Chapter 14: Every Word

Two days later I walked into the lodge hall on my own legs.

My back felt as light as a coat with the stones taken out of the pockets.

Every wolf in Silver Ridge was there, and the room smelled of wet wool and nerves.

Nobody had assigned seats. The families had simply come, and stood, and left the aisle open.

Penny was in the front row with her arms folded and her chin high.

Bronwyn stood beside the council table, in her charcoal blazer, with no laptop.

Conall was at the head of the hall, alone, with no microphone and no notes.

He waited until I was at the foot of the dais, and then he began.

"Two hundred of you watched my wife tell me she had stopped talking to me," he said. "Most of you thought that was her failing."

His voice was low and level. It reached the back wall without any help.

"It was mine. I never asked her a question that wasn't about the pack. For five years."

Nobody moved.

"The signature on my mother's form is mine," he said. "Any wolf here may come to me for it, tonight or any night, and I will answer."

A sound ran through the hall.

"I won't tell you why I signed," Conall said. "There is no reason that makes it smaller."

He took a folded paper from his shirt pocket and held it up so the whole hall could see the signature.

"This is my name. I'm putting it on the table, where everyone can read it."

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