Chapter 14: Forty Papers

The Council met at dawn, in front of the whole pack, because the pack had refused to go home.

The eldest elder sat in the middle chair with her cane across her knees.

Ernest stood below the table in a fresh cardigan, rested and clean-shaven.

"My ward is unwell, and she's in the keeping of a man who has publicly said what he wants from her," he said.

"I ask only that she come home, where she can be safe."

"Safe," I said. "From what, Ernest?"

"From yourself, my dear."

The eldest elder rapped her cane.

"Nobody doubts Ernest is the guardian of record," she said. "Nobody sensible sends a girl back to the man the thermos came from."

A few people clapped, and she glared them quiet.

"But I can't convict a Beta on an Alpha's ear alone. The Charter says so. We've all just watched Regan scream, and she screams at the Alpha too."

"So what do you rule?" Dane said.

"I hold the guardianship myself until the inquiry is done. It will run to Midwinter."

She turned to me.

"Where do you want to sleep, child? I'm eighty-one. I won't have you up my stairs."

"At the Alpha's house," I said.

"Then that's where you'll sleep."

Ernest inclined his head, graciously, and slid a sheet of paper onto the table.

"Before you rule on that, I think the Council should read this."

It was a single page, creased from being folded in a drawer.

I could read the top line from where I stood. It said Engagement Consent, Cold Ridge Pack.

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