(2)

... his brother's death. He would kill her, torture her even. "He followed all of us."

"But he came to speak to you."

Outlander swallowed, her heart thudding, but she was spared the trouble of answering as Snowblind padded over to his

brother's mutilated corpse. Heads poked out of the bushes, and Phantasm's face fell immediately as she shot out of the

bushes and ran to her son's carcass. "The beast was here, mother," Snowblind sighed. "Snowbank attacked it foolishly."

The alpha looked up coldly, her tear-filled eyes meeting Outlander's. The coywolf resisted the urge to shrink away from the

alpha's gaze. It would only have been incriminating. Phantasm turned to face the pack. "The hunt is over. I've lost my son.

We're going home.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Outlander stared at the field before her, her heartbeat blending in with the roar of the rain on the landscape. She looked

back over her shoulder where two wolves sat, blocking the path back home. They had led her here on Snowblind's orders,

and though she wasn't exactly sure what the purpose of her being here was, she had a good idea. Snowblind could read it

on her face. Her fear betrayed her, and knowing what she did, he couldn't let her live, so he sent her out on an "assignment,"

escorted by two of his most trusted guards. There was no description, no orders, but it didn't matter. Outlander knew what

this assignment was about.

Her usefulness had run out, and so had her time.

Her escorts snarled, pushing her into the field. "This is where you go alone," one of them growled. Outlander looked back at

the field. It was innocent-looking, but Snowblind was clever. There could be an ambush at any second. It would only take a

few wolves to put her down quickly.

As she stepped out from the cover of the trees and the heavy raindrops pelted her like fragments of ice, Outlander looked up

at the sky. She couldn't see the stars through the rain, but she knew they were there. Her mother had told her that wolves

saw the stars as their ancestors and loved ones, passed on to a place in the sky where they looked down on the living.

Outlander didn't understand, nor did she believe it, but as she walked to her certain death, she couldn't help hoping it was

true.

"Mother," she murmered, hardly able to hear herself over the slap of raindrops on mud, "If you're up there, please, send

help. Send someone, something..."

"Outlander?"

It was a hiss in the night, easy to miss. Outlander looked around, her eyes catching the immistakable skeletal frame of a wolf

caked in mud across the field.

"Well," she grumbled to her mother's invisible ghost, "You certainly have a sense of humor."

But as Bone approached, and it became clear that he was not the bloodthirsty beast but the tired, sad old wolf, she found

she could hold no anger or resentment. She felt only relief. In a world where everyone was turning against her at every

second, Bone was the only truely transparent soul she had met thus far, and right now, he was her only chance at safety.

"Wait!" She hissed across the field. He stopped suddenly, his ears pricked and alert. Outlander scanned the field. Still no

sign of an ambush. "Be careful."

After a moment of strange silence, Bone spoke. "I'm here about Snowblind, not you," he said, daring to step closer.

Outlander winced at every cracked branch, waiting to leapt upon by Snowblind's executioners, but the attack never came.

"Phantasm appeared in the Forever Grounds," he continued. "She said Snowblind killed her."

Outlander nodded. "He lured her towards an angry bear," she said, looking around in paranoia. "He sent me here, to kill me.

He knows I know."

"But why-"

Bone stopped suddenly. "What is that?"

Outlander pricked her ears. Over the constant drone of raindrops, a sound like thunder was rising slowly and steadily. She

looked around, catching movement on the ridge above. "A herd of elk..." she trailed off in disbelief.

A stampede? For one measely coywolf?

Then she looked at Bone, the unkillable myth. A few wolves wouldn't get rid of him, but a thousand thundering hooves might.

He had been following Outlander all this time, and Outlander had thought back to the night of Snowbank's death.

"He came to speak to you," echoed Snowblind's words.

"Snowblind," she murmered bitterly. "Ever so clever."

The alpha may not have known Bone would be there, but he had certainly counted on it.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The wolves had decided on electing Ashsky alpha almost immediately. She had proven her loyalty and dedication to the

pack, as well as her sound judgement and good intentions. With Bone's approval of the situation, they began dragging theirdead away to be buried, leaving Snowblind's body alone for the elements and vultures to have as a final disrespect to the

vile, would-be alpha.

Bone hesitantly helped them bury the fallen, a final proof that he was not the monster they feared, and ...