Chapter 23: Lessons in Being Unheard
"Your problem," said Ronan, "is that you walk like someone who expects to be looked at."
"I'm the Alpha's daughter."
"You're a target."
He'd taken me out to the beech wood south of the village, ostensibly to teach me to track. In practice he was teaching me to be quiet, which was harder. I had spent eighteen years in a community of people who could hear a heartbeat through a wall. Learning to move unheard among them felt like learning to breathe underwater.
"Weight on the outside of the foot," he said. "Roll it. Don't stamp."
"I'm not stamping."
"You're announcing."
I tried again. A twig snapped under my heel like a pistol shot. Ronan winced.
"You're doing that on purpose."
"I'm not! You try walking with a wolf's ears listening to you breathe!
