# Chapter 15: The Founders' Dinner

I didn't sleep at all that night. I just lay in bed and stared at the photo on my phone until the screen went dark, and then I turned it on again and stared some more.

Me and Kael on the roof, with his hand on my face. We were so close. If Garrett saw this, he would know everything.

In the morning, I found Rhys in the kitchen. He was sitting on the counter in his socks, eating cereal straight out of the box. He looked like he'd slept like a baby.

"Good morning, little sister," he said with his mouth full. "You look terrible."

"Delete it," I said.

"Delete what?"

"You know what."

He crunched his cereal slowly, smiling at me. "Oh, *that*. The very romantic photo of you and my cousin on the roof? I don't know. It's a really good photo. The moonlight was perfect. I think I might frame it."

"Rhys." I walked closer and lowered my voice. "Why are you doing this?"

He thought about it. He put the cereal box down.

"A few reasons," he said. "One. It's going to drive my cousin absolutely crazy, and that is my favorite hobby in the whole world." He held up a second finger. "Two. I need a date for Friday. My last girlfriend dumped me for a guy from Silver Creek, and I'm not walking in there alone like a loser."

"And three?"

He smiled. It was a different smile. Softer, almost real.

"Three," he said. "I like you. You punched Kael in the face. Nobody has done that since we were twelve years old, and *I* was the one who did it." He jumped down from the counter. "So, Friday. Seven o'clock. Wear something pretty."

"And if I say no?"

His smile didn't change, but his blue eyes went a little colder.

"Then Uncle Garrett gets a very interesting breakfast," he said quietly.

I stared at him. He stared back.

"Fine," I said through my teeth. "But you delete it after."

"After Friday." He picked up his cereal again and walked toward the door. "Oh, and Sienna?"

"What?"

He looked back at me over his shoulder.

"Don't look so sad," he said. "It's just one dinner. What's the worst that could happen?"

---

Kael didn't come to training that morning.

He left a note on the bathroom door instead. It was short and sharp, with no little message at the bottom this time. No *Lark*. No hot chocolate.

*North border with the patrol. Back Friday. The days still count. Keep reading.*

That was it.

I held the note for a long time. Then I folded it and put it in the drawer, with the other one.

The next two days were the longest of my life.

I read every border book in the library. I walked the training field alone and practiced the hip trick on a punching bag until my arms ached. I helped Mrs. Holt fold laundry, even though she didn't want my help. I called Tessa three times, and she listened to me cry about the roof for two hours straight.

"You told him it meant *nothing*?" she screamed into the phone. "Sienna Vale, are you *insane*?"

"I had to."

"You *had* to? Why? Why did you have to break that beautiful man's heart on a roof under the stars like a sad movie?"

"Because if he picks me, there's a war," I said quietly. "And people die. And it's my fault."

Tessa was quiet for a long time.

"Okay," she said finally. "That's a good reason. A really stupid, sad, good reason." She sighed. "So what are you wearing on Friday?"

"I don't know. I don't have anything nice."

"Leave that to me," she said.

---

On Friday afternoon, Tessa came to the big house with a huge garment bag over her arm and a box of makeup under the other.

"My cousin Gina wore this to her sister's wedding," she said, unzipping the bag. "She owes me a favor, because I didn't tell her mom about the tattoo."

She pulled out the dress.

It was dark blue, like the sky right after the sun goes down. It was long and simple and soft, with thin straps and a skirt that moved like water when Tessa held it up.

"Oh, Tess," I breathed. "It's beautiful."

"I know. Now sit down. I have work to do."

She did my hair first. She brushed it out long and loose, and curled the ends, and pinned the front back with two little silver clips. Then she did my makeup. Not too much. Just a little on my eyes, and a little pink on my lips and cheeks.

When she was done, she turned me around to look in the big mirror.

I didn't know the girl looking back at me.

She looked older. She looked soft and pretty. Her hazel eyes were big and bright. The dark blue dress made her skin look like milk.

"Who is that?" I whispered.

"That," Tessa said, putting her chin on my shoulder, "is a girl who's about to make an Alpha very, very sorry."

---

The Founders' Dinner was held every year in the old Founders' Hall in the middle of town. It was a big stone building with tall windows and a high wooden ceiling. Inside, there were long tables covered in white cloth and candles, and a small stage at the front. Old photos of the pack's first families hung on the walls.

