His Mate, His Enemy novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Step to the Fire

The Moot met on the Stonebridge flats under the full moon, and both packs came.

Dane sat on a camp chair at the front of the Ironwood side with a cane across his knees, grumbling at Molly.

Behind me, a hundred Blackwater wolves stood in the long grass, the ones who had stayed and the ones who had come home.

The Moon-Keeper rapped her stick on the stone.

"The seat of Blackwater is empty," she said. "Who speaks?"

The first elder stood.

"We name Lorcan MacKinnon."

"Who stands against?"

Nobody moved.

A woman near the back said, "He confessed it. He told us himself. I'd rather have a liar who told the truth."

A ripple of tired laughter went through the crowd.

"Then the vote," the Moon-Keeper said. "Step to the fire."

They went in a long line.

Old women went first, then the men with their caps in their hands, then the boy of nineteen with his arm in a sling.

Every one of them stepped to the fire, and nobody stepped away.

Lorcan took the iron ring from the elder's palm.

His hand was steady.

He turned it over once and slid it on his finger.

I saw how little he wanted it, and how carefully he held that back.

"I have something to say first," he said.

The Moon-Keeper nodded.

He turned to face me.

"The Alpha's seat has a second chair. It has always had one."

My heart hit my ribs.

"I'm not going to ask for it," he said. "It isn't mine to ask for.

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