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woman when they are courting all but openly.
    â€œNot that. Another.” Calli’s eyes were dancing. She took a step forward, closer to Urs.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Urs asked after a moment, his voice hoarse, no longer playful.
    Moving silently, Silex eased himself into a more comfortable crouch. If he broke from these rocks he might have enough surprise on his side to get on the path upstream, but the tall man looked like a hunter and Silex doubted he would get far before a spear pierced his back. He would just have to wait here until they left.
    Unless they found him first. Then the position that had been so defensible against wolves would be wildly vulnerable to a weapon thrust. Silex would be effectively trapped. The fight would be bloody.
    That made him stop and consider. What if he lunged with spear and took down the big man first? The woman might well run rather than fight, and Silex had no intent to pursue her. He looked at the point below Urs’s shoulders where a wound from behind would be fatal.
    â€œIs there something you wish to say to me that you know you should not?” Calli asked, her voice a whisper.
    Urs was staring at her. His hands twitched as if preparing to take her in his arms.
    â€œNo?” Calli asked lightly. “Then I am mistaken.”
    She danced back and Urs stepped forward.
    â€œOh, are you stalking me, great bear?” she mocked.
    â€œCalli, I…”
    Silex had the feeling that what he was about to hear had been spoken many times inside the cave of Urs’s head, but had never been given the freedom of an utterance.
    â€œI do, I am intending to say, I love you.”
    Calli clapped her hands together joyously. “Urs! And I love you, why has it taken so long for you to say it?”
    Urs didn’t answer and Calli reached for him and then they were kissing in the sunlight.
    They were not, Silex decided, Cohort. This was not how Cohort were said to act. They must be Kindred, and that was what was meant by “breaking the rules”—they were outside of their territory.
    The Wolfen always ran from the Kindred, avoiding altercation. Should he make his move and stab the tall man now, while the Kindred’s arms were wrapped around the woman?
    A wolf would watch and wait, Silex decided. That was what he would do, too.
    â€œWhat will happen to us, Urs?” Calli asked after they had broken off their kiss. She still clutched him.
    Urs shook his head. “I do not know.”
    â€œNo, that is not the answer!” Calli responded sharply.
    â€œThe women’s council…”
    â€œNo!” Calli said again.
    Urs drew in a breath, frustrated. “People cannot decide who they are going to marry without the approval of the women’s council,” he finally declared in a heavy voice.
    â€œOf course,” Calli agreed impatiently. “But mothers often negotiate between themselves, and bring an arrangement to council. My mother will speak for me. What would you like my mother to say?”
    â€œMy own mother is long dead, so the council speaks for me,” Urs noted. “Who I marry is up to the women.”
    Calli regarded him. “You are brave. You are not afraid of the women,” she said after a bit.
    â€œOf course I am not afraid,” Urs snapped.
    Calli smiled at this. “Then say we will never be apart. Not ever.”
    Some of the tension went out of Urs’s shoulders, the way men relax after a spear has been thrown and there is nothing more to do but see if it strikes the intended target. “We will never be apart, not ever,” he repeated dutifully.
    â€œWe will marry,” Calli said.
    â€œOh Calli.”
    â€œUrs, I have been waiting my whole life to have this conversation,” Calli pleaded. “Just give me your pledge.”
    â€œIf Albi found out we had made a pledge to each other, she would do everything in her power to stop it.”
    Calli paused. “Albi is