Chapter 4

Delphine sent for me before sunrise.

She made sure there'd be an audience.

A handful of elders, their mates, and a row of guards were coming out of the morning council when I got there. Every one of them saw me standing outside the pack hall with my head down while Delphine kept me waiting.

Finally, she stepped out.

"Word is Gideon stormed out of your room last night," she said. "True?"

"He came to tell me the baby's name."

"In the middle of the night?" She let out a short laugh. "He walked all the way over to your room to tell you a name, and then he left mad? You really expect me to buy that?"

"I can't tell you why he was upset."

"Can't, or won't?"

She stepped closer and dropped her voice, just low enough that everyone had to lean in.

"Did you hang all over him and cry, like after the boy was born? Or did you come up with a new trick to get his attention? Is that what this sad little face is about?"

I didn't answer.

"Gideon checks on you because your father still has pull on the council," she said. "Don't confuse duty with feelings. You should be grateful he remembers you're alive."

The elders were close enough to hear every word.

That was the whole point.

"I'm sorry he left upset," I said. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

That only made her angrier.

"Fine. You need something to keep you busy? Report to the rock pile behind the training grounds before sunrise. You'll haul stone until moonrise, every day, until I decide you've learned your place."

A Luna had the right to put any unranked wolf to work.

And that was all I was now.

Not Gideon's mate. Not the mother of his kids. Not even the daughter of a high-ranking elder.

Just an unranked wolf they could work until she broke.

The rocks were heavy and sharp-edged. I carried them from one end of the yard to the other while the guards watched. Then I carried them back.

There was no reason for it.

It was just punishment.

After two hours, the skin on my palms split open. After three, my arms were shaking. My blood made the smaller stones slippery in my hands.

Wolves walked by on the road above. A few of them stared. Most looked away.

Delphine came once that morning and watched from the ridge. She didn't say a word.

She came back near sunset and stopped right in front of me.

Her eyes dropped to my bleeding hands.

"Do you know why Gideon made me his Luna?" she asked.

I said nothing.

"We fought side by side. I took a silver bullet that was meant for him, and it ruined any chance I had of having kids. The Moon Goddess might've tied him to you, but he chose me."

She moved closer.

"You think fate makes you special. It doesn't. A bond showed up, and Gideon dealt with it. That's all. I was next to him when this pack was bleeding out. I almost died for him. What have you ever done, besides push out the babies your body happened to be good at making?"

Her eyes went hard.

"Have ten more for all I care. I'll raise every single one. I'll still be the Luna at his side, and you'll still be the woman he only visits when the pack needs another heir."

She leaned in so only I could hear.

"You'll never be his real mate. There's no place for you here. There never will be."

I looked her right in the eye.

Then I set down the rock in my hands, bent over, and picked up the next one.