“Miss Maylin. Lord Hagen.” Reiter had gotten better at ignoring skin and looking Pack in the eye although a fresh scar on his jaw suggested it had taken him a while to learn. “The Pack Leader sent me to check on you.”
It was strange to see him in gray and white. The gold of his hair, the red of his whiskers, the blue of his eyes were gone. Mirian found herself missing color in a way she hadn’t for months. “To check on me?”
“On all of you.” Reiter looked calm as he swept his gaze over the visible members of the Pack. Nine stopped Dusty’s advance with a growl, then growled again in Reiter’s direction.
To Mirian’s surprise, the captain tipped his head to the side before saying, “Did you know they call you the Ghost Pack in the empire? You’ve become part of the stories people tell.”
“Really.” Tomas snorted. “What do they call you in the empire?”
“Traitor.”
Harsh but true.
“The Pack Leader,” Reiter began, but Mirian cut him off.
“Isn’t Alpha here. I am.” Mirian laid her words on the breeze. “She knows you’ve arrived, and that’s all she needs to know for now.” When Reiter drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, Mirian saw he breathed in through his nose, like Pack. “What do we call you?” she murmured.
“I guess that’s for you to say.”
“Do you have a first name, or is it captain?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “Sean.”
“Sean.” His eyes had been a pale enough blue that seen through mage-craft they were almost silver. “I guess if you want to know what we call you here…” She could feel his life at the edges of her senses. “…you’ll have to stay for a while until we figure it out.”
The finest in Fantasy and Science Fiction by TANYA HUFF from DAW Books:
THE SILVERED
THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM
THE WILD WAYS
The Confederation Novels:
A CONFEDERATION OF VALOR
Valor’s Choice/The Better Part of Valor
THE HEART OF VALOR (#3)
VALOR’S TRIAL (#4)
THE TRUTH OF VALOR (#5)
SMOKE AND SHADOWS (#1)
SMOKE AND MIRRORS (#2)
SMOKE AND ASHES (#3)
BLOOD PRICE (#1)
BLOOD TRAIL (#2)
BLOOD LINES (#3)
BLOOD PACT (#4)
BLOOD DEBT (#5)
BLOOD BANK (#6)
THE COMPLETE KEEPER CHRONICLES
Summon the Keeper/The Second Summoning/Long Hot Summoning
THE QUARTERS NOVELS, Volume 1:
Sing the Four Quarters/Fifth Quarter
THE QUARTERS NOVELS, Volume 2:
No Quarter/The Quartered Sea
WIZARD OF THE GROVE
Child of the Grove/The Last Wizard
OF DARKNESS, LIGHT, AND FIRE
Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light/The Fire’s Stone