I aimed my arrow at his chest. “I suggest you calm down,” I said, gazing at him steadily. “I have come here with the Northstones. They wish to speak with your leader regarding a matter of great importance to all of us.”

His eyes narrowed on me, but I was spared trying to convince him further of my innocence when the rest of our pack burst into the clearing—Brucella and Sergius at the lead.

“Cedar!” Brucella exclaimed, arriving at our side.

Cedar lowered his spear and, prying his eyes from me, fixed them on my aunt and uncle.

“I see you have already met Bastien,” Brucella said. “Our dear nephew.”

I could just imagine her adding on, “And my future son-in-law,” if only Rona were not present. I glanced at my cousin at the back of the pack as Cedar began leading us into the burrow. Rona was innocent in all of this, which made me feel guilty in a way for stalling her marriage. She deserved a mate just as much as any she-wolf. I—and she—just had to hope that eventually Brucella would stop waiting for me, and in desperation to get her daughter married, relinquish the betrothal and find another suitor for her daughter.

Something told me, however, from what I knew of my aunt, that this would not happen any time soon.

As we moved into the burrow, I kept an arm around Victoria’s small waist, keeping her close to me. Cedar led us deep into the earth’s bowels until we emerged in an entrance chamber.

Cedar left us, assuring my aunt and uncle that he would fetch the leader, Weldon Bonereaver, and his wife, Annik Bonereaver. In the meantime, he called for a couple of werewolves to bring us wine. I rolled my eyes. Wine at this time of day was typical of this tribe. These wolves spent more time drunk than sober. Hopefully the grave news we were about to deliver to them would make them lose their appetite for alcohol, for a while at least.

None of us accepted a drink, and instead we waited in silence until finally Dane’s parents Weldon and Annik arrived. Weldon was of the same short and stocky build as Cedar, while his wife was tall, slender and graceful, originating from a different pack. Weldon’s eyes traversed the room. I steeled myself as his gaze fell on me. His eyes darkened immediately. Annik also glared daggers.

“What is he doing here?” he demanded of my uncle.

Sergius heaved a sigh. “Weldon, you know that he is my nephew. Please, let us not divert our attention to Bastien at a time like this. We have urgent matters to discuss. If it would make you more comfortable, take us somewhere else and we will talk to you without Bastien present.”

Weldon nodded slowly. He cast me one last dirty look before he and his wife left the room with Sergius and Brucella, leading them deeper into their lair. I hadn’t been expecting to do much talking during this trip, anyway. I’d already relayed all the information to my aunt and uncle that was required in order to convince other packs to unite with us. I grimaced at the thought of all the other packs we were going to have to face, although the Bonereavers were the pack with whom I held the most animosity.

I led Victoria to a cluster of chairs in the corner of the chamber and sat down with her, keenly aware of her still damaged ankle.

“Why do they hate you so much?” she asked in a whisper.

I heaved a sigh. “That story goes a long way back,” I replied in a low voice.

It was also a story that I would prefer to not recount to Victoria, for it was rather disturbing. And I had caused her enough disturbance already—if she had not freed me, she would not have been separated from her family in the first place.

“It’s due to an old family feud,” I concluded. Which was the truth. Just not the full truth.

The feud had started because of Dane and me. My parents used to be on fairly good terms with his parents, and our tribes had lived much closer to each other. Back when I was seventeen, Dane, the eldest son of Weldon and Annik—and three years my senior—had taken a disconcerting liking to my sister, who had been less than a year older than me. She had already been betrothed to another man—a man I knew she cared for. Dane had always been an animal in every sense of the word. He respected no one’s boundaries, and he had a disgusting sense of entitlement. Especially when it came to females. I still shuddered to think what would have happened that night if he’d managed to steal my sister into the woods. If I had not noticed him crossing the clearing from my bedroom window, and if I hadn’t arrived in time to fight him off—tearing one of his eyes out in the process—he would’ve had his way with my sister.

Even though Dane had clearly been in the wrong, his parents were too proud to admit it and they immediately severed all ties with my parents. They’d relocated to this hole. To this day they had never forgiven me for what I did to Dane, and I had never forgiven him for what he’d tried to do to my sister.

I expected Sergius and Brucella to be longer talking to Weldon and Annik. But they emerged again after barely half an hour. Apparently, my aunt and uncle had been successful. More wolves followed after them, flooding into the entrance chamber until it became so packed that I took Victoria’s hand and led her toward the exit. I wanted to speak to my aunt and uncle to ask them for details about how it had gone, but they were still in conversation with the Bonereaver leaders, talking about where we would travel next. The Kaelins, by the sound of it. They were a pack that was not in allegiance with the Northstones, nor with my own family, the Blackhalls, but the Bonereavers had relations with them. I didn’t know much about the Kaelins, but based on what I caught of their conversation as Victoria and I made our way back out into the open, their lair was not far from here.