Claiming The Spare Twin novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Count
This time I did not watch from the window.
I walked down the stairs of the pack house in the green dress, with my wrapped arm in a sling of Finlay's shirt, and I walked out into the courtyard with my head up.
Three hundred wolves stood in a ring under the lamps.
They made room for me, and it was a different kind of quiet.
The old elder waited in the middle with his staff.
Finlay waited beside him, in his black jacket, with his bandaged hands bare.
He watched me come the whole way, and he didn't look anywhere else.
I stopped in front of him, and the clock inside the house began to strike twelve.
"By law," the elder called, "the Alpha mates the strongest she-wolf of his pack."
His voice cracked, and he went on.
"At the last stroke, the Moon names her."
One.
Two.
Finlay didn't take his eyes off me.
Ten.
Eleven.
Twelve.
The moon stood bright and round over the roof, the same moon as the night of the Count, and the whole pack went quiet.
"I don't need the Moon to say it," Finlay said.
His voice carried to the back of the courtyard.
"She's been my best friend for most of my life, and I was too slow to see what stood in front of me."
He took my good hand in both of his.
"Linnea Lundqvist, you are the strongest wolf in Ashfall. You're also the one I would pick if every law in the world said otherwise."
He dropped to one knee on the cold stones, in front of the whole pack.
"I claim you, in front of everyone. Will you have me?"
There was no sound at all.
I looked down at him, at the dark eyes I had known since I was eight.
I thought about the girl at the window, who had wanted to run and hide.
"I thought I'd have to wait for you to ask," I said.
A ripple of laughter ran around the ring.
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