Chapter 23: The Cuff

The council chamber was full by dawn, and nobody sat.

Winifred stood at the foot of the long table, rested and combed, in a black dress.

She had not slept either. She simply looked as though she hadn't needed to.

Torin walked in with me at his side, and the room went quiet.

"Alpha," the Elder said wearily. "You have been summoned under the regency law."

"I know."

"The healer says your wolf was seen to divide at the Run."

He sighed.

"By the old law, an Alpha who cannot hold his own wolf cannot hold the seat."

"I know what the law says," Torin said. "I'd like to speak before the vote."

"The healer has the floor."

"Then I'll speak after her."

Winifred stood very straight and spoke for two minutes, perfectly.

She said she loved her son.

She said the pack's safety came first, and a split Alpha was a weak Alpha.

She said the Luna, though no one doubted her courage, was a danger to him.

She did not say the word silver.

She did not say the word Camille.

When she sat, three of the council nodded.

I saw them, and my pulse went cold.

"Torin Kensington," the Elder said. "Speak."

Torin took a step forward and put his hands flat on the table.

"I want to say something about the night I was married," he said.

I felt my breath stop.

"It was the night I told my wife she would never have my bed," he said. "I said it in the hall outside her door."

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