Rainier and I shared a look. Deep down, I screamed in my mind for her to hush. Now wasn’t the time for this. We’d made inroads, and we didn’t need to ostracize these men now. I tried to catch her eye, but she was too busy glaring at the other men.
“I wouldn’t order my men to die for a man like Anders,” Patrick said, staring back at June, undaunted by her angry eyes.
June shook her head in disgust. “You all would leave innocent people to be attacked because you don’t like a certain alpha? What kind of?—”
“I think,” I said, interjecting quickly before she said something we would all regret, “that itisreasonable to worry about a leader.” I gestured toward the others while looking at June. “These men and women are putting their lives, and the lives of their people, on the line. We can’t expect them to do something like that for a man they don’t trust or respect.”
As I looked at her, I tried to mentally send a message with my eyes.Please don’t push this. We can talk later, but not here.
The look on her face told me she understood, but she wasn’t happy about it. Pressing her lips into a thin line, she crossed her arms and glared at the other men.
“Speaking of someone we don’t trust,” Blaise said. “What’s the plan for Anders and his side piece?”
The others all muttered among themselves, throwing out ideas.
“Execution?” Devon asked hesitantly. “Is it going to go that far?’
“No,” I said. I’d come to my decision, and I’d taken what June had said to heart, but I needed to do what was best for the pack. “He and Eugenia will be banished from Idlewild forever.”
June looked upset by the thought, but she held her tongue. What she’d said made sense in a way, but there was simply no way we could feel safe with Anders and Eugenia in town.
“That’s fair,” Blaise said.
“I agree,” Hakeem added.
The others muttered their assent. June stirred uneasily beside me, then stood and left without a word. If the others noticed, they didn’t show it. A nagging worry wormed its way into my stomach. Why was she so upset about this? She had to see that it was the best solution to the problem.
Patrick rose. “I’ll put a call into my people. See how many fighting men we can get up here.”
After I shook hands with everyone, they all streamed out. I cursed under my breath and looked at Rainier. “Thatcould have gone better. Thankfully, the others didn’t seem to notice June’s reaction.”
“What was her deal?” Rainier asked, shaking his head. “Ifanyoneshould want that prick gone, it should be her.”
“I know. I’m going to go check on her.”
80
JUNIPER
Scuffing my shoe through the dirt, I tried to tell myself Levi had made the right decision, but I was having a hard time. Some instinctual part of me told me that we were making a mistake. I wasn’t angry, but I was worried. If I was right, then banishing Anders could have terrible consequences that we hadn’t even thought of yet.
“June?”
I turned to Levi. From the look on his face, I could see he wasn’t pleased with how things had gone. That made two of us.
“Was it that obvious?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. At least to me. I’m sorry. I just can’t, in good conscience, allow them to stay in town.”
“I get that,” I said. “I really do. It makes sense, but I still think it’s the wrong choice.”
Levi blew out a breath and looked up at the sky. “I doubt we’ll ever agree on this. I heard what you said. I didn’t make this decision unilaterally. I really did take what you said to heart, but in the end, I’m the alpha. I’ve got to do what I think is right.”
“I respect that, but you know what happens if you banish them, right?” I finally said.
“Yup. We might have to deal with the blowback. His friends and family might take issue with it,” Levi said.
“He could also try to join the Red Maw,” I said. “He knows enough that he could be a huge asset for them.”
