My Mate Gave My Wolf to His Mistress novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Leash

Hesper's POV

Greywater Hall was lit with two hundred candles.

Every one of them showed me the faces of people who had voted to hang my family.

The twelve elders sat on the dais in a half circle.

The benches below were full of packs from all along the moor, wolves in their best coats.

Ravenhold's colours hung on the east wall.

Torin stood at the foot of the dais in his dark coat with Elspeth beside him, grey-faced and upright.

Corwin's place at his shoulder was empty.

He looked at me when I walked in on Bram's arm.

He smiled.

I put the ledger on the table in front of the eldest and said, "Read the first page."

He read it.

His lips moved over the names, and the hall went quiet around him.

"A hundred and four," he said. "These are the Aldanes?"

"They are. Written by the chapel keeper at Ravenhold, who buried them."

"Maud." He turned to her. She sat at the end of the front bench with her shawl up over her head.

"I am Maud, keeper of the chapel," she said. "Every name is true."

"Every grave is behind the chapel orchard. You may dig them up."

"The council hanged these people for a river poisoning."

"Nobody was hanged. They were cut down at their doors by the Ravenhold guard," said Maud. "Under the Alpha's command."

The hall broke into noise.

Torin raised his hand, and it went quiet again for him.

"I grieve for the Aldanes," he said, gravely. "As I have every autumn since."

"The woman has her family's loss in her heart, and she has built a story to hold it."

"Elders, the keeper is old. She buried the dead and was never told who killed them. Naturally she fills in the gaps."

"I have a page from your rite book," I said.

I laid it down in front of the eldest.

*An Aldane wolf is bound by the river line and cannot be lifted without the binding mark. Mark must be cut with Aldane blood while the line is living.*

← Chapter 9 · All chapters · Chapter 11 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend