Chapter 10: The Real Words

My mother's hands were shaking, but she opened the clasp on the first try.

The silver slid off my neck and she held it up in the lamplight.

It was cold in her palm, and a dull, tired grey.

"Twelve years," she said. "I never once touched it. Edwin always did it himself."

"Why?" I said.

"He said it needed the Alpha's blessing every night." Her voice cracked. "I thought it was sweet."

Already the cold in my chest was loosening.

I felt my fingers prickle, and the grey at the edge of my sight began to fade.

I took a deep breath, and my lungs opened the way they had on the ridge.

"Mom, the Beta's in the hall," I said.

"I know."

She wiped her face with both palms and pulled her cardigan straight.

Then she stood up, and for a moment she was somebody I had not seen in years.

She was the Luna of the Cold Spring pack, tall and steady, with her chin raised.

"Stay behind me," she said.

She opened the door.

The Beta was sitting on a chair in the hall with his hands between his knees.

He stood up fast.

"Luna."

"The Alpha's order is lifted," my mother said. "I'm taking my daughter to Hester."

"Luna, he said nobody..."

"I am his mate," she said. "I am your Luna. I have not given you an order in sixteen years, because I never needed to, and I am giving you one now."

The Beta looked past her at me.

He looked at the color in my face and the bare skin at my throat.

He swallowed.

"I didn't see you go," he said, and he turned his chair to face the wall.

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