Eleven #4
He slid his arms in immediately and wrapped it around himself.
The robe was warm and beautifully made, an ornamental garment fit for a king, made of thick, padded cotton, brocade, and silk.
The toggle clasps holding it closed were made of gold.
It was intricately embroidered around the collar and sleeves and was, quite simply, a work of art.
Cole rounded on her, yanking her into his arms and holding her tight. “Thank you for taking care of my brother.”
“Of course. I told you I would.”
“Yes, you did,” he rumbled, the emotion playing havoc on his voice. “I was scared, but Mere never doubted you. He has complete faith in you.”
“As well he should,” she said, hugging him back before easing free.
“This covering is a gift from Teague that he bade me to give to you. You should treasure it. He doesn’t often create garments anymore.
Also, he graciously relieved the men in the cabin of their heads, so there is more cleanup to be done there. And as you already know, I don’t wash.”
“I do know that.” He smiled at her. “I’ll never forget this, and will be forever in your debt.”
“No debt. Evan’s mine too, is he not?”
“Yes, he is,” Cole agreed with a sigh.
“And Teague feels protective over him as well. And of you, Alpha, because you’re bound to Merritt, who cared for him before he even knew he wanted that in his life.”
Cole turned to me. “Thank you for being here and standing at my side.”
“Always,” I told him, then turned to Evan. “I need you to walk Ondine home so she can rest, and keep an eye on her, all right?”
He nodded, smiling, before he slammed into me hard, hugging tight.
“Everything is gonna be all right,” I promised him. “But after today, you won’t ever see your uncle again.”
“I know. He’s responsible for what happened to my father.” He sucked in a breath. “And I know what Cole has to do.”
“Not Cole,” I told him. “Me. And I hope you can find it in your heart to––”
“We’re people, Mere, and I know that. But we’re wolves too, and everything can’t be talked through or fixed. My father taught me that. He said sometimes, there has to be atonement in blood.”
“Yes.” I gave him a last squeeze before he offered Ondine his arm and they started back up the hill toward my property.
“Everyone,” Cole said, addressing the brave men and women of his pack who had fought along with him.
“From today, I am alpha of the Swann Pack. We’re going to turn the main house into a place where all you unmarried people can live, with my beta, Reggie Cunningham, taking up residence on the top floor with his intended, Helene. ”
There was clapping and whistling, and Reggie looked away and pretended he was looking at something riveting toward the tree line.
“Fletcher Beauden will live on the first floor and be in charge of the management of the home, sharing that responsibility equally with his sister, Meg.”
Meg, a woman I’d never met, but who Cole obviously knew and valued, came up and gave her brother a tentative hug, being careful of his injuries.
Cole then turned to his uncle, aunt, and cousin.
“The house you built to impress others solely for the purpose of securing the most profitable mating for your son, will now benefit the entire pack.”
There was applause after that.
“Tomorrow, Reggie will make arrangements to have everything you own moved out of the house. He will supervise the packing to make sure nothing that belongs here travels with you and that all your possessions are removed. The main account and ownership of the land both need to be transferred to me tomorrow. All your personal assets, your real estate portfolio, and your investments will remain with you. All I want is the money the pack uses collectively to send children to college and, again, all the land purchased in Coille.”
After a moment, Justin replied, “Your terms are agreeable.”
“I want to see signed, notarized documents of transfer, do you understand?”
“I do.”
“You will not stay a moment more on this land, and you will need to find other accommodations away from here for this evening.”
Both Justin and Narah nodded.
“Reggie will watch over you tomorrow, and I never want to see either one of you again.” His gaze went to Justin then. “For what you attempted to do to my mate, I could have your head, but to take a son from his mother is grievous, as my mate stands strong beside me.”
Justin shivered but said nothing.
“No amount of apologies would be enough for me, or this pack, from any of you, so we won’t hear excuses. Instead I order your banishment from the Swann Pack for all time. You will go by your mother’s maiden name going forward.”
Cole turned away from them and looked at the men from the Haviland Pack, seated in the grass. “Who speaks for you?”
One raised his hand, and Cole nodded for him to go ahead.
“I’m Rafe Haviland, nephew of Matthias, cousin of Tuss.”
“Are there any mates at home who will grieve the loss of your alpha and his son?”
“No, Alpha.”
“Will you take your dead with you?”
“We will not. You’ve freed us. I will return and take over the Haviland Pack, release all the women gathered in preparation for our return with you, and find a new direction for the pack that does not include murder, conspiracy, or subjugation, either within our pack or outside of it.”
Cole nodded. “Then we will care for your dead.”
“We thank you, and vow that no one from my pack will ever return here.”
“Keep that promise.”
“We will.”
“Go in peace.”
The men got up, many unsteady or needing help from their pack mates, and trudged across the lawn toward the road, where they’d left the cars they came in.
When Cole turned to me, he smiled for a moment, and then his brows furrowed. “Your eyes are glowing.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but Abel Swann can never leave here. For all that he’s done, I can’t allow it.” I breathed out. “It’s impossible.”
“I know,” he assured me, “there’s no other way it can be.”
“He needs to come with me to the grove, because what Evan said was right. Sometimes, the only atonement is through blood.”
He nodded.
“I need everyone in the main house. You as well,” I told him.
“No,” he said, and I heard the low rumble of his wolf. “I am the alpha, and you are my mate. I go everywhere you go.”
I couldn’t argue.
He turned to his new pack then.
“First, we need to move these men, as well as the three in the cabin, up the hill to Merritt’s land.
Once that’s done, we will all have our Thanksgiving feast together in the house, and I will explain to you all what I intend for our pack going forward, the close family group that I want to create with all of your help. ”
As several men came forward to follow Cole’s order, Narah leaned close to Abel, tried to smile, and kissed him softly on the cheek. Then she stood up and moved around him to stand next to her still-seated son.
Justin did the same—leaned close, kissed his father’s cheek, said that he would always love him, then rose with Narah’s help.
For his part, Abel looked from one to the other, then stared down at the grass between his knees.
Reggie walked over to them and untied Justin’s hands, and Narah took her son’s arm and led him toward the house.
They had to pack enough for the evening.
When Reggie followed them, Helene joined him, taking his good arm.
Even though he was healing quickly, she was still careful.
I liked seeing that she wasn’t letting Reggie out of her sight, not trusting Narah and Justin alone with him. She would be a wonderful mate for him.
Cole walked over to Abel, dragged him to his feet, and started walking him up the hill toward my property.
“It was good of you not to beg your mate and son to help you,” Cole told him as we walked.
“I don’t want them killed as well.”
“I wouldn’t kill them. Justin’s power has been taken, so he can’t influence anyone anymore, and he’ll have the funds to take Narah far from here. Perhaps the two of them can go to Santa Monica and live near Oonagh. That would be nice for them.”
“Yes,” Abel agreed and then caught his breath. “How can you kill me when I protected you from a fiend?”
“You didn’t protect me,” Cole told him. “You forgot about me completely in your bloodlust to kill my father.”
“You can’t believe everything Matthias said.”
“Matthias spoke the truth,” I told Abel.
“And even if I didn’t know that, couldn’t taste the veracity of his words, I would believe him, because at that point, he had no reason to lie.
He thought, when he was talking to Cole, that he held all the cards.
He thought his men had gutted Ondine, that Evan had watched, and that if Cole didn’t leave with them, he’d kill his brother. ”
“I––”