Chapter 175: The Rival Pack

The whole of the cellar was white and the whole of the white was my second wolf and the whole of her was the Luna’s and the whole of her said the whole of it was now.

And then the whole of the cellar went dark.

I was on my knees on the floor of the cellar with the silver burn in my shoulder and the whole of my body was shaking and the whole of my stomach was tight.

“Wren,” Elias said. “Wren.”

“The whole of it is now,” I said. “The whole of it is not twenty days. The whole of it is now.”

“What is now?” he said.

“The birth,” I said. “The whole of it is the birth and the whole of it is the door and the whole of it is the east circle and the whole of it is the line.”

He put his hand on my stomach.

“The whole of it is not due,” he said.

“The whole of it is due,” I said. “The whole of it is due and the whole of it is now.”

Maeve was there. She had come down the tunnel with the whole of the line and she was on her knees beside me with her bag and her hands.

“Alpha,” she said. “The whole of it is early.”

“The whole of it is early,” I said. “And the whole of it is now.”

She put her hand on my stomach and her face changed.

“The whole of it is the birth,” she said. “The whole of it is now and the whole of it is going to be in the east circle and the whole of it is not going to wait.”

I sat on the floor of the cellar with the whole of the line around me.

And then the whole of the cellar went white.

It was not the ground and it was not my second wolf. It was the east circle and the whole of it was the east circle and the whole of it was the door.

“The whole of it is opening,” Ilse said. “The whole of the east circle is opening and the whole of it is opening without the Luna.”

I looked up.

“What?” I said.

“The whole of the east circle is opening,” Ilse said. “And the whole of it is opening from the other side.”

The whole of the cellar shook.

And then June came running down the tunnel with the child in her arms and her face white.

“Wren,” she said. “The whole of the east is at the mill. The whole of the east is in the mill yard and the whole of it has four thousand wolves and the whole of it has Arden.”

I sat on the floor of the cellar.

“Arden,” I said.

“Arden,” June said. “And the whole of the Snoqualmie pack and the whole of the territories that voted no and the whole of the east. The whole of it is in the mill yard and the whole of it is coming down the tunnel.”

I stood up.

The whole of me hurt and the whole of my stomach was tight and the whole of the line was in the cellar and the whole of it was looking at me.

“Elias,” I said. “The whole of the line.”

“Wren,” he said. “The whole of it is the birth.”

“The whole of it is the birth and the whole of it is the war,” I said. “And the whole of it is the same night.” I put my hand on his face. “Get the whole of the line to the east circle and get the whole of the east circle open and get the whole of the line through it.”

“What about you?” he said.

I looked at him.

“I am going to have a baby,” I said. “And I am going to have it in the east circle and the whole of it is going to be the door and the whole of it is going to be opened by the child.”

He stood in the cellar.

“And Arden?” he said.

“I am going to hold the mill yard,” I said.

“Wren.”

“I am going to hold the mill yard,” I said. “And the whole of the line is going to the east circle and the whole of the line is going to be the door and the whole of the line is going to open it.”

He put his forehead against mine.

“Then I am going to hold the mill yard with you,” he said.

“Elias.”

“The whole of it is the keeper and the Luna,” he said. “And the keeper and the Luna hold it together.”

The whole of the cellar was silent.

“Then the whole of it is together,” I said.

We went up the tunnel and out into the mill yard and the whole of the mill yard was full of the east.

There were four thousand wolves and the whole of them were in the yard and the whole of them were silver and blades and the whole of them were waiting.

Arden was in front of them.

“Alpha,” he said. “You are late.”

I stood in the mill yard with the whole of the line behind me and the whole of the pack behind me and the whole of it was not enough.

“Arden,” I said. “The whole of it is not the east.”

“The whole of it is the east,” Arden said. “And the whole of the east is the whole of the line and the whole of the line is in the mill yard and the whole of it is going to be taken tonight.”

And then the whole of the mill yard went white.

It was the ground. It came up out of the mill yard and out of the whole of the road and out of the whole of the territory and the whole of the east went down on their knees and the whole of the yard was white.

