ad given me and a second set I found in a filing cabinet that had not been locked, which told me how safe Duncan felt in his own house. The two sets did not agree. I w

lean shirt and the si

ed out on the loch. The rain had stopped and the water was the colour of a knife. Duncan sat at the

Calum

of men chosen for their size. An older woman with iron-grey hair who turned out to be the pack's Gamma. A young woman with red hair introduced as a visiting cous

ich Alphas do when they want you t

ll afternoon," he said. "Did y

ur pack keeps ve

ditor every few years. The last one was a woman from the Borders. She sta

ke a good outco

, and a family has private business. Things that look like one thing on pa

ect I

o had been told all his life that he was good company. "Because I would hate

word month, not in the words themsel

with a twisted leg. Duncan told a story about a Council meeting twenty years ago in which a rival Alpha had made a fool of hi

n puts it. The Gamma deferred to Duncan on everything except the calf, and he let her have it. The red-haired c

had seen before on the faces of people who had decided to hate me and were enjoying it. She was very good at i

d already told her father what I was, there would be no need to pretend. Which meant Dun

way and reache

ncan said. "Tel

ing yo

You must have seen many packs. What makes a

ion. The table went quiet. Isla's

er. Enough food to get through the winter.

leaves is a rogue, and a rogue is a problem for everyone." He set his knife down. "I have kept this pack together for thirty-one years. Every w

ll

ked up his wine. "And when a wolf thre

d. But Robert had not looked away from me, and Isla had put her fork down, and I understood that I was being told, politely

e stood with him. He came round to my chair and put a h

th me,"

s cold and clear and the moon was three days off full, a fat white shape above

reful and you do not drink too much and you have not tried

nk y

ompany paid a fair price for some trees." He turned to look at me. His eyes were pale in the moonlight. "You have found a hole in my ledger. I know you have. I put it there myself,

t what the

is warm smile. "You should ask yourself who wrote

race in the cold and looked at the lo

the corridor and Isla was standing at the foot of the

warned,"

or by you

loser, and her voice dropped. "The ledger in the cabinet. T

e cabinet w

omething that looked like fear. "Someone wanted you to find that ledger, Mr. Calum. Someone in

the terrace still in my bones, thinking about an unlocked cabinet and a hole i