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“Not a juvenile”

Maria’s thick black curls, heavy with mud, bounced dully as she shook her head

“Then explain this to me”

“I can’t, sir”

“Right answer” No reason they could offer up would be a good enough excuse for the bullshit fight “Who threw the first punch?”

Silence

His wolf approved It e when neither had walked away from it, and the fact of the matter was, they’d been meant to work as a team, so they’d take their punishment as a team—with one caveat

“Seven days,” he said to Maria “Confined to quarters except for one hour each day No contact with anyone while you’re inside” It was a harsh punishment—wolves were creatures of Pack, of family, and Maria was one of the most bubbly, social wolves in the den To force her to spend all that time alone was an indication of just how badly she’d blundered “The next time you decide to step off watch, I won’t be so lenient”

Maria chancedsecond before those rich brown eyes skated away, her dominance no match for his “May I attend Lake’s twenty-first?”

“If that’s the use you want to make of your hour on the day” Yeah, it made hi party, especially when the tere taking the first, careful steps into a relationship, but she’d known exactly what she was doing when she decided to engage in a pissing contest with a fellow soldier

SnowDancer was strong as a pack because they watched each other’s backs Haould not allow stupidity or arrogance to eat away at a foundation he’d rebuilt froround up after the bloody events that had stolen both his parents and savaged the pack so badly it had taken ht isolation for them to recover

Holding on to his temper by a very thin thread, he turned his attention to Sienna “You were,” he said, the wolf very et into any physical altercations”

Sienna said nothing in response It didn’t ainst his skin, as raw and stormy as Sienna herself When she was like this, the wildness of her barely contained, it was hard to believe she’d come into his pack Silent, her emotions blockaded behind so much ice, it had infuriated his wolf

Maria shifted on her feet when he didn’t immediately continue

“You have so to say?” he asked the woman, as one of the best novice soldiers in the pack when she didn’t let her teet in the way

“I started it” Color high on her cheekbones, shoulders tight “She was just defending—”

“No” Sienna’s tone was steady, resolute, the anger buried under a wall of frigid control “I’ll take my share of the blame I could’ve walked away”

Hawke narrowed his eyes “Maria, go”

The novice soldier hesitated for a second, but she was a subordinate wolf, her natural instinct to obey her alpha too powerful to resist—even though it was clear she wanted to remain behind to support Sienna Hawke noted and approved of the display of loyalty enough that he didn’t rebuke her for the hesitation

The door closed behind her with a quiet snick that seeun-loud inside the office’s heavy silence Haaited to see what Sienna would do now that they were alone To his surprise, she maintained her position