The Beta I Trusted

oad. I noticed that first, before I noticed the color of her eyes or the way she held her cup with both hands as though it migh

me for an hour," she s

e in with the rain and you ha

wary, and a mouth that had learned to hol

and the room above the taproom was cheap and close. I told myself I was being careful. A wolf alone at a bor

is Konrad

n this road knows the enforcer of the Schwa

your

a wolf considers a strange scent. "L

linking, the way her shoulders had lost their careful set. I offered her the room above, and I told myself I m

ie as well as you thi

ing she turned and put one hand flat against my chest and I felt the heat of her palm through the wool of my co

e small sounds she made, the way she pressed her mouth to my shoulder to keep quiet, the way her fingers found the old burn on my ribs and did not flinch from it. Lamplight mov

ng up beside me with the blanket aroun

p," I

nd she settled against my chest with her ear over

oice gone high. He kept saying the same words over and over, and none o

. The Alpha is de

t then, because I had no reason to think she was anything but a woman on the road. I pul

s before, but the grass was still soaked, and the mist hung at knee height and did not move. I smelled

st. He had been a large man in life and he looked small now, smaller than a man should look. I crouched beside

d there was not enough blood on the grass for a woun

inside me and sniffed, and th

Her scent

dges. I went down on one knee again and put my face close to the body and drew it in, slowly, like a man sniffing a cup of wine he

said alo

n human form, Dietrich at their head with his black hair plastered to his forehead and his coat buttoned wrong. He stopped a

ce came out ragged. "Oh, K

were not steady. "I

ut being told. "Who was with you at the inn last night, Konrad? The innkeeper's boy ca

th hands, the way I had been taught, and I felt

" I said. "I was n

s were wet and his face was gentle. "The question is where the woman went when you left her. Because

the whole meadow clearly. Reinhard's blood had soaked into the grass in a small da

"The lady is gone," he called. "The lady's room is empty,

grip was kind, and his scent was the scent of

quietly. "Tell m