rey

e. For a full day, the only sound was the impatient scuff of Bertha's boots as she patrolled outs

me to die.

rced the monotony. A soft, suppres

tha's harsh voice cut through the

egs of the original Aubrey's memories. June Foster. Her personal attendant. The only person in this e

ha sneered. "She'll be meeting

a body hitting the dirt. Bertha ha

tion. A variable I hadn't accounted for. An ally? Perhaps.

off. June's quiet sobs continued for a f

gether. In her mind, the job was done. A wolfless girl, rejected, sta

n, I heard it. A faint, metallic scratch

ing shallow and

an. The door creaked open just enough for a small, thin f

as J

waterskin to her chest like precious jewels. She tiptoed to

ly no older than seventeen, with wide, frightened eyes and a smudge of dirt on her cheek. When she

red, her voice breaking.

I let my eyelids flutter open. I focu

bled with the waterskin, quickly uncorking it and lifting

wallowing a carefully orchestrated effort. After a few s

a dry rasp. "You... shouldn't

y down her cheeks. "I couldn't let you be alone. Wh

coarse between my fingers. "Don't... speak of him." My grip was weak, but my inten

eyes wide with fierce loyalty. "Any

al effort. "I need... information. Books. Scrolls. Anything... about

expected me to ask for a message to be sent to my family, or perhaps to beg for the Alpha's mercy. She had not

of defiance,

by a dawning, fierce respect. She looked at my frail, broken body, an

the back of her hand, her expr

're kept by Elder Elara. She... she was fond of your mother. She thinks what the Alpha d

tude washed over me. I suppressed it. "Be careful,"

be," she

anket around my shoulders. She lingered for a moment, her gaze full of

place, but the cabin no

ke a comma