All Chapters of The Dual Claim: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Gray walls again. Cold. The cot groaned when I tried to turn on my side. My fingers and toes felt numb. I couldn’t feel Orielle. I hoped she was sleeping somewhere I couldn’t reach. The quiet felt suffocating without her to talk to. The bolt scraped again.For fuck’s sake. What do they want now? There’s nothing left! I didn’t move. A hooded man slipped in. He closed the door softly. He moved very measured, slow, and wary. He stopped beside the cot. My eyes tracked him in the low light. One hand lifted. Metal glinted. A syringe. He leaned close. “Forgive me.” Before I had time to protest, scream, or scurry backward, he caught my jaw, turned my neck, and slid the needle in. It burned hot, then felt cold traveling through my body. It

The sun was barely over the horizon and I was already on my third whiskey. It wasn’t like alcohol gave shifters a buzz, it was just the symbolism of the quantity that pissed me off.Then again, over the past week, everything pissed me off.All because of that Wane girl. What was she thinking? There’s no way the Alpha line can mate with a Wane. Her line couldn’t be verified; the Council would never approve an unknown.I was much better off with Vanessa.Her Pack was strong in both numbers and money; her grandfather invested wisely and Ravenhall Pack would be solvent for generations.Not to mention, she was drop dead gorgeous. I had to adjust because of the bulge I got just thinking about last night, and what a little hellion she was.The bonding ritual with Vanessa went much better than the one with the Wane. She and her wolf both anticipated the rite and approached it with a lot more excitement than the anti-bonding rite.Even though

I toed the mat and revealed a solitary key. I turned it in my fingers, recognizing the symbolic reference to my situation. Key to a door, key to a new beginning. Mine. I let my backpack fall from my shoulders and rolled them. Gosh it felt good to have that weight gone. The key wouldn’t turn, so I jiggled it a little bit, trying to fight the panic rising from my stomach to my throat. What if I couldn’t get it open? Where would I go? I had no-one to call, nowhere to go. Would I just sleep in a doorway, hoping I wouldn’t be discovered? Finally, the key turned and the lock clicked. The door gave with a hard push. Hinges groaned. I shut it behind me and slid the deadbolt that couldn’t be unlocked from the other side. I leaned against the door until my heart beat at a normal rhythm, letting my eyes adjust to the dark. I didn’t have Orielle’s night vision, not with

I looked around the grounds instead of focusing on the food on my plate. Knowing Silverpine’s previous Alpha was poisoned only one week ago didn’t leave me confident the meal wasn’t tainted. Regardless of whether they caught the little murderess.It was a beautiful night; the moon was full and bright…not a cloud in the sky. I wish I was home with my pack running with the full moon instead of attending a funeral. But here I was, fulfilling another Alpha obligation.Silverpine set tables outside for this event; near the river so we could all stay seated and watch the platforms be pushed off, biers lit so the pyres could flow downstream.There were dozens more tables tonight than for the feast last week. Only the Alphas and some Betas from the twelve allied packs attended from the outside, but the entire Silverpine Pack shared this meal with us.Seith let me know prior to our departure, that Coralridge didn’t have any pyres for this moon cycle, nor did we ha

The night was quiet as I followed the river east like Victor said. The howling stopped a long time ago, but I almost had a heart attack when I saw the almost burned-out pyres float past me. I thought for sure Silverpine wolves would be right behind them. When I was sure no-one followed, I paused and gave my respects to my former Alpha. He was a good man. Kind. The few times I ran into him, he always remembered my name, and asked about my day. He never made me feel any less because I was a Wane. Not like other pack members, or the kids at the pack school. While most were kind and somewhat charitable, there were others, mostly from the Alpha and Beta lines that were just bullies. I wasn’t the only Wane, but I was the only one in their line of sight. Same grade, same classes, same ole same ole. As I walked, I passed the time reinventing myself. When I got to my new destination, mayb