She doesn't understand them. We'll handle it.

Reid: Right.

I stared at the screen.

Nobody in the chat asked why my icon remained silent.

...

I opened my direct messages with Reid.

The last text was from the night before the fitting.

I had written: The ceremony date is too close. I felt kind of nervous.

He had sent a head-pat sticker.

Nothing else.

No follow-up after I walked out of the store yesterday.

In the group chat, he had sent one message: What happened, Gale? Too nervous, so you went home early?

No one answered. I didn't expect them to.

Sienna had quickly posted a picture of herself in the gown with the tail ring glinting:

Fitting went great! Gown is locked in!

The thread immediately moved on to the floral arrangements and the feast menu.

My phone screen lit up with a video call from Sienna.

I swiped to answer. She was sitting in a high-backed chair, a stylist brushing out her copper ruff.

"Gale, you're taking too long with the stylist," she said, squinting at the camera.

"I went ahead and booked the lynx team. And I'm testing the look for you now."

I opened my mouth to speak.

I told you two weeks ago my friend from the northern ridge was doing my grooming.

Did you ever ask if I wanted a lynx to touch my fur?

But I said none of it.

I knew what Cole would say. "You're the eldest. Let your sister have her way."

Cole was my childhood friend, but his ears always twitched toward Sienna’s voice.

When Reid first began courting me, he said he liked my quiet nature. He called me steady. But after he met Sienna, he started talking different.

He started saying a she-wolf should be sharp, lively, and quick to show her teeth.

I remembered the night we were standing by the river boundary.

"Don't stand so close to her," I had said.

He laughed, rubbing the space behind my ears. "She's your sister, Gale. You want me to treat her like a stray?"

And that was that. No one brought it up again.

I looked out the window of my den. The sun was hitting the bare floorboards.

I remembered playing "Den and Territory" when we were cubs.

Every time they ran off to find a new clearing, they left the scattered pine needles behind.

I would gather them alone, packing them back into the basket.

No one ever looked back. They just left me alone.

They always did.