Chapter 21: Thane's POV

Thane's POV

I had never seen a wolf that size hold still.

Freya stood over Luther with her jaws closed around his throat.

The full moon lit her fur from above.

Her eyes were gold.

They were the color mine had been, once, in a better year.

Nobody in the ring breathed.

It was her kill. Every wolf there knew the law, and so did I.

If she closed her jaws, the seat was settled.

No one would say a word against her.

I took one step forward.

"Freya."

Her head turned a fraction toward me.

"It's yours to say," I said. "Whatever you decide, I'll stand behind it."

I meant every word, and it cost me.

Luther had sat at my father's table for forty years.

He had also stood on the far bank of that river and watched her drown.

Freya looked down at him.

Then she let go.

She stepped back, and the gold in her eyes did not fade.

She lowered her head, and Luther lay in the snow with blood on his collar, wheezing.

A long, broken sigh went through the ring.

The white-braided elder came forward and set her stick on the stones.

"The challenge is answered," she said.

"The seat stays with the Alpha, by his champion's right.

"Luther Ellerby, you are struck from the Stone."

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