Chapter 22: A Claimant Is Asked

The law was changed in the great hall that afternoon, in front of both packs.

The elder had explained how it was done.

A line of pack law could be struck by the sitting Alpha and by the one it had harmed.

It took witnesses, ink and two names.

"Two signatures," she said. "A pen. And enough people watching to make it hard to argue later."

She had no trouble with the last part.

Every wolf in Pinewater Lodge had crowded into the hall.

The Haldane pack stood shoulder to shoulder with them along the walls.

Perrin had climbed onto a chair to see better and was eating a drumstick.

The book lay open on the long table with the old sentence at the bottom of the page.

The first claimant shall be given to the Alpha by the council.

Alaric picked up the pen first.

His hand was steady, and his color had come back.

"I'd like to say something before I sign," he said.

"Go ahead," I said.

"I was given. Nobody asked me. Nobody asked you, or her."

He looked down the table at Beatrix, who sat with her hands folded and did not look up.

"I don't want anyone in this pack to be given again."

A young woman stood at the very back of the hall, near the doors, with a shawl pulled tight around her.

I had noticed her at the feast. She was nineteen, thin and watchful, and she had not touched her plate.

"The council promised her at New Year," Beatrix said quietly, without lifting her head. "To the heavy one's nephew."

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