wan put his head round it with his face grey in the lamplight and said the Alpha wanted the whole pack in the hall. Now. Fiona looked at me

e estate, and the benches were pushed back against the walls, and the big fire was roaring, and the smell of wet coats and cold skin filled the place up t

ack look at him. He was a big man still, but the grey had gone out of his face into something paler than grey, and his hands were not shaki

said. "I have never been a man for long spe

hed, quietly,

way an old wolf dies. I will not pretend otherwise in my own hall. Something was done to her, and it was done by someone wi

d. I felt it through the

will be asking questions before the month is out, and they will want to know who holds the rites, because t

I felt them the way a hare feels the eyes of

they squeaked on the flags, and I heard that squeak all the way, and

on my shoulder. "Do

me since I was a girl,"

tle goes with them." He raised his voice. "I name Isla Luna of the Cairn Pack

t most of the pack just looked at me with their faces working, and I knew what they were thinking because I was thinking it too. I was the gamekeeper. I w

d on a beat too long. "Luna," he said, loud enough for the front three rows. "The pack is fortu

anything," I said.

t, I think." He let go of my hand. "It is a heavy thing, to be a Luna in a mourn

a bad taste in my mouth. I thanked him and st

wolf leaves this territory without my word. And every wolf in this house will giv

t moved from the window, and now every head in the place swung rou

your account to me and to the Lu

Callu

st

, Fa

he back say that she had always thought there was something strange about the Alpha's brother, and her neighbour said he had a temper on him, a

moved. He s

hority in that hall that anybody would respect, and Rabbie was watching me with

he hill alone," I sa

again. That was wo

r run, sheltering from the storm. He was with me until the burial bell rang. So i

been in my own cottage with Mairi asleep in the next room and no one to say otherwise. I had opened my mouth and a lie had

ut it. He looked at me with that warm, patient face and he

ked at me for a long moment across the fire, and his eyes were old and tired and n

e foot of the stairs b

s low. "You just lied to the whole pack for

said. "I

en

ight and his eyes were green and steady and he was standi

brother's coat," I said. "And I would rather hear you answer t