s stone wall, painting stripes on the wolf pelt tangled around my legs. For a heartbeat, I f

hrough a gap. Wolves move in the dim torchlight, some human, some shifted, carrying baskets

st with an armful of firewood. "Watch it, *outsider*," he s

s through the chat

ilver-streaked braid coiled like a sna

patching Kael's wounds a

"Fix these. Thread's in the corner. Bleed

ve yourself. Stay alive.* The needle pricks my

er, his boots dusty. "Yo

keep." I hold up a mend

stitching. "You

ere

There's no hole. When I glare, his

need air that doesn't s

nkets the ground, but steam rises from a hot spring at the center

ler on her hip nods

Temporary.* But the pup

pool ringed by

ha

or the pup. And yo

y tunic. "

He turns his bac

houlders unravel. Jarek sits on a boulder, still facing away. His silence

Riva hate

ble into the water. "Her mate died to

ss a hand to the movement. "

ng I think he wo

a weapon. R

distance. Jarek te

le?" I

He stands abrup

my alcove, but sleep won't come. The hot spring's heat lingers unde

*

s. The pack watches, some with pity, most with d

e with calloused fingers, disappearing again. Sometimes

evening as he leav

es. "As

inking when you loo

s. "I'm thinking," he says slowly

hy

t asked the one que

ckens. "Wha

ttacke

s. "I don't want t

aves, the stew st

*

-*Kael's face, twisted. A stranger's h

e gas

bed, a knife in his h

." I curl

hrough the furs. When his finge

," he says, so low

. *Need* to. But the

know me,"

ow against the torchlig

els colder wh