The Ember

Ember Ash has spent twenty-four years hiding what she is. She serves tea. She stitches pelts. She keeps her hands where no one can see them, because the last time someone saw her hands, they burned a village for it. Then the Alpha's son is carried into her cottage with a poisoned blade in his shoulder. She heals him in one night. As he wakes, the mate bond snaps between them. By morning he has rejected her in front of his whole grieving pack. She goes back to her kettle. Winter comes, and the pack bleeds at the pass. One wounded wolf finds her door. Then another. Then a third. When the raiders finally break through, the Alpha's son will have to choose: the woman he accused, or the pack who watched him do it. She will not wait for his answer. She has decided already.