Unwanted Shewolf novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Her Mother's Letter

I read my mother's letter in the Moon Hall at dusk, with both doors propped wide.

I wanted it that way.

Anyone who lived on Marrick land could stand on the steps and hear it.

By the time I climbed the dais the benches were full, and the crowd stood three deep outside in the cold.

Mabel had given me the first two pages that morning, soft from eighteen years in her bag.

I had read them once, alone, in the room with the carved bed.

Now I unfolded all three on the arm of my mother's chair.

Rafe stood behind me, close, with one hand resting between my shoulder blades.

"My daughter," I read, and my voice cracked on the first word.

I stopped, and nobody moved.

I started again.

"You are not born yet. I'm writing this at the kitchen table at night, with your foot in my ribs. Mabel says you're a girl, and Mabel is never wrong."

A ripple of low laughter ran through the hall, and Mabel, in the front row, blew her nose.

"I may not live through your birth. The Moon's Daughters rarely have an easy one, and the healer has told me so plainly. I chose you anyway."

The hall went silent.

I kept reading.

"I'm not telling you this to frighten you. I'm telling you so you'll never believe the other story. Nobody took me from you. You didn't take me from anyone. I had you on purpose, and I would do it again."

My eyes were burning, and I let them.

"The pack will tell you what they like. My husband will not be able to look at you for a while, and our boys will do whatever he does. Forgive them if you can. They are children who are afraid, and they will learn it from him."

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