Pride (22 page)

Michael appeared from the bathroom, looking surprisingly
comfortable in jeans, hiking boots, and a thick flannel over-shirt rather than his usual lawyerly attire. He took one look at Marc, then pulled Jace behind him out the door, on the way to the forest.

When they were gone, Lucas stood calmly and picked up one half of the coffee table. Marc took the other piece and followed him out the front door. Their footsteps disappeared around the corner of the lodge, and I assumed they were taking the broken table out back to join the chair he’d broken the day before.

Marc was hard on furniture.

“He’ll be okay,” Dr. Carver said, and I glanced up to find him watching me. “The bottom line is that you got through to her when no one else could have, and they’ll have to see that.”

“I hope so.” But I wasn’t holding my breath. Marc was right. The Alphas obviously didn’t think the ends justified my means.

A door creaked open at the back of the lodge, and the classical music ended in midnote. “—bring them in,” Uncle Rick said, and a moment later he appeared in the hall, his face a mask of anger and frustration. He stopped in the middle of the living-room floor, the tension in his expression giving way to momentary confusion. “Where are Marc and Lucas?” He paused, eyeing the newly open floor space. “And the coffee table?”

“Collateral damage.” Marc stepped into the living room from the front porch and Lucas came in behind him.

“I see.” But my uncle didn’t look like he saw.

Marc shrugged and met his gaze unflinchingly. “So…what’s going on?”

“I’m not entirely sure.” Uncle Rick sighed, and rubbed his forehead, then met my eyes. “Your dad and I tried to get this handled on an individual-Pride basis, so we could each discipline our own. But Malone didn’t go for it. He made a conference call to the rest of the council and got a simple majority vote of six to four.” With that, my uncle sank into the chair
his son had just vacated. He looked angry, frustrated, and very, very tired.

I knew just how he felt.

“Vote to do what?” Lucas settled wearily onto the couch cushion on my right, closest to his father.

“To turn jurisdiction over to the Territorial Council.”

“Jurisdiction for what?” I asked, my voice soft with dread.

Uncle Rick met my gaze with eyes the same crystalline blue as my mother’s. “You’re being charged with insubordination.”

Beneath his reddish freckles, Lucas’s face went pale with alarm, but all I could work up was mild irritation.

Insubordination was a relatively minor offense—what amounted to a misdemeanor. Under normal circumstances, a guilty verdict would call for the offending enforcer’s immediate dismissal, but it was hard for me to work up much fear over that, considering I was already suspended. And that I was facing the fucking
death
penalty.

“Insubordination, huh? Is that it?” I asked, and my uncle nodded. “Okaaay, but doesn’t that seem kind of pointless, in view of the other charges against me?”

He nodded again. “I don’t understand what they’re going for. Why bother to slap your wrist when they’re planning to break your neck with the next blow?”

My heart dropped into my stomach. I knew what the death penalty meant, of course, but hearing it stated so bluntly wasn’t exactly pleasant. I liked my neck
intact
.

Lucas took my hand in his, and I looked up to find everyone watching me.

“Wait.” A brief wave of calm flowed over me as a nugget of werecat political trivia clicked into place in my head. “There aren’t enough of you here for that. Three Alphas are enough for a tribunal, but you need at least four to officially convene the council.”
Ha! Take that, Malone!

But Uncle Rick didn’t look anywhere near as pleased as
he should have been by my near-perfect recall of Territorial Council policy. Though Marc looked pretty damn impressed.

“The council ruled that your insubordination—”

“
Alleged
insubordination,” I insisted, though I knew damn well I was guilty.

“Wrong.” Lucas forced a smile. “Michael says that here, you’re guilty until proven innocent.”

“Whatever.” I ignored him, exercising my right to scowl in protest.

“Anyway,” Uncle Rick continued as all eyes refocused on him. “During the conference call, the council ruled that this is a separate issue from the hearing already in progress. They agreed that your father can avoid bias on such a minor indiscretion.”

Shit
. With Daddy, they had enough Alphas to officially call the Territorial Council into session.
Screw ’em!
What were they going to do? Revoke my suspension in favor of dismissal? So what? As much as I was starting to like my job, I liked my life better.

