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She was quiet for a while. Then she looked around the room, at the two chairs and the ladder and the hearth. “He’s Crown, not Order.” She went back to the papers.

She went through the land grants next, spreading them across the table. Her forearm brushed mine twice, affecting me more than I thought possible.

“That’s not all of them. There are forty years of them,” I said, in an effort to refocus on the task at hand. “Each is a parcel of pack territory transferred to a private holding within eighteen months of that pack being declared thinned. The holdings are shell names. I’ve traced some to the same four families, but now we’re stuck.”

She nodded, chewing her lower lip as she read. Twice, she looked up to ask me about dates.

When her hair brushed my jaw, I was staring down at the paper in front of me. I read the same line three times and had no idea what it read.

Ruby exhaled and straightened. “That’s my grandmother’s sister.” She pointed to a name on a land grant. “It’s her married name.”

I straightened as I processed this new piece of information. “I didn’t know Elisabeth Mays had a sister.”

We paused at midday for lunch. I reheated the stew for us in the kitchen while she paced the living room, no doubt thinking about what she’d read. The small space from her gave me a chance to regroup, while also tormenting me with the distance between us.

After we ate, we returned to the papers.

Once she was done, she grunted. “All for a land grab. I never knew.”

I gazed at her with sympathy. “It’s a lot to take in.”

“Right.” She nodded absently. “They told me about the viciousness of the wolf shifters. How you’re a lower species, wild animals who killed us for sport. But that’s not what I’ve seen here.”

“No,” I agreed with a low sigh. “They’ve been hunting us for years, to steal more land.”

“But you’ve killed many of us too.” She cocked her head. “Right?”

“Right,” I agreed. “I won’t lie to you, Ruby. Ever. But I’ll tell you this, we never sought war. We only fought when they came to us.”

She turned to face the fire. “My parents were killed by wolves. That was what she’d said. My grandmother. That’s what she’d repeat in training. Hone me to be her weapon.” She sneered. “Sharpened by her hate.”

No wonder she came here so willingly to kill me. I was the head of the pack she believed killed her parents. I knew that pain.

What could I say? The only thing that came to mind was, “I’m sorry.” I gulped. “I know the pain of losing a parent. We’ve all lost far too many loved ones.” After a breath, I added, “What were their names?”

“Tomas and Marianna Mays.”

Mays. Hearing her say it hit me fresh.

Mays was the name of the woman who’d killed my father.

And also the name of the woman sent here to kill me. My mate.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, before revealing what must be said. No way would she want to stay on pack land now. “You are free to leave. Wherever you choose to go, I’ll ensure that no harm comes to you while on pack land.”

She tipped her head and watched me from her seat at the table with the slightest flicker of confusion in her eyes. Then she stood and walked over to the window. She opened it and a gust of cool air rushed in. Outside, the sun slanted lower in the sky, draping pink and orange over the snow-covered trees in the distance.

My wolf whined. I gulped, steeling myself for her departure. It wasn’t as if I could keep her here.

“Nothing in this forest will touch you between here and the crossing. I’ll send word ahead. You’d walk out clean.” I nodded at the folder on the table. “You can take the folder or leave it.”

She closed the window and turned back to me. “Conan?”

“What?”

“What if I’m not ready to leave?”

My hands weren’t steady. I forced them to remain still by my side. “You’re welcome to stay.”