JUDITH ARRIVED, FOLLOWED shortly by Katherine. Judith held Claire’s gaze as she greeted her, and Katherine put a warm hand on her shoulder. Claire couldn’t tell whether it was because she’d saved her mom, or just because she would be able to fully transform. Not that it really mattered—she didn’t care what they thought.
By the time they heard Beatrice and Victoria coming through the woods, the fire lit the entire clearing with its warm glow. Claire noticed that Victoria’s pants looked tight—her belly was already starting to grow. Claire didn’t look at Beatrice’s face. She couldn’t bear to, not quite yet.
When the remaining pack members had greeted each other and were circled around the fire, Claire glanced into the woods. She could feel Zahlia missing. That the pack had not only lost a member but had been so completely betrayed—it made Claire sick. The faces of the others were serious in the light of the fire, and Claire knew she wasn’t the only one thinking this way.
After a moment, Beatrice spoke. “When one of our own dies an honorable death, there are many ways we mourn her. Zahlia did not die in any way befitting a werewolf. In these circumstances, we will rejoin ourselves together, not speaking her name nor remembering her in any way for the rest of our time, so that when we are gone, so too will her imprint upon this world be erased.”
The formality of her words and the flatness of her tone chilled Claire. She looked up, surprised by how different Beatrice sounded now, how confident and strong.
She’s so scared of the human world. She’s totally confident when we’re in the woods, when it’s werewolf stuff. But anything involving humans freaks her out.
It made sense. When Claire thought back, Beatrice had always seemed in control here, in front of the fire. But whenever something from outside the woods came up, she was no better than a cornered rabbit. Claire licked her lips. It was so obvious, now. But how could Beatrice run the pack like this? The human world was all around them, rubbing up against them. Frustration crawled through her.
Beatrice stepped closer to the fire and held out her hands. When they were all standing with their fingers clasped tight together, Beatrice bowed her head for a moment.
“This has been a trying time for us—our bonds have been battered, our ties frayed. We must work to rebuild. In the name of the Goddess I form this pack anew. Of one blood, one mind, and one being are we, bonded eternally. Forsaking all other allegiances, we pledge ourselves.”
“By the Goddess,” said the others, in unison.
Claire whispered it a half-beat behind. She really wasn’t sure she wanted to say it at all.
Claire glanced over and saw her mother’s face. A wrinkle had appeared between her eyebrows and she looked thoughtful, serious. Not as certain and celebratory as Victoria and Beatrice, who were both smiling. Not as relieved as Katherine, or Judith. Something about her mother’s expression made Claire feel infinitely better. Her mother knew that things wouldn’t be erased just by saying some stupid vow.
“Now,” Beatrice began. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to lead this pack. But things have changed. Perhaps I have been a wolf for too many years now, but the minds of humans no longer make sense to me. I made an error when I failed to take into account the more”—she paused, looking hard at Claire—“unique aspects of Marie’s abduction. The world is not what it once was, and I am not too proud nor too foolish to admit that neither am I. I have called down more moons than I care to count, and the time has come for me to stop. Marie, please step forward.”
Claire’s mother raised her head high. Slowly, she walked up to Beatrice and knelt in front of the older woman, her eyes shining. Claire’s heart pulse thrummed in her ears, the emotions crackling through her like lightning.
Beatrice knew she’d been wrong.
And she was trying to fix it.
It seemed pretty obvious to Claire that her mother—the only member of the pack that she really trusted—was about to become their Alpha. And that would make Claire feel a whole hell of a lot better about the pledge she’d just made.
Beatrice reached down and clasped one of Marie’s smooth palms between her roughened hands and pulled her to her feet.
For a long moment, the two women stood staring into one another’s eyes. It was Beatrice who looked away first, turning her gaze to the ground. Slowly, she lowered herself until she was on her knees at Claire’s mother’s feet. She twisted her head to one side, showing her wrinkled neck, submitting herself to Marie. Claire’s mother put one hand on top of Beatrice’s head and they stayed that way. When Claire’s mother removed her hand, Beatrice ducked her head low and took a silver chain from around her neck. Dangling from it was a crescent moon. Claire’s mother took the necklace from Beatrice and clasped it around her own neck. Then she bent down to pull the old woman to her feet.