She looked up at him and he knew she understood. Knew he’d been warring with the need to take over and the knowledge that it was something that’d change his relationship with his parents forever.
“I’m sorry you have to do this. But I’m proud of you. It’s not often easy to do the right thing.”
Knowing she understood what it would take from him to do this next part was enough to bolster his choice. It had needed to be done for some time and he was the one to do it. Like it or not, the wolves were his to lead and sometimes that meant making really tough decisions.
“I’m going to be pretty late tonight. Maybe I’ll just sleep over at Huston’s.”
“I’ll be so pissed if you don’t come home. I don’t advise you try that. Not if you want to walk without a limp.” Her bright smile made him snort.
He gave up on arguing because he hated the idea of not being able to see her after the next ordeal was finished. “I like you in that dress. I’ll see you when I get home. I’ll try to keep you updated as I go. Don’t forget I love you, all right?”
“Only if you do the same. I love you too. Come home to me. I’ll be there.”
“Don’t make me worry. Lock the doors. I’m not joking around.”
“I don’t like this new tone. And I don’t like the worry on your face. So I’ll remind you my magic will protect me better than a lock ever could.”
“I could break into your house in under five minutes,” he said, trying not to patronize her.
And failing, given the slow raise of one brow that made his cock pretty happy. “You think you could. That’s part of the magic. But you can’t. You come inside because I allow you to. If I didn’t, you wouldn’t get over my threshold. In any way.”
“And I do like getting over your threshold,” he murmured as he hugged her.
“If you need me, I’ll be there. My phone will be on.”
He kissed her forehead and left, keeping that close to his heart.
* * *
“He’s going to have to punish his daddy,” she said as her mom came up behind her. “I hate that.”
“Me too, baby. Well, not that his daddy will get his. But that our boy has to do it. But Dwayne is so far out of line there’s nothing to be done but punish him. And Darrell.”
Aimee knew it. Understood it. Still hated it.
“Honey, come on over here,” Miz Rose called out. “I need you to keep her nice and calm while we finish up here.”
Aimee headed over, kneeling on the floor next to the chair. Nancy looked so sad, even unconscious. She wished she could take that away. Wished she could spare her the pain of discovering this terrible secret life her husband had. Wished even more that it hadn’t been someone from their town who’d done it.
She opened up to her magic, to the land and the connection between witch and earth. Opened up and let the power pour out through the hands she held Nancy’s in. Soothing. Calming.
The heat of it coursed through Aimee’s veins, leaving her sleepy and no small amount calmer herself as her magic swirled through Nancy, picking up and collecting all those bits and barbs. Anxiety. Guilt. Self-doubt. Bob had planted those seeds and Aimee did her best to respect what had to be a grieving process, while also helping just a little by clearing away the worst of it that had kept her looking the other way over the years.
At her side, she knew Miz Rose’s magic eased its way into Nancy’s memories as Nadine spoke softly, using her own magic to help. Katie Faith stood nearby, feeding the three of them more power as needed.
It took a while, but at last, Miz Rose tapped Aimee’s shoulder and she pulled back enough to realize they’d finished.
“I think this is the best it’ll get. Robbie Ruiz is here to help load her in and out of the car we take her back in. You stay here and away from any of the rest of this,” Miz Rose told Aimee. “You did good tonight. I know there’s still so much to deal with, but you held yourself together and I’m proud.”
TeeFaye grinned. “She did great!” Then to Aimee, “I think you need food though. Come home and I’ll make you a plate of something. We’ll wait for the all-clear from the crew taking Nancy here back home to her cheating pig of a husband.”
“I should check on some of the older folks. Just to make sure they’re all okay.”
“You’re off duty as of right now. Everyone will know where you are anyway so if you’re needed, they’ll contact you. They know you’ll help.” Her mom pushed her into her dad’s hug.
“I’m going to get this town locked down for the night and I’ll meet you back home shortly.” He kissed the top of Aimee’s head.
“Come on.” Aimee slung her arm through her mom’s. “Katie Faith drove over with me and we’ve got wine in the trunk.”
On the way out, there were several knots of shifters and witches, some arguing, most of them puzzled and hurting. Aimee started to blush, but Katie Faith pinched her arm really hard.
“What the hell did you do that for?” Aimee hissed at her friend.
“You will not feel bad about this. You didn’t do it. This is all Bob, Dwayne and Darrell,” Katie Faith said loud enough for everyone to hear. “Jace is telling Dooley wolves that right now.”
“The cats are always in your corner,” Bonita Ruiz said before she and her husband faded away down the street.
Not all cat shifters kept to themselves, but most in their part of the country did, much like their wild cousins. They weren’t secretive or hostile. Just cautious and private.
Aimee had made plenty of visits out to the area of town the cats had settled in and even within their neighborhoods, they kept to themselves with their houses dotting the land but never close together.
“That’s as good as a full-throated ‘I love you, Aimee’ from a cat,” Katie Faith said seriously.
