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“Do you think we should—”
His question became moot as everyone started moving, almost tripping as their momentum caught up with them. I jumped back from Shannon as she struggled. The rest of my friends gathered behind me.
“What happened?” Mr. Dawson’s voice was almost a growl. “What did you do?”
I wasn’t quite sure how to answer in a way that wouldn’t piss him off more, so instead I gave him a sheepish smile. “Caught them for you. What now?”
“Now, we release them.” Waves of power rolled off Mr. Dawson so thick they were almost visible. “Anyone who wants to leave this pack, leave this land now.” His voice was half growl and laced with so much magic that my hair stood on end. I closed my eyes as his command tingled through my body, racing along the pack bonds.
“Those of you who have tampered with your bond are no longer welcome.” His words vibrated through the magical web of the pack. Everyone in it—even if they weren’t physically here—would hear him. “Any students who leave must go back to your native packs. You will be reported to your alphas, and expected home. If any who leave interfere in our fight against Luciana, you will be treated as an enemy of all packs. If you stay and harm the pack, there will be no tribunal. You will pay the ultimate price. You have five minutes to get off our land. Do not come back.” He grabbed Joseph’s zip-tied wrists. “Except you. You I want answers from.”
“You can’t hold me here.” His voice was full of whine. “My father’s the Alpha of the Canadian pack. I’m a student. I get to go home.”
“I know who your father is. That’s why I’m keeping you until he comes to pick you up.” Joseph’s face paled, and Mr. Dawson grinned. I never knew he could be scary, but I made a note to never do anything that would put me on the receiving end of one of those looks. “Yes. I’d be very afraid if I were you. Your father and I go way back. We’re going to have a long talk about what you’ve done with the pack bonds.”
“It was—”
A group of wolves approached the parking lot, and Mr. Dawson growled. “Keep your mouth shut until I say you can talk.”
“Any Cazador who is not with us in this fight, leave now,” Donovan added, and another wave of power rolled through the pack—even stronger than Mr. Dawson’s. It was like a countdown, warning dissenters to get out now. While they still could.
I kept my eyes closed, focusing on the bonds. They looked like a big spider web. Mr. Dawson was in the center and the ties spiraled out from him. Further out, a few strands were missing. And more of the distant, faint lines—the Cazadores who weren’t part of our pack specifically but tied to us through the Seven—were evaporating by the second. Then more. Ten. Twenty. Thirty. More.
I opened my eyes. “They’re all leaving.” I tried to swallow down the panic, but it wasn’t working. They couldn’t leave.
“No, not all of them,” Mr. Dawson said.
“But we need as many people as we can to fight Luciana.”
“No.” Donovan’s tone was clear and firm, leaving no room for question. “Better to have fewer people fighting honestly than more fighting half-heartedly. Or worse, working against us. Best be done with it now.”
Dastien took the zip ties off Joseph and the others one by one. I wasn’t sure letting Imogene go was smart, but I wasn’t about to argue with Mr. Dawson. But Shannon…
Meredith came to stand beside me. “You were right.”
I leaned against her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I know you were close.”
“If she’s leaving the pack, then we weren’t really all that close.”
By the end of it, almost forty people left.
Some Cazadores. Some students. It didn’t take more than a few minutes, but it felt much longer.
When the last of them were gone, Mr. Dawson raised his hands in the air. “The pack is now solid and closed. You will abide by my law or face the consequences. I am the alpha.” The command in his words knocked me back.
Donovan raised his hands in the air. “By the power of the Seven, the ranks of the Cazadores are now sealed. Any who left are to be treated as dead.” His command was stronger, and I nearly fell to the pavement as it slammed in to me.
I focused in on the pack bonds. The lines that linked us were thicker and clearer than they’d been before. “Are you going to follow them? The ones who aren’t going back to their home packs?” I asked Donovan.
“Yes and no,” Donovan said. “They’ll have to join another pack or stay lone wolves, but they’re subject to Were laws regardless. If they’re joining up with Ferdinand—”
“We’ll have a mess on our hands.”
“Aye. But it should keep for a while. I’ll send someone I trust to keep an eye on them. I’m not liking the fact that Rupert’s daughter is in this bunch.”
“Agreed,” Mr. Dawson said. “Who will you send?”
“Mal.”
