Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
I nodded.
“Go on in, most everyone is here,” Willow said, a brilliant smile on her face.
I stepped inside where a semicircle of chairs had been set up. My parents and brother were there, along with all thirty or so other pack elders—mostly shifters my parents age or older. Nathan’s mate was there, along with his grown daughter, who was mated to another pack member.
My mother got up and hugged me tight. “I heard everything,” she said in a teary voice. “I’m so glad your mate wasn’t hurt.”
“What about me?” I teased. But of course, they knew I’d be all right.
She cupped my face. “The house is gone, but that’s not what’s important, is it?”
It wasn’t. I hadn’t even thought to ask Rob after it, just assuming it was gone. I had what was important from that place. We’d rebuild, make it a home again.
“Have a seat. Levi’s bringing in the accused,” Rob rumbled from the door, stepping in and taking his seat at the front, facing the semi-circle.
I sat down and Clint and Colton flanked me. I had to guess they’d positioned themselves to hold me back if I insisted on exacting my own justice. I didn’t plan to, but I wasn’t ruling it out either. Especially after Nathan Brown stepped in, handcuffed, but holding his head up proudly, as if he had nothing to be ashamed of.
Levi walked him to an empty place, apart from both Rob and the semi-circle.
“Nathan Brown, you stand accused,” Rob’s alpha timbre boomed in the lodge. “You burned down a pack member’s property.”
Nathan sputtered. “The fuck I did. That property belonged to a human.” He spat out human like it was a bad word. “A human who intended to open a bed and breakfast right next to pack land.”
“A human who is now mated to a pack member,” Rob countered. “Which makes her an honorary member of this pack as well.”
Nathan scoffed. “She wasn’t mated at the time,” he sneered.
“Silence!” When Rob put alpha command in his words, everyone felt it. The room rang with silence, all of us instinctually going still to appease him. “You could have killed her, and you nearly killed Rand, who was trapped inside the house searching for his mate when it collapsed.”
“The girl wasn’t in the house when I set fire to it,” Nathan said, as if that excused everything. “If she hadn’t left on her own, I would’ve made sure she was out before I lit the match. I meant her no harm. Rand, of course, will heal.”
Many of the elders murmured in their seats. I didn’t think they expected Nathan to so openly admit his crime.
“Was the house insured, Rand?” Rob asked.
I nodded. Natalie and I had talked about it this morning, and she’d had to put it on her credit card, but she’d paid the insurance bill last month.
“That’s good. Of course the personal effects in the house will never be recovered,” Rob said.
“Why did you do it?” someone asked Nathan.
Nathan scoffed. “Well, isn’t it obvious? Our alpha here is too weak to deal with human encroachment. Not only did he refuse to shut down the bed and breakfast idea, he invited the weak human into the pack. That makes her what-—the fifth human you’ve brought in in the past two years? Is no one else concerned about this trend? About an alpha who apparently wants our kind to die out through matings that go against nature?”
“Enough!” Rob ordered, silencing the menacing growls that had gone up from me, Clint, Boyd and Colton.
Levi hadn’t growled, but he shoved Nathan to his knees, a ferocious scowl on his face.
“Nathan Brown, because you did not intend Natalie Sheffield direct harm, I will not demand your life. But for breaking human law and endangering pack and humans, as well as for your continued lack of respect for my position in this pack as alpha, I hereby banish you and all your kin from this pack. Your house will be sold to another pack member and any expenses not covered by Natalie’s insurance will come from the proceeds and the remainder sent to you. If you ever return to these parts again, I will take it as a direct threat to the pack and send my enforcers to end you. Understood?”
Nathan’s wife gasped, and his daughter let out a small sob of dismay.
“You have twenty-four hours to leave. During that time, I will keep my pack members from exacting their own revenge.” Rob glanced my way, and I let my upper lip curl to show Nathan some fang. “If you delay your departure, though… I will not stop them. Go now.”
Levi unlocked his handcuffs and gave Nathan a kick.
Nathan’s wife, daughter and her mate all stood and congregated at the door to the lodge, waiting for Nathan to join them and leave together. Nathan’s wife was crying as they left the building.