The New Moon Mate

line toward me, and I stoppe

. I had told myself that the heat in my hand when I touched his shoulder was the blood going back into my fingers. I had

hed me and my

de my ribs and made a low, contented sound that spread through my whole body. My knees went weak. I put my hand on a fence

d ties them together with scent and touch and a bond that runs between their minds. Some pairs find each other young, and some go their whole lives without finding anyone, and some find each oth

back," E

ned up to his throat and his boots on his feet, and he had a dark scarf wrapped around his neck

self," I said. "I ca

o'clock

n. The line does not

s side of the fence with his hands at his sides. The wire ran

"They will be on the north line at first li

t move. "

id you

wind carries. I heard the meeting from the mill lo

ot use th

said. "He called you a woma

rn, with a bent staple every ten feet and a place near the corner where it has been spliced so many times it

u," I said, "the

kno

are you st

the thing that killed your brother is still in this pack, and because every time I

bs, and I pushed back.

eld behind

when the corral fence at

eld behind

he Henderso

ield since July. I leave it to find water and I come back to it.

t near t

our in the morning, and because the scent was there." He looked at me. "You are the

do their work and let the Council buy its grain land and let the whole thing die down l

rough the fe

en us, and I could hear his heart. I could hear it going too fast, and I could hear my own doing the same,

ed for this," I said, "I

going to

not mea

behind it, and his jaw was tight, and the scarf at his throat had slippe

want to kno

s if I touch

now. I have been trying v

hand on h

es, and my wolf rolled all the way over and put her belly up, and I made a sound I had never made in my life. Elias made a sound too, low and rough, and his hand ca

," he

now my

since the field," he sai

ooked up at him. "Ow

nd that she would know what to do." His hand tightened on my wrist. "I have been walking this line

out of me slowly, like water draining out of a tub,

is hunting. If Dale finds out you are on this side of the fence, he will no

kno

ond, they will have questions. The Council does

ave been on the wrong side of the C

in the way he said it made me

s head came up and he turned toward the no

?" I

he said. "Two of them. A

tion in my chest, and then I heard it too, the soft crunch of boots on st

" I said. "Th

ught at his coat, and he looked at me with his he

ha

ne behind the other two, and he is not carrying a lamp,

I went down on one knee in the dirt on my own side. By the time I got up, Elias was gone. There was only the whe

ng her line at night is a normal thing, and I made myself norma

l with her braid and her rifle, and behind her was Mr. Hask with his

wire, the thin kind the Council uses for traps, and when he

aid. "You ar

you,"

line before morning." He lifted the coil of wire a li