Chapter 20: I Claim You

Sorcha hauled her horse to a stop at the edge of the ford, and it blew steam into the cold air.

Twelve black cloaks sat their saddles on the far bank.

In the middle of them, Brogan had turned round with his hand over his eyes.

"Sorcha," he said, in a cracked voice. "I had your name for a minute."

"I know. I heard."

"Go back."

"No."

"I told you I would not take it."

"And I'm not giving it to you."

He lowered his hand and stared at her.

She slid off the horse and walked into the shallow water, up to her knees, in her boots and her torn dress.

The Beta backed his horse a step. Nobody else moved.

She reached the far bank, took hold of Brogan's stirrup, and looked up at him.

"Get down," she said.

"Sorcha..."

"Get down off that horse, Brogan Greaves, or I will pull you off."

He got down.

He swayed, and she took his weight against her shoulder, and for a moment he did not seem to know how to hold it.

"Listen to me," she said. "I want to say it in front of your men. I don't want you to ever wonder what I said in the dark."

"Sorcha, the Chronicle..."

"I don't care about the Chronicle."

His mouth shut.

"I'm still angry that you waited," she said. "I'll be angry about it for a while."

"Yes."

"You should have walked in and told me my mate was cheating."

"Yes. I was afraid you would hate me."

"I might have."

"I know."

"But this morning you turned away the very thing you came down the mountain to get, because you were afraid it wouldn't be mine."

Her voice shook.

"Nobody has ever done that. Not once in my life. So be angry with me later, and be afraid of this now."

"Of what?"

"That I'm not letting you ride away again."

He said nothing.

His face was gray, and the black veins pulsed at his throat.

"So here is my answer," Sorcha said. "I'm asking nothing of you. I'm not paying a debt, and I'm not grateful, and nobody is making me. I choose you."

She put both hands on his face.

"By the old law, an Alpha may claim a severed wolf," she said. "No one has ever claimed an Alpha. So I'm going to be the first."

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