Mated to My Hunter

Chapter 79: Isla's Rage

The whistle came again from the pass, three long notes and a short one, and then the grey wolves were in the camp.

They came through the trees and over the shelters and down the slope. Hilda was on her feet with her staff.

"The pass," she shouted. "The rogues to the pass."

The rogues went up the slope and the warriors went with them.

Maren had the chain in her hand.

"The anvil," she said. "They are after the anvil."

"The anvil is in the clearing and the clearing is the camp."

"The anvil is the founding and the founding is the law." She turned. "The company has a guide, and the guide knows the deep woods."

"A guide who was paid."

We went up the slope after the rogues. The trees were thick and the grey wolves came through them in a line, and the rogues met them at the top and the fight was short and hard.

In the middle of it a wolf came out of the trees and went down the slope toward the clearing. He carried a lantern and he was not fighting.

"The guide," I said.

Maren went after him. I went after her. He went down the slope into the clearing and put his hand on the chain.

The chain rang. The anvil rang. He lifted his head and howled.

"The anvil is here."

The grey wolves came down the slope.

Maren reached the anvil first. She put her hand on the chain and the bond woke and the anvil rang and the guide went back from it as if he had been struck.

"The chain is hers," he said.

The grey wolves came into the clearing and stopped.

"The chain is the warden's," Maren said. "The anvil is the founding and the founding is the law, and the law says no wolf takes the anvil from the founding Alpha's heir."

The guide looked at her. "The company was paid."

"The company was paid by the pack council, and the pack council is in irons and the Council is dissolved and the company has no master." She lifted the chain. "The company can take the anvil and the chain and the warden, and the company will have a war with the packs."

The grey wolves looked at each other. Then one of them laid down his sword, and the others followed.

The guide bolted up the slope and the rogues took him at the top and brought him down.

Isla came out of the trees with her copper hair loose and her coat open.

"Ewan," she said.

"Isla."

She hit me in the chest with both hands.

"You went into the pass," she said. "You went in and did not come back, and the company was in the valley with the pack, and I did not know whether you were alive or dead."

"Isla."

"Do not Isla me." Her green eyes were bright. "You went into the pass with the warden and left the pack in the valley, and the company came down the mountain road and the captain had a paper."

"The pack is here."

"The pack is here because Gunnar held the valley and the rogues held the pass and the pack got out." She looked at me. "And you went into the pass and did not send a rider and did not send a word."

"The pass was dark and the company was behind us."

"The pass was dark and the company was behind you and you left me in the valley." Her voice cracked. "You promised me, Ewan. You promised that if it came to a choice between the pack and me you would choose the pack."

"I did not choose."

"You chose the warden."

"I chose the ledger and the warden and the pass. The ledger is the proof, the warden is the heir, and the pass was the way out."

"And I am the Alpha and I have been the Alpha for two months and I have been left behind in the valley and in the cellar and in the pack house and in the mill."

"Isla."

"Do not Isla me." She turned to the anvil. "The pack is here, the rogues are here, the company has laid down its swords, the guide is in irons, and the warden has the chain and the anvil."

Maren came up beside her.

"The anvil is the founding, and the chain is the founding, and the ring is the founding."

"The ring is on your finger."

"The ring is on my finger and the chain is in my hand and the anvil is in the clearing." Maren put her hand flat on the iron. "The three parts are joined."

Isla looked at the ring and the chain and the anvil. "And what does the joining do?"

"It makes the founding whole, and the founding whole is the law, and the law is the pack." Maren's fingers curled around the chain. "And the founding whole can call the packs."

"Call them to what?"

"To the anvil. The Greyfell pack and the mill pack and the shore pack and the deep woods pack and the rogues and the Northshore pack. The founding was sworn at the anvil and the law says the founding Alpha's heir can call the packs to it."

Isla's eyes narrowed. "And the packs will come."

"They will come and they will hear the record and the ledger and the founding papers." Maren looked at the ring on her hand. "And they will decide who sits in the Council. The Alphas are old and have been lied to for two hundred years. The packs can choose a new Council and a new High Warden."

"The packs," Isla said slowly.

"The packs of the territory and the rogues. And the winter gathering. It meets in three weeks at the Greyfell hall and every pack sends a speaker." Maren lifted her head. "And the founding Alpha's heir can call the gathering to order."

Isla looked at her for a long moment.

"The pack council will have friends at that gathering."

"The pack council is in irons."

"Its friends are not. The pack council has friends in every pack in the territory, and those friends will say the warden is a rogue and the ledger is a forgery."

"Then the warden will bring the record and the ledger and the founding papers and the ring and the chain and the anvil." Maren looked at the iron under her hand. "And the warden will bring the packs."

The fire cracked and the wolves around it shifted and the wind came down the slope.

"The winter gathering," Isla said. "In three weeks."

"In three weeks." Maren straightened. "And the packs will hear the truth."

Isla looked at her for a long moment, then at me.

"Three weeks," she said. "And then we finish this."

On the slope, in the trees, a wolf howled.