Chapter 14: The Door

I opened the door a hand's width and no more.

Rory was asleep against my collarbone in a river pack's blanket, and my legs weren't steady.

Bram stood behind me, so close I could feel his heat at my back.

Cormac was kneeling in the yard.

It was gray dawn, and he had been out there all night.

The mud had soaked through his jeans to the thigh, and his shirt was stuck to him with rain.

His hands lay open on his knees, with nothing in them.

Forty river wolves stood around the yard in a loose ring, and not one of them looked bored.

He raised his head.

His eyes went to the bundle in my arms, and I watched his face fall apart.

"Morven."

"You're on Kettle River land."

"I know."

"You came without leave."

"I know." His voice was shredded. "I'll take whatever Bram wants to do about it. I had to come."

"You felt him."

"I felt him." He swallowed. "I felt his heart. It's so fast."

"He's a baby."

"I know." He laughed, a terrible wet sound. "I know he is."

I should have felt something big.

I felt the bond tug in my chest, and under it a steady, tired anger.

"What do you want?"

"To see him."

"You're seeing him."

"To hold him." His hands closed on his knees. "Just once. Please. I'll do it here, in front of everyone. Bram can stand there with his teeth out."

"No."

"Morven."

"At my funeral you told four hundred people he didn't exist."

"I was wrong."

"You were wrong about what, Cormac? The baby? Or me?"

He opened his mouth.

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