Chapter 10: The Ashfork Alpha

I put the cuff back on before sunrise and did not sleep.

At seven I was on the lodge porch with the day's schedule and a cup of the oldest elder's black coffee.

The mesa turned red as the sun came up behind it.

"Whitaker."

The Ashfork Alpha sat down on the porch rail beside me, with her iron-gray braids over one shoulder.

She had a mug of her own and she drank from it before she spoke.

"I'm going to ask you something, and I want it straight."

"All right."

"Do you want Cade Merrick's bed, or his seat?"

I nearly dropped the coffee.

"Excuse me?"

"You came to Red Sand ten weeks ago with a ruined name."

"Now you run his Gathering, his border and his hall. People talk." She shrugged. "I'd like to hear it from you."

I set the cup on the rail.

"Neither," I said. "I want my mother's border to stay on the map."

"That's a politician's answer."

"Then here's the rest. I can't hold a seat. I can hold a seating chart, and I'm good at it."

"If I wanted his bed, I'd ask him myself. I wouldn't send it through an Alpha."

She stared at me for a second.

Then she laughed, one loud bark that startled a pair of ravens off the roof.

"Good," she said. "Good. I hate polite liars."

"Then what do you need?" she asked.

"The Moon Circle can release Cedar Pass's patrol debt if three Alphas stand for it."

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