onto a room that had been cleaned f

ack pines. A fire had been laid in the grate, and someone had left a match on the mantel. The room was warm. That was the first thing I not

ed and did not

wer opened. A drawer closed. Water ran into a basin and stopped. His boots came off a

st was

true pair and the moon does not deal in counterfeits. I had checked my wrist in the motel outside Lake Placid with the bathroom light on

nt silver crescent

lf leaves with his mouth. It was under the skin, and it was the exact color of moonlight on water,

ix steps back. The floorboards were old and did not creak, which meant

e way his mouth had moved against my neck. I have faked four bonds in my life. I know what a counterfeit feels like from the inside. It feels like holding your breath u

ed the

there in my bare feet and listened to my own breathing, and then I heard his voice through the wall, muffled and low, an

oor and went b

It had a direction. That was the strangest part. It pointed east, toward the wall, toward the Alpha's room, and when I turne

boards on his side of the wall creaked once. Then his door opened, and

e. I did not

es, and Silas stood in the gap with the dark behind him

said. Not

m he

and closed the door behind him. He was wearing a long dark coat over

not nee

and the rope in my chest went slack all at once, like a knot had been untied. I let out a bre

know wha

. "You have been faking them for so long that you do not recognize a real

ot real. I built it.

d it came the moment you stepped onto my porch, and it has been pulling at both of us since." He t

am

thing, and I want you to listen to the words and not the fear. There is a curse in this territory. It took my sight eleven years ago, and it is waking up now,

e," I said. "Th

he was sending me a spy. I thought he was sendi

ked at it, and he followed the direction o

your hand

my wrist, and the touch went up my arm and into my chest and stopped my br

d not be th

said. "It

oward him before I could stop myself. He heard the movement. He turned his h

to leave it unlocked. I am going to go back to my bed and lie down

door and opened it, and the

took my mother in one night. She was the Luna. She was the strongest wolf in this house. When the mine bre

oor, and I heard his door op

r mark glowing faintly in the dark, and I listened to

s bre