Chapter 24: The Moon Cove

The moon came up full and white over the Moon Cove, and four hundred people waited on the stones.

Merrow families stood on the left, in their good coats.

Kestrel families stood on the right, in flannel and boots.

Nobody stood between them.

My father sat in a folding chair at the front with a blanket over his knees and the doctor at his shoulder.

He lifted one hand to me, and I lifted mine.

Wynn stood at the edge of the water with her arms folded and her face already wet.

The old elder rapped her cane on the flat rock.

"A month ago, this beach heard the moon name two people," she said. "Both said yes. The moon asked, and they answered."

"Tonight the moon asks nothing. If either wishes to speak, let them speak because they want to."

Ronan stood at the water's edge, in a clean dark shirt, with the mark I had put on him showing at the collar.

He did not look at me.

He kept his hands loose at his sides, and I heard his thoughts, quiet and steady.

Whatever she says. Whatever she wants. I'll stand here.

I walked across the stones.

Four hundred pairs of eyes followed me, and I let them.

I stopped in front of him, close enough to see his pulse beating in his throat.

His eyes came up to mine, amber and wide open.

"Ronan Kestrel," I said.

My voice carried.

"Once, I stood on this beach and didn't know what I was looking at."

I saw him go very still.

"I was told a story about you. I believed it, because it was easy, and because I was afraid. I said something I can't take back."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Reborn to Get the Alpha She Rejected from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.