ate up the sound of footsteps, and Wren stood in the center of it at dawn wi

carefully unreadable, and Corvin Hale sat two seats down, hands folded, face arra

gravel, "claims our Alpha has taken a Duskwood survivor into his home and concealed her ide

held it

rue," K

n voices rising at once, and Thessaly banged an old iro

," Thess

o hear otherwise. "She is Duskwood-born, one of the last survivors of the fire that took that pack fifteen years ago. She came into this territory under a false name, an

," Thessaly repeate

t she arrived. I did not ask for it. I

careful composure cracking just enough to show something hurt and betrayed underneath it, and Wren stood in the middle of all of it fee

e. "The terms were nearly finalized. And you tell me now, in front of the en

her you hear it from me than from an unsigned letter written by someone

nhurried grace he wore everywhere, "that the letter itself is some kind of manipulati

would cause, and timed it precisely to do the maximum damage to both my alliance and my mate's safety in a single stro

Wren, watching him closely, saw the same flicker s

full of respected elders who have done nothing

d whoever wrote that letter. If that person is in thi

cil is simpler than either of you are making it. A Duskwood survivor stands in Ashbourne territory, bonded to our Alpha. The old bo

blood w

Kian said, voice hard. "It was never meant to apply to a woman

for mate bonds either. If this council upholds the letter of that law, Alpha

ly quiet, every eye fix

oor. "By ancient right, an Alpha may claim a mate publicly before this council, superseding any prior accord that does not name the mate bond explicitly as an exception. I claim Wren

hat followed

er alliance," Lord Marrow said

his pack a war, then I will spend every resource I have making certain we survive it. But I will not stand in this chamber

possibly his pack's future on her, and for one terrible, dizzying moment she understood, with a clarity that frightened her more than any

ent, then looked past him to Wren, somethin

ouncil cannot override it without formal challenge." Her ga

ced, kept his silence, though the look he sent her from

er today. You have not bought her safety in every dark corner of this territory, nor have you undone whatever damage this does to yo

sations, and through all of it Lord Marrow rose from his seat and crossed the ro

etly, "and I promise you, Alpha Ashbourne, you will r

just before the doors shut, the briefest glance Selene threw back over her sho