Morgan's voice cut through the pack house dining hall before I even reached the doorway.
"Luna. Sit."
The Alpha tone wrapped around the command like wire. My feet moved before my brain caught up. I crossed the threshold, walked to the empty chair at his right hand, and sat.
My spine was straight. My hands folded in my lap. My face was blank.
Inside, I was counting.
The table was full. Morgan at the head. Carla to his left, draped in a burgundy dress that probably cost more than most pack members made in a month. The Beta—a broad-shouldered man named Garrett—sat across from me. Three patrol captains filled the remaining seats.
Morgan didn't look at me. He gestured to Garrett, who unrolled a territorial map across the table.
"The new border parcels," Garrett said, tapping a section of unmarked land along Ironmaw's eastern edge. "Carla's contact says the auction opens next week. If we move fast, we can triple our hunting grounds before winter."
Carla leaned forward, her eyes bright. "It's unclaimed territory. No pack, no Council oversight. We'd be fools not to take it."
One of the patrol captains frowned. "That's a lot of capital. What about the tribute shipments? We're already running two weeks late on the Crown payment."
Morgan waved a hand. Dismissive. Bored. "The tribute can wait. The Crown's not going anywhere."
Garrett hesitated. "Alpha, the Lycan Council has auditors. If we delay much longer—"
"I said it can wait." Morgan's tone sharpened. Not quite Alpha command, but close. "Focus on the land acquisition. That's the priority."
Garrett nodded. Fell silent.
I sat perfectly still. My hands rested flat on my thighs beneath the table, hidden from view. My face showed nothing.
But I was cataloguing every word.
*New border parcels. Auction next week. Eastern edge. Tribute shipments—two weeks late. Crown payment delayed.*
Carla's gaze slid to me. She smiled, thin and satisfied.
She thought I was broken. Compliant. A wolfless girl trapped in a bond she couldn't escape, sitting silent at her captor's table because she had no other choice.
She was right about some of that.
But not all of it.
The dinner dragged on. They discussed patrol rotations. Border security. A rogue sighting near the southern boundary. Morgan gave orders. The others obeyed.
I sat. Listened. Memorized.
When it finally ended, Morgan stood without looking at me. "You're dismissed."
I rose. Walked out. Climbed the stairs to his quarters—my cage—and closed the door behind me.
Then I pulled out my field journal.
I wrote fast, my handwriting tight and precise.
*Pack dinner—eastern border parcels, auction next week. Carla's contact (territorial broker?). Tribute payments to Crown—two weeks overdue. Morgan dismissive of Council auditors. Garrett nervous. Possible leverage point.*
I added a note in the margin: *Check tribute records. Rosie?*
Then I closed the journal and slid it back into my bag.
My hands were steady.
My chest was not.
---
Rosie found me two days later.
I was walking through an empty corridor on the second floor—one of the few places in the pack house where I could move without an escort. The guards had gotten lazy. They thought the Alpha tone command to stay in Ironmaw was enough.
They were right. For now.
Rosie appeared around the corner, her arms full of folded linens. She glanced left. Right. Then stepped close.
"Luna," she whispered.
I stopped.
She shifted the linens to one arm and reached into her pocket. Her hand trembled slightly as she pressed something small and smooth into my palm.
A stone. Fist-sized. Dark gray, with a faint iridescence along one edge.
"Listen," she breathed.
Then she was gone, disappearing down the corridor with her linens before I could respond.
I closed my hand around the stone. Kept walking. Didn't look down.
Back in Morgan's quarters, I locked the door. Sat on the edge of the bed. Turned the stone over in my hands.
It was a recording stone. Mind-link–imprinted. Rare. Expensive. The kind of thing you used when you needed absolute proof of a conversation—because once a memory was imprinted, it couldn't be altered or faked.
I'd seen my father use one once, years ago, during a territorial dispute.
I pressed my thumb to the iridescent edge and focused.
The stone warmed. Then voices filled my head.
Morgan's voice. Carla's voice. Clear as if they were standing beside me.
*"—dropped like timber. Best news I've had all season."*
Carla laughed. It was light. Delighted.
*"The stroke was perfect timing,"* she said. *"I was worried he'd fight the stewardship order, but now? He can't even speak. Silverpine's ours."*
*"What about the girl?"* Morgan's voice was flat. Bored.
*"She's compliant. The incomplete bond keeps her docile enough. Once we formalize the bloodline transfer, we can do whatever we want with her. Omega status, maybe. Or just—"* Carla paused. *"—let her fade into the background. She's not useful beyond the claim."*
*"And the hunting grounds?"*
*"Auction starts in three weeks. I've already arranged the broker. We'll liquidate Silverpine's assets, roll the capital into the new parcels, and by spring we'll have the largest territory in the Northwest."*
Morgan made a low sound of approval. *"Good. The sooner we move, the better. The Council's too distracted with tribute audits to notice."*
*"Exactly. And even if they do—"* Carla's voice turned smug. *"—what are they going to do? The girl's marked. Thaddeus is paralyzed. Silverpine has no Alpha. We've already won."*
The recording ended.
I sat in the dark, the stone still warm in my hand.
My chest cracked open.
Not with grief this time. Not with shock.
With something else.
It started low—a pressure behind my ribs, a heat that spread through my lungs and into my throat. My hands shook. My breath came short and sharp.
And then, for the first time in twenty-two years, I felt it.
A presence. Massive. Silver. Rising from a place so deep I had stopped believing it existed.
My wolf.
She surged up behind my eyes, a towering shape that filled every empty space inside me. Her voice was low. Resonant. Not my own.
*"Burn them."*
I gasped. My hands flew to my chest. Tears ran hot down my face, silent and unstoppable.
She was real.
She had always been real.
I pressed my fist to my mouth to muffle the sound. My whole body shook.
The wolf inside me growled, low and steady. *"Burn them. Burn them. Burn them."*
I sat there in the dark, tears streaming, my wolf's voice a drumbeat in my skull.
And for the first time since the Mate Ceremony, I smiled.
It was not a kind smile.
It was the smile of a woman who had just found her teeth.