“So, is that it? One more charge leveled against me?” As if that were no big deal. Maybe if I acted like I didn’t care, they’d believe me. Maybe I would, too.

Uncle Rick shook his head, eyeing me intently to underline the importance of what he was about to say. “It’s not just you, Faythe. We’re charging you
all
.”

“W
hat?” My hand went cold in Lucas’s as his broke into an instant sweat. “No. They can’t.” I leaned forward on the old, dingy couch, staring at my uncle in search of some sign that I’d heard him wrong. I’d known
I
would get in trouble, and Marc and Dr. Carver would probably get yelled at, too, especially since I’d accidentally ratted the doc out. But I’d hoped they’d rant and rave, then let my father handle the situation privately. And I’d had no idea they’d drag Lucas into the fray, just because he was there. “You can
not
hold
them
responsible for what
I
did.”

My uncle’s normally warm blue eyes went as cold as glacial ice, and he stood, physically distancing himself from me. “Yes. We
can
. You all broke the rules, and you’re all going to pay the price, whatever that turns out to be.”

Then his gaze singled me out, his lips drawn into a tight, straight line. I’d seen that very expression on my mother’s face hundreds of times, and now I knew where she got it. “Do
not
mistake my sympathy for an inclination to bend the law for you every time you step out of line. I believe you killed Andrew in self-defense, so I’m doing my best to keep the hearing fair. But you intentionally disobeyed a direct order
this time. So you keep that in mind when you open your mouth in there.”

Well, crap.
He had me there.

Ten minutes later, I was officially charged with insubordination, once again seated at the end of the long dining-room table, as revoltingly cheerful morning sunlight poured through the windows along the east wall.

I’m starting to really hate this room.

Dr. Carver, Marc and Lucas sat in chairs against the wall, but this time no one sat in the chair on my right. They’d given Michael the option to act as my adviser again, but he’d joined the search efforts instead, refusing to stand by me on matters of principle. Or, as he put it, I was a damn fool to pull such a stunt, and he wasn’t going to interfere with the heavy hand of justice. Or some such shit.

The point was that he thought I deserved whatever token punishment they gave me—and I sincerely hoped he was right about the “token” part—so he and Jace scoured the mountainside with the other enforcer teams while I spent most of the next hour trying to convince the council that I meant no insult to their authority by visiting the tabby against orders. I was simply trying to help meet her immediate needs without wasting time with a bunch of pointless formalities.

That line of reasoning might have worked well for me if not for the fact that the council—indeed, the very werecat political model—was founded on that same bunch of pointless formalities.

Since my father had already had his say, he seemed content to sit back and determine which way the council’s collective wind was blowing before taking an official position. Unfortunately that wind was all blowing in one direction.

Though my uncle was more moderate in his censure than were Malone and Blackwell, he was disinclined to go easy on any of us in his official statement, for fear of being seen as soft
on his own son and niece, and thus less than impartial. Also, he was truly and deeply pissed at having his authority disregarded, even if I
had
ultimately helped both Kaci and the council.

And the real bitch was that this time Malone didn’t have to say a word. He just sat back and grinned smugly while my uncle gave me a public dressing-down. The bastard even spoke up in my
defense
at one point, interrupting Uncle Rick to insist I was “probably doing what I thought was right at the time.” Which effectively implied that I had no idea what “right” really was.

Malone’s little show of support was no doubt also intended to combat rumors that he was unnecessarily harsh in matters concerning me. The manipulative prick.

After each of the Alphas had his say, I got a chance to defend myself. My father warned me to be good with his eyes as I stood to address the panel. “Look,” I started, but judging from his deep scowl, that wasn’t the proper way to address the Territorial Council. So I started over.

“You guys are probably every bit as tired of seeing me here as I am of being here, so I’m just going to lay it all out for you. The truth.” I gave them all a moment to object, and when no one did, I continued.

