Ghostly Snow: A Dark Fairy Tale Adaptation (Girl Among Wolves Book 3)

by Lena Mae Hill

  “Fat lot of good it’s done,” Zora says. “She’s not even a wolf. I don’t know why she’s here.”

  It strikes me then, as I look at Astrid’s pinched, determined face, that she’s in the exact position I was in when I came here. The object of Zora’s scorn, a trespasser in the valley, at the mercy of her mother. A pang of sympathy goes out to her before I remember that I hate her.

  “I challenge you for leadership of this pack,” Harmon says, his voice rising over the others, commanding their silence. It strikes me how different he is than the night of the eclipse. He was a boy then. He’s a man now, ready for this role. Pride swells within me.

  He’s my man. My Alpha.

  “I accept,” Yvonne says, her lip curling.

  “I will fight as a wolf,” Harmon says.

  Yvonne is silent. A few of her supporters shift and exchange glances.

  A twitch below Harmon’s eye betrays his fury at this imposter trying to steal his pack, but the rest of his face remains blank. “Will you fight me as a wolf or a human?” he prompts.

  “A human,” she says decisively, and it strikes me that she may not be able to shift. She’s not a werewolf. I’m not sure if that magic lies in the body or the spirit, but I’m guessing by her answer that she can’t do it.

  A few of her supporters mutter in protest. She smiles slyly. “You’re going to rip apart a woman twice your age with your teeth? What a brave leader you are.”

  I open my mouth, my heart pounding, ready to warn Harmon. She’s going to pull some dirty trick, I can feel it. I should have warned him earlier. She always has something up her sleeve. But Elidi catches my wrist and silences me with a look. “You have to trust him,” she says. “He knows what he’s doing.”

  I swallow my resentment. She doesn’t know who he’s really up against. But I hold my tongue and force myself to watch.

  “You understand the terms of this match,” says the pack’s elder, an ancient-looking woman who I saw on my very first day here. “You may fight to the death or ask for the mercy rule and choose permanent exile from the Three Valleys, effective immediately. You may not go home first or collect your things. You must leave from the fight, in whatever condition you are in. You are thereby dead to us. No one in attendance may assist you if you choose this path. The Alpha who remains is our true Alpha and will retain the loyalty of every member of the pack.”

  “I understand,” Harmon says, his fists clenching and unclenching, his body almost vibrating with that uncontainable energy of his. He wants this. He’s waited so long, trying to be diplomatic, accepting my mother because she is a pack member. But now that he knows she’s not my mother, he can’t wait to destroy her.

  “I understand,” Yvonne echoes.

  “May our true Alpha win,” the elder says, stepping back to join the others. “Commence fighting.”

  Harmon instantly rips off his shirt and drops his shorts.

  “Oooh, goodie,” Xela says, gripping my hand. As Elidi grips my other arm, I can feel her shaking.

  Yvonne charges forward, her shoulder ramming Harmon’s middle. She grabs his arm and yanks him off his feet, flipping him over her back.

  “He hasn’t had time to transition,” I whisper, panic rippling through me.

  Instead of fighting back, he’s trying to shift into wolf form as quickly as possible. In these moments, he’s completely vulnerable. Yvonne hurls him to the ground, leaps on him, and grabs him in a headlock, twisting his head back so forcefully we can all hear bones snapping.

  A howl rips from his throat, and his jaws snap. Wolf jaws, I see with relief. For a strange moment, he’s that beast I fell in love with, half-human, half-wolf. Fur races along his bare legs, which are shorter than they were seconds ago, slimmer. His mouth is a wolf’s mouth, his human hair still thick on his rounded cranium.

  Yvonne squeezes her arms around his neck from behind and gouges at his eyes. His claws scrabble against her, shredding her sweater. With a last heave, his wolf emerges, and I let out a breath. My whole body is trembling, adrenaline coursing through me. If I need to jump in and defend him, I will, I don’t care what the wolf code of conduct says. He’s my mate, and I’ll die, too, before I let that bitch kill him.

