Every one of us was sure that the Council knew, somehow, that something was going on because each tentative date we set, they interrupted. Nearly every time Dave called his cousin, someone from the Council showed up on his doorstep. Our reconnaissance also came back with news that the Council had doubled their patrols both along the border and inside the town. They all but went door-to-door to make sure everyone was indoors by curfew.
Leigh wanted me to stay out of that mission, but since we weren’t letting Dave, Danielle, or Daniel go for fear that it was a trap, I couldn’t stay behind.
The plan for Emanuel and his wife, Josey, was for them to make a run for it about an hour before dawn. The guards appeared more relaxed and unobservant between two and five in the morning, making it the best time for anyone to try to escape. The couple lived in the center of town, so they were going to have a hard time making their way through town and into the woods. They begged for more assistance even though they knew our hands were tied.
I felt like a coward by not taking more risks to help people. Martin wasn’t stable, and we couldn’t chance him killing people or worse to keep them from leaving. Sam was the best we could do to assist inside the town. She emailed the couple the ingredients needed for the spell to mask their scent. Without Sam’s magic behind it, the potion wouldn’t be perfect, but it would do in a pinch—Emanuel and Josey just couldn’t get too close to a guard.
They sent us a text about a quarter to four to let us know they had left the house and were deep in the woods. At five after four, they sent a text to say that their neighbor, and a good friend of Josey’s, Rebecca, wanted out as well. Our initial reaction was no, but since the woman knew about the plan, she was with them, and Josey vouched for her, so we relented.
Just as they were about to leave the woods and cross River Road to us, the guards spotted them, or smelled them, since Rebecca didn’t have the scent mask. Josey screamed, and Dave called for them to run faster. Devan and two other Sullivan pack members approached the edge of Pine Hollow territory so that they could instantly disappear with Emmanuel, Josey, and Rebecca when the three emerged.
Josey was the first through the tree line. She shrieked when Devan grabbed her, but they were gone quickly enough. Rebecca was next. She didn’t scream. She didn’t even seem scared. That thought should have stuck with me…should have made me suspicious, but the sudden appearance of Emmanuel and the group of guards following close behind him distracted me.
Devan reappeared and grabbed Emmanuel, but before he could disappear, Martin’s voice broke through the night and commanded us to cease. We all spun to watch them as Devan’s pack mates returned.
“Take him and go,” Dave demanded of Devan. I spun at the sound of his voice. The appearance of an unexpected person must have made him demand that Devan bring him.
“Don’t do it,” Martin said. “If you do, you are declaring war.”
“No, we aren’t,” Dave said. “They left Pine Hollow on their own. Your territory ends right there.” He pointed down to the red line we had spray painted on the road earlier in order to keep track of the territorial line.
“You lie,” Martin said, glaring at the offending line.
“Not lying. I’ve studied the map carefully,” Dave said, holding up said map. There is nothing you can do to us. If you try to retaliate, the Regent will get involved. They already know what you are doing and are simply waiting to see how far you take things. I suggest you calm down, release your city, and get over yourselves and your antiquated ideas before you lose control over Pine Hollow.”
“The Regent will never take this town. We’ve ruled over it for too long.” Martin looked frightened, but his voice was calm.
“I don’t know about that. They’re pretty angry with you right now. You’ve stayed off their radar for years until the stunt you’ve pulled with Leigh, and now you’re basically holding your own people hostage. Both things are large offenses. They aren’t going to put up with that much longer. But never mind them, if you keep this up, I will take you down.”
The other Council members present looked from Dave to Martin nervously. They had their secrets, their misdeeds. Everyone knew that or at least suspected as much. I had the feeling that Martin had leverage on them all. That was the only reason Dave and I could think of that would have them following his every command.
“You’re only a pup. You don’t have the power to take over this town,” Martin said, ignoring the other Council members.
“We both know I do,” Dave said calmly. “I’ve known since I was sixteen that you were terrified of me…that all of you were. Don’t you remember? That was the year that you tried to order my parents to arrange my marriage to your daughter, who was five at the time. Not only was I not going to marry her due to our age difference, but everyone knew I would marry no one but my mate. You didn’t know I was home that day. I walked in on you trying to browbeat my parents into signing the forms, and I told you right then that the marriage wasn’t going to happen.
“You tried to argue, but we both heard the command in my voice, heard the compulsion in my tone. In that moment, I knew you knew I was alpha material. I didn’t understand what was going on, but I knew I had power over you, but I didn’t act on it and have never tried to do so. I made sure to keep an even temper and reign in my emotions, so as not to appear as a threat. I was fine with most of the rules of our town and had planned to go on letting you rule over me until you scared yourself enough to start letting your fear override your logic, but you snapped quicker than I thought you would. So I suggest you take your minions and go home. You can’t do anything about what’s happening here. If your people want to leave, I suggest you let them, because if the Regent doesn’t step in soon, I will.”