Everyone important was there. The elders, in their dark suits. The Guard captains. The rich families from the big houses on the hill. Everyone was wearing their best clothes and their best smiles.

Rhys was waiting for me outside the door. He was wearing a black suit with no tie, and his blond hair was combed for once. When he saw me get out of the car, his mouth fell open.

"Wow," he said.

"Shut up."

"No, really. *Wow.*" He held out his arm. "My cousin is going to lose his mind."

"That's the plan, isn't it?"

"That's the plan," he agreed with a grin.

I took his arm, and we walked inside together.

Heads turned. People stopped talking. I heard the whispers start as we walked past the tables.

"Is that the Vale girl?"

"The Hollow one? With the *Beta*?"

"She looks… different."

I kept my chin up. I kept walking.

Then I saw him.

Kael was standing at the front of the hall, near the stage, talking to two of the elders. He was wearing a black suit and a white shirt, and his dark hair was pushed back. He looked tired. He looked like he hadn't slept in three days.

He looked so beautiful it hurt.

Margot was standing beside him. Of course she was. She was wearing a tight gold dress that sparkled like fire under the lights, and her red hair was piled high on her head. She had her hand on his arm like it was glued there.

Kael turned his head.

He saw me.

Everything around me went quiet. The talking. The music. The clinking of glasses. It all faded away, and there was only him, standing across the room, staring at me like he had seen a ghost.

His eyes moved slowly over my face, my hair, my dark blue dress. Then they moved to my hand on Rhys's arm.

And his face went cold. Ice cold.

He turned away and went back to talking with the elders, like I wasn't even there.

It was like a knife in my chest.

"Ouch," Rhys whispered beside me. "Okay. That was cold. Even for him."

"Can we just sit down?" I whispered back.

---

Dinner was long and slow. There were speeches. Lots of them. Old men talking about the founders of the pack, the history of the pack, the strength of the pack. I didn't hear a single word.

I sat at the long table next to Rhys and pushed my food around my plate. Across the room, at the head table, Kael sat beside Margot and his father. He didn't look at me once. Not once.

But I could feel him. I don't know how. It was like a warm string pulling between us across the room. Every time I moved, I felt it tighten.

Mom was sitting next to Garrett. She caught my eye and gave me a small, worried smile.

Then an elder with a long gray beard stood up on the stage. He tapped the microphone.

"And now," he said, "it's tradition for the young wolves to raise a toast. Who would like to begin?"

Rhys stood up.

"Me," he said, before anyone else could move.

My stomach dropped.

"Rhys," I hissed. "What are you doing?"

He just winked at me. He walked up onto the little stage, took the microphone from the old man, and turned to face the whole room with a big, bright smile.

"Good evening, everyone," he said. "I'm Rhys Thorne. You all know me. I'm the handsome one."

People laughed.

"I want to raise my glass tonight," Rhys went on, "to our pack. To our founders. To the Alpha, my wonderful cousin, and his beautiful bride-to-be."

He lifted his glass toward Kael and Margot. Margot smiled and waved. Kael didn't move.

"And," Rhys said, turning to look straight at me, "to my date tonight."

He raised his glass higher.

"To Sienna Vale. The bravest, prettiest girl in Blackthorn Ridge. Who, by the way, threw a punch so good last week that she split the Alpha's lip open in front of twenty guards." He grinned. "Sienna, I think I'm in love with you."

The whole room laughed and clapped. Some people turned in their chairs to look at me. My face was on fire.

And then a chair scraped loudly against the stone floor.

Everyone turned.

Kael was standing up at the head table. His fists were tight at his sides. His face was pale and hard, and his gray eyes were burning like they did at the lake, when he turned into a wolf.

The whole hall went silent.

"She's not your date," Kael said.

His voice wasn't loud, but it filled the whole room.

Rhys lowered his glass slowly. His grin was gone now.

"Oh?" he said. "Then what is she, cousin?"

Every head in the room turned to Kael. Garrett. Margot. My mother. The elders. Two hundred people, waiting.

Kael looked across the hall at me. His eyes found mine, and they held me there, burning.

"She's…" he said.

He stopped.

The whole room held its breath.