“She won’t need any help, but thanks.”
As he left, he heard Rachel say, “I like him, Burke. And he’s almost as good-looking as you are.” Which had the cat in an uproar, threatening to dismember Cullen and his entire family.
“Possessive breed, those catamounts,” Sean murmured. He surprised Cullen, who’d almost forgotten he was there.
“Assholes.”
“I don’t know. I like Grady, Burke’s younger brother. He’s fun to have around when you want to screw with the wolves. No love lost there, which makes you wonder what Monty, that damned gray wolf, is doing as part of their pride.”
“Whatever.” Cullen didn’t care to make small talk. He wanted to hurt some raptors. Will Shaw and Dennis Larsen in particular. “What time is it?”
“Time to interrupt a clan meeting, I’m thinking,” Sean said with a smirk in his voice.
“Damn straight.” Cullen charged past several foxes and a handful of raptor teens.
“Don’t look now, but I guarantee they’ll be expecting us,” Sean said. Overhead, several harriers flew like mad toward clan central.
“Good. The more the merrier,” Cullen snarled, remembering all too clearly Sarah’s beat-up cabin.
“Just remember to keep a clear head.”
Cullen was through listening to Sean. He picked up his pace, jogging toward the meeting. However, when he entered the large meeting hall, big enough to house a football field and then some, he found a multitude of surprises. Standing at the side of the gathering, like many of the other raptors, he had a full view of the center dais, upon which the clan leaders convened. But the raptors who should have been there weren’t, at least not where they usually sat.
A representative from every clan in Cougar Falls sat upon the raised dais, in lieu of the regular clan officers. In front of the dais in one grouping stood his mother,Sarah, Micah and Ian. Directly across from them stood the Shaws and the Larsens, as well as the other females who’d attacked Sarah.
“Speaking of Grady,” Sean murmured, and waved at his friend.
Grady Chastell, apparently sitting in for the catamounts, rolled his eyes and nodded at the mess around them. Cullen recognized Gerald Winter of the foxes, Rafe Sheridan of the gray wolves, Linda Rawlins and Rick Farley for the raptors, and Thomas Stovall representing the bear clan. A fair assortment of Ac-taw, each of whom had a reputation as fair and intolerant of abuse, with the exception of Farley and his questionable affiliation with the Larsens.
“What the hell’s going on?” He concentrated on Sarah, his mate, who looked extremely nervous. A fierce need to comfort her struck him, and it took Sean’s considerable strength to hold him back.
“Wait and watch. Momma’s always got a plan. Just let it play out.”
Linda cleared her voice and rapped a gavel, and the low murmuring in the growing crowd subsided. “Please continue, Mrs. Whitefeather. Why exactly are you here?”
“I’m here because I’m sick and tired of the crap going on in my new clan. Had I known what a bunch of assholes you really were, I’d have taken myself and my boys into eagle country up north.”
Noise erupted around the large hall. Several of the non-raptor clan members openly grinned, while Larsen and the asses with him protested loudly. A few of Jenkins’ family, as well as Shaw’s buddies and Pat’s crowd, backed up the clan leaders in question.
“That is not the way we address the council,” Dennis Larsen sputtered.
“No, it’s not,” Farley said from the dais.
“Can it, Farley. Everyone knows you and Dennis are thick as thieves,” Sarah added with contempt.
Noise around the hall quieted, the crowd stunned to hear mild-mannered Sarah Duncan speaking so boldly.
“I’m here because I’m embarrassed at what my clan has become. When my mother died, very few of mybrothers and sistersstepped in to help a lonely girl adjust. I found more compassion from the bears and foxes.”
Stovall grunted his satisfaction. Though the bears were a rough crowd, they always took care of their own, as well as a few strays here and there.
“My problem, however, has more to do with the way our clan leaders abuse their authority. So, in accordance with town law, I’m inclined to ask the panel to launch a full-scale investigation into the impropriety enacted by Jennifer and Dennis Larsen, as well as William Shaw.”
Jaws dropped.
“What the hell?” Cullen didn’t understand the significance of what Sarah was doing, but the smirk on Gerald Winters’ face, town attorney, made him wonder how much Gerald had helped Sarah.
“That’s bullshit,” Dennis Larsen yelled and took a step toward Sarah. “You can’t do that! This is raptor business. None of the other clans should even be here.”
