Chapter 12: The First Snow Feast

I woke alone with his scent on the pillow and a note on the nightstand.

Study, noon. I'll tell you everything. Don't let anyone talk you out of it. T.

I held it against my chest for a minute.

At noon I stood in front of the study door, and two Council guards stood in front of me.

"The Alpha is in conclave," one said.

"He asked me to come."

"The Alpha is in conclave," the guard said again, and didn't blink.

I knocked on the door anyway. Nobody answered.

At four, Ingrid found me pacing in the east wing.

"There you are," she said. "They've been working him since dawn. Gunnar's strict about the Feast. Come on. I've laid out the green."

"Ingrid, I need to talk to him before tonight."

"You will. After." She took my hands, and her face was soft and worried.

"Let me dress you. If it's as bad as he says, you want to walk in with your head high."

I let her.

It was the same green dress from the Gathering.

She zipped me into it, brushed my hair, and pinned the same curl behind my ear.

"Perfect," she said, and kissed my forehead. "I'll be right beside you."

The great hall was full again.

Candles all down the long tables, a fire roaring in the hearth, and two hundred wolves in their best clothes.

Phones were up, the way they'd been at the Gathering.

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