Chapter 17: The Moon Stone

The Moon Stone stood on a bare shelf of the hillside above the hall.

Both packs were already climbing toward it.

Dawn was coming up grey behind the ridge.

The snow on the shelf had been trampled flat in a ring, and Lucan waited in the middle of it with his shirt off and his boots in the drift.

His eyes were gold.

Whatever Hester had put in that flask, it had put his wolf back in him, and every muscle stood out on his arms.

Hester stood at the edge with her hands pressed to her mouth.

The three elders took their places beside the stone.

I came up the last of the slope with Joss behind me and Agnes on my other side.

Nobody told them to let me through.

The Cold Spur wolves parted, and then the Ridgeback wolves did, and they stood in two long lines on either side of the path.

At the stone I stopped and took off my coat.

Joss held out his hand for it.

"If you lose," he said, "I carry you down."

"If I win?"

"Then I carry you down and tell everyone I won."

I almost laughed.

He kissed me once, hard, in front of two packs, and let go.

The eldest raised his hand.

"Lucan Ellington. Valerie Wray calls the seat of Cold Spur by the Wray right. Do you meet her?"

"I meet her," said Lucan.

His eyes came to my face.

"Val. This is your last chance to go back down."

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