It was nice that they’d noticed. That they’d understood her visits had been out of genuine concern and affection. Nice that not everyone in town thought she was a homewrecker.
They drove over to Aimee’s parents’ house and by the time they arrived, four cars were already parked outside.
“Just be aware there are several pissed-off, overprotective mommas in there. And that your most overprotective, pissed-off bestie is so close to knocking some Pembrys out Jace sent me to you because he knew you’d keep me out of trouble.” Katie Faith grabbed the wine.
“He’s a keeper.”
“I’m sorry this happened to you. My God, you were going to kick Dwayne’s ass and he knew it and so he did that to Nancy and to you! What a jagoff.”
“Okay, sis, let’s go inside before they send a search party or before you scamper off to try to start a fight with an old guy.” Aimee tugged Katie Faith up the walk and into the house.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When they pulled up at their grandparents’ land, Mac noted that Huston took a different, less-used back road and parked at the edge of the old barn.
“No use being flashy,” Huston told him as he got out. He left the keys in the ignition. If they transformed they lost their clothing, which tended to rip and then money or keys got lost.
Long ago they’d learned to leave the keys in the car so even if they lost everything, including their clothes, they still could get in the car and go home.
“Dad’s in the bunkhouse,” Everett said quietly.
The moment hung there. This was it. If he went to see his uncle before he showed up at the house to discipline his father and brother, he’d be drawing that line that’d separate him from them for good. He’d be taking up the leadership his father had simply let fall from his hands.
He turned toward the bunkhouse instead of staying on the path to the main house.
Inside, Bern waited with six of the ten elders.
Huston and Everett settled at either sid
e of Mac as he nodded his greeting to the others gathered there.
“We’re all here to pledge, openly and without hesitation, our fealty to you as Patron,” Bern said. “The rest of the elders will wait to see what you do next.”
Then they went to one knee, fist and forearm over their hearts.
The weight of it, of their loyalty and strength, fit right into spaces he hadn’t known he possessed. All just waiting for this moment.
“I humbly accept, proud to lead,” Mac told them as he indicated they stand once more.
These men and women were the strongest in Pembry. The most respected. With this group on his side going in, the coming trial would be easier. He’d still have to play everything exactly right to survive; agitated wolves who didn’t have a clear leader would tear one another apart after a while. Mac would be fighting against that and he’d have to tap into their greater need to belong. The need of pack, fraternity and community.
“Full house tonight,” Bern told him as they approached the wall of glass beyond. The kitchen was full, as was the table, where his father sat, unrepentant, with Darrell at his side.
His mother perched on a couch in the family room, staring off into space. He wished for Aimee just then. Knowing she’d help, even after how terrible his parents had been to her and her loved ones.
“Yeah, I see some cronies around. I imagine Nan let them in for a reason so I’ll let it go.” His father’s crew, a bunch of friends since high school so he figured they should know better, were derogatively known as the cronies. Good enough guys. Or they used to be, but like him, they’d gone lazy and entitled.
Bern snorted.
“You took your sweet time,” his father said, standing and sending the chair back a few feet.
“Shut up and sit down.” Mac kept walking, not stopping until he’d gone to his grandmother and showed his respect.
She smiled at him, pride clear. “You got this, punkin.”
He knew he did. Which was scary enough in its own right.
“You don’t tell me to shut up,” his dad challenged.
“For fuck’s sake, Dwayne, you’ve done enough. Rein it in before we lose everything,” his mother said from across the room.
“Don’t you talk that way in my house,” Nan told her and his mom flipped her off.
He didn’t really blame his mom for that. His grandmother could be such a self-righteous person for someone who smoked weed when she thought no one knew.
“Enough. This is not why we’re all here. Mom, I need you over here now.” Mac sat at the head of the table opposite his father. In his grandfather’s old seat. His mom settled in at the middle and Samuel came to sit just behind Mac.
“You don’t get to decide that. You’re not Patron yet,” his father said after his gaze flicked over to Samuel. The eldest, Billy, sat next to their mother at the table, but on Mac’s side, which given his brother’s extreme avoidance of any kind of conflict, was a statement in Mac’s favor.
“I get to decide everything right now. You brought an outsider into Diablo Lake without sanction.”
“It had to be done. She’s a lying whore.”
“We’re going to pause a moment right here.” Mac folded his hands on the tabletop in front of him, his knuckles red from where he’d given his father the swollen nose and developing black eye.
His grandmother put a cup of cocoa with little marshmallows at his right hand. The absurdity of it nearly made him laugh. He thanked her because he liked doughnuts on his birthday too much not to.
“Right now this is just you and me. Mac to Dwayne. If you speak that way about her again I will knock out your teeth. And when they grow back I’ll knock them out again. And so on.”
He sipped his cocoa, noting that she’d put in some cinnamon, his favorite.
“Now, we’re back to our situation as Pembry wolves. Because you violated the most sacred rule. You endangered us all and for what? None of them are going to vote for you now. Well fucking done.”
