The Council Wants Her Dead

I woke to arguing.

Not Mama and Mara arguing about bread. This was deeper, louder, voices that growled between words.

"...cannot keep her, Alpha! Moon Law is clear! Human cannot be Luna! It weakens bloodline!"

"She is not Luna yet! She is just girl!"

"She slept in Luna's room! In Lira's bed! You guarded her door in wolf form all night! That is Luna ritual!"

I sat up fast. Furs fell. Fire was low, almost ash, but room still warm. Morning light came from small stone window high up — grey light, snow light.

My wrists didn't hurt much. White cloth clean, green paste dried. Outside door, growling.

Kael's voice, low and dangerous, the Alpha voice that made whole forest shake yesterday:

"Who decides what is Luna? You? Council? Or Moon and my nose?"

I crept to door, bare feet cold on stone, white dress wrinkled and bloody, and listened through crack.

Outside was small hall, stone, torches. Kael stood in just black pants, bare chest scars shining with sweat like he had been fighting, hair wet. In front of him, three old wolves — two men, one woman, all silver-haired, all with staffs, all wearing grey robes. Council, I guessed. Behind them, 20 young wolves, men and women my age, staring at Kael's door. At me, I realized, because crack showed my eye.

Silver woman from yesterday — the one who brought water — stood behind Kael, arms crossed, worried.

Old man with staff banged floor. "Alpha Kael, we respect your grief! We respected when you refused mate for ten years after Lira! But this — this is insult to Lira's memory! Bringing Offering girl, human, child, into Luna's room! Pack will not follow human Luna! We will be laughed at by Redmoon Pack, by Stoneclaw Pack!"

"Let them laugh," Kael said. "Let them come and laugh to my face. I will show them how Alpha laughs."

Second old man, thinner, stepped forward. "Her scent is wrong! She smells like fear and milk, not wolf! She cannot give you pups! Human womb cannot carry wolf pup! Pup would rip her!"

That made me press hand to belly without thinking.

Kael's claws came out fully, black and long. "Say that again about her womb and I rip your tongue."

Silence. Even torches seemed quieter.

Silver-haired woman behind Kael spoke, softer: "Council, Alpha speaks true about scent. I smelled it last night when I brought water. She _is_ mate scent. Forbidden, yes, but true. Moon made mistake, maybe, but Moon made it. If we kill her now, we go against Moon."

"Kill?" I whispered to myself, loud enough that crack carried.

All heads turned to door. To my eye in crack.

Kael turned too, gold eyes finding mine instantly, and his face — angry monster face — softened half second.

"Elise," he said, not Alpha voice, just man voice. "Go back to bed. You don't need to hear this."

But old man with staff already saw me.

"So this is human," he said, stepping closer to door, nose sniffing air. "Small. Weak. See? Human girl, not even wolf female. How will she run with pack? How will she hunt? She will die first winter!"

"Then she dies in my den, not tied to tree," Kael growled.

"She should have died at Blood Tree!" old man shouted. "That was deal! One girl, peace! If we break deal, village will not give Offering next moon, and war starts!"

At word war, young wolves behind Council murmured, scared.

I pushed door open before I could stop myself.

I was still in torn white Offering dress, hair messy from braids fallen out, wrists bandaged, bare feet, 18 and small — but I was angry now. Because they talked like I was not there, like I was meat, like village did.

"Village already broke deal," I said, voice shaking but loud. "They put my name in bowl even though I was promised. They cheated. So deal is already broken. Don't blame me."

All eyes on me now. 20 young wolves, 3 old Council, silver woman, and Kael.

Kael looked at me like I had grown two heads, surprised I came out.

Old man with staff stared, then laughed, ugly. "See? Human talks back! No respect! Luna would never talk back to Council!"

"Maybe Luna should," I said, and I stepped closer, even though my legs shook. "If Council tells Alpha who he can love, maybe Council is wrong, not Alpha."

Dead silence. Even fire stopped crackling.

No one talked back to Council. Ever. In village, if you talked back to priest, you got whipped.

Old man's face turned red. "You — you human pup —"

Kael moved. One second he was 5 feet from old man, next he was in front of old man, chest to chest, gold eyes black with rage, claws at old man's throat but not touching.

"You will not speak to her like that," Kael said, each word slow, each word growl. "She is under my protection. She is my mate, even if not marked. You speak to her like Luna, or you don't speak at all. Do you understand, Elder Corvin?"

