Silent Steps and Hidden Stars

h bark of an oak, knees drawn tight to her chest, watching her breath fog in the October chill. The clearing before her lay empty-wou

ike: *Why a

abric was thin from too many washings, frayed at the edges where her grandmother's careful stitching had finally surrendered

of some small creature in the underbrush. She focused on these, let them fill the sile

as loneliness. Loneliness implied

age or near enough, moving with the easy confidence of people who'd never questioned their place in

lf smaller aga

They never did, not u

ll gangly with growth, children barely old enough to hold a fighting stance. The clearing filled with bodies a

dows like a ghost hauntin

er be taught directly. To study the way they moved, the way they anticipated each

e she'd stopped b

to watc

ttention. Not through volume-his voice carried quiet and level across the space-but through presence. The kind th

k hair fell just past his shoulders, and when he turned to demonstrate a hold, the

d something stu

ger wolves made the same mistake twice. Long enough to recognize the almost-smile he gave when someone finally got it ri

Born under the right moon, to the rig

she

l, w

head sn

t have passed for a smile if not for the coldness in her eyes. Beta blood, h

accusation. "Didn't expect to fin

ept her gaze lowered, fixed on a point s

to join?" Kara's laugh was soft, almost pi

ision. Kara had been doing this long

was safer. Silence meant

ost conversational. "How you can stand it. Coming here, day after day, watching everyone else li

athe through her nose, slow and measured, the way

n't give them th

way, I'm sure you have actual work to do. Somewhere far aw

'd already turned away, already moving back toward

rtbeat too loud in her ears, her face hot wi

p, her gaze found Veyron

d the boy's shoulders. The child-couldn't be more than ten-looked up at him with op

r, strong, the kind of leader people followed b

ing Veyron's movements with poorly disguised interest. One of them-blonde, beautiful, the Delta's daughter-said somethin

looke

claim to the fantasies she'd spun in the small hours of sleepless nights, whe

to herself, borrowing Ka

ling water, splitting kindling, the endless small tasks that filled the hours between waki

e didn

of the younger Betas, his tone carrying that partic

sence." He'd spotted her. Of course he had. She

many-she wasn't worth a cr

pty. "Lost, Rona? The Omega dens are back tha

impress-added, "Maybe she thinks

l, reflexive. Not cruel enough to dr

tiff from sitting too long in the cold, and forced her spi

" she managed, her v

losing interest, already turnin

back toward the tree line. Her vision blurred at the edges, but s

e, she allowed hers

His head was tipped back slightly, laughing at something one of them said, and the sound carried across the c

e suppose

red into the trees, letting

s burial grounds, far enough from the prominent headstones that it was easy to miss if you weren't looking for it.

t soaking through immediately, and pr

andmother,"

wind and birdsong. It w

s listening. "I know, I know. You'd tell me I'm wasting my time." She traced the wo

st a deer, picking its way through the underbrush. It paused when it saw her, ea

ould tell she w

ipped out before she could stop it. "Kara, Darek, all

omfort, no wisdom. Jus

To have a father who was pack, not human. To have a mother who didn't look at her with constant regret. To walk

at her and see som

ill kneeling in the damp grass, still al

Omega. A mistak

, brushing dirt from her skirt

ldn't maintain the lodges and grounds through goodwill al

she could say for

istance, at the figures moving through their drills, at

mist, but Rona barely felt its warmth. Som

ned to liv

no other