Chapter 29: The Salt Line

Jasper's POV

My wolf knew her before I did.

He went rigid under my skin the moment the woman in green stepped out of the trees.

Five hundred wolves turned, and the stamping stopped.

Lorna Winslow did not cross the salt line.

She stood at the edge of the snow with her hands folded.

She waited.

The guards on the east side moved toward her, and Clara lifted two fingers.

They stopped.

"Let her speak from where she is," Clara said.

I walked back to Clara's side and stood a half step behind her shoulder.

I put my hand on her back, and I felt her tremble through the silk.

Lorna looked at the gown.

She looked at it for a long time, from collar to hem.

"Twenty-two," she said. "And one new."

"Yes," said Clara.

"The twenty-third is crooked at the tip."

I felt Clara go still.

"It isn't," I said.

"A little. On the left arm."

Lorna's eyes came to me.

"You cut well, Mr. Coyle. You always did."

She said it evenly.

"I opened every box and held every stone up to the lamp."

Nobody breathed.

"I did not come to say I am sorry," she said. "I will not say what I am not."

"Then why did you come?" said Clara.

"To see it counted."

She said it simply, and it was the worst thing she had said.

"You'll be a better Alpha than your father," she went on. "I raised you to be."

Her voice did not change.

"I knew it when you were six and ran the whole barn. I knew nobody would ever give you the seat for it."

"So you took the gems instead."

"I took what I could reach."

Clara's hand closed around mine behind her back, hard enough to hurt.

"You will not come into this circle," she said, loud, for the packs.

"You will not be fed at my door or sheltered at my fire. That is the law, and I made it."

"I know the law."

"Then go."

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