They asked for a name to put on the contest line.
I gave them Sela Dune and kept my hand steady.
My real name is Nessa.
I am Alpha Ewan's daughter.
Two years ago Dax Teller rejected me in front of this whole pack.
Tonight I walked back in behind a fake one.
I felt him before I saw him. That part never stopped.
Dax: Nessa.
Dax: You came back.
Dax: Not out here. Talk to me in the back.
I should have said no.
I followed him anyway.
The back room smelled like dust and his cologne.
Dax: You look good. You know that?
His hands landed on my waist.
He pulled me in like nothing had ever happened.
His mouth went to my neck, warm and slow, and my knees went weak.
My hands were on his chest. I leaned in.
My body is a traitor. It still remembered him.
For one stupid breath, I was happy.
Dax: That was a mistake.
He wiped his mouth like I had left something on it.
Dax: You're nothing here, Nessa. You never were.
Dax: A wolf-less woman in my contest? Be serious.
His fingers squeezed my wrist until I felt it in my teeth.
I did not cry. I reached into my jacket.
I kept his promise folded in a pocket for two years.
Now I walked into the hall and held it up.
Dax: Put that down.
The whole room turned.
Every face in Rook's Bend turned with it.
I read it out loud so the back of the hall could hear.
Nessa: I will stand at your side. I will make you Luna.
His name at the bottom. His seal in wax.
Dax: Nobody wants a rejected bitch who can't even shift.
He said it in front of two hundred people.
He wanted them to laugh with him.
His hand hit my shoulder and I went into the table edge.
Metal bit my arm. Warm blood ran down to my wrist.
Dax: Say one more word and my father's men drag you out of town by your hair.
Dax: No dock will take you. You'll have no name left at all.
I believed him. He had done worse than that to me.
But I did not move.
My voice came out flat and sure, like it belonged to someone braver.
Nessa: You can have the name. I'm standing anyway.
He looked around the hall for help. That was his first mistake.
Nobody rushed to him.
The hall went silent.
Not one person laughed with him.
Orin Teller looked at his son and said nothing.
No hand came near me.
I stood there with blood on my sleeve and his promise in my hand.
Tonight this pack had a choice.
Truth, or power.