The Last Werewolf (The Weres of Europe) (18 page)

Scurrying to her feet, she hid herself behind the two men with whom she had just had amazing sex, wishing Rik hadn’t dropped her clothes by the entrance. She could feel Rik’s hand on her back trying to calm her.

Leevi, meanwhile, had moved in front of her and Rik. Summer watched, astonished, as he bowed respectfully. She guessed they were important people, although she could feel Rik tensing as he whispered in her ear, “They’re the honored Clan Elders.”

The white-bearded man stepped forward, although they were all looking very somber, and almost angry. He spoke in English, “We hear about English woman. She is ihmissusi?”

Leevi answered, “Yes, she is a werewolf. Her mother was from this clan.”

“But her father, human?”

“That is true, I believe.” Leevi looked at her for confirmation. She nodded. He explained to the elders, “Jaakko is dead. He challenged me, and I had to kill him.”

The Clan Elders tutted and grumbled to themselves, and they spoke to each other quietly, but urgently. Summer wondered what they were saying. She discovered it was about her when Leevi suddenly gripped her and declared in English, “Summer is now my mate. I know you want me to marry a respectable woman from one of the other clans, but I prefer Summer over your choice of woman for me any day.” She looked up at him, stunned by this. Her shock was worsened when he then pulled Rik to him as well, and stated, “And Rik is also my mate. Both of them are.”

Holy shit
. Well, she wanted to find her family. And now she was bonded to the Clan Prime Alpha plus another werewolf. And this all happened in, what, a couple of days?

Before she could come to grips with that, one of the elders shook his head. “This is bad, Leevi. We have to call meeting of Council.” Summer nearly smiled at his sing-song way of speaking. She hadn’t been particularly aware of this with Rik and Leevi, but then they were of the younger generation, more cosmopolitan. Her smile dropped when the elder continued, “There are doubts now over your leadership.”

Chapter Ten

As he was led down a dark, dimly lit underground corridor by the Enforcers, Leevi knew exactly what was going to happen.

It was now the second night of the full moon and several hours since the fight with Jaakko and his pack, and the confrontation with the Council Elders. Leevi had been separated from Rik and Summer and had no idea where they had been held, but he still heard Rik’s cries of anger in his head as they were removed.

He, himself, had been taken to Matias’s house, the former Prime Alpha of the clan, his predecessor, who had also been something of a mentor to him. When relinquishing that role the former Prime had taken on the job of Council spokesperson and caretaker of the house that Leevi had been held in, which was on the outskirts of Ruovesi. It had been a deliberate decision, he knew, to build it there at the turn of the 20th Century to avoid the prying eyes of the town’s folk, for in the grounds they had also dug a root cellar.

That wasn’t uncommon in Finnish homesteads, but what was unusual was that the digging had continued deep underground to the room he was now being taken—to the Council assembly hall, called The Wolf’s Head Hall, or in Finnish, Sudenpääsali. This was one of several underground passages and bunkers that was all that saved the clan from extermination from the Southern and Northern clan during that war. His being the central clan, they had gotten caught in the middle of these two warring clans, and yet somehow managed to remain undetected.

As he arrived in a well-lit room Leevi blinked. This room was a huge natural cavern, roughly square, now connected to the root cellar his forebears had dug by means of the corridor. The room was reinforced here and there by wooden pillars, but it was mostly rough-hewn walls of gray stone covered with woolen handmade tapestries depicting natural scenes—forests, lakes, wildlife, et cetera. As he turned his head his attention was instantly taken by the sight of Rik with anguished face sitting off to his left immediately behind the Council.

Leevi swore. Rik was the last person he wanted to see witness the tribunal that was to follow. Wrenching his eyes away from the sight of his first love, they were then held by another set of distressed eyes, those of Summer. Leevi had to fight hard to tear his gaze from hers and barely managed that feat. How had both of them done that, he wondered? It was a skill that usually only the pack or clan Alpha had. Maybe it was something to do with being mated.

Hell.

He was prodded harshly forward by an Enforcer toward a circle of chairs in the middle of the large room, eight on either side for the leaders of the eight packs that made up the clan and for the elected elders, chosen for their wisdom, knowledge, and political savvy.

The sixteen chairs were filled, but there was a seventeenth, which would have been his place as Prime Alpha. Normally in the event of a deadlock, he, as Prime Alpha, had the deciding vote, but in this case it would have to go to the Council spokesperson—the one and only time Matias ever got to vote.

As Leevi moved into the center of the circle that represented the natural order, the circle of life, he shuddered as everyone looked at him. He might be the Prime Alpha, but he had never liked being the center of attention, and the room was filled to bursting. Every member of the clan had a right to attend tribunals like this, and it seemed that the majority had taken advantage of that right. The chairs for the members of the clan to watch started off in a circular pattern around the central chairs, but ended up more haphazard the further away they were from the middle. There were so many people in attendance there weren’t enough chairs for everyone, so the latecomers had squeezed into the space between the chairs and the walls.

Glancing around, Leevi’s eye was caught by the green banner hanging over the entrance depicting a profile of a wolf’s head on a yellow lozenge, a diamond shape, but horizontal instead of vertical.

He winced. Until today he had believed in everything the clan stood for and he had worked hard to enforce it, although his loyalties had been hard-pressed when he had taken Rik as his mate.

That reminded Leevi that Jaakko had been partially responsible for his break-up with Rik, and he looked around, seeing Kari from Jaakko’s rogue pack, along with the two others they had knocked unconscious on their way into the fort sitting on the other side of the hall from Rik and Summer. Leevi guessed that Kimmo, whose leg had been broken, was lying injured at home under guard or at a clan sanitarium. He glanced at the final member of Jaakko’s pack, who snarled at him as he passed. Not unsurprising since this was the one he had clawed badly on their escape, the bandages around the man’s chest showing the truth of that statement.

