Chapter 7: The Moot

The Moot was held in the pack hall at the top of the ridge, and every bench was full.

I walked in through the main doors under a safe-conduct paper the elder had sent across the creek.

Tobias walked half a step behind me. Maisy and her brother came in last and sat at the back.

Five Council members sat on the dais behind a long table.

Dirk sat at the center of it in the Alpha's chair.

Celia sat on a smaller chair at his right hand. A thin silver circlet rested in her braid.

It was the Luna's circlet. I had worn it for a single photograph, the night he marked me.

The whole hall saw me see it.

"Dara Standifer," the elder said from the table. He did not look at Dirk. "You are charged with oathbreaking."

"I'd like to know what oath," I said.

"You swore to stand beside the Alpha at the Harvest Moon rite."

"I never swore anything. The rite is in nine days. Nobody has sworn it yet."

A murmur went along the benches.

"A mate's promise to stand is custom," the elder said.

"Then let the Alpha say when I made it."

Dirk kept his eyes on the table.

"I'll answer the charge in my own way," I said. "May I speak?"

The elder gestured, and I turned and faced the pack.

"Ten days ago, my truck was driven into an oak on the ridge road."

"I was in the passenger seat, eleven weeks pregnant. I lost my child."

Nobody on the benches moved.

"The woman driving says she pressed the wrong pedal. I believe in accidents. I'm a nurse, I've seen a lot of them."

"Dara," Dirk said, low.

"I'm not finished, Alpha."

I held up two fingers.

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