Chapter 4: Who Would Hurt Her

By the time they carried Lenora out of the hall, half the pack had already decided whose fault it was.

I heard it in the aisle behind me as I followed Ida's bag toward the clinic.

"Nine days she's been home, and not a day sick before tonight."

"The Beta was jealous. Everyone saw her tear the cord."

"She stood right there, glaring at the poor girl."

I had not glared at anyone.

I had only looked, because I knew what I was looking at.

The clinic yard filled with wolves, lit by lanterns.

They stood in tight groups, and they watched my loft window and the clinic door, and none of them watched the dark.

I stood by the water barrel with my back to the wall.

A broad man from the mill pointed at me across the yard.

"Ask her," he said. "Ask the one who wanted the Alpha for herself and didn't get what she wanted."

"I didn't want him," I said.

"Then why did you tear the cord?"

I had no answer I could give him.

Maud came out of the clinic with her shawl clutched at her throat and her face wet.

"Stop it," she told the man from the mill. "Please. Not her. Whoever it was, it wasn't this child."

The yard went quiet in surprise.

"Maud," Caleb said, behind her.

He had come out of the clinic with blood from Lenora's mouth on his shirt cuff.

His eyes found mine across the lanterns.

He did not look sure of anything.

I almost wished he did, because then I would have known what to do with him.

"Kestrel," he said, and the yard went still. "Did you do this?"

"No."

"Did you give her anything? Put anything in her cup?"

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