Wolves of the Thousandth Winter novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Thousandth Winter

By sundown on Monday, the twenty-first, the Hall held every wolf of the Harrow pack.

A dozen of them stood against the north wall with their arms folded.

Oskar sat in the Alpha's high oak chair at the head of the room.

Nobody had dared to move him.

He had put on his camel coat again.

He smiled at me when I came in.

I walked past him without looking.

I wore my good gray cardigan, and my hair loose, and the little green book in my pocket.

Gunnar walked beside me, in a clean white shirt, with his hair tied back in a new leather cord.

Edna had already set the ledger on the lectern.

It lay shut under its strap in the light of sixty candles.

Maud stood beside it in her gray shawl, with a face.

The big man shut the doors, and the room went quiet.

"The Thousandth Winter," Maud said, in a clear old voice that reached the rafters. "The longest night."

"The Law is the Law," said Oskar, rising. "Read the Alpha's page."

"I am the eldest here," said Maud. "It is mine to read."

She laid her hand on the strap.

"Wait," said Gunnar.

He stepped forward onto the boards in front of the lectern.

Sixty-one heads turned.

"Alpha, the Law forbids you to interrupt the reading," Oskar said smoothly.

"Then let me read nothing. Let me put my hand here."

Gunnar laid his large palm flat on the cover of the ledger, on the dark old leather.

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