Chapter 8: The Law of the Stones

Merrick was dressed before I found my second boot.

"Stay behind me," he said.

"No."

"Briony."

"I'm the one he came for." I pulled on his flannel over my shirt and took his hand. "We go down together."

He looked at me for one second, and then he nodded.

We walked down the slope to Cold Creek with the silver glowing faintly in my chest.

The smoke was thick. Hunters stood in a line along the pack bank, each with a bundle of wolfsbane smoking on a pole.

Alpha Garth waited at the center, in his good coat, with a torch in his fist.

"Briony," he called across the water. "I'm sorry for the hour."

"You swore a truce this morning."

"I swore you wouldn't be touched." He smiled. "Nobody is touching you. We're only standing here."

"With wolfsbane."

"The air in the valley has been poisoned by a rogue." His voice was warm and carrying. "You've been taken in, child. We're here to bring you home."

Behind him, more pack members gathered in the dark.

Some carried torches. Some carried phones.

I saw Torin at the edge of the crowd. He would not meet my eyes.

I saw Lorna beside him, in a long gold robe, swaying a little. Her face was white as paper.

"Come across, and we will help you," Garth said. "Stay with the rogue, and we will have to clear the smoke ourselves."

Merrick's hand tightened on mine so hard it hurt.

I thought about the pit.

I thought about the heat of it, and I opened my other hand.

The silver light floated up out of my chest and settled in my palm.

It was the size of an egg, and it glowed so brightly that the hunters flinched.

"I am Briony Oakes," I said. "I hold the Silver Bond. I call the Moon Keeper to the stones."

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