Page 39 (1/1)

Aside from the claustrophobia, there was another reason why I was keen to step out of that burrow once the Bonereavers started gathering to leave Dane I wanted to avoid him as much as I could And I wanted Victoria to avoid hied from the burrow and ius and Brucella followed after them, followed by the Bonereavers Victoria and I backed up beneath the shade of a tree as I surveyed the crowd piling out And then I caught sight of him The one-eyed man, Dane

I looked away before he had a chance to spot me and make eye contact He didn’t look much different from the last time I’d seen him He had an extra scar on his cheek, aAdam’s apple, but otherwise he was the same man--the same old Dane I despised

"Where are we headed next?" Victoria asked Her huius and Brucella’s conversation with the Bonereaver leaders amid the hubbub of the chamber

"To visit a tribe known as the Kaelins," I replied

Her eyes bulged "The Kaelins?" she gasped

I frowned "Yes Why?"

"I know a Kaelin That’s if he’s from the same tribe Micah Kaelin is his name He lives with us in The Shade, but before that he had left The Woodlands due to a disagreement with the head of his pack He beca," I remarked "I’m sure there is only one Kaelin tribe in The Woodlands"

"Are we ready to leave?" Sergius’ voice booh our conversation Thereabout the sree through the trees like I had done when traveling to the Bonereavers, because I did not know the way to the Kaelins It turned out to be a journey that lasted several hours By the time we arrived, it was dark, all of my fellow travelers now turned into wolves, while I remained human for Victoria’s sake I kneasto my back while I was a man than while I was a wolf

Like the Bonereavers, the Kaelins had also round, in a burrow I didn’t bother entering this one, and neither did the Northstones This was a job for Weldon and Annik

Waiting for the surrounded by Bonereavers What I’d done to Dane all those years ago had of course lad that--at least so far--nobody had coVictoria when I looked up On realizing I’d noticed, he immediately cast his eye away

I pulled Victoria closer to me--so close it was probably uncomfortable for her, but I couldn’t help it She looked up atwhy She hadn’t noticed Dane ogling her

If he even tries to lay a finger on her, the world will becoathered everyone," Victoria said, changing the subject "Like, where exactly would we go to have the big ? It had better be somewhere safe and away from the hunters"

I had already considered this matter The obvious place would be Rock Hall, an enormous auditorium within the bowels of a cavernous mountain, which also held a network of s places Rock Hall was at the very eastern tip of The Woodlands If the hunters had not reached our current location yet, I highly doubted that they would’ve ical and o, as well as theplace of our great ancestors, h I had been born into a divided land, The Woodlands had not always been like this In h olves lived separately, they had not lived in discord In Rock Hall they would hold a oodwill

I explained all this to Victoria and she listened with rapt attention She seemed very interested in the history of my country

"However," I went on, "ill have to see whether the other packs are in agreeht blue eyes scanning the crowd "And do you think any of these wolves e in ht about her leaving

It was possible that some of the Bonereavers knew, but I was not the one to ask the theht: "I can ask for you if you like"

Victoria and I turned to see Rona standing nearby, leaning against a tree I narrowed htly, half suspicious of the offer For a moment I wondered whether she had been told by her mother that I was betrothed to her, and she had taken up her mother’s desire to have Victoria separated from me But from the look on her face, I didn’t sense any truth in this theory Rona seeenuinely want to be helpful, or perhaps she was just bored and happened to be close enough to overhear our conversation

I smiled at her appreciatively "Yes, please do that," I told her

She nized as Dane’s brothers He had so many of them--I believed there were close to twenty in total--that I didn’t even know all their names