His Father's Last Word

t was Konrad's skin after a long night. My cheek rested against his shoulder blade, and hi

ad told myself that three times in

ithout meaning to, and he stirred but did not wake. There was a small scar near

still I had come here last night when he found me in the rain outside the coroner's office, still I had le

neral had been

gers brushed the spot where his neck met

aying words I could not catch. Then the pain, a bright tearing in the

is. Your m

st. My own breath came hard and fast, and I pressed the he

d me when I was fourteen and first touched a dead rabbit in t

ed-back order and stuck up in tufts, and his golden hazel eyes found mine in the grey light. Then he smile

e is it?"

I was already reaching for my dr

de myself look at the window instead, at the rai

ls

ulled it over my head. "Whateve

the boards. He stopped a few

t last night

ngs. My hands were steady. I had spent eight years learning how to keep my hand

t, and his gaze had gone flat and careful, the way it did

"You know that better than anyone. We

ears ago as well. I remem

never told him that I had noticed the gest

ot know about

ck can smell you on me, Konrad. Half the wolve

not walk i

certainl

t went through me like a struck bell. His scent closed around me, and my wolf turned

and the whole forest is going to look at me and see the wolf who wanted his

ngers. I could feel his pulse

clear where you are concerne

s hand went b

d for hard things. "Last night meant noth

hing, when I was twenty-one and still believed that fate was a thing that protected people. He had

he door latch and

I said. "You always did li

ld air, and the path down to the pack house was slick with mud. I walked it quickly, my boots s

oad, and the two great doors of the drying shed had been painted green forty years ago

he porch with a

and her emerald eyes went from my face to my dress to my boots in the time it takes

arly," she sa

had a body

d the name carefully. "Y

gainst her fair skin, and then she smiled the bright perfect smile that

is already making speeches at the table about the

a mo

or she set her cup on the rail and turned, and

know that Rolf is not the only one watching. There are strangers in the forest

p and went inside be

father's last thought, and the way my mother's hands had been cold at the funeral, and

ain. Marta's voice, bright e

He says there is something he needs to say, a

d my hands were steady, and the dead m