Kaci’s face went as blank as an unmarred whiteboard, and I have to admit, it took me a second to realize what he was saying, as well. I hadn’t heard her called that yet. I hadn’t heardanyonecalled that since my parents had died, five years before. And we certainly hadn’t discussed whether or not she’d be changing hername.
I wasn’t even sure she was going to keep thering.
Her mouth worked silently for a second, as she struggled to refocus her thoughts. I took her free hand, and she gave me a small, tensesmile.
“Kaci?” Tayler said over theline.
“Yeah. Sorry. That’s new. Anyway, Justus heard that you’re planning to vote to convict him, but I told him that couldn’t be true, because you haven’t heard the evidence against him yet. You haven’t even met him yet. So, you couldn’t possibly have made up your mind already.Right?”
I gave her a smile, impressed. She’d backed him into a pretty good corner, from which he really only had one option—claim to be willing to listen to theevidence.
Silence met her question. I held my breath, waiting for Taylor’sresponse.
And finally, “Of course I haven’t made up my mind yet. The trial hasn’t even started. But I have to be honest with you, Kaci,” Taylor said. “If his testimony corroborates what I’ve heard—if he really killed a stray at the Jackson Zoo, where humans could have stumbled upon evidence of our existence—I can’t in good conscience vote toacquit.”
“And if there were extenuatingcircumstances?”
“Kaci,honey—”
She made a gagging face over the unwelcomediminutive.
“I think that murder with a risk for exposure is where we have to draw a hard line. Especially if we’re going to be acknowledging this new Pride full of strays. They have to know from the very beginning where we stand on the issues that affect us all. And wherethey’reexpected to stand on thoseissues.”
“Okay.” Kaci nodded. “I’m just a little confused by that, because I killed four people, but I was never brought up on charges at all, even though what I did made it onto the national news in Canada. That’s a pretty big risk ofexposure.”
“That’s an entirely different case,” Taylor insisted. “You were a traumatized child. You had no idea what you were doing, or what was happening toyou.”
“That’s my point. There were extenuating circumstances. Circumstances very similar to what Justus was going through when he was infected against his will—targetedfor infection specifically to discredit his brother’s authority—then unleashed in the midst of an unchaperoned, unassisted transitional period upon people who’d hurt him. I mean…” She paused, hazel eyes narrowed, and it was a shame that Taylor was missing the entire visual half of her performance. Because she wasmagnificent. “…it’s almost like you’re saying that what I did was okay because I’m a girl, but despite undeniably similar circumstances, what Justus did was not okay, because he’s a guy. That’s textbook gender bias. So, I’m pretty sure that can’t be what you’re actually saying. Right, Mr.Taylor?”
Holy shit, she wasamazing.
I wanted to grab her phone and hang it up, then kiss her all over, right there on the highway. I’d bailed friends and girlfriends out of trouble—and out of jail—several times, but no one had ever gone to bat for me like that, other thanTitus.
During the silence that followed, I pictured Ed Taylor, whom I’d never met, pulling his hair out by the roots. It must suck to be fully grown—and an Alpha, at that—and realize you’ve been verbally hemmed in by an eighteen-year-old.
“Of course that’s not what I’m saying. And I believe I’ve already answered your question, Kaci. The other members of the tribunal and I will reserve judgement until after we’ve heard the evidence. But I would advise you not to get your hopes up, dear. I understand that you see similarities between your circumstances and Mr. Alexander’s, but it’s entirely likely that other people won’t see thosesimilarities.”
“I’m sure you’re right. People tend to see what they want to see,” Kaci said. “And my advice to you, Mr. Taylor, is not to underestimate either me or Justus. We may be young, and we may not have been born into your world, but we are strong, and we are determined. And we havenothingleft tolose.”
Kaci hung up the phone and dropped it into the center console, then she leaned back in her chair, one hand over her eyes. She breathed deeply through her mouth, and the rise and fall of her chest was the sexiest, most mesmerizing thing I’d ever seen. Other than the mouth she’d just used to put a fucking Alpha in hisplace.
“I think I just threatened a council member.” She dropped her hand and looked up at me, hazel eyes swimming in some heady combination of fear and excitement. “Why the hell did I just threaten a councilmember?”
“Because you’re amazing. Because you’re badass. Because you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and you’re even sexier when youtalk.”
She sat up, laughing, and I needed to touch hersobadly. “I’m pretty sure you could lose your man-card for saying something likethat.”
“I don’t need my man-card. All I need is you.” I tugged some slack into my seatbelt, then leaned over the console to kiss heragain.
“Why do you keep doing this?” she murmured as I kissed my way down her neck, trying to ignore the way the console dug into my side. “I can’t think when you dothis.”
“That’s part of why I do it. Change of plans.” I shifted the car back into drive and flicked on my left blinker, then accelerated into traffic. “We’re stopping for thenight.”
“But we’ve only been on the road for a couple ofhours.”
“I don’t care. They don’t know where we’re headed, and with any luck, you’ve convinced them I’m no longer a flight risk. We can afford to take time out for a nice dinner and a good night’s sleep.” Especially considering that this was basically ourhoneymoon.
“Okay, but can we afford topayforthose?”
