a P

a cloak around my shoulders. Each step was a victory. I could feel Bart

ge of the crowd, a wall

yal warriors, and Elna's most ardent admire

umble. "You think you can just walk away

s scent, stale sweat and aggression, an assault on my senses. "You

pression perfectly blank, my body perfectly still. M

t girl in this pack. She treated you like a real sister, even after you came back from being missing and acted like a stranger to everyone. She was the only one who welcomed y

t. "I did nothing to her. She was the on

one needs! You're her sister, and you made her cry! You think you can spin this around? You think anyone here

fold. They wanted to see the fallen Luna be put through one final humiliation. They didn't care what

bhorred any attack on a female within his territory, wanted to intervene. But his

ers were inches

hen I

f a weak woman. It was the precise

ep back. I

is clumsy grab. My own hand came up, not in a fist, but open, fingers held stiffly t

knowledge. I targeted the prec

ing uselessly at his side. He stared down at his limp hand as if it belonged to someone else, his mouth opening and closing in stunned silen

ng his ear, my voice a blade of i

, "put your filthy hands on m

entire exchange had taken less than two seconds. To the crowd, it was a blur. One mom

hnique. It was not the brawling style of a werewolf. It was something else. Something ancient, precise, and

fted my gaze, past the sea of stunned f

carrying across the square with an authori

" I called out. "C

flicting emotions. Shock, rage, an

" I continued, my tone businesslike, final. "I have no desire to

kward glance, I tur

no one dare

arrior, and an Alpha who was just beginning

ver known