Chapter 18: Void

Tilda's POV

I woke to a locked door and a note on the stove.

It said, Back by dark. Don't follow me. G.

I read it twice and then kicked the door off its top hinge.

The lock held, but the wood around it didn't.

I ran the whole way down the ridge in my boots and my coat.

I reached the Council hall as the doors were being pulled shut.

I put my shoulder in the gap.

The gray-haired enforcer was on the inside.

He looked at me, then at the ceiling, and let me through.

The hall was packed to the walls.

Enid stood at the head of the long table, and the five elders sat around her.

Garrick stood alone in the open floor, bareheaded, with his hands at his sides.

He didn't turn around, but I saw his shoulders change.

"The motion is to void Alpha Lindholm's seat and name," Enid said. "Elders, your hands."

Her hand went up first.

The second elder raised his, a heavy man who owned half the lumber yards in the county.

The third looked at his lap and raised his.

The fourth raised hers, and would not meet anyone's eye.

The oldest elder sat with his hands folded on the table.

"I won't," he said.

"Then it is four to one," Enid said. "The seat is voided."

A sound went through the benches that wasn't a word.

I started forward, and a hand closed on my arm.

It was Odette's, and I had not even known she was in the hall.

"Wait," she whispered. "Listen to the rest."

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