His Mate, His Enemy novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Moot

Stonebridge is a stone arch over the river, older than either pack.

On the night of the Moot both packs stood on it in the dark.

Blackwater held the north bank and Ironwood the south.

Between them a bonfire burned in an iron bowl.

The Moon-Keeper sat on a stool at the crown of the arch.

She was the oldest wolf either pack had, small and thin, and she had judged border quarrels for sixty years.

I stood on the Ironwood side in Molly's good coat.

Molly was on one side of me and Dane on the other.

Across the fire I could see Lorcan.

He was alone at the front of his pack, and his lip had scabbed over where I'd bitten it.

He hadn't looked away from me once.

Brynn stood a few steps behind him with the baby.

She had her left hand tucked into her sleeve.

"A Luna has cut her bond," the Moon-Keeper said, and her voice carried to both banks.

"An Alpha has refused the release. A dock has burned.

"Corinna Marrin, you called this Moot. Say your piece."

I had planned to say it calmly.

The whole way up the hill I had rehearsed it.

Then I stepped to the fire and looked at the faces of the people I had stitched up.

I had vaccinated their children and sat with their dying.

"Four nights ago I lost my baby," I said.

Nobody moved.

"I was sixteen weeks along.

"I was alone on my bathroom floor, and I called my husband nineteen times through the pack link.

"He didn't answer. He was in the lodge, holding another woman's newborn.

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