“The pack’s custom has always been to avenge a death with a death.”
I’d been wringing my fingers together in my lap but stopped when Liam spoke of avenging deaths. I crossed my arms and leaned against the springy backrest. Not always, I thought but didn’t say out loud. Everyone around this table knew my father’s death hadn’t been avenged.
“All those in favor of Everest Clark’s death, please raise your hands.”
Jeb made this squeaking sound that prompted Nelson to put a hand on my uncle’s slouched shoulder. Although August’s dad didn’t say anything, his pinched expression told me he, too, thought having Jeb sit in on this meeting was cruel.
Many hands shot up; not mine. I didn’t want Everest dead; I did want him punished, though. I counted hands, looked at the faces of the men who voted for Everest’s execution. Thirty-four hands out of forty. Jeb squinted at the hands too, pallid lips wobbling. Nelson hadn’t raised his hand, but August had.
Liam didn’t have a gavel, but he banged his fist against the table. “The majority has decided.”
And just like that-a fist against a table sealed my cousin’s fate. Blood beat against my skin that suddenly felt too tight for my body. I rubbed my bare arms, trying to ease the sudden strain. The dusting of hairs began to thicken underneath my palms. I was shifting! I couldn’t shift here. I closed my eyes, and my nostrils flared as I pushed against my rising wolf.
I would let her out later.
Later, I promised her. Please not now.
I couldn’t lose control in front of all these men.
I pressed harder against her. Repressed her. Slowly, like thawing ice, her hold melted away. When I felt in command of my body, I raised my lids and glanced around, praying no one had witnessed my struggle.
Thankfully, the pack was discussing some other matter. Or maybe they were still discussing Everest. Whatever they were talking about, it captivated all of their focus.
No, that wasn’t true.
August was watching me, and from the concern smudging his expression, I deduced he’d witnessed my little tussle. I was about to offer him a reassuring smile but remembered his raised hand-his vote. I stared at the revolving ceiling fan, at its blades that blurred as they sliced the tension-filled air.
Liam tapped his fist against the table again to garner everyone’s attention. “Now onto the second matter at hand.” Liam dug an aluminum-foil tablet out of his jeans pocket and held the thing out between his middle and index fingers. “Is everyone familiar with these?”
Liam wiggled the tablet, and the aluminum wrapping crinkled in the quiet conference room. “It’s called Sillin. We ingest it when we need to avoid shifting. In other words, if you ever travel out of state, break a bone, or get silver poisoning, this is what we’ll give you.”
Silver poisoning? I didn’t know Sillin countered that effect.
“Over the years, we’ve amassed a large stock of these. Last time my father asked Greg to procure some from the hospital, the pack doctor was told the formula had been discontinued.” Liam tossed the tablet to one of the younger boys so he could take a look at it, sniff it.
Sillin didn’t have an odor, which was why Heath hadn’t detected it in his drink.
“Those who’ve taken these pills can tell you that the effect wears off fast and causes no lasting harm.”
“That’s the drug Ness gave Heath, isn’t it?” Little J asked.
“It is,” Liam said calmly, narrowing his gaze on the boy.
Little J flinched and concentrated on the tablet again before passing it along. Cheeks the color of rare beef, he leaned forward, grasped a water carafe that almost slipped out of his shaky hold, and poured himself a glass.
“This morning, the elders and I discovered the pack’s entire stock of Sillin was stolen from HQ.”
“Did Ness steal them?” someone asked.
“What?” I whipped toward the interlocutor.
The man was in his early thirties with a gold hoop speared through his right earlobe, and chest hair spilling out of a purple button-down shirt. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember his name.
“I didn’t steal anything!” I exclaimed.
“Rodrigo”-Liam’s clipped tone had the man thumbing his earring-“Everest stole the pills.”
The man next to Rodrigo placed a soothing hand on the dark shifter’s forearm.
“We have footage of him cutting the lock off the fridge and taking everything inside.”
The lock on the fridge… “It didn’t look broken on Monday night,” I said.
Frank sighed. “That’s because he replaced it with an identical one. We realized what had happened when we tried to open it and it didn’t work. When we asked Cole for the feed-”
“Bastard didn’t even try to avoid the camera.” Shaking his head, Cole slid the cigarette he’d wedged behind his ear and tapped it on the table.
Rodrigo lowered his fingers from his earring. “What’s he planning on doing with all the Sillin he took?”
“We think he’ll either try to sell it to other packs,” Liam said, “or use it on us.”
Rodrigo snorted. “How the hell could he swing that?”
“He could spike our drinks or mix it into our food,” Liam said. “Sillin is tasteless, so it’s not like any of us would notice.”
When the hairy-chested wolf ogled the carafes I’d set in the middle of the table, Little J spit out the gulp of water he’d just taken, then stuck his arm in front of his face and watched his limb until the strawberry-blond hairs thickened and turned into tawny fur.
“I didn’t contaminate the water,” I gritted out.
“But did you stay next to it all day?” Rodrigo asked.
“Everest isn’t in Boulder,” I said.
“Really?” The man linked his fingers together. “And how do you know that? Did he text you?”
“Enough!” August’s voice detonated like a gunshot in the room. “Ness isn’t Everest’s ally. He used her, made her feel guilty for something she didn’t do, so cut her some fucking slack!”
Ping. A penny for his mom’s jar.
Liam’s lips tightened, but he didn’t reprimand August for his outburst. At least not out loud. My stomach clenched from my heightened nerves, or from our bond, I wasn’t sure. I laid my palm over my abdomen, hoping heat and pressure could undo the tension.
A second later, Liam stole my hand away from my stomach, laced our fingers, and tugged. My chair rolled and bumped into his.
I frowned at him, but his eyes were fixed on August. August who’d seized one of the glass carafes and poured himself water. Half of the contents sloshed over the rim. He mopped it up with the sleeve of his long-sleeved Henley, then lifted the glass to his mouth and drank long and hard. Realizing Liam was trying to make a statement, I stole my hand out of his.
The man who’d placed his palm on Rodrigo’s arm earlier quirked a dark-blond eyebrow. “Maybe Lucy knows what her son is up to.”
Jeb made a deep keening sound that was more animal than human.