Chapter 23: The Bonding Moon

On the night of the full moon, I stood on the other side of a door again.

It was the door of my mother's old room, in the Bloodwood keep.

The last time I stood behind a door on a bonding night, a man spoke through it.

This time I opened it myself.

Lucan stood in the corridor in a plain dark coat, with his hands behind his back and his hair still wet from the bath.

"You came early," I said.

"I've been early for ten years."

"Is that your whole speech?"

"I have a longer one," he said. "It's in the courtyard."

I laughed and took his arm.

Three packs filled the courtyard of the keep, under a moon so full it threw shadows.

Bloodwood stood in red, Stormbrook in grey and Ashfall in black.

They packed shoulder to shoulder around a ring of bare stone, with a bowl of fire at its center.

Theron stood at the back with his wolves and his head bowed.

Corinna stood beside the Healer, in a plain brown dress, holding a tray of cups.

She drank from the first one herself and handed the rest around, and the Healer nodded her approval.

In the front row, six children stood in a line in their best clothes.

Bram had brushed his hair.

It was already standing up again.

The old wolf with the limp walked out into the ring and lifted both hands.

"The Alpha of Bloodwood comes to the stone," he said. "Who comes with her?"

"Lucan Farquharson, Alpha of Ashfall," Lucan said, "if she'll have me."

I stepped into the ring.

I did not look at the packs, or at the fire, or at the old man.

I looked at Lucan.

"Last time, I wasn't asked," I said, loud enough for every wolf in the yard to hear.

"A man decided I wasn't worth keeping, and my brother decided where I would spend the night."

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