MARKED | COMPLETED

Chapter 5

When morning came, I was still stuck in my breathless state. With only one day left until the Shifting, the rest of today would be spent listening to Brom talk about our traditions, what made Oirthir the way it is—we were given a speech that we heard every year, the closer we got to our Shifting.

Today, however, the speech would simply be a lot longer. But as he spoke, I found my mind wandering.

Mother was hiding something from me—she had to know about this. We were told that our Marks were to be praised; they were given to us by the Fates for a reason. But to hide it from the rest of the world, never knowing why—that wasn't praised. She was making me hide it, and I didn't know if it was out of fear or shame.

"—And so she changed," Brom said, knocking me out of my frenzied thoughts and into the present, where he was re-telling the story of the Morrigan, our mother wolf. "To protect her sons and in doing so she paved the way for our kind. She belonged to the Mionlach, and still does to this day."

The Mionlach wrote our laws. They stuck to the old ways and remained at the epicenter of the four territories, Tuaisceart, Deisceart, Iarthear, and finally us—Oirthir. They were rarely seen, but they were always spoken of. As I said, we've been told this story, and we were taught so much of it, that I knew it by heart.

It was, however, always a surprise when I learn that the Morrigan still lives. She's spoken as a goddess, a being far stronger and greater that all of us, that it's hard to believe that she walked alongside us, all this time.

Brom stopped speaking, looking at Colin and me with his head held high. It was difficult to believe that he could still look at us with so much pride, and know that our chances of surviving were slim. But we were never allowed to think about the odds. I could tell when I woke up this morning that the pack would look at us in a different way.

We were going to take the first big step soon—we would be Oirthirian, and they all looked at us that way. But the large majority looked at us as though they would never see us again.

And those were the looks that terrified me the most; not because they could be right, but because if I did die, they'd never know.

They'll never know, I thought, standing when Brom told us to.

"I'm not going to teach you anything today," he said. "Good luck Maclerry; good luck Murphy."

It was at this point that I expected Brom to give us a hug, or a cap on the shoulder, as he always did when Colin or I knocked the other down when it looked as though it wouldn't be possible. But he didn't. He only walked away, still smiling that hopeful smile.

In a few days, he'd get the kids from next month's Shifting, and they'd begin their final training. That was just how it would be.

I looked to Colin, waiting for him to speak—to say how excited he was, or how scared he was. It could be both, I realized, as I watched him move away from me. He could be excited that he would finally be Oirthirian—he could be scared that this would be it, like me. Or he could be feeling nothing and everything all at once, an explosion of emotions and thoughts. If he did, he was keeping it locked inside of him.

Colin looked pointedly in my direction, giving a short smile before he moved toward the mess hall.

"Let's get our last meal."

There it is, I thought. He's scared.

I followed behind him, ignoring the looks that people would give us every now and then as we walked by. Who knew how many of them thought we would live, or how many of them thought that we would die?

"Be honest, Retriever," Colin said once we reached the mess hall. "How much trouble did you get into last night?"

I certainly didn't forget about that. My chest tightened at the thought. I ran before Alpha Aisling could give me any sort of punishment. All that rushed through my mind was the sight of his Mark—our Mark—and the fear rushed over me. Quickly I reached up and touched my Mark as if that would change how I felt. Instead, it only made my chest tighten up more and that breathless feeling to return.