What the Smoke Saw

in coils of rope and a broken chainsaw she had been meaning to fix since spring. She sat on an upturned crate w

on probation

me on pr

his own hand." She looked up over the rim of her mug. Her hair was grey-white and cut short

't do a

t's enough to scare any Alpha." She set the contra

and through the open door I could see the crew hauling hose up to the drying rack.

ause your record is the best I've seen in nine years. I did not hire you be

looking f

s. You eat at the mess. You don't go past the creek line without telling me, and you don't go near the pack house

m folded, and my sleeve had ridden up, and the mark on the ins

funny burn

ksto

usually leave a shape like a splash or a stripe. That one is a crescen

down. "Base has a

stop saying it. Whatever that is on your wrist, keep it covered until Marcus comes

. "Why would the counc

ood and handed me the contract and a set of keys on

e of them had a str

appened to th

her workbench. "What makes you

Four names, and one of

looking at me. "That name is scratched out because the jumper l

o one could explain. Wren was already there, sitting cross-legged on the top bunk with a sock in

shower works if you don't. Don't sit on the third bunk, the leg is br

nd threw it back. "

ike a woman who needs her sleep." She hopped down and landed light on her feet. "Also because yo

y. I read the wi

g. You're supposed to say something d

smoke does. It tells you wher

cabin feel less like a shed with a stove in it.

other fi

for leaving the gas cap off a can. He's got this idea that if he controls every little thing,

ed out at the creek and the dark tree line and,

n Beta since befo

ged a little, and she picked up a boot and started laci

esn't l

n and she'll come around, or she'll find a way

ack hair dark against the pale siding, nodding at whatever she was hearing. Then she turned her head, and her eye

hissed and pulled my sleeve up, a

ha

g. The

ilver light under my skin, and as I watched it brightened once and faded,

at my wrist. He

that?"

thi

down slowly on the edge of the bunk across from me.

d in it with the last of the evening

she said to Wren. Her eyes s

and back. "Cora, she just go

ark and a stranger record, and no one in the pack has ever heard her name." Cora stepped inside and let the d

on my wrist was still

hem,"

as kindness or something colder. "Where were y

n again, and Dex stood in the doorway with his jaw

he said. "She's m