Stone Circle don't count on it

Murdock blinked at the alpha.

"He told me she was his woman," he said, feeling wrong-footed once more. Why wouldn't Valette think they were mated? "Didn't they show up together?" he asked. If they hadn't, and if they weren't mates, the situation seemed even worse than Murdock had first thought. He wouldn't pretend to know what having a mate was like anymore - it'd been years since Chemukh's death, and they'd not had much time together either way - but he knew that it was strange enough for mates to be acting the way Wardrunna had, and even stranger if they weren't life partners.

Valette mentioned Noma being familiar, and something about a wolf called Steady. Neither of those things really struck Murdock as odd, so he remained silent, mulling over this new information. He didn't want that man around Stephie, that was for sure.