ol and stew, and every wolf in it turned to

ped away table by table as they caught my scent. I kept my chin level and my hands out of my pockets and counted the exits

s a tracker looking for muster work. She wi

nd straight-backed, with a face like a dried apple and eyes that went

lood," s

" Rhy

y grin that did not reach his eyes, leaned back and folded his arms. "An Alpha brings a rogue into the

stew. "She will have the small room at the end of the e

the end of the east

went ve

ment, and I watched the copper-haired warrior decide

ssa, you will eat, and then you wil

he table with my pack between my boots and ate while the hall filled back up with talk. Nobody spoke to me. A y

and clean-booted, and he crossed the hall with the walk of someone who had never once had to argue for a seat. Light blue eyes,

id, loudly enough for me

ross the hall, and he smiled. It was a smooth, pleas

me without asking. "Gamma of Kielder, since we are introd

a

m wh

My family moves

my bread and broke a piece off it and ate it. "Do you kno

ne. Holds the border when

border. Six Alphas, all of them with an opinion on Kielder and its water. If a tracker with rogue scent in her hair walks a

ncil will blame the Gamma w

t one corner. He took a

side the kitchen. Her name was Bette and she carried a pail of peelings in each h

not afrai

Bette said, and went through t

d a window that looked out on the ridge and the dark pines. I set my pack on the stool and stood at the wind

y wolf pressed against my ribs, wanting to go down, wanting to stand

opened

d against it with his arms folded. The room was small

y name that way," I said. "At the

it as a test. You answer

know you

and there was nowhere in that little room to step aside to. "Her name was Alys. She came to Kielder twenty-four years ago with a child at her breast

m so

ay where I can see you. At the muster you will stand at my table and answer every question the Alphas put to you. If your answers hold, you may lea

my voice was steady. "That is

id it flatly, as if he were reading a number off a ledger, and then he looked away from me, at the window, at

ust mine eit

with the washbasin between us and the mate scent thick as smoke,

and a man's voice called through it, "Alpha. There

o the yard with my heart in my throat, and there, at the iron gate under the lantern, wit

st scout after me. A