Chapter 6: The Show

The Crown dinner was held in the great hall at Highcrest, under a ceiling of black beams.

Forty Alphas turned to look at me when I walked in on the King's arm.

I had borrowed a dress from the housekeeper's sister, and it was the color of midnight and fit better than it had any right to.

Hazel was upstairs at the guest house with her waffles and a guard at the door.

That was my second term.

I kept my chin up and my hand light on Torin's sleeve and smiled.

"They're going to be rude," he murmured near my ear. "I'll say something."

"Don't," I said. "I'd like to do the first one myself."

The first one was a heavy Alpha from the eastern packs, with a gold chain across his vest and a glass of whiskey already empty.

"So this is the Redfern castoff," he said, loud enough for the table.

"A Luna who couldn't keep one Alpha, and now she wants to keep two?"

The table went quiet.

Torin's arm went hard as a rail under my hand.

I smiled at the man.

"I kept him for eleven years," I said. "The keeping was fine. It was the Alpha who leaked."

Somebody at the far end snorted into a napkin.

The heavy Alpha's face went red.

"If you want to know about leaking," I added, "I noticed you've been holding your glass upside down since I sat down."

He looked.

It was empty, and it was upside down, and the whole table laughed.

After that nobody was rude to me directly.

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