and half the pack was standing in the ya

as they always did, and old Mrs. Pike came with a pie she had made for the meeting and then set down on the step where anyone could take a slice, and the young border-wardens came

t last, with

y beard and a canvas jacket, and the woman was younger and had her hair in a braid down her back and a rifle case over her should

and raised his hand, a

You all know about the calves. You know about the fences. Two weeks ago it was the Henderson place, last week it was the corral

s. Pike said something

es us leave. But I am the Beta of this pack, and I am not going to wait for a piece of paper from a Council that does not live here while a rogue walks our border. So. This

nodded once. Mr. Has

rom the back. It was one of the Corrigan boys, and he

w for a rogue. It is a mercy, and it is a

e rail. The rail wa

," I

the way it always did, easy and warm, like he was

rogue wolf does not do that. If your hunters go out tomorrow and find a wolf, they are going to shoot a w

looked at me with a little mor

re not a tracker with a license. What you saw was a calf that had

a blade cut

pack to keep safe, and a Council that is already looking at us sideways, and a rogue on my border. And I have

still. Mrs. Pike

you saying

front of the pack, not at a meeting, and not with your sister standing behind you maki

e. I put my hand back and

it had that morning. "Dale is right about the hunt. The Council has been asking questions about the north line. We cannot have this dragging on." He look

lpha,"

lked in low voices and went home, and I stoo

t in front of eve

di

as called

d that

moment. Then she said

t Christmas when he broug

in front of Mrs. Pike." She pulled her wrist

," I said. "And hope they are bet

ut through the orchard to the road, and I had made it to th

under his arm and his pale eyes catching what was left of the ligh

Sil

ne here would find interesting. I wanted to catch you bef

thing to say to a w

been watching the meeting. You are the only person in that yard who is asking questions

sent you to b

e, and why the pack did not report the first dead calf until two weeks ago, and why the person who keeps finding the bodies is a border-warden who has b

over," I said. "

y," sai

he dog barking somewhere by the house. Silas opened his

and a low stone wall running along the bottom, and there was a dark shape in the middle of th

ith a new camera and more time than sense. He sold it to the

and the trees. "It is the

that nobody has been able to find for forty years." He held out his hand for the photograph. "The Council

said. "There is a wolf, and there is a dead calf with a blade in it, and ther

ouse, and then stopped and turned again. "One more thing. The Council has a long memory, and it does not care for border-wardens who hide things

I stood in the orchard with the apples goi

d, and I stood in the yard and looked at the loading dock and the e

with no lamp and no moon, and I opened my senses all the wa

warm skin, and it was coming from the directio