before Ruth could s

over a wound. Then I put it in the inside pocket of my jacket and took my ha

," I said. "I came to

ent that said she had caught you in something and was going to be very patient a

sick pack is easier to bargain with than a strong one

ooked at Hank, who had not moved from the wall and who still held his tin cu

een no trouble at all. Will you get down, or are yo

ke in the spring house and the pipe and the two scouts up on the rise. Her horse stood with its head down, blowing, its coat dark with sweat along the neck. She h

te," Ruth said to me. "Alpha, yo

uss with me is already known to me,

ed her back on him. It was a small insult, done politely,

ome in the night, do it, come home. Instead I find you at the border at sunrise dr

k I made a better bargain

if she were tasting it for the f

e me the

y eyes were steady and mild. "If you have decided not to use it, that is your choice as Luna, and I will respect it.

how easy it would have been to let her have it. To say you are right, Ruth, I am sorry, I have been grieving and I am not myself, and let her put

r alone," I said. "She did n

change. "I do not

You d

id not lift a hand to fix it, which was not like her, and I watched her decide something behind her grey eyes. Then

aid, "the Council sent a rider to the pack house last nigh

red and had the Council seal pressed into the corner, a

order into Çöl territory without the consent of her pack, and that in light of the recent death of her mother the Council would be sending an envoy to the canyon to inquire into the matte

. "Someone told them befo

have been riding since before dawn look

, and he read the letter twice, and then he held his hand out for it. I gave it to him. He turned it ov

is envoy?"

e was dry. "In my experience the Council sends the man t

I could not read at all, and for reasons I could not have explained, that frightened me mo

will be all over your pack house by noon, and your warriors wil

t the wate

pack and they hold." He looked at Ruth and then back at me. "But you should know that if the Council is coming, they will not come for the water. They will come

he Alpha speaks as if he ha

of losing things

d's width of warm air in a cold morning. He did not touch me. He had said he would not unless I asked, and he did not, and I found that I was no

saw you come over the rim last night are mine, and they answer to me, and none of th

Then how did

k at Ruth's back. "The letter says you crossed the border without the consent of your pack. That is n

where up on the mesa was making a noise like a rusty hinge. I looked at the paper in my hand and then

days. Come back with the paper and what you find in that attic,

ill

l her about the attic. If she already knows about it, then

ked down at Hank standing in the red dust with the sun on his black hair and his face still and unr

d. "Thank you

said. "Ri

e. I had expected a challenge or a claim or some demand made in the language of the mate bond that I could have refused and been angry about. Instead he let me ride out of his

he first two miles. Then

not kn

ly. "Your mother would have been careful about that. She would have said that a Luna

ther i

gentle. "And I am sorr

the yard with the gauge on its iron side. There were wolves in the yard. More than there should have been at that hour, a knot of them by the gate, and a

says in the next hour, remember that I was your mother's Beta for eleven

face and the neat grey jacket, and I thoug

ou would never b

e yard ahead of me. I followed her, and the wolves by the gate turned their faces up

n. "Mira sent me to watch for you. She says you are to come t

she

d slipped, and he looked away quickly. "She says she k

all heat coming back into it as if someone had opened a door. Ruth was already across the yard with a group of wa

he think it

ld not tell me. She told me to tell you one thing.

wn off m