Chapter 16: The Hall Steps

The next morning Garth called the whole pack to the hall steps.

He did it the way he did everything, warmly, with a bell and a pot of coffee on a folding table.

I walked up the hill at nine with Merrick on my left and Pippa on my right.

Nobody stopped us. The truce held.

Three hundred wolves stood in the yard, in coats and boots, with their breath smoking.

Half of them looked at the ground when I passed. Half of them looked at me.

The council elder from last night stood at the back with her arms folded.

Garth waited at the top of the steps. Torin stood two steps below him, alone, and he did not look at his father.

"Briony," Garth said, with open arms. "Come to hear the plan?"

"I came to talk."

"By all means." He turned to the yard. "Friends, this girl has a grievance. We'll hear her."

He sounded so reasonable that for one second even I wanted to believe him.

I climbed to the third step and turned around to face them.

"My sister took my wolf in front of you," I said. "You all saw it."

The yard shifted.

"I rejected the Alpha line, and I took the silver. I'm not asking you to kneel to me. I'm asking you to listen."

"She's a rogue's whore," a voice said, low and clear.

It came from the front row. A hunter, by his boots.

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