Chapter Two

Alice's POV

Five days before I was supposed to leave, Maggie knocked on my door, carrying a bowl of steaming stew.

"Alice, I made your favorite venison stew." Her eyes were red, as if she'd been crying. "About yesterday... I didn't mean for that to happen. Will you please forgive me?"

I didn't take the bowl.

Bryan's voice came from behind her. "Alice, Maggie spent three hours cooking this."

He walked in and placed the bowl directly on my table. Just like last year when I was injured during training—he'd brought me stew every day, feeding me bite by bite, saying "you need to eat to recover your strength."

Now he handed the spoon to Maggie.

"You feed Alice," he told her.

Maggie scooped up a spoonful, blew on it, and brought it to my lips. The surface of the broth had a thin layer of oil that had a weird pale green shimmer in the candlelight.

"I'll do it myself." I took the spoon.

"Alice," Ronald appeared in the doorway, arms crossed. "Don't make Maggie feel bad. She was out hunting deer before sunrise this morning."

I stared at the spoon. Last year during the full moon ritual, when I'd burned my hand making venison stew for him, he'd grabbed my hand and plunged it into ice water, calling me an idiot while gently rubbing my burn.

Now he was staring at Maggie's fingers, red from cooking.

"Does it hurt?" he asked her.

I set down the spoon.

"I'm not hungry."

Bryan's expression darkened. "How long is this going to go on?"

"I'm not doing anything." I stood, pain shooting through my leg wound. "I'm just not hungry."

Maggie's tears fell into the bowl.

"I'm sorry... I did something wrong again..." she sobbed. "Does Alice hate my cooking? I know I'm not as good as you. Last year when you made stew for Bryan, he said it was the best he'd ever had..."

Bryan's body stiffened.

Something complicated flashed in his eyes. For that instant, I saw last year's Bryan—the Alpha who would sneak into the kitchen at night to steal bites of my stew, who'd turn red when I caught him and say "it only tastes good because you made it."

But that look lasted only a second.

"That's all in the past." He pulled Maggie against his shoulder. "Maggie's cooking is excellent now too."

Ronald walked over and picked up the bowl. "If you won't eat, forget it. Maggie, let's go."

As they reached the door, Maggie glanced back at me.

I caught a quick smile at the corner of her mouth.

I shut the door and dragged the medical kit from under my bed. Unwrapping the bandages, the wound had indeed reopened, the edges turning an ugly purple-black.

The moonflower wine poison was still spreading.

The next morning, I found Bryan at the training grounds.

He was teaching Maggie knife techniques, their posture intimate.

I walked over.

"Bryan, I need to go to the forbidden territory to gather bloodroot."

He didn't even look up. "Go yourself."

"Pack rules say we need two people." I said. "Last time we—"

"That was different." He cut me off. The knife made a perfect arc in Maggie's hands. "Maggie is learning new moves today. I don't have time."

Maggie leaned against his chest, tilting her head up. "Bryan is amazing. I hope I can be as strong as Alice someday."

"You're stronger than her." Ronald's voice interrupted. He'd appeared from nowhere, handing her a cup of water. "You've only been here two months and you already killed a silver fox. It took her half a year to learn that."

I stared at the cup in his hands.

Last summer when I'd collapsed from heatstroke at the training grounds, Ronald had used that same cup to give me water. Ice-cold water with my favorite wild berries. He'd helped me drink while calling me a "stupid girl who doesn't know when to rest," but his fingers had gently patted my back the entire time.

Now he gave her water like she was made of glass.

"I'll go to the forbidden territory alone." I said.

"Whatever." Bryan finally glanced at me. "Don't come crying to me if you get killed."

As I turned to leave, I heard Maggie whisper, "Is Alice angry with me? Maybe I should go with her..."

"No need." Two voices replied simultaneously.

I left the training grounds without heading to the forbidden territory.

I returned to my room and pulled out an iron box from the deepest part of my closet. It was full of stuff from before—the wooden whistle Bryan had carved for me, the grass ring Ronald had braided, feathers we'd collected, and a faded polaroid photo.

In the picture, all three of us were covered in mud, all grinning like idiots. Behind us was the secret cave we'd discovered, with words carved into the stone wall: "Bryan, Ronald, Alice, together forever."

I tore the photo in half.

Then tore it again.

When I threw the pieces into the fire basin, my door burst open.

Maggie rushed in, looking panicked. "Alice! You dropped your pocket watch! Bryan found this at the training grounds!"

She opened her palm.

Bryan and Ronald stood behind her, staring at the watch, both going pale.

"What is this?" Bryan's voice was hoarse.

"Something my dad left me." I reached for it.

He snatched the watch away first, running his finger over the engraving. "Call me with blood... call who? Alice, who have you been contacting?"

"Give it back."

"Answer me!"

"Give. It. Back."

Ronald stepped forward, positioning himself between Bryan and me. "Alice," his voice was soft, "what aren't you telling us?"

I looked at them.

At these two men I'd loved for ten years, at Maggie hiding behind them with the corner of her mouth slightly upturned.

"I have been hiding one thing from you." I said.

Both of them went quiet.

"I'm leaving."

Silence.

Then Bryan burst out laughing. "Leaving? Where to? Alice, you wouldn't survive three days outside the pack. There are hunters everywhere, rogue packs—beat up like you are, do you think you could get anywhere?"

Ronald grabbed my arm hard enough to bruise. "Don't talk nonsense. Just tell us where you got this watch, and we'll work something out."

I shook off his hand.

Maggie sobbed quietly. "Alice, please don't do this. It's all my fault for finding the watch. Don't be angry, don't leave Bryan and Ronald."

Bryan pulled her into his embrace, but his eyes remained fixed on me. "Fine. You want to leave? Leave right now. I'd like to see where you think you're going."

"Now isn't the time. When it's time, I'll go." I gave them a cold smile.

Ronald looked at me with disappointment—an expression he'd never shown me before. "Alice, I don't get why you're acting like this." He pulled Bryan and Maggie along. "We're leaving!"

Watching them walk away, I laughed uncontrollably. "You're the ones who changed! You fools being deceived by Maggie!"