  If she expected him to take it easy on her because she chose to fight as a human, she’s dead wrong. He squirms from her grasp and drops to the ground, then instantly spins and sinks his teeth into her thigh. She screams in pain and slams her fist into his skull. He jumps back, and my heart staggers at the dazed look in his eyes. She must have called on more than her ordinary human strength. Otherwise, she’s defenseless.

  By choice, I remind myself.

  Still, I flinch when he lunges at her and tears into her leg. Fabric comes away with flesh, and I squeeze my eyes closed. Elidi’s nails bite painfully into my arm. “Open your eyes,” she growls. “What will he think if he looks over and sees you won’t even watch him fight for you? He’ll think you think he’s a monster for killing your mother. Do you think that?”

  “No,” I say, forcing my eyes open. I’m just in time to see him knock Yvonne to the ground and go for her throat. But before he gets there, he stops short, as if pulling taut against an invisible leash. He lets out a howl of pain and fury.

  “She’s doing something to him,” I whisper, grabbing Elidi’s arm. “That’s not our mother. It’s a mirror.”

  Her eyes widen. “What?”

  “Harmon didn’t want to say anything, because she’d say he was making up stories, that it showed how crazy he was, or that he was afraid to fight her. We have no proof. But I know it. She told me, when she put me in that tree.”

  Elidi looks doubtfully at me and then the fight, biting her lip.

  A flash of horror goes through me when Harmon whines and backs off Yvonne, throwing his head back as if to howl. No sound comes out his muzzle. Is she trying to take over his body? What if she does? In a wolf’s body, she could kill anyone here. I’ve put every member of the pack in terrible danger.

  Harmon shakes his head and dives forward, snapping at Yvonne. But something is wrong. His eyes look unfocused, blind. She kicks at him, hitting him square in the chest.

  “She has been different,” Elidi admits. “But if it’s not her…”

  “Can I step in if she’s not really a wolf? It’s not a fair fight.”

  “No,” she says, her lips tightening. “He wouldn’t want you to. He knew, right? And still he chose a fight to the death. If you stepped in, you’d humiliate and emasculate him. You’d make him look weak in front of the pack. He’d never live it down.”

  Just then, Harmon lets out a roar of fury and leaps on Yvonne, knocking her to the ground again. In a blur of movement, he lunges for her throat and sinks his teeth into her jugular.

  I almost collapse, biting back the hysterical giggle of relief and victory threatening to bubble forth. He’s got her. I’m not the only one fighting the urge to cheer out loud. The crowd is mesmerized, their excited, wide eyes fixed on their leader. Elidi is holding her breath, biting her lip. A little girl shifts into wolf form in her father’s arms and yips until her mother shushes her.

  “It’s not over,” I remind Elidi, but I’m really telling myself, bringing myself back to the very real danger that remains. “She could take over his body, rip out his soul.”

  Elidi shudders, but her eyes are sparkling with exhilaration and pride as she watches Harmon pin the struggling sorceress. “This is pack life,” she says, her eyes riveted on the fight. “He’s proving himself as Alpha to the whole pack. Whoever wins this will gain the loyalty of all of us.”

  She breaks off, her eyes widening. A flash of light catches my eye, and I turn to see Yvonne’s fist raised high behind Harmon’s head, a knife glinting in her hand. Even as Harmon’s teeth stay clamped on her throat, and blood soaks the ground around them, she can’t resist one more dirty trick. She plunges the knife into Harmon’s back.

  Chapter 27

  A scream rips from my throat. I t
ry to break free of the pack, but my sisters and Fernando wrestle me back.

  “What part of to-the-death do you not understand?” Zora says. “This is not your fight, Stella. You don’t see me running out there to rescue my mom.”

  “Don’t look away,” Elidi says, jerking on my arm so hard I have to look. “He’s still alive. Stop distracting him or he might lose grip.”

  She’s right. His teeth are still clamped on Yvonne’s neck, crushing it even as the knife hilt sticks up from his back. I want to run to him, hold him and help him. Instead, I force myself to watch, to send him silent cheers, prayers, and love. At last, her body goes limp all at once, and Harmon struggles to his feet.

