The boots stopped at my door, and the shed went small around me.
Evander came in first. His father followed and shut the door with his heel.
Doran: Put the wire down. We're going to talk like grown people.
I set the wire down and stayed on my feet. I wasn't going to sit for them.
Doran: My son tells me you've got a stubborn streak about the Luna seat.
Nova: I never asked for the Luna seat.
Doran: No. You asked for the bond. That's worse.
Doran: So hear all of it before you open your mouth.
He said the word offering the way a man says it when he means ordering.
Doran: Adelie is Luna. That's done. But a pack needs more than one heir.
Doran: You'd be a breeder. Under her. Quiet, no ceremony, no name.
Doran: Your children get raised in the house. You get a bed and a roof.
The word landed in my chest and sat there like a stone.
Nova: Say that again.
Doran: Breeder. It's an honest word. I won't dress it up for your feelings.
Evander: You'd be taken care of. Fed. Housed. You wouldn't have to fight for a place anymore.
Evander: It's fair, Nova. Plenty of packs do it.
His scent hit me from a foot away, and my body was still that stupid.
Nova: Fair. You'd put me in a room under your wife and come down the hall when she's done with you.
Evander: Don't make it ugly.
Nova: You just did. With your mouth. In front of your father.
Doran: Watch your tone.
Doran: My son is offering to keep you. A wolf-less bitch with no rank.
Doran: Half the men in that hall would have put you on the road already.
Adelie came in then and shut the door behind her, silver pin shining.
Adelie: I told him to ask you first. I'm not cruel.
Adelie: I'd even let him keep you warm. Some Lunas do.
Doran: You'd spread your legs for the Alpha and keep your mouth shut the rest of the time.
Doran: That's the whole job. Even a wolf-less cunt can manage that.
My face went hot and my hands went cold, and I made myself stand still.
Evander: She'd still be mine. The bond doesn't go away because the pack can't see it.
Evander: Half of me at that table, half of me down the hall. That's the best I can do.
Nova: That's not half. That's a corner.
Nova: No.
Doran: Say that again, and be sure of it.
He crossed the shed in two steps and got my jaw in his hand.
His fingers dug in under my ears and turned my face up to his.
Doran: I'll ask once more.
Nova: No. Not for a bed. Not for your son.
His backhand caught my mouth and knocked me into the shelf.
A coil of copper cut my cheek on the way down, and I felt the blood start.
Doran: Then you're off pack land by morning. Your brother goes with you.
Doran: And I'll put word out on every road that you're rogue.
I believed him. Every word.
Nova: Then do it in the daylight. Call the pack into the yard and say why.
Nova: Tell them I'm on the road because I wouldn't lie down under your Luna.
Doran: Nobody believes a wolf-less bitch over me.
I looked at Evander with blood on my chin. He didn't move.
Evander: Just take it, Nova. This is how it works. Don't be a fool about it.
That was the moment something in me shut.
Nova: You think a bed and a roof is love.
Nova: You think I'd lie down under your Luna and call it being kept.
Nova: I'd rather sleep in a ditch on the storm road than be your spare.
Nova: I'm not your breeder. I'm not your secret. I'm not your mistake.
Nova: Find someone else to fuck in the dark and hide.
I took my toolbox and walked out past all three of them into the cold.
Behind me the door stayed open. Nobody called my name.
The bond pulled toward Evander, and I let it pull and kept walking.
He could keep his pack and his Luna and his fair bargain. He couldn't keep me.