“Yes, I disobeyed a direct order in going in to see the tabby alone. So I guess technically, I am guilty of insubordination. But this whole thing?” I spread my arms to take in the entire room and the proceedings therein. “This is
why
I didn’t ask first—because she wouldn’t have calmed down enough to Shift in front of a roomful of enforcers, so we would have wound up right here, arguing about it for hours while that poor little girl sat up there stuck in cat form and scared to death. She’s weak, confused and half-starved, and every single moment we leave her like that, we’re guilty of neglect. She’s a
child
. She doesn’t know anything about your rules and forums. She doesn’t know a thing about us,
period,
and I was
trying to help her. To help
you,
by getting her to talk. Which none of you could have done, if I may point out.”

But apparently I was
not
supposed to point that out. Who knew?

My father chose that moment to stand, and I couldn’t help but think he’d timed his statement carefully, so I would have my say before he pronounced me guilty for the same reason Malone had come to my defense—to show that he could be fair too.

“Faythe, your motives and even your results are immaterial here. What matters is that you disobeyed a direct order.” He paused to look at each of his fellow Alphas. “Now, I’m sure everyone here understands the value of the work you’ve done with Kaci Dillon. But surely
you
acknowledge that your action must have a consequence?”

Aw, crap.
He was going to make me say it.

“Yes, of course.” I sighed, and my shoulders sagged in defeat.
In for a penny, in for a pound, Faythe.
“I knew that when I went in, but I did it anyway because I believed then—and now—that the result would be worth whatever penalty you throw at me.
Not
going in would have been taking the coward’s way out. Staying in the hall because I was scared—of you guys or of her, it makes no difference—would have been shirking what I consider my moral duty. Knowing the right thing to do is easy. Doing it when you know there will be consequences is not.
You
taught me that.”

My father nodded, and I thought I detected a little flush in his cheeks, though that might have been wishful thinking on my part. Either way, my uncle looked a little less furious than he had moments earlier.

I met each council member’s eyes for just a moment, silently acknowledging their authority even as I asked them to acknowledge my good intentions. “I did what I had to do. Now you have to do the same.”

With that, I took my seat, my heart pounding in my throat,
my palms sweaty enough to leave damp streaks on the polished surface of the dining-room table.

“Personally,” Paul Blackwell said, and I narrowed my gaze on him, surprised to hear the old fart speak up, “I see no reason to sentence her now, considering that her future is…
uncertain.
”

That didn’t sound good.

“I agree.” This from Malone, who’d looked less than pleased by one of my better attempts to talk my way out of trouble.
Tough room
. “I move that we hand down her sentences all at once, when the hearing is over.”

“No.” My father leaned back in his chair. “I have a right to my say in this procedure, but am not a part of the tribunal.”

“Fine.” Malone rested his elbows on the table. He watched me, though his remark was obviously directed at my father. “We’ll decide this one separately, but announce them all three together.”

A small-but-vocal part of me wanted to point out that I hadn’t actually been found guilty of murder yet, so there
was
no sentence to be handed out on that one. But since my mouth had actually talked me
out
of trouble this time—at least for the time being—I saw no reason to press my luck.

Unfortunately, the tribunal’s ire wasn’t directed solely at me. When my part was done, I sat in a chair against the wall, at the end of the line of toms waiting to face the music.

Dr. Carver came under fire for asking me to disobey a direct order. In his defense, he told the Alphas that as a physician, his first duty was to the young tabby’s well-being, and that he did what was in her best interest—provided her with immediate nourishment and counseling from the only person she would let near.

The council members seemed unmoved, and Malone insisted that if Dr. Carver had explained the urgency to them, they would have immediately provided the tabby with whatever she needed. But we all knew she wouldn’t have
cooperated with them and they would
not
have let me go in alone to earn her trust.

When they’d all had their say, the doc was strongly reprimanded and warned—by my father—that any future transgressions would result in him being exiled from the Pride.

Lucas got off with an angry warning and a month’s suspended pay, since he was the lesser-ranking tom present. But as my father’s second-in-command, Marc technically had the authority and the responsibility to stop us all from doing something so irresponsible and potentially dangerous. Yet he hadn’t.