  Elidi releases me, and a distracted part of me realizes that she must have been rooting for Harmon. But I can’t dwell on that now. Something is pulling at me, a familiar and terrifying. Panic rips through me, and I gasp, clutching at my heart. But it’s not something I can stop with my human strength. For once, it’s not my frail human body’s job to fight the intruder.

  It’s up to me. The part of me that has nothing to do with whether I’m a human or a tiger or a freaking tree. I can feel Yvonne’s invading force, can feel her trying to rip me free again. It’s the same repulsive feeling as before. My tiger roars in fury, claws to get out. But she couldn’t help me now even if she was free.

  Yvonne’s furious, desperate energy claws into my throat, choking off my air. I sink down on one knee, fighting for breath. Images of my worst moments through my mind—when I found my father’s body, the funeral, the loneliness and despair of Mother’s attic, my sisters’ betrayal, my father’s callous attitude towards me. No one loves me. I see Harmon dancing with another girl at his coronation, his hands on her waist, his eyes locked on hers. The hateful, accusatory glare when I hurt his father.

  The guilt of the fire crashes through me. No one should love me. I left Elidi when she wanted to escape the valley with me. I left my father when he risked his life to come back for me. I left Harmon in the basement alone, refused to be his mate even when he’d Chosen me for life. It’s my fault that the wolves lost a huge part of their hunting grounds. It’s my fault Haven is missing. It’s my fault my father is really dead, and this time, he’s not coming back.

  I don’t have to continue this life where everyone loathes me, and with good reason. I could let go. Give someone a chance to do what’s right, to do the things I couldn’t do. I could fly up and out, the way I did when Astrid told me to run.

  It’s Harmon’s voice that cuts through the chaos of my despair. “Don’t listen to her.”

  My head jerks up, and I catch sight of Astrid across the clearing. Her lips are moving so fast they’re a blur, her eyes unfocused. She’s doing a spell. I can only hope it’s not directed at me, because I can’t fight her off, too. I remember my mother’s words.

  Maybe it was because I’d left my body before, and the bond that held me to it was never the same.

  I can feel her twisting my soul, forcing her way in. I can’t stop her. Mother was right. She’ll never stop until I’m dead.

  But I am stronger than my mother. I am stronger than any wolf. Stronger than Astrid. Stronger than Yvonne. And this is my body, not hers.

  It’s only a frail human body, one I once scorned. But it’s mine. And I am more than my body. I’m a vulnerable human girl, but I’m also a fucking tiger.

  I’m done with people telling me what I can and can’t be. Tired of people telling me what I am, controlling me, using me. This is my life. My body. My choice.

  With a roar of fury, I thrust myself fully into my solid, meaty human body. I feel a pulse of fury, anguish, and pain. And then she’s gone. Unsteadily, I push myself to my feet and look around. No one seems to notice what just happened. They are crowded around Harmon.

  Except Astrid. A tiny, tentative smile twitches at the corner of her mouth like a question. But I don’t have time for her now. I shove through the crowd, drop to my knees, and throw my arms around Harmon. Kissing his bloody fur, I hold his face between my hands. He’s still a wolf. And yet…I know I heard him speak.

  “You’re going to be okay,” I tell him. “If it was a mortal wound, you’d be dead.”

  But I don’t entirely believe my own words. Harmon is unsteady on his feet, his eyes glazed with pain. He lowers his head, and a spasm runs through his body like a last, shuddering breath. I almost cry out. But when another comes, and another, I realize he is shifting back to human.

  “Wait,” I cry. “Are you sure that’s safe? What if the knife is positioned differently, against a vital organ?”

  The crowd shifts, and the familiar figure of Dr. Golden steps through, braids swinging. “Let me have a look,” she says in her soft, no-nonsense voice. She gently lays Harmon on his side and presses her fingertips to his throat. The crowd shifts closer, murmuring with concern. What if both their Alphas die in the battle? No one explained what happened then.

  “Damn cheat,” someone curses. “I knew she’d pull something.”

  So they weren’t supposed to have weapons. It makes sense, but I also wonder why anyone would choose to stay human to fight.

  “I’m going to pull the blade out,” Dr. Golden says, handing me a clean hand towel. “Press this to the wound to stop the bleeding.”