And then it went out.

Arden got up.

“The whole of the ground is not the east,” he said. “And the whole of the east is not the ground.” He raised his hand. “Take the Luna.”

The whole of the east came.

And then the whole of the east field lit up.

It was the circle. It was the circle in the trees and the whole of it was white and the whole of it was the door and the whole of it was open.

And out of the circle came the whole of the territories.

It was the Coeur d’Alene and the Clearwater and the Salmon River and the Kootenai and the Pend Oreille and the Walla Walla and the Riverside and the Kessler and the whole of the ones who had voted no and the whole of the ones who had voted yes. It was ten thousand wolves and the whole of them came out of the circle and the whole of them stood in the mill yard.

And in front of them there was a wolf.

She was old and she had white hair and a staff and she was the speaker of the east and she had not gone with the east.

“The whole of the territories has voted again,” she said. “And the whole of the territories has voted to stand with the Circle Pack.”

The whole of the mill yard was silent.

Arden stood in the yard.

“The whole of the territories,” he said.

“The whole of the territories,” the speaker of the east said. “And the whole of the east is not the east. The whole of the east is the line.”

She raised her staff.

And the whole of the territories came.

The whole of the mill yard was a war.

I stood in the middle of it with Elias beside me and the whole of my body was tight and the whole of it was the birth and the whole of it was now.

And then I went down on my knees in the snow.

“Wren,” Elias said.

“The whole of it is now,” I said. “The whole of it is the child.”

He picked me up.

“The whole of it is the east circle,” he said.

“The whole of it is the east circle,” I said.

And then the whole of the mill yard went white.

It was the ground. It came up out of the mill yard and out of the whole of it and the whole of the white was the whole of the line.

And then the ground spoke.

It said: The whole of it is the child. The whole of it is the door. The whole of it is the line.

And then it went out.

The mill yard was dark.

And then the light came back and the whole of the mill yard was silent and the whole of the east was on the ground and the whole of the territories was on the ground and the whole of the line was on the ground.

And then I heard it.

It was a cry. It was a small cry and it was the whole of the line and it came from the east circle.

“The child,” I said. “The whole of it is the child.”

And then I heard a voice.

It was a woman’s voice and it was old and tired and it came out of the east circle.

It said: “The whole of it is born.”

I looked at Elias.

“The whole of it is born,” I said.

“The whole of it is born,” he said.

And then I changed.

It was not the clean change and it was not the hard change. It was the whole of the change and the whole of it was my second wolf and the whole of it was the Luna’s bloodline and the whole of it was the whole of the line.

I was a wolf and the whole of me was gold and the whole of me was the Alpha and the whole of me was the Luna and the whole of me was the whole of the line.

And the whole of the mill yard was silent.

And then the whole of the east went down on their knees.

And then the whole of the territories went down on their knees.

And then the whole of the line went down on their knees.

And then the whole of the mill yard went dark.

It was the ground. It came up out of the mill yard and out of the whole of the territory and the whole of the ground was white.

And then the ground spoke.

It said: The whole of it is born. The whole of it is the door. The whole of it is the line. The whole of it is opened.

And then it went out.

The mill yard was dark.

And then the light came back and the whole of the mill yard was silent and there was a wolf standing in the middle of it.

It was Ilse the grandmother and she had a cane and a shawl and she was standing in the middle of the mill yard with her hands at her sides.

“The whole of it is opened,” she said. “The whole of the east circle is open and the whole of the line is through it and the whole of it is finished.”

I stood in the mill yard.

And then I changed back.

I was on my knees in the snow with the whole of the line around me and the whole of the territories around me and the whole of the east on the ground.

And then June came out of the east circle with the child in her arms.

“Wren,” she said. “The whole of it is a girl.”

I looked at the child.

She had red hair and her eyes were amber and the whole of her was the whole of the line and the whole of her was the keeper and the whole of her was the door.

“The whole of it is a girl,” I said.

And then the whole of the mill yard roared.