“Great. So I’m stuck here with you lot for the night.”
I was hiding behind my usual snarky dialogue, but it didn’t feel as right as it used to, like I was wearing someone else’s clothes. Inside I was trying and failing to come to terms with what Rawling had done. Our beasts had fought to the death, knowing they were about to kill their brother.
And me, a hunter? And Rawling said he’d been a hunter too, they suspected. What? Was that part of me nestled so deep inside since I was born or did it somehow transfer when I gave Rawling my blood? I didn’t care. It was gone, and I was me. But who was this new me?
They couldn’t expect me to be nice and grateful and all those things. That wasn’t who I was, but maybe, considering what Rawling had done, maybe there was a sliver of somethingpositive. My worldview didn’thaveto be me against everyone else as it had been in the past.
“I suppose I have to thank you.” I jerked my head at Rawling.
“Atticus, come on.” Phelan gave me a look, one I hadn’t seen in a while, since we were friends. “You can do better than that.”
I went to tell him to shut it but clamped my mouth shut. Instead, I said, “Thank you, Rawling. I couldn’t have done what you did to save me. I wish I was more like you. You’re the man I should have been.”
Rawling, my brother, opened his eyes. “You can choose, Atticus. You have free will, especially now.”
THIRTY-NINE
RAWLING
“You know what you have to do today.” Phelan tapped his head. “You had most of it on the whiteboard, and you’ve told and retold and added to the story countless times. You can do this, and I’ll be by your side.”
Eira wouldn’t be in the room, but she’d be just outside with Scottie and the security guard.
“I’ll stand up with you and take over if you want me to.”
We’d spent the night in the infirmary along with Atticus, Jack, Mrs. Ardilla, and members of the Sable Hounds outside the door. Why them, I wondered? They must have been there for Atticus because the rest of us weren’t members.
None of us got much sleep, and early this morning I’d been FaceTiming with Eira, wanting this day to be over.
The shifter council had commandeered the dining hall, and members of the shifter community, plus the faculty and the students, would be in attendance. As we walked down the stairs, Jack and Atticus were behind us, with some of the Sable Hounds in front and the rest behind.
I gulped as we entered because a raised platform had been assembled at the back, and six shifters sat at a table atop the platform. The dining tables had been pushed aside, and the rowsof chairs were filled. Many people were standing at the back of the hall, and I waved to my in-laws.
The chatter faded as we entered and sat in the front row, across the aisle from Atticus’s parents who had also been summoned. They both bore downcast expressions and tried to catch Atticus’s eye, but he ignored them.
A twinge of guilt tugged at my heart. Dumping me was terrible—though the best thing in the long run—but I’d known or assumed I was a hunter and had stayed here and not warned the council. I’d also wondered if Eira was a hunter. I could never have abandoned my daughter, but I wondered what I would have done if I’d been faced with their quandary.
It was almost time. Channon and Bardoul brought out a small desk with a laptop. They were manning the PowerPoint presentation for me.
I was instructed to step forward and begin my defense. My voice was scratchy as I introduced myself and told them I was starting at the beginning. This was excruciating because I had to speak about the ring and being human, what I’d been told about my parents, and the journey of discovery after my godfather died and I arrived at Sombertooth. There was a collective gasp when I spoke of my humanity, the hunter inside me, and the path to finding my wolf.
Though I didn’t mention names of the people who knew or thought I was human or a hunter, it wouldn’t have been difficult to piece it together.
The images in the presentation flicked from one to another on the screen as I spoke of the recruitment emails I received supposedly from Sombertooth, through to learning about Charlie and Arnie, how the professor wanted to mate my mother, and eventually to my friends and my subsequent unearthing of evidence.
But when I spoke about the professor meeting Mika the day of his death, I glanced over my shoulder at his parents. Phelan had contacted them this morning, and while we weren't allowed to meet, we both spoke to his folks on the phone and relayed what we had discovered. And now they were understandably shaking, pale-faced and in tears.
The council head stopped me and offered his condolences to Mika’s family, saying it was regrettable they hadn’t located Coach, but they would continue their search.
I related whatthe professor had told me yesterday, the day of his death. That everything he did was about wanting my mother, loathing her rejection of him, killing her and my father, and continuing to assert his dominance over her. I also said where my parents were buried.
“Even his friendship with my godfather was a means to an end, so he could get closer to his sister, Charlie, my mother.”
I was swaying, and Phelan stood at my side and steadied me.
“My wolf insisted the blood debt had to be paid. And so we did.”
Though I didn’t turn around, I couldn’t ignore the sounds of weeping from the spectators.
