The New Moon Mate

n hour when I found it, and the fi

. I had been walking the fence line since four o'clock because Dale had put the new patrol schedule on the co-op bulletin board and

ys moving it is a two-man job and he has been a one-man operation since his brother died. I knew the calf. It was the white-faced one with th

e flies lifted and

our of them, and the edges of the hide had curled back like someone had used a dull knife. There were tracks in the dirt aroun

rack. There was

talks moved in the wind and the light was going orange. My wolf, the thing under my skin that I had spent most of my adult life not

nce. These were smaller and neater. A coyote, probably, or a farm dog. The big wolf had come from the north, along the fence, and it had gone bac

like when it was cut and when it was standing, and I knew what the soil smelled like after rain and what the mill sme

was not a

post and missed it. My wolf rolled over. She had never rolled over for anyone. She did not roll over for Harlan, who was our Alpha, or for Dale, who thought he was e

the scent thinned, and the wind changed, and it was gone, and I was just a woman

rch my father never got around to fixing, and June had left the porch light on for me. She was in the kitche

" she said. "T

uit dead in H

she had it tied back with a piece of blue baling twine

tracks and a dull knife. It

it down hard enough to slosh. "Dale is going to say it is the rogue. He has been saying

say whatever makes

w into two bowls. "Maybe

I could not have explained it if I had wanted to, and I did not want to.

an old bell on a post that nobody has rung since before I was born. Harlan stood on the steps with his gray beard trimmed and his

a couple of the younger border-war

border, and he talked about how the Council was watching, and how the Council did not like packs that could not keep

s throat and asked if anyone had an

armly. "Of course.

e," I said. "Four long cuts and no eating. A wo

did not want to pay. "And you are a tracker, Wren, not a doctor. The rogue could have been interr

ade cut when

d a couple of people laughed. "But since you are so sure, I will make it easy for you. The cull goes ahead

e outside hunters on pack

less," Dale said, and turned to face th

ng near the corner of the porch with a leather folder under his arm. He had black hair cut short and a gr

er seen h

out his hand with a small neat smile. "You must be Wren. Dale has told me a

e Council was s

very good weather indeed. The Council is buying, quietly. I would like to talk

r months and no one in that yard had s

t my broth

good listener." He tipped his head at June and walked off across the yard, and the north wind c

fence. Pine, and cedar, an

aid. "Your han

ckets and said, "I am fine," and June gave me

at making its dry sound in the dark, and the scent kept coming back to me. It was not strong, the way

ng I got up and pulled

with my senses opened all the way and my wolf pressing at my skin. The scent got stronger as I went. It was ahead of me a

d runs along the border. The mill has been empty for years, and the fence

in the wheat behind

wolf rolled over again and this time she would not get up, and I stood there in

chest and took me down into the dirt, and my head cracked against a stone, and the last thing I saw was