The threat hung in the air for a long time. Finally, Martin’s lip curled as if he was going to snarl, but Dave stepped forward so that he was in plain view of everyone and flexed his fingers, which were claws. He opened his mouth and roared. The Council flinched in unison, and one-by-one, they retreated until only Martin stood on trembling legs looking at us all. Despite the fear radiating off him, a smile spread across his face before he turned and ran.
“Well, that was unsettling,” I said.
“What part?” asked Devan.
“All of it,” I said, looking at my best friend in awe. “Though mostly that last grin Martin gave us. He’s up to something else.”
“He is, but I don’t want to wait around to find out what that something is. Let’s get home. Emanuel and Josey are family, but I’m not sure I trust Rebecca. I don’t know her, and I want to know why she wanted out of Pine Hollow so badly,” Dave said.
Back at the main cabin an hour or so later, Dave, Daniel, Darius—an older brother of Dimitri’s who had been away during all of this working on a building project and who was the next in line as alpha of his father’s pack—and I sat across from Emanuel, Josey, and Rebecca, listening to their story and asking questions. All three swore that they hadn’t told Rebecca what they were planning.
Rebecca swore she hadn’t known they were planning anything until she saw them leave that morning.
“All those guards make me nervous,” Rebecca had informed us again and again when we asked about her side of things. “The Council isn’t saying much about what has been happening, just increasing the number of guards the town has and the number of patrols. I didn’t like it. The anxiety of it all has given me insomnia. I was on my back deck sipping tea and hoping the serenity of the morning would make me sleepy.
“I saw Emanuel and Josey leave and wondered what was going on that had them sneaking out their back door. I didn’t know they were leaving the town until I heard Emanuel tell Josey they needed to walk faster or you might leave them. That’s when I caught up to them and asked to come along.”
Her story seemed plausible enough, but I could tell by Dave’s posture that he did not buy it. Daniel and Darius showed no outward emotion at all. I couldn’t smell a lie on her, so they co
uldn’t either, but whatever that thing was inside of them that made them alpha material sensed that she wasn’t being truthful.
After a long pause, Dave said, “Okay. You three are free to go…but Rebecca, we will be watching you. We have a pack and family to protect. We aren’t tyrants like the Council, but if you step out of line, I will punish you.
“I understand,” she said, looking suitably chastised.
“We’ve had a long night. I say we go home and get some rest. Emanuel, Josey, Rebecca, Devan will show you to your cabins.
The three followed the big man out the door. As soon as they exited, Leigh entered with a few others. She looked scared. I had wanted to tell her more than just that I was back when we returned, but Dave and Daniel had wanted to interrogate our three new arrivals as soon as we got back.
I wrapped her in my arms and could tell her body was trembling. “I’m all right,” I said into her hair.
“Danielle said you were, but I wanted to see you for myself. I don’t like all of this. I don’t want you going near that place again. I know all of this is my fault and that those people have the right to leave. I just don’t want you getting hurt while getting them out.”
“Martin is too smart to do anything to us outside of pack territory. Besides, I don’t think we will be going back there any time soon.”
“Why?”
“I’ll tell you when we get home. I’m tired.”
“Okay, we’ll take a nap, but then you have to tell me what happened.”
Chapter 28 ~ A Surprise Event
~~~Leigh~~~
I was always tired in those days when we stayed with the Sullivans, so I was all for going home and sleeping that morning after the group returned with Dave’s cousin. I scanned the room we had gathered to make sure everyone was in one piece before letting Ryan lead me out of the main hall and over to our cabin. He secured the small building more tightly than he had ever done before, then fell into bed.
He grumbled a bit while I disrobed him. The semi-erection he sported called to me, but I refrained from molesting him and crawled into bed with him after changing back into my sleep clothes.
We slept for four hours and probably would have slept longer if his mother hadn’t brought us brunch. She meant well, and I appreciated the food, but if we ever settled back into the real world, I was going to have to put a stop to her coming over five or ten times a day, calling or texting nearly every hour on the hour, and talking to Ryan and me as if we were children. I knew how to take care of my unborn child, my future husband, and myself, but I could tell that she was going to be one of those mother-in-laws who was going to treat me as if I couldn’t take care of us or who thought that she could train me to treat her son the way she did. That was so not going to happen.
I groaned then shifted to get out of bed at her knock, but Ryan put out his hand to stop me. “I’ll get it. I’m going to have to have another talk with her,” he mumbled and rolled out of bed. Another talk. If he already had one talk with her and she was still doing this, we were in for a long life. I sighed and buried my head in my pillow to get a few more seconds of sleep.
He cracked the door open just wide enough to stick his head out and said, “We were napping.”
“In the middle of the day?” she asked, sounding shocked at our audacity.
“In the middle of the day,” he confirmed. “Now go away. I’m still tired.”
He moved to shut the door, but she said, “I brought you lunch. She didn’t come get you any lunch. I hope you and the baby aren’t starving.”
“We aren’t starving. We would have come down when we got hungry. We are grown people and know how to take care of ourselves.”
