"W-what?" I asked in disbelief. "You've beco deaf too?" Luna Maria hissed at . I closed my mouth and looked down at my hands. "He will take you with him to his pack." My father told that his expression was strict. "In a different country. You will spy on him and send word to about his plans to attack with the next new moon." I gasped. Spying was a criminal offense in any country, and the punishnt was death. Instant death. "But it's a death sentence." I managed to tell him. "If you're smart, you won't get caught." My father told . I swallowed uncomfortably what he was asking to do. "Are you contemplating that I, your Alpha, am the one who gave you life's decision?" He demanded of . "Are you thinking of betraying ?" I shook my head quickly, and my forehead was sweating profusely. "No, Alpha Bale," I said. He snorted at , and then he turned to Luna Maria. An older woman, whom I had never seen before, ca into the room. "Turn around, girl." She crooked at . Confused but weak, I did as she told , and then I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. I cried in pain. And then it was gone in an instant. I looked over my shoulder to see what it was. It was a tiny tattoo, almost impossible to see. "Because you have not shifted," Alpha Bale told . "You would have been able to communicate with directly, but you aren't. You're just an outcast and a latent wolf. Nothing more. Useless. So better make yourself useful." "The mark is an owl speaker."
The old woman said, "You now have an owl designated for you. You can send it information, and it will bring it back here." I had heard of such stores but assud they were only a myth. "All you need to do is call its na, and it will fly to you after three days." She told . "It will find you wherever you are during sunset. You will give it your ssage, and it will fly away." "What's its na?" I asked. Then, I was scared to speak because I worried they would snap at . "Eqiana." She said. I nodded. Then I rembered that I didn't know how to read or write.
I had been a complete slave in the pack; there was no reason for to learn how to be literate. It was considered irrelevant. If I told Alpha Bale that I was illiterate, he might kill on the spot out of anger. He was right; I was useless. "You better bring us information." He told . "If we fall, it's in your hands. And Xaden will kill you." I nodded quickly; well, I was scared of my father. He took a deep breath. "The scars on your back—did Xaden see them?" He asked . "I hope he didn't. Because if you let him see them, then you've ruined us all, and our blood will be at your hands." I swallowed. Had Xaden seen my back? The marks? Then it dawned on that if he had, then that ant he would be suspicious of the fact that I was not his actual daughter. Why would an Alpha's daughter have marks on her back? "Tell you, you creature! Did he see the marks on your back?!" My father snapped in a rage of fury.
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