A retelling of the wolf-shifter origin story scene in Chapter 8 of Dragon Fairest as told from Sterling’s perspective.

Sterling never expected to be here again.

Never intended to willingly return to ruins of the ancient temple.

He no longer regretted what happened here, but he didn’t want to be reminded of it, either.

With enemies on their heels and Jack injured, though, they’d needed someplace safe and secluded to hide.

And no one but Sterling and his team had ever found this place and lived to tell the tale.

So here he sat, settled on the fallen tree, idly carving into a rough hunk of wood while he kept watch, just in case someone found them, after all.

The whittling kept his hands busy while the sharp senses of the wolf he carried within remained alert for any sign of danger.

He heard Kyn’s tentative approach long before she got to him and offered her a warm smile of greeting as she settled on the log beside him. Her curiosity and her hesitation were obvious, but Sterling kept whittling.

Hoping she wouldn’t ask.

Knowing she would.

Eventually, her curiosity won out against the long silence.

“What is this place?”

Despite expecting the question, uneasiness stilled his hand. Sterling let his head drop and took a moment to gather himself. To decide how much to lay bare.

He could ignore her.

Or lie.

But Sterling had a feeling the truth would come out, no matter what. That this hidden monument to a world long past would come to light again, whether he tried to keep it secret or not.

So he took a deep breath and steeled himself to share memories he’d kept locked away for years.

“No one knows for sure what this place is. A temple. A haven. A lair for something darker. Among treasure hunters, it’s an old wives’ tale. A coveted myth. A parable against greed and ambition. I can’t even remember the first time I heard the whispered rumor of a pyramid that’s walls glittered with rare stones and precious metals. Some warned the place was cursed. That no one ever claimed to find the temple because they all died or went mad in the attempt.”

Sterling lifted his shoulders vaguely. Even now, he had no idea how much of those legends were true. Setting blade to wood, he started carving again just to release some of the tension building inside of him.

“Others said it was blessed. That some few found the temple and were transformed by the strange magic. Their souls lifted up and renewed. That it led them to their truest selves.”

Kyn glanced back, but Sterling didn’t bother. This place had been indelibly etched in his brain. He would never forget his first sight of it. The squat, stepped pyramid obscured in the shadows of the forest that had grown up around it. Dark grey slabs of stone worn smooth by centuries of exposure.

An innocuous structure belying the danger hidden in its secret depths.

“Who built it?” Kyn asked, pulling him from his grim reflections.

“No one knows. The most common legend says an ancient cult of moon worshipers who lived here in the time before iron. They despised the use of magic in mundane life. They believed it had a deeper, spiritual purpose. Magic was meant for the transformation of the soul.”

A hint of self-mocking amusement pulled his lips into a halfhearted smile. When he’d first heard the legend, Sterling never expected the transformation of his soul to include four paws and a tail.

“How did you find it?”

“That’s a long, round-about story,” Sterling exhaled tightly, knowing her rapid-fire questions weren’t going to end until she’d pulled every detail from him.

“Beckett and I grew up in a small village not far from a pile of old rocks. We were still more kids then men when this old treasure hunter showed up one day. He’d done well enough for himself over the years that he could hire grunts to do the hard work. Paid us a pittance to move rock and dig dirt while he reaped the rewards. I hated that bastard, but there was something about the anticipation. The uncertainty of each search. And the exhilaration of a good find. We were hooked.”

Scraping another curl of wood from the block, Sterling couldn’t help smiling. The hunt had been addictive. The joy of the find a high that he’d wanted to repeat over and over again. He missed those days of single-minded pursuit. No worries or cares beyond the next adventure.

“So we followed him around from site to site for a few years. Collected the others, except Jack, along the way. He stumbled on us a few years after we encountered this place.”

Sterling would never forget that scrawny kid, scared and defiant, trying to make off with their horses.

But Jack came later.

After.

That wasn’t part of the story Kyn asked about.

“At night sitting around the fire after a big find, we’d drink cheap whiskey and the old-timer would tell all the legends he’d collected over a lifetime. The greatest undiscovered treasures. The unfindable finds. His favorite was the tale of a lost moon temple, filled with gems and fortunes untold. No one could scry for the temple because the magic was unlike any known to human or dragon. No one who’d ever had a decent lead on it ever came back from the search.”

Kyn raised her eyebrows, her gaze shifting back to the temple again, brow furrowed with doubt and curiosity.

“When the old hunter retired, the seven of us decided to stick together and try our hand. Found a couple of small sites that got us enough to move on to the next. But we were young and foolish and dreaming of the big score that would set us up for life. Then we came across a crude map in another old ruin. One that gave directions to the temple of the Moon Blessed and Night Cursed. We knew we needed to try to find it.”

“And you did,” Kyn said, sounding intrigued and impressed.

“It took two years and a lot of side adventures to keep ourselves funded, but yeah, we stumbled on this place. Doesn’t look much different now than it did all those years ago.” Some part of Sterling thought it should, somehow. “We set up camp and started searching for treasure.”

