Chapter 12: Read the Mark

The Council hall at noon was packed to the doors.

Three elders sat on the stone dais in gray robes.

A memory-keeper sat below them with a charm-caster on her knee.

Wolves from six packs filled the gallery.

I walked down the center aisle in my own coat with Lark on my shoulder.

My mother's cuff gleamed on my wrist.

Rowan walked one pace behind me.

Under Council law, an Alpha could stand as witness for any she-wolf who asked him to.

I had asked.

Across the aisle, Bram sat very straight.

His right wrist was in a splint and his eyes were brown and sunken.

A Beta stood at each elbow to hold him up.

Pru sat beside him with Hugo in her lap, pale and dressed in white.

The Dowager sat on his other side in her fur collar.

The Kestrel lawyer stood at a lectern with a folder.

The senior elder rapped the dais.

"The Council hears the whelp-claim of Alpha Bram Kestrel against Morwen Alder," she said. "Counsel, begin."

The lawyer cleared his throat.

"The mother signed three documents on the fourth day after the birth," he said.

"A silence oath, a whelp-claim and a severing draft. Her signature is on each."

He held up the pages.

"She has since abducted the pup across a pack border."

"Left," I said.

The senior elder looked at me.

"Miss Alder, you may speak when asked."

"Yes, Elder."

"You were asked just now," the elder said dryly. "Did you sign these pages?"

"No," I said. "I signed one slip of paper. A receipt for the folder."