t room in the pack house and the coldest, with a stone floor and a

re were two roast chickens and a bowl of squash and a basket of bread that had been warmed in the oven. It was a lot of food for a pack that had be

ead of the table with

aid, "I want to say a

e. Cal had not spoken since I came down. He had pulled out my chair and then

d a promise, and she will stay with us until the frost breaks, and then, if all goes well, she will go home, and we w

le. Not quite applause. A few

owed Luna,"

wed Luna," th

ld and clean and tasted better than anything

m at an angle where I could see his face but Cal could not without turning his h

esaLuna. Tell us

quiet. Everyone

re dry. The wells are low. The pines are old. It

other? Rafae

tened on my

nd refused to shake our Alpha's hand. I heard about that." D

things," I said. "He was ang

pack." He took another bite, chewed, swallowed. "Or is it something else? I

om had gone very quiet. Ca

w what you m

w better than half the wolves at this table. Yusuf spent an hour and a half with you this morning and ca

and the lie came up in the ba

It was not a dramatic gift. It was not visions or prophecy. It was a nose that

mouth had a thin sour note under it, like milk left out in the sun, a

cause he wanted an answer. He ha

pact requires," I said. "That

Correct. Yes. Yusuf has a

h," Ca

ut lifting his head, and

g conversation, Cal. Our guest has been shut

to be interrog

spread his hands. "We all want the same thing here

al said.

an to eat again, slowly, and the conversation picked up in low voices, and I

k stop after dinner," he said, to no one in particular. "Some of the boys are comin

go still

o the pack," I said. "Yusuf is goin

o Cal and then back to

ed his chair in and

marking," he said. "Four

, the air at the table changed. Two wolves got up and left. A woman near the end be

is face was pale an

id you

at him.

aned closer. "You smelled som

f was old and deep, and I had never told a wo

all of it. The toast, the welco

ing, and then at me, and something in his face had changed. "He's bee

It was the gray-haired woman from the mornin

the radio. Somebody's cut the fence on the north li

lready on