mon drops she kept in a tin in her desk drawer. I had spent seven years in that office. I had learne

man with short white hair and a cardigan the color of oat

lding level," she s

to see m

e one on trial Friday." She turned. Her eyes were warm and brown, and

k and sat opposite me, and for

id finally. "You have read the act as many tim

ms page says. I want

rter. The Council recognizes her voice." She paused. "And she is bound to her mate in every legal sense the Registry can contrive. Her property is joint. Her movements

s a mar

t." Marta's voice was steady and quiet, and she had said this before, I could tell, to other women, in this same office, and she had never been able t

er in my lap. My name was

efuse?"

ting, within the five day period. It is a lawful opti

ind of

rritory for a period set by the Registrar, and her bond is enforced by the court regardless of her refusal." Marta's hands had not moved. "The Registry does not recog

me anyway and take my car

the plain

I do not

o-leader of a pack you have never met, mated to a feral wolf with no registration an

open, and a small truck was passing through it with a load of timbe

be confirmed by the Registrar, and the Registrar must certify that the bond is true. Why would the Registra

ent. "Because the Registry doe

nd. "What doe

istry considered true when the pair did not agree. It means the certification is a le

know

what I have been told, and

can, Marta. You are telling me

and put it down again, and the gesture was so familiar

ll want to know what kind of Luna they are confirming. My wolf has not shif

. "A Luna who cannot shift is a Luna the Registry considers defective. There is a clause in the act, section twenty, for defective Lunas. It allows t

uard

s voice had gone dry. "Halden is the man who wrote that claus

. The room was quiet except for the tick of the clock on her shelf, th

the case he has

not." Marta opened her desk drawer, and took out a lemon drop, and did not eat it. "I think you should drop the case, Nia. Resign from

advice. That

s sur

drop, and she looked at the door as though it had said her name,

th her silver hair and her sharp blue eyes, and sh

aid. "For the defective Luna clause. The examiner will see you tomorrow m

the door clicked shut behind her, and Marta put the lemon drop in her mo

oss the desk and put

quietly, "do not tell them what your wolf c