I was holding Ira to my chest while tears streamed down my face.
“I can’t believe you were just going to get up and leave. Did you not trust me enough to share your plans?”
Roland put a hand to my cheek which grounded me and soothed away some of my anger. “I didn’t trust myself. If I’d told you, you would have either come with me or insisted I stay. And we’d be back where we started.”
Auden raised his voice as he spoke into the phone. “Now. I need you to hurry.” He tucked the phone in his pocket and told us the cavalry would be here soon.
My head jerked up, and I checked the gate that was always closed now, unlike when we first arrived at Stoney River. Goosebumps crawled over my skin, and I placed my lips on Ira’s head.
“The good guys or the bad guys?” The expression indicated the former, but if the poachers were breathing down our necks, I needed to be prepared.
Auden gave me a look, and I clarified. “I’m guessing the good guys?”
He made a sort of clicking sound which was an agreement.
“How is that going to help? We need to lead the poachers away, not gather reinforcements.” Roland took the baby from me, and teardrops fell on Ira’s head. “This is why my method was the only logical conclusion.”
Auden’s phone beeped as Creven joined us, along with members of the Stoney River shifter council.
“And now, we’re going to open the gate and welcome the poachers in.”
There was an uproar from the crowd, and I was tempted to grab Auden and shake him till his teeth rattled, but my bear told me to cool it and listen to his reasoning.
“We’re going to negotiate.” Creven nodded to the guards, and they swung open the huge gate. The pack members stood five abreast with our small family in the middle.
As we ascertained from the scents months ago, there were horse shifters that scented of grass and straw, and a tiger who narrowed his eyes and picked out Roland in the midst of the Stoney River crowd and humans. The humans accompanying them couldn’t scent a unicorn, but they’d met my mate previously, and their hands went to their hips.
“There are no weapons allowed on pack land, other than with these guys.” Creven nodded at the guards. “And they’ll be taking yours and returning them when you leave.”
The poachers refused, but the crowd encircled them, and the guards revealedtheirweapons.
“We’ll guarantee your safety.” Creven folded his arms as the poachers handed over an armory of weapons. “But only up until the end of negotiations.” Alpha grinned, and the pack members sniggered.
Three cars pulled up, and a gaggle of shifters got out. They weren’t hiding their guns, and the poachers protested, saying this was a fair negotiation.
“Firstly, who said it was fair, and secondly, what negotiation? We haven’t started yet.”
The poachers shoved the pack members closest to them, but a few bear shifters growled. One whacked a poacher around the head and another stomped on the toes of a second. They shrieked, but everyone ignored them.
“Over to you, Auden.”
Roland leaned forward as if he was going to push toward the poachers, but I restrained him. He was holding Ira, and I wouldn’t let them so much as breathe on her.
Auden stood on a box in the center of the crowd. “This is what I propose. You poachers can skedaddle out of here.”
That was his plan. My bear was raging, and his fury was bubbling inside me. Creven caught my eye and told me to cool it. But it wasn’t his mate, child, and family that was at stake. I allowed my bear into my gaze, something a shifter who’d lived in a pack and respected their Alpha wouldn’t have done.
I admired Creven, but having been rogue for so long, my pack etiquette was kinda rusty, almost non-existent.
The poacher scoffed at Auden. He had them thinking the pack was an easy mark, and I was inclined to agree with them.
“Not happening.” That was a horse from Roland’s original herd. “He’s ours, and when we get the horn, we’ll turn round and sell parts of it.” He didn’t add “for a huge profit,” but he didn’t need to.
The crowd, which had swelled further, tightened the space around the poachers. I thought of all the human and shifter children, often girls, who’d been kidnapped and paid for, and were then forced into slavery, begging, and prostitution. And they were often drugged, so they became addicts and would do anything for a fix. They didn’t have a pack or a council or even a government to fight for them.
Auden urged everyone to be quiet. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your money back.” He flourished a wad of cash the pack had pooled together and waggled his finger at them. “But you won’t make any money.” He made a sad face as the poachers stared at one another. “Hey, wanna turn those frowns upside down?”
I was conflicted. Yes, the pack wasn’t allowing the bad guys to profit, but we were buying the right to Roland, my mate. It didn’t sit well with me, but Alpha got close and whispered this was the only way to ensure my mate wasn’t hunted.
