DARKNESS, the second instalment in the Marked Series.
Won first place in the SNOWFLAKE AWARDS Werewolf category!
UNDISCOVERED WOLVES Book of the Month, April 2018!
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'There is a darkness within you, Isa. I saw it then, and I see it now.'
...
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Everyone was silent.
Utterly, completely silent.
Phoenix's grip on my hand was the only thing that kept me standing. At least a hundred people were standing before their seats, eyes hanging on Phoenix and I, gazes of fear and suspicion and curiosity fixed on my form as I walked forward. I heard the Circle following shortly behind but I didn't have the willpower to look back. All of my strength was focused on keeping my body upright.
We reached the dais. Phoenix turned round, his hand still clasped around mine, and faced the pack. He just seemed to exude power and status, standing before the sea of people with a set jaw and dark eyes.
He didn't say a word. He merely squeezed my hand and I realised with a start that he wanted me to speak. He wanted me to make my own impression on the pack.
Don't be afraid, said the power. It curled in my gut. These are our people. Ours.
So I stepped forward.
The greeting that I'd recited with Valeriya came to me in a flood of heavy, foreign words. I worked past the lodge in my throat and lifted my chin, facing the ethereal beings. Children and adolescents, adults and elders, warriors and diplomats, spies and parents...they all stared back at me.
"Здравствуйте. Hello." the words were clumsy and uncertain. "Очень приятно. Pleased to meet you."
A few murmurs. A splattering of quiet replies—no doubt spurred by my awful attempt at Russian—but other than that, icy silence reigned. My heart began to race. I looked over at Phoenix, eyes wide with panic, but he tilted his head in the direction of the left row of seats. My brows furrowed in confusion. What on earth was he—
"Hello, Luna."
A voice, shy and timid, with the thickest Russian accent I'd heard so far. I looked back towards the pack and almost jolted when I saw a little girl stood before me, hands clasped around a bunch of daisies. My heart melted and I lowered myself to her level, balancing on the balls of my feet. Her hair was so brilliantly red that it took me a moment to notice the misty white sheen to her eyes, but when I did I couldn't look away.
She was blind.
"Hello, sweetie." I said, smiling gently, "What's your name?"
She didn't seem to immediately understand what I said so her mother, who had come to flank the girl moments before, crouched down and whispered softly in her ear. Immediately she brightened, lips stretching into a beaming grin, and bounced on her heels.
"Anna." she paused for a moment, pondering her words, and then thrust the handful of slightly mangled daisies towards me. "Flowers...for Luna!"
Tears pricked the back of my eyes. I took them gladly, wrapping my fingers around the slightly wilted stems. The rest of the pack seemed to disappear, and with them went the suspicion and fear; suddenly it was just me and Anna and the flowers she'd given me.
