Luca, you are making a mistake.
Alpha Kieran stood at the council room's doorway, his voice steady and his arms folded. His keen eyes flicked between Luca and me, and the strain in the room was strong enough to cut with a knife.
"I've made plenty of mistakes, Kieran," Luca stated austerely, without bothering to glance from the chart he was scrutinizing. But this is not among them.
"The pack is split, and this bond is just aggravating it," Kieran said.
"You have to back off and consider what would be best for everyone, not only yourself."
"And what do you advise?" Finally glancing up, Luca inquired with grey eyes flickering with annoyance. "That I turn away the link? Give up the tests. Give the flock to Damon and see how he leads it into disaster?
"No one's saying that," Kieran responded, his voice lacking confidence. However, this is careless. You are depending entirely on a prophecy nobody really knows and a relationship that may not even be relevant.
Still quiet, my chest tightened as Kieran's words set in. He was not totally incorrect; the link was brittle and the experiments carried risk. But his uncertainty seemed like a personal assault, a reminder of all the ways I had let the group down.
"You doubt me too, do you? My voice softer than I had wanted, I asked.
Kieran turned to me and softened his look somewhat. Aria, it's not about trust here. It relates to the pack here. Their needs are steadiness, not uncertainty.
"She's not the issue," Luca said, his voice becoming higher. Right now, the only thing keeping this pack together is the link. Should you find this lacking, maybe you are the one lacking understanding of what is best for everyone?
The room became quiet as Luca's words hung with weight. Kieran straightened and his posture became more protective as his attitude became stiffer.
Eventually he responded, "I hope you're right, Luca." "For all our skeses."
Long after Kieran went, his questions stayed in my head. I sensed their discomfort as the pack went about its regular business, their words trailing like shadows.
The challenges were wearing us, and every stride ahead seemed to be erasing ground with our own people.
Later that evening as we got ready for the following trial, Luca advised not allow him get to you.
"He's not wrong," I said, sliding the pendant over my neck. The group does not believe me. And I don't blame them after everything that has transpired.
Luca looked to me and stopped what he was doing, a serious look on his face. "Aria, you have gone through more than others in this pack.
Here you have earned your spot.
"Have I?" I questioned, staring at him. "Because most of them perceive things differently. To them, I am just the kid of Beta who happened to be lucky—or cursed—with this relationship.
Luca came forward, his grey eyes fixed on me. You surpass it in many ways. You are brilliant, powerful, and this pack needs you whether or not others notice.
His comments warmed me, and for a time Kieran's uncertainties seemed less weighty.
The following challenge carried us more into the forest, the road meandering over difficult ground and thick vegetation. The necklace shone weakly, its light pointing forward, yet the air seemed weighty here, charged with an intensity that placed my nerves on edge.
I broke the stillness with a question: "What do you think the next challenge will be?"
Though his tone was more somber than mocking, Luca remarked, "hopefully something that doesn't try to kill us."
The earth shook under us as if on cue, and the forest rumbled. Ahead the trees split to expose a yawning gap, its depths black. A scarcely broad enough tiny bridge of crumbling stone spanned it.
Of course, Luca said, his jaw stiffening.
Approaching the brink, I peered into the emptiness below. The mark on my wrist burned weakly, and the necklace pulsed in answer, its glow lighting the first few bridge steps.
We have to cross, I replied, but the idea made my stomach turn.
Great, Luca remarked, his voice flat. "because that seems to be quite safe."
I stammered on the bridge and added, "We have no choice."
The bridge moved beneath our weight; every step tested nerves and equilibrium. The air got colder the deeper we travelled; the shadows below appeared to grasp for us, their tendrils winding around the bridge's sides.
Luca advised not looking down, his voice calm.
"Easier said than done," I murmured, heart thumping in my chest.
The shadows sprung upward halfway across to create a wall before us. Faces emerged from the shadows, their eyes flickering with a terrible brightness.
One of the faces growled, "You're not strong enough," and his voice kept ringing in my head.
Another laughed sarcastically, "You'll fail, just like the others."
I stopped; their comments pierced more deeply than I could have let myself acknowledge. My wrist burned more fiercely, and I tightened my hands to attempt to mute their words.
Luca whispered, his palm touching mine, "Aria, keep moving." His touch was like a lifeline among anarchy. It was anchoring.
"I can't," I said, my terror almost paralyzing me.
Yes, you can, he said, his grey eyes fixed on me. You have confronted worse than this. Try not to let them prevail.
His words pierced the fog of anxiety, and I nodded, trying myself to go forward another step. We pressed on, the shadows chasing us but unable to stop us.
We crossed to the opposite side and collapsed onto firm ground as the bridge fell behind us. The mark on my wrist still blazed, but as the trial came to a close the brilliance of the pendant had darkened.
"Another one down," Luca murmured, his voice weighed with tiredness.
And just how many more to go? Though I already knew the answer, I asked.
"Too many," he said somewhat smiling.
In spite of it, I couldn't suppress a grin. I felt for the first time that we were beginning to trust one another and understand each other.
The necklace blazed to life once again while we slept, its light creating long shadows on the woodland floor. Too weak for human comprehension, a tiny murmur reverberated in the air.
What now? Luca asked with a tight face.
I raised the pendant, its luminous pulse like that of a heartbeat. "The next trial seems to be closer than we had anticipated."
He groaned and pushed himself to stand. "Then let's get it over with."
However, I couldn't get rid of the idea that this challenge would be different—that it would not test our strength but rather our relationship itself—as we returned onto the road.