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“Put me down!” I kick out my legs but find no foothold.
His growl vibrates in his chest against my back and rumbles in my ear. “A few hours in a cell might calm you down.”
He carries me like I am a child. My attempts to free myself are in vain. The other guard, still in wolf form, snaps at my feet.
“I won’t let you hurt him. I won’t let you hurt either of them,” I yell, knowing they can hear me inside.
We are halfway down the hall when the doors on the far end finally open, and Oliver steps out and glares. We all freeze.
He takes in the spectacle and sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He’s been doing that a lot lately. “What in the Otherworld are you lot doing?”
“She’s trying—”
“You have no right to decide their fate without me,” I interrupt, struggling in the guard’s hold.
The man at my back growls low in warning. Sick of it, I twist my head and bare my teeth at him, growling right back. I am sure it is the opposite of intimidating, but if he wants to bully me, then he can use his words.
“Put her down, Liam,” Oliver says wearily.
He sets me down gently, though I half expected to be dropped on my ass.
Oliver glowers at me, but I hold my ground, refusing to look away. At first, I don’t think he will budge, but then he relents.
I follow when he motions with a jerk of his head. Stepping inside the meeting room, I find several faces scowling. Better they are irritated than think they can decide if someone else should decide without a single voice to defend them.
Oliver takes his place at the head of the table, his betas on either side. I am only slightly surprised when he arranges for me to sit beside Adalynd. It is a position that would normally grant someone more power than those further away. Yet this not about giving me authority, so much as keeping me close to those able to subdue me if I act out.
Several wolves throw sharp glances my way, not even disguising their displeasure at my intrusion.
Once the doors are shut, a man with a scholarly appearance stands and clears his throat. “The majority believe it would be best to kill both the vampire and his demon now. We could easily leave them on the border of her territory and avoid any…unnecessaryconflict.”
Unnecessary—I gape at him as I process his words, then at Oliver, who remains infuriatingly silent. Seconds tick by, and he doesn’t object. And my blood begins to simmer.
I slam my hands down against the table. The impact sends pins and needles over my palms. Every set of eyes in the room turns to me.
“You were the ones that attacked Nightwich. You were the ones who abducted Alaric—and now you want to kill him to avoidunnecessary conflict?” I am relieved my voice comes out measured and unwavering. Because I feel anything but that.
“It is for the good of the pack!” he half growls the words.
“We are in this situation because of the pack’s decisions. Or do you not care who pays the price for your actions?” I don’t wait for his response. I lean past Adalynd to address Oliver directly. “You cannot allow this. Elizabeth has my family—if you harm him, she will kill them, and their blood will be on your hands.”
“It is not my decision alone to make,” Oliver says evenly. “If Elizabeth learns it was us, there is no telling what she will do.”
“If you end up trapped here because of the fight you started, then so be it. At least you will all still have your lives. But you would condemn—”
“Elizabeth is the one who created the wall to keep the lands separate,” Oliver interrupts. “If she followed that demon here, she’d stop at nothing to get what she wants. We can’t risk her destroying it.”
That sets me back. Knowing Elizabeth is strong enough to do something like that strikes a chord of fear in me. I lower myself to my seat.
“She doesn’t just want him to soothe her ego,” he continues. “She needs his power. If we allow her to crown him, it is a matter of when—not if—she moves against us whether she finds out we were behind the attack or not. We’ll be lucky if the worst she does is trap us as well.”
As well?
I do not know who else she has trapped, and I do not care to ask. That is a matter for another time. Right now, my only priority is finding a way to keep Alaric and my family alive. After learning about this meeting, I only had a moment to speak with Alaric to update him on the situation. He wore a grim expression that told me nothing of how he felt. Then he hadn’t said anything, only nodded.
It was unfair of me, but I hoped he would give me some clue as to what to do.
“Your plan didn’t work,” I say. “You need to let him go.” I cannot bring myself to say return him to her—because I don’t want that. And I will not allow them to take away my only chance to save Kitty and Father.
