Chapter 9: Moonrise

The Redfern lodge had been decorated with white roses.

I had chosen them myself, six weeks ago, from a catalogue Darren held open on his knee.

Now they stood in tall vases down both sides of the aisle.

The whole pack sat on the benches in their best coats.

Every head turned when the doors opened.

I walked in on Mathias's arm, in a dark green dress.

One of the Crowe women had pinned it to fit Odette's thin frame.

Twenty Crowe wolves came in behind us, silent and unsmiling.

Nobody on the benches spoke.

At the far end of the hall, on the dais beside the founder's stone, stood a bride in white.

She had my chestnut hair and my height and my shoulders.

She had my mother's silver bracelet on her wrist.

Darren stood beside her in a dark suit, and he went pale when he saw me.

Jasper, in the centre, did not.

"Alpha Crowe," he said, smiling, "you came. And you've brought my cousin. How kind."

"I brought your sister," Mathias said.

A rustle ran down the benches.

I let go of his arm and walked up the aisle alone.

Odette was staring at me.

She was wearing my face, and I could see her mouth working, trying to find a way to look like me.

"Valerie," she whispered.

"Hello, Odette."

"Please," she said, very low. "Don't."

"You asked the witch to make it permanent on the first night," I said, loudly enough for the front benches to hear.

"You looked me in the eye and told me you were scared of dying."

"Stop," Darren said. "She's confused. Odette has been unwell. We can get her to the doctor."

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