the side doing something at the long table made up of boulders. Bowls of herbs are set on the flat top of the rock formation, smoke rising out of them and producing the smoke I’m used to smelling at this ceremony. There’s no massive bonfire anywhere, and instead, there’s a large cast iron bowl—one that oddly resembles an oversized wok—containing a small fire within its black edges.
Britton moves to the side, and with his large back no longer blocking my view, I see that there are shifted wolves of all sizes gathered around too. They make up shades of gray, white, brown, black, in all kinds of combinations, and they’ve formed a perfect circle, each of them facing inward.
I frown in confusion. “What are they doing?” I ask Britton before he moves too far away.
“They’re encircling the Flux participants.”
My feet skid to a stop as I take in the scene before me, and shock crashes over my body and cements me in place. Because standing in the middle of the circle are a bunch of kids.
Kids.
The youngest looks like she can’t be more than eight, and the oldest participant is maybe thirteen. It’s a mix of boys and girls, and they’re wearing the rustic wear of animal skins and linen like the rest of the pack. I look around as though I’m waiting for someone to come explain to me what the hell is going on, but no one does. Britton doesn’t even seem to realize that I’m planted, unmoving and stunned.
“What the hell, Britton?” I hiss.
He stops and turns to me, his blond brows lowering in a frown. “What?”
I stare at him incredulously but manage to swallow down the rising anger. Instead, I veer off and head straight for the boulder table where Tyran is working. When I’m two steps behind him, he says, “Why are you pissed, Vicious?”
My steps stop short, and he turns his head to look at me, tapping the bite on his shoulder. “I can feel you, remember?”
I sidle up next to him, careful to keep my voice low. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
“Of course, Mate.”
“Seriously, what the hell is going on?” I say, not to be thwarted by his use of my title.
He continues grinding herbs before tossing them into the cast iron fire. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”
My eyes skate over to the circle of wolves again. Each and every one of them looks like sentinels in a ring, while the children stand inside, seeming nervous beneath their still and watchful presence. “This is…” I blow out a breath and shake my head, feeling claws start to press through the tips of my fingers. Because this...this isn’t right.
In a blink, Tyran’s dropped what he’s doing and has turned me to face him fully, blocking me from the rest of the pack. “What’s wrong?” he demands.
“They’re kids, Tyran. The Flux can kill us. It can give us wolves that call to a mate. Not to mention the pain of shifting and managing the wild it unleashes, and your pack is forcing kids to go through this?” My voice cracks at the end, and I take a steadying breath. Everything Britton told me to put me at ease has gone right out the window as I think about those pups.
“First of all, it’s our pack,” Tyran says sternly.
A crooked finger comes up to lift my chin, and I look at him with a sheen of red over my eyes. “Our pups are not in danger, Seneca,” he says with a hint of impatience, like I’m just overreacting.
“Don’t,” I tell him, knocking his hand away. “This is dangerous. How can you expect children to handle this? It’s too soon. Way too soon. What if they get a spirit that overwhelms them, or what if the shift goes wrong, or—”
“Our pups are raised knowing that when they’re ready, they will earn their wolf spirit. Their parents, our healer, and me as their alpha watch them to ensure they’re ready.”
“But—”
He cuts me off. “Your old pack may have made you wait until you were older, but to us, that’s cruel.”
“No, it makes sense,” I argue. “We have to be older so we can handle this shit.”
Tyran shakes his head and gives me a pointed look as if to say, and how’d that work out for you? “Wolf spirits choose us, Seneca. They wouldn’t choose a host if the connection weren’t there, and sometimes, they don’t, and our pups have to wait and