Leevi’s hearing picked up the sound of the fans which were working full-time to compensate for the crush of bodies in this underground lair, especially since were-creatures had a body temperature a degree higher than humans. Drawing on his reserves, he tried to dampen the whirling sound.

The Enforcers who had escorted him to his place in the center of the circle moved back a pace to give Leevi space, but no further, to remind him that he was not in charge here. These Enforcers were the clan’s police force, nominated by individual packs, but they then dropped their fealty to that pack upon being appointed to the higher rank of clan Enforcer. This was a highly regarded honor and a much sought after civic duty that lasted five years. Those chosen were selected for their integrity as much as their strength. All were in their twenties or early thirties and very fit, as it was necessary from time to time to enforce the rules, particularly with any unruly teenagers. The yellow lozenge badge on the left shoulder of their jacket wasn’t a brand for some sports company, but the insignia of their rank. The yellow was for the color of a wolf’s eyes, even if the shifters kept their human color.

Matias came past Leevi to take the lone chair slightly forward of the others at the head of the circle and raised onto a dais. In the past, challenges to the death were held if someone wanted to take another’s place as Alpha or Prime. These days it was more civilized, and when the Prime decided he’d had enough and wanted to retire, the Council called for a challenge, but it was only held between the young wolf shifters who challenged one another for the right to that promotion.

In Leevi’s day it had come down to him and Jaakko, and Leevi had won, in effect ending their friendship. It was kind of funny since Leevi hadn’t actually wanted to win and had become the Prime while losing his childhood friend in the process.

He had lost so many when he had become the Prime. People only saw the prestige of the position, but they conveniently forgot all the sacrifices that were made. Not being able to have close friends the way he had before. Having to watch as his mother and father left, for it was customary for the parents of the Prime Alpha to leave Clan grounds, so they could not be used to influence the leader. They now lived in
Albufeira
,
Portugal
, and although Leevi rarely saw them, but at least spoke to them on the phone from time to time, the separation had been incredibly hard on them. He was glad they weren’t here to witness his failure, degradation, and shame.

Yes, Leevi had lost plenty when he had taken the station of Prime.

Clenching his fingers, Leevi looked around the circle of those about to judge him. Erno, the Alpha who had taken his place in his birth pack when Leevi had been elevated to Prime Alpha, looked away, his body tense, almost in hunting mode. And Leevi had always regarded Erno as a good colleague, yet now his face was virtually that of an enemy.

On the other side of the circle his gaze was held by Annukka. Leevi let his face relax. This was Summer’s grandmother, the woman she had come all this way to find. He was glad they would be reunited, but his heart lurched that it had to be under these circumstances. Annukka smiled encouragingly. And once again he found it hard to turn from her stare.
Dammit. Does that mean that I am subject to the family of my mates now?

Thankfully her spell, if it could be called that, was broken by Matias.

“I call for order.” His voice may have been old and a little weak, but it carried with it the resonance of his years of command.

The clamor in the room diminished quickly, everyone keen not to miss a second of this spectacle. Leevi wondered how many were there to support him and how many to see him taken down. He gritted his teeth. Despite not wanting to be Prime, he had been a good leader, he had always thought, but wolves, like humans, would blithely follow the leader until the moment presented itself for them to be part of a mob that confronted authority, demanded change. Humans called it “voting.” Wolves were opportunistic by nature.

“This tribunal will follow procedures set down by our forebears. But we will break tradition and conduct entirely in English for sake of our guest from overseas.”

Leevi was glad of that, despite Matias’s less-than-perfect English, otherwise Rik would have been spending the whole time translating for Summer.

He grimaced, on the other hand, that might have been a better thing as it would have diverted Rik’s attention from what was going to happen.

“State your name and birth pack.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake
. He was the Prime Alpha. Everyone knew who he was. He gave Matias a look of incredulity, but acquiesced. “Leevi Valo of the
Lakeside
pack.”

“Enforcer, please step forward and read charges.”

One of the Enforcers moved to Leevi’s right as directed and began to intone. Nothing in his voice indicated a bias, but then the Enforcers were deliberately picked for impartiality. “Leevi Valo, you have been accused of causing the death, along with your conspirators,” Leevi growled at that moment, but the Enforcer simply ignored him and continued, “of three members of the clan. There have been no killings of wolf shifters since the end of the Winter War. On your assertion, however, you take full responsibility for all these deaths, including the ones caused by the outsiders, so no charges will be brought against them. Secondly, you are accused of taking a half-blood mate, thereby making the dilution of our wolf genes a strong possibility, and weakening the Prime bloodline by doing so. In addition, that said person is a foreigner, going against the tradition of making alliances with the other clans as has been our custom since the Clan Wars. This in turn upsets the negotiations being carried out at this current time by the Council.”

Leevi heard Summer gasp. He wasn’t sure if it was because they were talking about her, or because of the thought that he was about to be married off to another being. He gritted his teeth. War would have to start all over again before he allowed that to happen. He was about to turn his head to smile reassuringly at her but the Enforcer carried on.
Christ. There’s more?

“Thirdly, you were granted the right to mate with a male on the understanding that he would take second place to the female chosen for you. From your own lips you have again and again refused to accept that your female would be superior to the male.”

It was Rik’s turn to exclaim. Actually what Leevi had declared during his interrogation this afternoon was that he regarded as both his mates as equal, but he didn’t dare look over at Summer to see if she understood this. Instead he closed his eyes as the ghastliness of the situation began to unfold.

The Enforcer stepped back, having completed his duty, and Matias spoke again. “I now call for people to speak for or against accused.”