Nan tutted at him but he didn’t flip her off.
“The Consort has filed a complaint, as have the Dooleys and the cats. They had to use magic on the human to keep her from exposing us all. What were you thinking other than what a thin-skinned sore loser you are?”
“That b—girl,” he corrected himself before he called Aimee a name and got his teeth knocked out. Subtly, more energy in the room shifted to Mac as his father’s support dwindled. “She had to be exposed.”
“You broke the law. You brought that human woman here unsanctioned. You exposed us all. And on a side note, you destroyed that human’s family and told her kids. What right do you have to act like that?”
“What about the witch trying to shove me out of my job? No one cares about that?”
“He doesn’t because he’s nailing that witch.”
Mac got up, stalked over to his brother and yanked him up, out of the chair.
“You and me got some talking to do when this official pack business is over,” Mac snarled as he got in his brother’s face.
“You think.”
Mac sneered. “That’s your response? It’s going to feel so good to beat the hell out of you. Again. Sit down now and let the adults talk.” He turned his back and headed to his place once more.
“I know Darrell and Dwayne Pembry were part of this action. The question remains as to who else was involved.” Mac looked to his mother.
“If I’d known this was what they were up to I’d have stopped it. These two have no idea what they’ve done. I wanted you to end up with the witch! I wanted her in the pack to make us stronger. I don’t know if I want some homewrecker in this family though.”
“As Darrell and Dad know, the human male had an elaborate second life. His mistresses had no idea he was married, including Aimee.” Several people had told him independent of one another, and Carl Benton had been one of them. He’d given Mac a brief overview, including the way Aimee’d found out not too very long before she and Mac started dating. Long after she’d broken things off with the jerk.
“Your mother didn’t know.” At least his dad had some honor left and wasn’t going to let his wife be punished for his misdeeds. “This was part and parcel of the election. I had a right to expose the witch. Even if she claims she didn’t know, it just goes to show her bad judgment.”
“You brought a human to Diablo Lake unsanctioned,” Mac repeated. “The why might have been a mitigating factor in your discipline, but it doesn’t erase the law breaking. And in your case, it does the opposite. You do understand that, right?”
“I don’t have to sit here and take this. We run this town. We don’t need to be beholden to any of them. The witches fixed it up, didn’t they? It was a misunderstanding.”
“Dwayne Pembry, I find you guilty of breaking the law of sanction. Darrell Pembry, I find you guilty of the same. You will be sent up for twelve months, after which time you may petition to return. You have an hour to get what you need,” Mac said after looking at the wall clock.
His dad stood again, sputtering with rage. Darrell came at Mac, who nodded and jerked his head, indicating they take it outside.
Their mother yelled at them both to stop.
“You’re the one who started all them rumors about Katie Faith and now you’re going to call me out for this?” Darrell bellowed at her.
“No one’s gonna fight. We’re gonna calm down and think before this gets out of hand,” his dad said, struggling to sound reasonable.
“I challenge you for Patron,” Mac said then.
Nan chuckled at his back and the energy, all that swirling, forest loam and fertile earth began to pour into him as Pembry wolves settled their allegiance with him over his father. One by one.
“You think you’re ready for that?” his father asked.
“Let this be the physical part of your discipline,” he said to his dad, feeling like a stranger in his own body. “Huston, Everett, make sure Darrell sticks around. Since he’s been hiding from me, I made it public knowledge that he’d be punished and he’s violated the pack rules. Again.”
“You didn’t hand that down in person. I didn’t even know there was a problem until today,” Darrell lied.
“You knew enough to hide for two days. Stop lying. You’re crappy at it and I’m good at knowing when people don’t tell the truth, Darrell.” Mac looked at his dad. “So?”
“Dwayne, don’t do this,” his mother said quietly. “This is the way of things. He’s meant to take over.”
She didn’t say that he was old and slow compared to Mac, who’d had Special Forces training. Mac was the sharpest blade possible and they ought to know because they sent him away from home to be made into their weapon.
Except he was no one’s weapon but his own and only in service of his pack. He’d learned that too. Learned it while falling in love with Aimee. Realizing he had so many reasons to be proud and confident in his path and ability.
He waited, staring his father down.
* * *
He came in bloody.
Took his shoes off at the back door, stripping off dirty, torn clothes, tossing some in the wash basket and the others into the trash.
She stood there in the kitchen, watching him. The sadness clung to his skin, but there was pride too. He’d taken on the Patron position; she could see the power around him like a cloak.
All his wolves, their needs and wants, on his shoulders.
Despite the blood, dirt and sadness, there was a satisfaction to him. He’d made a choice and there was no regret.
He looked up, catching her gaze. She wanted to move, to close the distance between them and pull him close. Wanted to use her magic to soothe all the anxiety and sadness away.
But she knew him. Knew this male she loved needed that distance for a while until he’d finished picking things over in his head. As much as she hated it, she respected the way he had to work through something pack or family related.