Unwanted Shewolf novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Front Door

The Blood Moon came up over Marrick land, huge and dark red.

I walked down the road to the Moon Hall in the grey shawl Sydney had given me, with Rafe a step behind my shoulder.

Mabel walked on my left with her bag.

Dustin walked on my right with his face still purple, holding the torn page in both hands.

Every window in the village was shut.

The whole pack was already inside.

The Moon Hall is round and made of grey stone, and it has two doors as tall as a barn, carved with crescents.

I had stood outside them on the day my father was buried, and a warrior had told me to wait on the grass.

I had been twelve years old, and I had waited four hours.

I walked up the steps and put both palms on the wood.

It was cold, and the carved moons were rough under my hands.

"Hazel," Dustin said quietly. "You don't need to push."

The doors swung inward before he finished the sentence.

Sydney stood behind them in her cream cardigan and her gold pin, with her hand on the iron ring.

"There you are," she said softly. "Welcome home."

She was smiling at me with her whole warm face.

I looked at her hand on the ring and walked past her without a word.

Inside, the benches climbed in rings to the walls, and every seat was full.

Three hundred wolves turned their heads.

At the far end, on a dais, stood a chair of black oak with a crescent worked into its high back.

My brother Elias stood in front of it, in the charcoal coat with the silver clasp.

The Brannock Alpha stood at his shoulder with ten of his men.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Unwanted Shewolf from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.