My stomach twisted in on itself as Marc walked solemnly into the center of the room. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back and his feet spread—at ease, though he was probably anything but. He elected not to sit. He was going to take it like a man.

Because of me.

I couldn’t remember Marc ever even being reprimanded by the council before. He’d been reproached by my father for his quick temper on occasion, but that was nothing compared to this. That was a slap on the wrist from a loving father figure. Malone didn’t love Marc, and would just as soon rip off his hand as slap his wrist.

Malone opened his mouth to begin, but my father cut him off. “Marc…” He trailed into a pained silence, and I fervently hoped I was the only one who could read the disappointment in his eyes. “What were you thinking?”

“Honestly?” Marc asked, and my father nodded, giving him permission to say something the others probably wouldn’t want to hear. “I was thinking that it didn’t matter what I did. If Faythe wanted to work with the tabby, she was going to do it no matter what any of us said or did.”

Daddy didn’t smile. Instead, he nodded wearily, as if to say he shared Marc’s pain.

“So you let her disobey a direct order?” Malone demanded,
leaning so far forward, the table must have been digging into his waist. “You just stood there and watched your Pride’s only tabby—the professed love of your life—walk alone and unarmed into the room with a strange, violent werecat? Why?”

I could only see Marc’s face in profile, but that was enough to showcase jaws bulging in anger, and a single brow drawn into a fierce frown. “Because
someone
had to do it, and Faythe is best equipped for the job. She has previous experience counseling a traumatized young tabby.” My cousin Abby, of course. “And a couple of days ago she took out a full-grown stray in the grip of scratch fever, and this was just a
child,
weakened by hunger and exhaustion. Also, Faythe wasn’t completely unarmed. She had a tranquilizer.”

But he wasn’t saying it all. He wasn’t saying that he’d tried to stop me, and that I’d refused to listen. He wouldn’t lay the blame on me—even when I deserved it.

I leaned forward, my hands clenched around the arms of my chair.
Why isn’t he defending himself?

“What if the cat had attacked?” Malone gripped the edge of the table with tension-white fingers. “Faythe’s barely recovered from several gashes in her stomach. What if she’d been injured again?”

“Like you care!” I mumbled. My father’s head whipped around and his eyes settled on me with the weight of my own conscience. But I’d had enough. I stood, glaring at them all at once. “What? It’s the truth! Aren’t you guys after the truth? Because we all know Councilman Malone would order Marc to break my neck here and now if he thought he’d get away with it. Yet there he sits, browbeating him for something
I
did! Where’s the justice in th—”

Lucas tugged hard on my arm, and when I fell into my chair, I bit my tongue, effectively cutting off my tirade. Blood flowed into my mouth and I swallowed it, wiping at my lips with the
back of my sleeve even as I glared at my cousin. He ignored me, eyes glued to the Alphas seated at the front of the room.

“One more word and I’ll have you escorted out of the lodge,” Malone said, and somehow he made “escorted” sound much more menacing than it should have. Anger blazed up my spine. The bastard was threatening me!

I opened my mouth to say…
something.
I didn’t have the details all worked out yet, but that turned out not to matter because Marc beat me to the punch, no doubt trying to save me from myself, as usual.

“I’m not protesting this.” He glanced at his feet as if fighting for patience, and when he looked up again his eyes held a complacent strength the likes of which I’d never felt in my entire life. I would have given almost anything for a fraction of the self-control Marc wasted on the council. “I let her go in,” he said. “I’m not arguing otherwise, so let’s get this over with.”

“Fine.” Malone nodded, like that’s exactly what he’d wanted to hear, when I knew for a fact it was not. He wanted to berate Marc some more, now that he’d finally found a legitimate forum for his irrational prejudice. But Marc had taken that opportunity away, and I would have applauded, if Lucas hadn’t chosen that moment to clasp my hand, ostensibly to comfort me.

Malone’s eyes gleamed with barely repressed joy, which I wanted to pound in one side of his head and out the other. “We’re charging you with insubordination, and with neglect and endangerment of the tabby under your protection, which confounds me, frankly, considering you once wanted to
marry
this particular tabby.”