Chapter 20

Mara's POV

At dawn, Ironwood’s council hall smelled of wet wool and the smoke still caught in its plaster. Canvas covered the windows; Gideon’s last attempt to hold the pack had broken. Six hundred wolves had come to hear what Severin intended to do with me. Their benches filled the room where, only days earlier, Gideon had tried to make me kneel.

Ronan entered between eight Concord officers. No cuffs; I had extracted that much from Severin the night before. One officer walked so close to Ronan’s wounded shoulder that it looked almost like a restraint. Ronan’s shirt was clean, but he had buttoned it crookedly, and his eyes had the flat shine of a man who had spent the night awake.

“Did they hurt you?” I asked when he reached me.

“The guest cell came with a chair built for confession,” he said. “The guard objected when I used i