Page 122 of The SnowFang Storm

He backhanded me.

“Lame,” I gasped. The problem with pain was I was already in so much pain I couldn’t process any more, so Jerron could do whatever he wanted, I’d turned into a flesh pillow and not much else.

“If you’re here thinking FrostFur is going to petition the Council, you’re wrong,” Jerron snarled.

“Didn’t I just tell you nobody here cares about that? You think any of us are here over paperwork?” I laughed until some tears froze on my face, and I rasped, “Mention Demetrius’ name. Tell them how you’re in league with him.”

His eyes narrowed. “I am not in league with Demetrius. What has he told you? Because I’ve got nothing to do with him.”

My eyes widened. Demetrius hadn’t betrayed us! Well, maybe he had, but not to be in bed with Jerron—which meant Demetrius was on our side, or Demetrius was in bed with GranitePaw. And most shocking of all? With Dad dead, and all his secrets bequeathed to me (it seemed), and this Arctic empire drama brewing… for the first time in many generations, SilverPaw had just become politically irrelevant. They just didn’t know it yet.

“That’s right,” Jerron whispered, thinking my shock was from something else, “Demetrius is nothing to me, so don’t try to hold him over me.”

I sputtered on laughter. “Demetrius used you like a crusty sock and you don’t even realize it. I don’t care about that piece of paper anymore,” I smirked at him and somehow hauled myself up so I could whisper, “and if you’re nice to me, I’ll tell you why and I’ll even help SilverPaw stay an Elder Pack. Because that’s what’s on the line here. You and Daniel just haven’t figured it out yet.”

“I don’t need your help.” He dropped me back into the snow and delivered a kick to my ribs. Daniel grabbed him before he could kick me again.

I spit into the snow as agony convulsed my whole body. I was going to take that as a no. And that should make sure Jerron didn’t sniff around too much for information from Alan. Jerron wasn’t going to risk mentioning his encounters with Sterling to Alan, and Alan sure as fuck wasn’t about to confess his fear of Sterling to Jerron.

Dad had once told me if I couldn’t get to the truth, make sure nobody else could either.

Daniel stared down at me with a mixture of pity and satisfaction. “She’s out of her mind, Alpha. Silver has made her delirious.”

Not delirious enough.

“Silver,” Jerron snarled. “What the fuck is she doing here and silver? What did you do, Winter?”

I sputtered laughter. “Fuck you.”

Daniel gripped Jerron’s arm. “You cannot bully your way through this. You will have to gain Alan’s trust. Winter doesn’t matter.”

Well, I did matter. I mattered a lot. In fact, I was the most important part of this entire debacle.

On the other hand, why was Daniel giving Jerron good advice?

This was like one of those logic problems in highschool where you drew little graphs and solved for who had eaten what flavor of cookie based on what everyone else hadn’t eaten.

Jerron snarled and delivered a frustrated kick to my breast.

Mercedes made a noise of disgust. “I am done watching this. Warriors, put her back in the cabin.”

“I’m not done,” Jerron snapped at her.

“She is no use to me dead,” Mercedes growled, “and you are no use at all.”

I snickered. Or maybe I gurgled. I wasn’t sure.

Two warriors dragged me back to the cabin, tossed me inside, and slammed the door shut. My brain swam on a hot black ocean of agony, which was a bummer, because I wanted to hear Mercedes flay my brother into little pieces.

But the pain and exhaustion and hunger were too much, and I passed out.

Silver Is War, Silver Is Death

whump whump whump

I roused out of my pain-drifting. Hamid was grabbing our coats.

“Time to go?” I asked.

---