“The sarcasm isn’t necessary,” Isnapped.
Faythe’s chair springs groaned again. “Yet that seems to be the only language I’m capable of speaking after three hours ofsleep.”
“Fine.” Through the windshield, I could see Justus still standing at the rental counter. He appeared to be haggling with the clerk. “Justus knows they’re going to execute him, Faythe. He overheard something in the guest house—something Vic heard through the grapevine—and he knows he doesn’t have a chance. He was going to run. He’sstillgoing to run, and I told him I’d helphim.”
“You don’t sound like that’s what you want todo.”
“The wedding was a mistake,” I admitted. “Probably. Maybe. But the rest of this wasn’t. Justus doesn’t think of me as a kid, like you and Marc and Jace do, or as a freak, like everyone else does. Helikesme. He looks at me like there are no other girls in the world. He kisses me like I’m the only thing he could ever want. He kissed me this morning before I’d brushed myteeth!”
“Now that’s commitment,” Faythe said, a hint of a smile in hervoice.
And though I would never have said the rest of it to her, Justus was a total gentleman while I was passed out, not because that was the decent thing to do, or because deep down he knew it was right, but because he wouldnevertouch a girl who wasn’t just as into touching and being touched as hewas.
And I couldn’t stand the thought of him touching someone else.Ever.
“Married or not, I want to give this a chance,” I told her. “I want to be with him and at least see if this could work. But I want to be with himhere. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life running from the council, and that’s what it would be, if I went withhim.”
“Oh, honey, that’s what it would bebecauseyou went withhim.”
I frowned at Jared’s dashboard. “What?”
“Kaci, if he flees the country, I highly doubt the council will go afterhim.”
“Whynot?”
“Because if the tribunal finds him guilty, they’ll want to be rid of him, but they won’t really care how that happens. Not enough to spend money and manpower chasing him across the globe, anyway. If you let him run, he’ll probably be fine. But if you go with him?You, they’ll chase to the ends of theearth.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, they won’t. I’m the man-eater.”
She sighed. “Okay, I know that’s what some of the younger, stupider enforcers are saying, but eventually one of them is going to get to know you and realize you’re awesome. I know that. The council knows that.Eventually—”
“Eventually.” A harsh bark of laughter exploded from my throat. “I don’t need ‘eventually’ from a hypothetical tom who may one day decide I’m okay, probably only because some Alpha has convinced him that I’m a valuable procreation asset. Justus is offering meforever, right now. Just as I am.” And as crazy as it sounded, I wanted thatforever.
Or at least the possibility ofit.
I’d rather have a crazy, sudden marriage to a guy who listens when I talk and kisses me like I’m the only thing in the world that matters than hang my entire future on the chance thateventuallysome asshole who only thinks of me as a traumatized cannibal might decide I’m good enough to carry his children. If all the other tabbies aretaken.
Fuck “eventually.” I’m on board withforever.
“Fair enough,” Faythe said. “You have the right to make your own choices.” Though it sounded like what she actually meant was the right to make my own mistakes. “But what I’m telling you is that the council willnotwant to lose you. For the record, I don’t want to lose you either, but for a totally different reason. What you need to understand is that if you run, theywillcome afteryou.”
I shrugged, though she obviously couldn’t see that over the phone. “Then I’ll defect. Legally. Just like Abby did. I’ll renounce all loyalty to and claims of assistance from the Pride and Justus and I can go wherever we want.” As long as we weren’t trespassing on someone else’sterritory.
“I really wish you wouldn’t, but if you insist, then yes, you’re free to do that. In just under threeyears.”
“What?” I blinked, but the dashboard refused to come into focus. “No one said anything about a waiting period. Abby didn’t have to wait. Neither didRobyn.”
“Robyn was never a member of any of the US Prides, so technically she didn’t have to defect in order to leave—she had to negotiate a way out of her plea bargain. But even if she’d been a pride member, she could have defected just like Abby did, because they’re both twenty-two. You’re only eighteen, and the Prides don’t consider you an adult in that regard until you’re twenty-one.”
“That’s crap! No one ever told methat!”
“It’s not exactly a topic that comes up over dinner. But that’s how my father had the right to bring me back, when I ran out on my wedding. He couldn’t make me get married—not that he would have tried—but hecouldkeep me in the Pride. And in theterritory.”
“You’re saying eighteen is old enough to get married, but not old enough to defect?” I aimed the air vent at my face, but the cold air did nothing to temper my anger. “What kind of sense does thatmake?”
“None, I’m afraid,” Faythe admitted. “But it’s no more inconsistent than several humanlaws.”
“I know,” I huffed. “I just left a hotel where I wasn’t even allowed onto the casino floor towatch.”
