She Killed Me Once, So This Time the Whole Pack Is Watching novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: Father Steps In
Linnet walked across the gravel bar with the knife held low.
Nobody stopped her.
The ten rogues stood behind her in the shallows, waiting, and our six fighters did not move because Bram had not given the word.
"Put it down," I said.
"Why?" Linnet tilted her head. "You were so brave in the hall. You said, 'Then go.' I'm gone. Now I've come back to say goodbye."
She looked at Mother on her knees.
"Did she tell you everything? Did she tell you about the river?"
"She told us," Tobin said hoarsely.
"Then you know I'm not a monster. I was made."
"You were made by a man who hurt her," I said. "You chose the rest yourself."
Her lips went thin.
"Father says the pack is a cage. He says they locked him out and they locked me in. He's going to burn the cage down, and he said I could light it."
"Where is he?"
A heavy voice spoke behind me, upstream.
"Right here."
Harlan stepped out from under the willows on our side of the river, dripping, with his burned hand wrapped in a strip of hide.
He had come around behind us, and our six fighters had not smelled him because he had come down the water.
Bram swore and shifted.
"Don't," Harlan said. "My boys at the ford will have the Beta's wife's throat out before you take a step."
He was looking only at Mother.
"You look old, Odette."
"You look the same," she said.
It was the bravest thing I had ever heard her say.
"Come with me. I'll leave your son alone, and your girl, and the rest. You can watch the hall burn from my fire."
"The hall's empty, Harlan," Mother said. "The pack won't be in it."
"The pack will be in it at dusk. They have a ceremony." His grin widened. "Your daughter and the Keller boy. My girl told me how they tie the knot. Everyone in one room. All the doors on the inside."
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