Chapter 17: The Refusal

Every wolf in the ring waited for my answer.

I could feel the bond pulling at the center of my chest, warm and sure.

It would have been so easy to lean into it.

I looked at Luca's open palm, and at the gold in his eyes.

"No," I said.

The slope made a low sound.

"Lara." His hand did not drop. "You said you loved me."

"I did. I do. That isn't the question."

"Then what is?"

"Whether you'd have chosen me with nothing to push you. You didn't. You waited to see if I was worth it."

"And now the moon is pushing us, and I'm supposed to say thank you."

My voice was shaking, but it did not break.

"My mother said yes to a bond at nineteen because there wasn't another answer. I will not be her."

Bernice, on the slope, put both hands over her mouth.

I turned to Vittorio at the center stone.

"The circle accepts a refusal spoken before the moon. Is that right?"

"It does," he said slowly. "It costs the one who says it."

"Then I refuse it. I refuse the bond, in front of every pack here."

Light flared at my wrist.

The pull in my chest tightened until I gasped, and then it began to tear.

Luca staggered.

"Don't," he said. "Don't do this to us."

"I'm not doing it to us. I'm doing it for me."

He stared at me.

I watched him decide something.

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