Exiled Mate, Future Luna novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Moon Stone

The Moon Stone stood alone on a bald hill between the two territories, a flat grey slab as tall as a man, with the dusk going red behind it.

Two packs formed a ring around it.

The Kippax wolves stood on the east side, the Huddleston wolves on the west, and the grass between them was bare.

I stood at the Stone with Rhys at my right shoulder and Dani, who had refused to stay home, gripping my left elbow.

Alpha Kippax walked into the open ground with Dalton one pace behind him.

Dalton's arm was in a sling.

He did not look at me.

"Wolves of two packs," the Alpha said. "I call this Gathering on neutral ground, under the Stone, to settle a theft."

"Whose?" someone called from the Huddleston side.

"Mine. A Kippax foundling was raised in my pack for eighteen years, and Alpha Huddleston took her off my land while she was sick and kept her."

He spread his hands, the reasonable man.

"Under the old law the foundling belongs to the pack that raised her. I ask the Stone to return my ward."

"I'm not anyone's ward," I said.

My voice carried farther than I expected.

Nobody could stop my voice now.

"I was raised by a woman who put poison in my cup every morning," I said. "She did it for the Alpha. You can ask her. She's standing right there."

Heads turned.

My mother stood at the back of the Kippax ring, with her arms wrapped round the steel thermos.

The Alpha did not look at her.

"She's an unwell woman," he said. "And the Huddleston Alpha has been feeding her story to the girl."

"I have a blanket," said a voice.

My father walked out of the Kippax ranks with his hat in his hand.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Exiled Mate, Future Luna from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.