Elder Corvin — old man — swallowed, eyes wide, staff shaking.

"Alpha... Moon Law..."

"Moon Law says mate is sacred," Kael said. "Lira taught me that. You taught me that. So which law you want? The one that says human cannot be Luna, or the one that says mate cannot be harmed? Choose. Now."

Elder Corvin looked at me, at Kael's claws near his throat, at young wolves watching.

He chose second law.

" ...mate cannot be harmed," he muttered.

Kael let him go, pushed him back gently — gently for Kael, which still made old man stumble two steps.

Then Kael turned to me, gold eyes still black, breathing hard, and said, "Go inside, Elise. Please."

Please. Alpha saying please to human pup. Young wolves gasped.

I went inside, but left door open crack, so I could hear.

Elder woman Council spoke now, calmer: "Alpha, if Moon truly gave human mate, then Moon has reason. But pack needs proof. If she is truly mate, she will survive Luna Trial. If not, she dies, and Moon's mistake is fixed."

"Luna Trial?" silver woman behind Kael whispered, shocked. "She is human! She will die in Trial!"

"What is Luna Trial?" I shouted from inside, because I was tired of not knowing words.

Elder woman answered, looking at me through crack, not unkind, just old: "Three days in mountain, alone, no food, no fire, in snow. If Moon wants you as Luna, Moon keeps you alive. If not, you freeze. Every Luna does it before marking. Even Lira did it. She was strong wolf, she came back in two days. Human... human has never tried."

Three days in snow, no food, no fire. I would die. I knew mountains. In village, hunters died in one night without fire.

Kael roared again, but this time not at Council, at idea.

"No! She is pup! She is human! She just got rope off wrists! You want to put her in snow?"

"If she is truly mate, Moon will keep her warm," Elder woman said. "If not, she was just Offering anyway. Nothing lost."

Nothing lost. Like I was nothing.

I pushed door open fully again. Furs fell from shoulders. I was cold, but angry made me warm.

"I will do it," I said.

Everyone looked.

Kael stared, gold eyes wide. "Elise, no. You will die."

"Maybe," I said. "But in village, I was already supposed to die at Blood Tree. At least here, if I die, I die because Moon said no, not because my sister wanted baker's son. And if I live —" I looked at Council, at young wolves, at silver woman — "if I live, then I am Luna, and you all have to bow and call me Luna, even though I'm human. That's deal?"

Elder woman smiled, first smile I saw from Council. Small, but real.

"That's deal, human pup. If you live three days in White Peak, alone, you are Luna, and we bow. If you die, we bury you as Luna, not Offering. Honored."

Kael grabbed my arm, not hard, but desperate. "Elise, you don't understand White Peak. Even wolf pups die there. Wind cuts like claws. No cave. No trees."

"I understand," I said, looking up at him, at his scarred chest that had been my bed last night. "But if I am your mate, like you say, then Moon has to keep me alive, right? You said Moon gave me to you. So Moon has to prove it too."

His claws tightened on my arm, then loosened, like he wanted to hold and let go same time.

"When?" he asked Elder woman, voice broken.

"Tomorrow dawn," she said. "So she has day to rest. And Alpha — you cannot follow. No pack can follow. Only Moon watches."

Kael closed eyes, gold light leaking again like tears.

"Tomorrow dawn," he repeated.

Council left, staffs banging, young wolves following, whispering about human who talked back, about Trial.

Silver woman stayed.

"I'm Mara," she said to me, not silver woman anymore. "Beta female. Lira was my daughter."

Oh. So Lira was her daughter. That's why she looked worried.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't be sorry yet," Beta Mara said. "Be alive in three days, then you can be sorry for taking my son-in-law from my daughter's memory."

She wasn't mean. Just sad.

She left, leaving bowl of soup — real soup, with meat — on floor for me.

Kael stayed outside door, didn't come in. I heard his big body sit down hard, like legs gave out.

Through crack, I saw his head in hands, claws in hair, gold eyes closed.

He whispered, so low only wolf ears could hear, but I heard because room was quiet:

"Moon, if you gave her to me, don't take her in snow. Take me instead."

I closed door, finally locked it with heavy wood bar, not to keep him out, but so he wouldn't see me cry.

Because I was scared. Three days in snow, alone, no fire. I would die. I knew.

But for first time, someone was scared for me, not of me.

And his wrists — I mean, my wrists — bandaged with knots tied by teeth, didn't hurt anymore.