“But she’s pregnant,” his mother protested.
“We are both very aware of that fact as we are the ones who created the child.”
“She shouldn’t go so long without…”
“Mother,” he snapped. “Stop. We just had this conversation. We aren’t going to have it again. I know I’m your only child. I know that I’m your baby. I know this is your first grandchild, and you love it dearly. I love you for loving us so much, but I didn’t allow you to be this overbearing when I was a teenager or when I moved out of the house, and I’m definitely not going to allow you to be so now. If we need help, we’ll ask for it. If we have questions, we’ll ask them. Leigh has three siblings. She isn’t clueless when it comes to babies. We aren’t trying to leave you out of anything, but we have to have our own lives. We thank you for the food, but in the future, unless we ask you for something, let us be. I had a long night. All I want to do is rest and relax with my fiancée. We’ll see everyone tonight at dinner, all right?”
I didn’t hear her say anything else as Ryan took the tray from her and shut the door. “Do you want to eat now or sleep,” he asked me as he walked across the room to the table.
“Let’s eat, then nap some more,” I said, reluctantly getting out of bed. “What did she bring?”
“Looks like chicken salad and fruit.”
“Sounds good. I’ll make the sandwiches, you tell me about last night…or, well, this morning.”
“There isn’t that much to tell. Emanuel and Josey’s neighbor saw them leave and followed them. The guards caught her scent and tracked the three of them out of town. Martin was there. Dave showed up and threatened to take over the town. And he thinks there’s something suspicious going on with Rebecca—she’s the neighbor.”
At the words “take over the town,” I nearly dropped Ryan’s sandwich. I just stared at the man in bewilderment. We’d talked about the idea. I knew that it would probably come down to that—or at the very least, it would come down to Dave starting his own pack—but we didn’t think Dave understood any of that yet. He and Daniel got along beautifully, but everyone could see that Dave was an alpha and that our people went to him for guidance, not Daniel, but I was shocked that Dave had said the words aloud and to the Council no less.
“Do you think Dave is willing to do that?” I finally asked. “I have no doubt he’s ready, despite what he thinks, but will he do it?”
“I think he’s come to terms with the fact that there is a real possibility that he will have to. We could eliminate the old Council and eventually start a new one, but for now, I think it is best if we have a single alpha. He’s been spending an awful lot of time with Daniel, seeing how he runs his pack, and Daniel’s been making him deal with any issues that arise with the people from Pine Hollow, not that there have been any actual issues. He is learning from one of the best alphas I’ve heard about. I see him taking charge more and more under Daniel’s guidance. I think he’s ready, and I think he needs to do it soon. The people of Pine Hollow are terrified, if Rebecca’s emotions are true.”
“How will he do it, do you think?”
“I don’t have a clue. We are hoping the Regent will step in and help. Also, he keeps hinting that I’ll be his second in command until his children are old enough to take the position, if he does. How do you feel about that?”
“I’m okay with it as long as we don’t go to war with anyone else once this is done. I’m not one of those women who can handle their husbands going off to war,” I said, not looking at him.
“I think you’re strong enough. Besides, depending on the age of our children, if and when something like that happens, you’ll be going to war with me. We aren’t a sexist pack.”
“I’m well aware of that and would be happy to fight by my husband’s side, you know, if I ever get married.” I took a big bite of my sandwich and tried not to look at him after I said that. I said it as a reminder and as a way of changing the subject. I didn’t want to talk about potential wars.
“Is that a hint, Miss Alexander, that you would like to get married soon?”
“Yes, Mr. Hart, I would. I would love for what is between us to be official sooner rather than later, especially if Dave takes over Pine Hollow and we move there. I don’t want a single woman there to think I’m just a f
ling or a mistress. I believe in this mating thing. I believe that we are bonded for life, but I want the entire world to know that you are my husband.”
“Then we’ll do it tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? Are you sure?”
“Yep. We’ll get all of the human paperwork in order in the morning and have the ceremony tomorrow afternoon.”
“Don’t you think we should consult the leaders of this pack and our parents first?”
“Nope. You want a small, quick wedding, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then to keep it that way, we can’t give anyone time to plan anything more than that.”
“I see. Do you want to get married so soon?” I hadn’t known I was worried about his answer until I asked the question. We were mated, but that didn’t mean he wanted to rush things. I know he said he wanted to get married as soon as we got here, but he could have only said that in the heat of the moment or to convince me to come here for my safety, not that I needed convincing.
“I would have married you that first night at the hotel before we had ever slept together if I had understood that what I was feeling was our mating and if you had believed me had I explained things to you. You’ve been mine since that night and will be mine forever. We do this when you say we do it. If tomorrow is too soon for you…”
“Tomorrow is perfect,” I said, setting down my sandwich and leaning over to kiss him deeply. When he slipped his hand under my shirt to cup my breast, I pulled away. His frown was pitiful. “Eat now, sex later,” I said, popping the last bite into my mouth before starting to make a second sandwich.
Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) Page 23
