Chapter 9. What the River Gives Back

June's POV

Every eye in Ashgrove was on me.

I'd spent eleven years making myself small enough to slip past those eyes. Now seventy wolves stood on the far bank with torches in their fists, and the moon lit me up like a floodlight, and the silver on my wrists glittered for all of them to see.

Ronan stood beside me with the end of the chain in his fist.

He'd said I'd go into the water first if this was a trap. I believed him. Somehow, that made it easier to stand there. At least one man on this river had told me the truth about what he'd do to me.

"Why?" I called across the water.

My voice cracked on the first word. I made it carry anyway.

"Why do you want me back so badly, Bram? Last night you set a Hunt on me. Tonight you're bargaining with an old woman's life." I took a breath. "What am I worth to you?"

A murmur moved through the crowd.

Bram's hand stay