Reflected (Silver Series) by Rhiannon Held Page B

and Silver turned to face her. Susan presented a picture of stability, much as her husband did. Silver wouldn’t have expected it from someone so young, human or not, but over the years, Susan had settled into an enviable confidence in her value as a fresh perspective on Were problems. “I’m happy to organize everyone to get it cooked if you’ll guide me through the etiquette. I’m guessing this isn’t a casual cookout for friends.”
    “No.” Silver let her shoulders drop with relief. Since Susan had offered first, she wouldn’t have to figure out how to ask her. “You already know I get served first. The most important thing is not to serve Craig anything. Give him an empty—” The word escaped Silver for a moment, but she was used to that. She focused on the important part of the sentence, and it popped out on its own. “Plate, and serve Portland more than she can eat. She can choose what he eats and how much.”
    Susan’s eyebrows rose. “What’d he do to fuck up that bad?”
    Silver shook her head. “It’s not a matter of punishment. That’s the most formal of pack eating etiquette. No one bothers with it usually, but it’s there when you want to remind someone of his role.”
    She drew a deep breath. “And I want to remind him of it because he wants Dare and me to force Portland to give up her sub-alphaship because the stress might make her lose her child.” In the silence after saying it, Silver examined the statement, but she’d captured the important part. It struck her as darkly funny that so much trouble could be summed up so quickly.
    “Oh! She’s—” Susan touched her own stomach, but she continued without waiting for Silver’s nod, tone sharpening. “Seriously, though? That’s bullshit. John said you guys can miscarry if you shift after the early part of the pregnancy, and I assume what counts as ‘early’ varies from woman to woman. But if Portland knows she’s pregnant, where’s the problem? She can just avoid shifting.”
    “In theory.” Silver held her good arm across her chest, as close as she could get to crossing her arms. “If he does decide to start howling up support, he’s got a stronger argument to call on. I understand pregnancy makes human women emotional.” Silver smiled in answer to Susan’s sharp bark of laughter. She could see the memory of Susan’s own experience in her expression. She squashed her own wish that she could speak from experience too before it could become more than a whisper in the back of her mind.
    “It’s the same for Were. In the full, when you’re emotional, a shift can get so close—for most women, it’s just a part of life, but a few can trap themselves in circles.” Silver illustrated with a fingertip. “She worries about shifting by mistake, and that worry brings the shift closer, and then she worries more…” Silver drew a deep breath, unconsciously waiting for Death to mock her, but he remained silent, leaving her to catch and hold a ghost of a bloody memory in peace. “When I was young, still with my birth pack, one woman lost her baby very late that way. It was … ugly.”
    “Jesus,” Susan hissed. Her eyes flicked to Silver’s and she pressed a thumb to her forehead, the Were gesture of respect to the Lady. Silver smiled thinly and echoed it, flattered that the woman would offer it to her. Susan had her own God, so the gesture clearly wasn’t on her own behalf.
    “But Portland won an alphaship—and held it. She’s in no such danger. And you can’t live your life based on that kind of fear anyway. It’s in the Lady’s hands.” Without looking, Silver flexed her hand at her side in sheer frustration and felt fur under her fingertips. She didn’t look at Death, just buried her hand deep in his ruff.
    “Craig has threatened to pull the other packs into it.” Silver growled low. “You were here when we first united the packs, you know how some of them are itching for an excuse to declare independence