Chapter 18: Come Home

Wynne's POV

The Howling Bay pack hall smelled of floor wax and wet wool.

I had eaten a hundred Sunday suppers in it, at the long trestle table under the antlers.

Tonight the tables were pushed against the walls, and two hundred wolves stood in rows facing the stage.

They went quiet when Bree and I came through the doors.

Two Tidewater guards followed us in and stopped at the back wall.

"Dear!" Winifred said from the stage, and she opened her arms wide. "She came. I told you all she would."

She wore her cream cardigan and a pale green scarf.

Three elders sat in chairs behind her, white-haired and stiff.

Jared sat on a stool at the side with his hands between his knees.

"Come up, sweetheart," Winifred said. "There's a seat for you by me."

I walked down the middle of the hall.

I did not take the seat.

"Thank you, Winifred," I said. "I'll stand."

She smiled.

"Of course. Friends, you all know our Wynne. She's had a hard season."

Her voice dropped, sad and sweet.

"She's been taken advantage of by a very powerful man, and she's carrying a child far from home."

The hall murmured.

"We take our daughters in," Winifred said. "That is who we are."

She spread her hands.

"Wynne will stay here with us, where she is safe, and the pack will raise her baby together."

"No," I said.

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