ra

oods with the Silver Moon envoy, a warrior whose silence was more reassuring than any promise, and who had confirmed that my passage was arranged. A strange rigidity ha

d upon the velvet settee as if it were a throne, one leg dra

"The Elders have prepared the papers," she said, her voice a confection of sweetness

ave been a laugh escaped my lips.

You are merely prolonging the inevitable. What is it you want?

the embossed seal of the Bloodstone Pack-a sigil I had helped design. "You see

first flicker of uncertainty in her tri

ot just in title, had ingrained in me. "During the term of a mate's pregnancy, the male is stripped of the right to initiate a reject

f the wilderness, who understood only the law of the fang and claw,

n from the table. The nib scratched against the parchment as I affixed my name-Elara Silvermoon-to the

al click. "There. He is all y

hed herself at me. The sharp crack of her hand against my cheek

my belly had begun its gentle swell. A white-hot, blinding pain lanced through me, as if I were being torn asunder from within.

h, Goddess

In a movement so swift it was almost a blur, she snatched her own pup from its bassinet in the corn

armed by the soft landing

e crying infant into her arms. "My baby! My baby!" she shri

ront door burst open. Damie

ing a shaking finger at me. "Elara pushed m

is gaze went past me, landing on the tapestry on the wall behind me, as if its woven depiction of a forgotten battle was more worthy of study than his bleeding mate. He skirted the spreading pool of blood at my feet, his leather boots tracing a clean, deliberate arc on the polished floorboa