Chapter 15: The Seat

"No," I said.

Garrick blinked.

"Tilda, I've made up my mind."

"Then unmake it. You decided what I could afford at the Naming, and you're doing it again."

"I'm giving you a way out."

"You're giving me a bill. I pay it in your name, in front of three hundred wolves, and I'm supposed to say thank you."

His jaw worked.

"You're angry."

"I'm very angry. I'm allowed."

The wind pushed frost off the stones between us.

"I won't be the reason you're nobody," I said.

"You've been Alpha for six years. You fed those people through a bad winter, and you buried their kids."

"I won't let Enid walk in and take that because of me."

"It's mine to give."

"It's mine to refuse."

We stood glaring at each other across a line of moss and rock.

For the first time in my life I wasn't a child in his kitchen.

I was another grown wolf who disagreed with him.

He heard that, and I saw him hear it.

"Dorian says a pack can give a wolf away," I said.

"So I'll be sworn and still be yours, and I won't need your seat to do it."

"Has that ever worked?"

"No."

"Then it isn't a plan."

"It's better than yours."

A corner of his mouth moved.

"That's the first time you've said something like that to me without slamming a door."

"I haven't got a door out here."

He laughed, low and helpless, and the sound went straight through my chest.

I crossed the line.

I did it on purpose, in front of the lookout, in front of anyone who wanted to count.

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