The message from Coldwater Station came in before dawn, and I read it four times.
Ondra needed a radio hand. She had a bunk, wages, and a storm road that didn't care if I had a wolf.
I sent one word back. Yes.
I had the bag half full when the shed door opened.
Piet: What's that bag for?
Nova: Coldwater Station. There's a job there.
Piet: Coldwater is past the pass. That's not pack land.
Nova: I know what it is.
He shut the door behind him like he could keep the news inside the shed.
Piet: You can't just leave.
Nova: I'm not asking, Piet. I'm telling you.
Piet: Evander will calm down. He always does.
Nova: He offered me a corner under his Luna. That was him calm.
Piet: If you go, they'll call you rogue. Doran will put it on every road.
Nova: Then I'll be a rogue who gets paid.
Piet: Stay. I'll talk to him. I'll get him to take it back.
Nova: Take what back? The word breeder? You can't unring that bell.
Piet: I'm sorry about the yard. I should have stood with you.
It was the first time he had said it.
It was too late anyway.
Piet: You're going to die out there for pride, and for what? Shit, Nova.
Nova: For a bed that isn't rent paid with my body.
He caught up my bag and held it against his chest.
Piet: I won't give it to you.
Nova: Piet. Put it down.
He held it a moment longer. Then he set it down and let go.
Piet: I can't stop you. I know I can't.
I packed the tools first. Every one of them was mine.
Then the little radio I had built myself, and my mother's old coat.
That was all I had that didn't come from this pack.
Piet: Say goodbye to him? To Evander?
Nova: No.
We both knew what that meant. He didn't argue.
The yard was full of people pretending to work.
Nobody said my name. Nobody tried to stop me.
Not one of them was surprised.
Piet: Write when you get there. That's all I'm asking.
I said I would. I didn't promise.
The bond pulled at my chest the whole way down the ridge road.
For once I didn't turn around for it.
I was nobody's Luna and nobody's spare.
For the first time, that felt like a door opening instead of a wall.
The pack was behind me. The storm road was ahead. Neither one of them could call me small.