“I do.” Her blue eyes twinkled in the firelight. “And you know how often I’m wrong.”
“Rarely.” I jumped at the sound of Toby’s voice. Sneaking up on a Shifter was not easy. “Which is rather unfortunate,” I thought I heard him quietly complain. Surely he hand’t overheard us. Talley spoke so softly I barely heard her, and my ear was approximately four inches from her mouth. “Scout, we’re ready to start. Would you mind accompanying me up front?”
“No problem, Boss Man. You lead, and I’ll follow.” I gave a salute, not realizing I was copying Jase’s earlier action until it was too late.
“And they wonder why I think she’s going to be a problem,” Toby said to no one in particular.
Toby sat me on one of the front benches, and then went to sit on the edge of the stone wall surrounding the fire pit. Embers popped out of the fire and danced around him, but he seemed unconcerned, even when one burned a hole in the arm of his shirt.
“I’m not going to waste everyone’s time and talk about why we’re here. Everyone knows what happened last night and has already offered their opinion on what we should do. Someone was even considerate enough to make up little ballots so that everyone could have a vote as to what the wolf’s fate should be.
“Guess what? This isn’t a democracy.” Toby stood up and the mood of the entire group shifted. This wasn’t a family conversation around the fire, this was a Pack Leader addressing his Pack. “This is my decision and mine alone. Anyone who has a problem with it is more than welcome to challenge me.” Despite being a coyote, Toby managed a wicked wolfish grin. “I look forward to it actually.”
I had sparred with Toby enough times to know it was going to take more than strength, ambition, and anger to take him down. Like Talley, I was certain no one here was up to the challenge just yet.
“You’ve come to a decision?” Mrs. Matthews stood to the right of the fire pit. In the Pack social structure she was ranked just below Toby.
“I wouldn’t have ask you all to come out here if I hadn’t.” He moved into a pool of light created by the nearly full moon like an actor stepping into the beam of a spotlight. “The fact of the white wolf’s existence will be kept secret by all members of this Pack, including the Seers.” Mrs. Matthews let out an audible gasp. “Unless specifically questioned by the Alpha Pack, anyone caught divulging information about the white wolf will face the most severe of punishments.”
I wasn’t a hundred precent sure, but I strongly suspected that the most severe punishment was equal to capital punishment. I also wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about that. However, I was fairly certain I wasn’t totally loving being referred to as “the white wolf”. It reminded me too much of Narnia.
“Miss Donovan?” He indicated I should stand up, so I did.
“Mr. Hagan?”
“I’m giving you the land enclosed within the border of Lake County. Please know that if you cross the boundary you will be dealt with as if you were any other lone Shifter facing a second trespass on Pack territory.”
Toby looked at me, waiting for a reaction, and I waited for the words he said to make sense. “Sorry, but you’re going to have to run that by me one more time in non-Shifter speak.”
Jase coughed into his hand to cover up his laughter.
“I giving you your own territory - Lake County. If you don’t stay there, you’re going to be punished.”
“Severely?”
Toby’s face was hard. “Severely.”
I took a moment to think about what he said. “So, you’re kicking me out?”
“You don’t belong with us,” he said. “I’m being very generous here, Miss Donovan.”
The Pack was abandoning me and leaving me on my own. “Thank you?” I was at a complete loss. “So, what? I leave now and never come back? Is that it?”
Toby nodded. “And you should also know that if you do anything that puts my Pack at risk, I will be forced to remove the threat of exposure.”
I was going to have to write down all the different things that would cause Toby to kill me.
A bit of movement caught my eye, and I turned to find Charlie standing behind me. Realizing he finally had my attention, he dropped down on one knee, his head bowed.
“I pledge myself to you, Scout Donovan. I devote my life to being of your Pack.”
What the Hades was happening now?
Jase seemed to magically appear by my side and dropped down next to Charlie. “I pledge myself to you, Scout Donovan. I devote my life to being of your Pack.”
You know those dreams when you’re on a stage in front of a packed house and you don’t know any of your lines? It was kinda like that, but worse because it wasn’t a dream, and I worried that saying the wrong lines would end up with me getting that severe punishment Toby was so keen on. I looked to Talley for help, and thought she was coming to my rescue until she dropped down on her knee and repeated the now familiar refrain, “I pledge myself to you, Scout Donovan. I devote my life to being of your Pack.”
Cheater. I would be able to do my lines if I heard two other people already deliver them, too.
“What are you doing?” I hissed at her through clenched teeth.
She peered up at me through her eyelashes. “Well, it’s not like I’m going to let you three go off and start your own Pack without me.”
Our own Pack? That’s what this was? They were asking to come with me?
I made the mistake at looking at Toby, who looked mad enough to punish us all at the same time.
I didn’t have much of a choice. The three of them looked like they were waiting to be knighted, but I seemed to be missing a sword. I had to make do as best as I could.
Relying solely on knowledge gleaned from movies and books, I approached the three of them. “I accept you?” Their heads stayed bowed, so I continued. “And devote myself to you?” Apparently that did the trick, because the three of them stood up in unison.
“What the Hell do you think you’re doing?” Uncle Charles moved through the rest of the Pack in a rage. “Are you going to turn your back on your family for her? She doesn’t want you in her Pack. She can’t even stand to look at you.”
“I owe her,” Charlie mumbled. “I took a life from her, so I owe mine in return.”