Vic opened the door and helped Faythe and Wilder to the car, where several other enforcers got out to help buckle the child into his car seat. But rather than re-opening the bar for business, I locked the door behind them and turned to my sister and my most trusted enforcer and friend. Stealing a moment of privacy from the workday.
“Well, she seemsawesome,” Davey said, her eyes alight with excitement. I knew what she wanted to discuss, but that was not going to happen.
“Yeah, she is.” I could hear the anger resonating in my voice. “And she says you two make anadorablecouple.” With that I marched past them toward the bar.
For a moment, silence reigned at my back. Then Davey’s footsteps raced after me, quick and light. “Charley!” she called out.
“Shit,” Vance breathed.
“Charley, wait!” Davey cried. “Please!”
I spun to face them instead of pushing through the kitchen doors. “I guess that’s all the confirmation I need.” My focus shifted from her to Vance, anxiety—betrayal—crawling over the surface of my skin. “You’re fired. And expelled from the zone. Pack your shit. Drive straight to Jackson. Titus will be expecting you in four hours.”
“Charleyplease,” Davey begged.
“Let me explain,” Vance added.
“No need,” I practically growled. “I asked you to keep an eye on my sister. To protect her. Youknewshe was off-limits. You gave me your word, and you broke it. You—mytopenforcer—you flouted the rules and undercut my authority. You broke my trust. You broke my heart. You put my sister at risk.” I sucked in a deep breath, but that only fed the fire burning inside me. “You cannotbe here anymore. If Titus wants to hire you, so be it, but you’re done in the northern zone.Get. Out.”
“Charley!” Davey shouted, her voice hoarse and half broken. Her pain tore at me like claws caught in my flesh, but I stood my ground, because I had no other choice. I wasn’t just being mean, and that rule had not been made at random. “You’re totally overreacting!”
“I assure you, I am not.”
“You don’t get to say who I go out with!” Tears stood in her eyes. “You are not the boss of me.”
“But I am the boss ofhim.” And of every other shifter in the zone.
“Bosses don’t get to tell their employees who to date! There are laws about that! Probably even in the shifter world, and if there aren’t, there should be. I think even Faythe would agree with me on that.”
“This isn’t about his personal life,” I growled, and Davey backed away from me, her eyes wide at the deep, angry tone of my voice. At the animalistic quality that—like it or not—she could not truly understand. “This isn’t about who he dates. This is about the order he disobeyed and about keeping you safe. It’sdangerousfor you to be in an intense relationship with a shifter who could lose control—”
“I wouldnever—” Vance began.
“He hasn’t lost control!” Davey practically shouted. “Not that that’s any of your business!”
I took a deep breath, fighting for control of my temper. She wouldn’t be able to understand the complicated relationship between my fear for her safety and my obligation, as Marshal, to discipline a zone member who’d disobeyed a direct order. Who’d lied to me not once, but for who knew how long.
That could not be allowed to stand. My authority could not survive blatant disregard of my rules. Especially by those I’d trusted most. Those to whom I’d delegated authority.
“I don’t want his personal life to be my business, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t,” I said. “It’s my job to keep you safe. It’s my job to keepeveryhuman woman in this territory safe from shifter men, and I cannot say I’ve done my job if I can’t protect my own sister. And Vance, as an enforcer of this zone, must be held to an even higher standard than the average member. Your safety depends upon the men in this is zone believing that I will enforce the rule that you are off-limits. How can I make them believe that, once they find out that you’ve been sleeping with my top enforcer and most trusted friend? How can I possibly keep you safe now?”
“Maybe your premise is flawed! Maybe it isn’t up toyouto keep me safe!” Her face was flushed, her fists clenched. And while I sympathized with her indignation and frustration, her concerns were not the only ones I had to think about.
A zone that could not depend upon the unquestioned authority of its leader would descend into chaos and anarchy. Into violence. If I could not control my zone, Titus would have to.
He would replace me.
If I were not Marshal of the northern zone, both Davey and I would cease to enjoy the freedoms and safety we’d grown accustomed to among the male shifter population.
The way I ran things was the only way thingscouldbe run. The only way they would work.
“Itisup to me,” I insisted. “Whether or not you’re able to understand that right now.”
“She’s right,” Vance said. And I could see from the complicated mix of emotions churning behind his eyes that he, at least, understood. That he’dalwaysunderstood. He’d always known he was taking a risk, and he’d taken it anyway, because—
Because he loved her.
I was tearing them apart. I was shredding my sister’s heart, not to mention Vance’s, because I had no choice.
