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Sober murmurs. I breathed carefully while my stomach threatened to rebel. Nothing like being at your own funeral.
“The summer will bring with it upheaval and difficulty, AmberHowl.” Marcella spoke now. “We can no longer work quietly and step softly. We must use our power and prestige and size to put an end to what’s happening. Many of you have likely heard by now about the GranitePaw spy. Kyle sent them,knowingit was brazen and flagrant. Alan has decided that instead of being pleased we would assist in Sterling providing the best version of himself, Alan would rather complain to the Council of ourinterference. As if he has forgottenhe held Winter for ransomandtorturedher with silver and sent the video to the Chroniclers to be preserved. Alan declared war on a pack that heknewcould not fight him.”
The pack made shocked growling noises.
Marcella pointed at all of them. “Even after he abused her, she was laughing at him. She called him a coward. She called him a little rabbit afraid of a big wolf. So he beat her for that, and she still laughed, and she survived. Until she was murdered in cold, filthy blood. And now I find out that Daniel of SilverPaw holds Chroniclers hostage and destroys records that don’t suit his version of history. It is too much, AmberHowl. Demetrius and I are not content to allow this to continue! So we are sending thebestversion of Sterling to face Alan this summer, and if that upsets packs who do not welcome honest fights, then we shall look forward to devouring them!”
Howls of blood-thirsty, feral approval.
“So we will have a difficult year ahead of us, AmberHowl.” Marcella’s voice became a gleeful growl. “Prepare your claws and fangs.”
More howls that seemed to shake the sky and earth.
Demetrius beamed at Marcella, practically radiating joy and admiration for his mate, and the AmberHowl howled and cheered and threw ornaments ripped off trees until Demetrius waved for them to be silent. “And, wolves, last, we have good news. Many of you are aware of it, but it is time to make it official and formal.”
Softer yips and cheers ran through the crowd before everyone fell silent again.
Demetrius gestured to Searle and me. “Searle, and his mate, Summer. A most welcome and long-awaited addition to the pack.”
Searle was an unforgiving moss-covered boulder and could be such an ass, but this nailed him right in the balls. The AmberHowl howled their welcome and applauded and cheered for us.
Searle turned to me and slid his hand over my hip, the other behind my back. In the corner of my eye, I saw a silvery wolf moving deep and far back in the crowds. I remembered my moves and leaned into him and slid one arm along his side and rested my other hand on his bicep. Felt like playing a fleshy game of Twister.
“I tell myself,” Searle whispered to me, hiding his face behind my cheek, “thatshedied, and you and I are two broken halves.”
Pragmatic. Unvarnished. Better said at some later date. Because I wasn’t broken. Not yet.
I’d tried to mentally rehearse what the kiss would be like, but whatever I’d been expecting, it wasn’t it. It was strange and surreal and my brain checked out right away. His lips were there, and so were mine, and his tongue dipped into my mouth, and he wasn’tbadat it, and I remembered I needed to kiss him back because the pack was cheering and watching, but nothing felt real. Everything seemed to be a reflection in a foggy funhouse mirror. I tried to focus on what was happening, and my mind did its best bouncy ball impression and proceeded to roll behind the couch.
Fine. Stay under the couch, then.
Was this more passionate than I’d signed on for? How far in my mouth was his tongue? Where was my tongue?
Oh, my tongue was against his tongue and in his mouth.
Shock sucked my mind back into my skull. Searle immediately released me.
How long had that been going on? I flushed scarlet and breathed hard, heart pounding as stress burned through my system and my skin shivered and tried to dissolve into a panicked shift. Only the MoonDark held me steady, and only just.
Searle didn’t betray anything. Not approval, disapproval,nothing. Except a little glint in his eye, and a smugness to how he held me a little too close, but was I imagining that? Maybe I was imagining that.
The taste of him washed over my tongue and down my throat.
Promise me, Winter.
Another year, another chance
Demetrius didn’t leave us dangling on the edge of the crowd’s attention. He moved to the next nauseating thing on the agenda: Sterling and Henri.
Behind the crowd, a wolf-of-silver moved to the ring, illuminated by the remains of daylight and the illuminated flood lights.
He waited, in the center of the ring, in wolf-form, the light shining through the tips of his bright pelt.
Henri trotted into the ring, a large tawny gray wolf, and sat down at the perimeter, waiting while Demetrius and Marcella took their place and Searle pulled me to his side and I tried to not dissolve into biological goo or do something equally noteworthy. Sterling did not so much as glance at me, and kept his gaze strictly on Henri, his tail slowly brushing back and forth across the sand while he waited.
The rest of AmberHowl got close, but maintained a cautious distance from the incoming spectacle. A hush settled over the field.
Demetrius said, “Proceed.”
