I pulled the heavy drapes closed and turned off the overhead light, then sank into my leather arm chair with my eyes closed, treasuring the final minutes of darkness before the sunrise would drag this nightmare into another day. An hour and a half was longer than any conference call should last, and sharing it with ten other Alphas—eleven including Marc Ramos—had made time seem to stand still.
And still, I had no answer.
They’d believed everything I’d told them, probably because I’d offered to ship them Drew Borden’s body as evidence. But as usual, most of the council members had less use for the truth than they had for what it would buy them.
Faythe and Marc had argued on my behalf, of course. And Rick Wade had been a voice of reason, to the best of his ability. Which was limited because in many ways, he agreed with most of his fellow council members.
Justushadbroken the law. Hewasdangerous. And asking the council for a favor on his behalf wasn’t a good way to engender their good will, considering that they hadn’t yet ruled on my last request—to have my Pride recognized. And that I hadn’t returned their wayward tabby.
Minutes after I sat, my phone rang from the arm of my leather chair, illuminating my darkened office with a bolt of bright white light. Rick Wade’s name appeared the screen.
I took a deep breath and accepted the call.
“Okay, Titus, we’re ready to make you an offer.” Wade’s voice echoed over the line, in that telltale way speakerphone mode has of making a caller seem a little too far away.
“I’m listening.”
“As you know, infecting a human is a capital offense. Which carries the death penalty. The same goes for exposing our species to the world. By our count, your brother infected four people—one of whom didn’t survive scratch fever—and took actions that could easily have exposed us at the Jackson Zoo. We are well within our right to demand his life on all five charges. But we’re willing to spare him, considering the circumstances of his crimes. On one condition.”
I knew what they were going to say before Wade could even form the words.
“You turn both Robyn and Justus over to us, and we’ll take the death penalty off the table for your brother.”
“So, I give you Robyn, or you kill my brother?” My voice sounded cold and dead. I didn’t even have the energy to summon anger.
“That’s not what we’re saying. We’re asking you to do the right thing, for its own sake. And in return, we’ll agree to see your brother disciplined and rehabilitated, rather than executed.”
“Disciplined, how?”
“We haven’t discussed that yet, but he’s committed very serious crimes. The most common measures are incarceration, declawing, and the loss of both incisors. Though that last one’s a bit archaic and unlikely.”
“You want to lock him up and cut off the ends of his fingers?” I stood and began pacing at a feverish pace. “He didn’t even know what he was doing!”
“We have to make a statement, Titus. If we let him off easy, we’ll be eroding our authority. Inviting insurrection.”
Bullshit. “What about Robyn?” I demanded. “How much is left on her sentence?”
Wade’s silence made the hair at the back of my neck rise. “She broke her word. We can’t let that go unpunished either.”
“You won’t touch her,” I growled, my hand clenching around the phone. “No one touches her.” Too late, I realized they would hear the truth in my voice. In my words.
Fuck them all.
Suddenly it seemed so simple.
Robyn belonged with me, and if a single one of them tried to lay a hand on her,I’dbring the war tothem.
“Of course no one’s going to touch her,” Wade insisted. “We’re just extending her house arrest. To one year, from the day she returns.”
“A year?”
“It’s a very generous offer!” Paul Blackwell’s shaky, angry voice was easy to identify. I hadn’t even realized he was on the call.
“Yes, and it comes with a time limit,” Wade added. “You have twenty-four hours. After that, the deal goes away, and we’ll have no choice but to come for Robyn and Justus. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Hand over my brother and my girlfriend, or you’ll invade my territory, kidnap Robyn, and kill Justus.
Let them try it. We’d be ready for them.
