“Bro, I just bought a house,” Brock muttered, then slipped deeper into the crowd.
Anders bared his teeth like a mad dog. “Fuckers,” he hissed. “Bastards. You’ll fucking pay. You’ll all pay.”
His words made me uneasy. It was like my worries were playing out in real time.
Levi ignored his words and spoke.
“You will be taken from town and dropped off ten miles away,” he said. “You’ll both be given a backpack with enough food and water to last a week. Also…” He sighed wearily. “Against my better judgment, you will also be given enough money to get you started on whatever life you choose to pursue after this. A couple thousand dollars each. If I were you, I would take this as the gift it is andneverattempt to return.” He raised his voice so no one could be mistaken about what he said. “You are not welcome back here. If anyone, and I meananyone”—he glanced at Anders’s mom and Brock—“should see you again, they are required to apprehend you, and you will face a fate much worse than banishment. Do you understand?”
Eugenia, openly sobbing now, nodded wordlessly.
Anders spat on the ground toward Levi’s feet. “Go fuck yourself.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Levi said, waving at the guards. “Take them.”
Eugenia turned quietly and allowed her two guards to lead her away. Anders, however, glared at Levi for several seconds as the men tugged at him. Finally, they forcibly turned him away and pushed him into a van. The men piled in after them, then drove off.
As I watched the van become smaller until it vanished around a corner, a hollow feeling sat low in my stomach. I had a horrible feeling about this, and all I could do was hope that Levi was right and I was wrong.
The crowd dispersed, everyone moving in subdued silence. It was a heavy thing to banish someone. It was especially strange to be banishing a former pack alpha.
The group of visiting alphas and their mates approached us.
Blaise spoke first. “Glad that’s over with.”
“Right,” Hakeem said. “Now we can get down to business. Speaking of, we wondered if you wanted to join us? We’re all going to grab a bite to eat. We thought we could discuss the Red Maw, then maybe have an early lunch. You down?”
“Sure.” Levi put his arm around my shoulders. “Want to come?”
The last thing I wanted was to be around a bunch of alphas while they talked war. I didn’t have the stomach for it. Not after what we’d had to do.
"Uh…actually, I thought I’d go spend the day with my grandparents. Is that okay?”
Levi’s smile flickered, but then he nodded. “Sure. I’ll see you later?”
After a few minutes of small talk, Levi departed with the Alphas, glancing back at me a few times. The look in his eyes was one of worry and longing. Seeing that expression on his face was like a hand squeezing my heart.
Once they were out of sight, I shifted and ran straight home. When I arrived, I found the shop closed. Not surprising. The last twenty-four hours had been pretty dramatic. They probably didn’t have the energy to deal with any customers. Heading upstairs, I unlocked the door and found my grandparents sitting at the table, drinking coffee.
“I thought you’d be with Levi,” Grandpa said, sounding surprised.
“Yes, me too,” Gran said. She looked at me, eyes scanning my face, reading something only a grandmother could. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“I haven’t had a good day,” I said.
“All right then,” Grandpa said, getting another mug and pouring coffee into it. “Out with it. Let’s see how bad things are.”
Sliding the cup toward myself, I dumped several heaping spoons of sugar into it, then topped it off with cream. Grandpa eyed me with disapproval.
“Lord, girl, your coffee always looks more like dessert than a coffee.”
Ignoring his comment, I took a sip. I’d always been able to tell them anything. It had been one of the great things about growing up with them. They never judged and always loved me no matter what. I’d never known my parents, but my grandparents had done a fantastic job raising me. They’d given me an open home to talk about my problems.
I told them about my worries about banishing Anders and Eugenia, about Levi deciding to send them away, about how it made me nervous, and how I thought it might come back to bite us.
“I wish I’d been able to verbalize my worries better,” I said at last. “Maybe if I had, Levi could have seen it from my point of view.”
“You can’t beat yourself up, dear,” Gran said, patting my shoulder.