  I do as she instructs. I expect Harmon to be carried away on a stretcher, but as soon as the knife is out, he starts trying to shift again. For a minute, I don’t think he’ll be able to. But after three times the length of time it normally takes, he transitions to human. His body is tall and brown, more muscular than I remembered after the spring he’s spent rebuilding houses.

  He looks every inch an Alpha.

  Taking the cloth from my hand, he holds it pressed to the back of his neck. “I am your Alpha,” he barks at the crowd. “But if you don’t accept that, I won’t make you swear loyalty. If you remain loyal to that imposter, exile yourself.”

  He glowers at the pack standing to Yvonne’s side of the clearing. They all look nervous, guilty, and solemn.

  “I won’t have a pack with divided loyalty,” Harmon continues. “And I won’t force you to swear an oath you don’t mean. If anyone does not wish to be a member of this pack, under my leadership, leave now.” Despite the slight tremor in his body, his eyes are blazing with white-hot fury.

  A few of Mother’s supporters take a knee, but Harmon glares at them. “I am not a king,” he says. “Get up off your knees. No one needs to grovel. Whatever you’ve done, if you’re in this pack, it’s forgiven. This pack is one being, each member his own wolf and part of the larger wolf that is the pack itself.”

  The two men who knelt jump to their feet, looking chagrined.

  “But if you ever question my authority again,” Harmon growls. “You won’t have the honor of kneeling.”

  The men nod quickly, their Adam’s apples bobbing in unison.

  Harmon draws a slow, ragged breath, quiet enough that the others can’t hear. I slip under his arm, and he nearly collapses onto me. The towel on his neck is soaked through with blood.

  “This is my mate,” he growls. “I have Chosen her. If anyone objects to this alliance, you may leave this pack and find a one elsewhere. I intend to make peace in the Three Valleys with her at my side, and one day, whether we have pups or cubs, they will be accepted into this pack if they so choose. Are we all in agreement?”

  A cheer goes up.

  “Do I have your support?” Harmon calls. “Do I have your loyalty?”

  The pack cheers louder, a cry echoing through the valley and up the mountainsides around us. Somewhere, I think I hear a whisper of the ghosts cheering, too.

  While the crowd is still loud, Harmon turns his face and speaks into my ear. “Get me out of here before I pass out. My first act as their Alpha can’t be to collapse.”

  “Done,” I say, tightening my arm around his waist. I hold up a hand to the crowd, then raise my own voice. “Your Alpha has fought bravely, but he needs medical assista
nce. And I need to administer the kind of care only a mate can. So please don’t hold it against me if I steal him away for a few minutes.”

  Some people actually laugh, and most look only vaguely uncomfortable in my presence instead of horrified, as they did when I arrived in the valley. Maybe now they know that I am not a body-snatcher, that I can control myself. But as we make our way through the crowd, Harmon leaning on me more heavily than either of us let on, my mind circles back to that moment Yvonne stopped fighting for control of my body.

  If she abandoned my mother’s body voluntarily, she could have entered someone else’s body when I wouldn’t give up my own? My eyes search the crowd for a sign of her devious, malicious eyes.

  When Harmon stumbles, I am pulled back to the most important task. I have a mate to take care of. Yvonne will never keep me from him again.

  Chapter 28

  An hour later, while Dr. Golden attends to Harmon, I slip out and return to Mother’s house. I wish her house had burned along with Harmon’s. Setting foot inside it floods me with too many dark and depressing memories. But I have to see Astrid.

  When I get there, though, my sisters say she disappeared over the mountain with the other shifters after the fight. But when I tell them I need to ask her about Haven, they cast strange glances at each other.

  “What?” I ask. “You know where she is?”

  “She’s in your room,” Elidi says, looking at the floor.

  I race up the stairs, not waiting for an explanation. Haven is lying on the floor, on her back, and for a second, I almost choke on my breath. But she sits up and turns, and relief floods through me. “I thought you were dead,” I cry, racing to her side. She’s chained to the chimney, the same way I was. “What happened?” I ask, dropping to my knees and throwing my arms around her.