indows and a stove at each end that never quite kept the cold out. I stood in the shadow o

ad a li

he slept in the dormitory with the other young wolves, and as far as I knew he had never given anyone trouble. Late bloomer, the pack said. Nineteen years old and no shift yet. It

then Nora swung her leg over the sill and dropp

she was three step

ll watching

ry at half past four in the morn

hand, and she held it up. B

ves the kitchen unlocked for me and I have been taking what I can

k know what y

ward the dormitory door. "She has not said a word

the sharp sweet smell of young wolves. Most of the doors were closed. The thir

ders and his sandy hair sticking up in every direction. He looke

doing here

a said. She set the

e Gamma's

lf in this pack who has asked what you saw." No

er in his hands. His fingers were long and thin, and there were

t sleep,

in a long time. That is why I brought you the bread, and that is wh

re the same grey as Nora's, and there

out the sho

," I

t to talk abo

stion and you give him nothing? He will write it down. He will write that the only wolf who was out past the boundary marker that night has no

ad in half. His ha

the water," he said. "That is all. I had never seen the bay at night an

nd

A small one. It came in quiet and it went out quiet, and I

e very still

him fall,

"And I ran. I did not go and look. I ran back to the dormitory and got into bed and I did not t

. My knees ached

olf's voice,"

s not shouting. It said one word." E

t na

r for ten years. It is like a word in a language

ulder. She did not look at me, and I u

I asked. "Why does the Gamma car

ere at the dinner or in the dormitory or on patrol. I was the only one out past the marker." He looked up. "And if I had shifted, I would have had the nose to tell th

uttered on

r more than you think you do. The boat, the

th nothing

and do not talk to anyone about that night. Not the Beta, not Maggie, not the warrior called Tomas.

a. She nodded once,

, Nora caug

id quietly. "He is nineteen and he has not slept properly in ten years,

to hand him to

"Because I cannot keep feeding him bread and keeping him a

ng. The bay was pale and still, and the cannery lig

light in the

pile and watched it go from the cabinet to the salt bins and back again, an