“Did you find any?”

“Not at first. The doors on three of the walls lead to a warren of underground tunnels. But the north door leads up to a sealed entrance at the top of the pyramid. The first few days we tried everything to get in, but the door remained stubbornly impenetrable. So we turned our attention to searching the tunnels.”

The work had been dark and dusty, filled with failure and frustration. But they’d been so sure. So certain the score of a lifetime was just around the next bend. That they just needed one more day to find it.

“We’d been here a week or so, when Beckett decided to try the upper chamber again one night after dinner. The rest of us teased him as he left, and we stayed to relax by the fire after a long day.”

Sterling had been exhausted and worried. Trying to calculate how much of there dwindling supplies they’d need to make it back to civilization. He’d barely paid any attention to Beckett’s departure.

But what came next was carved into his memory.

“He wasn’t gone five minutes when he started shouting. We raced up to check on him, only to find the sealed door standing open. Beckett had no idea how. None of us cared, then, because we could see the walls. Like the entrance where we made camp, they were covered with decoration. But not just paint and carving. The scenes on the walls were studded with gemstones.”

“So the legends were true, after all,” Kyn whispered, wide-eyed and enthralled.

“Oh, yes. But that wasn’t all. Once we crowded into the small chamber, we saw the real prize.”

Sterling’s heart raced even now. The sheer exhilaration of the find. The wild, greedy joy of knowing they’d done what no one else had ever managed to do. Succeeded where everyone else had failed. The treasure was the purpose. But it was also a testament to their achievement.

“A disk of pure silver as tall and wide as a wagon wheel hung on one wall. Carved all around it were images of wolves and men. We were still trying to figure out how to get the disk down when the clouds parted, and the moonlight filled our senses.”

He hadn’t let himself remember that moment in a long, long time. The painful soul-wrenching moment when his entire life changed forever.

And yet, if Sterling could go back and change it, he wasn’t sure he would.

“None of us paid any attention to the ceiling, let alone the hole in the center. We were too caught up in treasure-lust to notice the way the clouds started to break apart. Not until light suddenly poured into the room. When the moonlight hit the disk, silver filled the air. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.”

Sterling’s hands tightened around the carving implements in his hands, knuckles white with strain as a blank impenetrable wall slammed down over his memories. Whatever happened to him, to them, after that moment was forever lost in a feral haze of instinct.

“The next thing I remember, the sun was well up and I was deep in the woods fighting over a rabbit with Zane.” Sterling smiled faintly at the memory. “I had fur and paws and instincts.”

He’d suddenly recognized the scents of aggression and fear and joy and sorrow. Had known how to track and how to hunt with nothing but claws and teeth. How to translate the shift of an ear or the flick of a tail into meaningful communication.

A dozen questions shone brightly in Kyn’s eyes, but she was too polite to ask. So Sterling answered anyway.

“It took a while to figure out how to change back. Even longer to locate the others and find our way back here. Of course, the chamber was locked up tight again. After that, though, none of us wanted to stay here.”

At the time, they’d been horrified by the transformation. Haunted by the lost night. They’d all just wanted away from this place. Had never intended to come back.

“Did you ever… try to figure out what happened? Why this happened to you? If there were others? If there was a way to reverse the magic?”

“Not really,” Sterling hedge. It was sort of true.

Together and separately, they had occasionally looked for answers. But nothing came from it. Mostly, they were afraid of what would happen if anyone found out what they’d become.

If they asked too many questions, it might stir up interest that they would prefer to avoid.

“Looking for help meant admitting we might have a furry problem and none of us were eager to advertise. For a year or so, we only changed on the full moon. Eventually, we got the hang of transformation.”

After they’d mastered the ability to shift, they’d gone their separate ways for a while. Each needing to find their own manner of dealing with what they’d become. Eventually though, instinct and pack ties drew them back together.

“Once we had some control, wolf form had its advantages. Most of us don’t want to give it up now.”

Most, but not all. Beckett had been the last to return to the pack. Even after he had, he seemed less comfortable with his second form than the rest of them. And Sterling hadn’t missed his disgust and wariness when he realized where they were heading. Nor the glare of reproval Beckett threw Sterling’s way when they’d arrived.

“After all this time, I still haven’t figured out if it’s supposed to be a blessing or a curse,” Sterling mused and resumed chipping at the wood in his hands. At times it felt like both.

For several minutes, only the sound of blade scraping against the grain disturbed the peace as they sat, each lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, chin lifted with resolve, Kyn broke the silence.

“I think I’ll go check on Jack then see about starting breakfast,” she announced, brushing off her skirt as she stood.

She paused for a second to pat Sterling’s shoulder in silent thanks before heading purposefully back into the pyramid.

Alone again, his thoughts twisted up with the past, Sterling forced himself to focus on what needed to be done now.

Keeping his senses alert for approaching danger, he let his hands work freely. Not noticing until he was nearly finished that he’d shaped the scrap of wood into the round, delicate curve of a crescent moon.

Want more? Check out the Extras page for more outtakes and excerpts!