Chapter 15: Thirty-Nine Places

The pack stood in the great hall of Snow Moon Lodge, where I had eaten every supper of my life.

They looked at me, and then they looked at my neck.

The mark Jasper had left there was dark and fresh above the collar of my coat.

A woman near the door put her hand over her mouth.

"You're bonded," Cecily whispered at my shoulder.

"Since last night."

"Good," said Cecily, and she took my hand and did not let go.

The struck do not enter the Lodge, but the Council's order carried her through the door, and she walked in with her chin up and her knuckles white.

My father sat in the Alpha's chair.

He did not look at either of us.

My mother stood beside him in the green dress with her hands folded, and her eyes were on the dress form in the middle of the floor.

Margot's gown hung on it.

It was the pale one, glittering from collar to hem under the great lamp.

Margot stood next to it in a cream sweater with her hair pinned up, and her smile was steady.

"Dad had it brought down," she said to the room. "I've got nothing to hide."

"Then the count will be short," said the elder.

She took her staff and set the tip against the collar.

The clerk stood at her elbow with a ledger, and Jasper took his place at the end of the table, a pace behind me.

I felt him through the bond.

He was calm and tight and ready.

The elder worked her way down the bodice, and the sleeves, and the skirt.

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