Chapter Fourteen
This was not how Shane wanted to spend Sunday night.
He had hoped he could have called out from work, booked another night at the hotel, and made the excuse that he needed to see more of Oakfield.
It would be, of course, so that he could spend more time with Kimberly.
But, that would have been irresponsible as an alpha anyway. He could still dream, right?
Instead, he had to post bail for Andy and drag his ass to a private meeting in Larson Caves Park. He thought of calling all of his pack together to put it to a vote about what needed to be done about Andy. But Shane wasn’t in the mood to make this a democratic decision.
Paul’s phone call sent Shane into a downward spiral. Any progress he had made in blotting out the last of his father’s programming was gone. A once speckled and lightly stained psyche was dunked in a vat of dye and irrevocably changed.
So many thoughts bombarded him when he ended that call.
Andy disrespected you and Tolstone.
You should have never let him follow you from Warrington.
Now, Cole and Dominic, and likely Gage, all know you’re an incompetent alpha willing to let his pack run wild and commit crimes.
You’re no better than Wyatt, the guy who let one of his own pack assault Kimberly.
You’re weak. You can’t control your pack. They only followed you because you’re soft.
Kimberly doesn’t deserve a shifter who can’t keep a tight rein on his pack.
You failed.
He held onto that vein of anger and turned it toward an easier target. Shane requested Paul and Cody be present as witnesses, and the four of them met at Larson Caves Park.
Andy, the shifter who spent the last twenty-four hours in a city jail cell, stood before Shane, flanked by his two other pack mates.
If it were his father in Shane’s place, he would have shifted and exacted corporal punishment upon Andy.
Perhaps even taken a chunk of flesh from his arm or leg or ripped a rib from his torso.
Andy knew that possibility was not off the table, and his eyes shone with real fear, but Shane refused to let it sway his decision.
Neither would the hesitant expressions in Cody and Paul, who hadn’t seen what Shane was capable of yet.
He was Isaac Snyder’s son. A vein of cruelty was still under the surface, even if he buried it deep.
Andy would be given a chance, and one chance only, to explain himself. Then, the alpha would pass judgment.
“You have put our pack under suspicion,” Shane began.
“You have made the Prime Alpha doubt our capabilities to keep the peace in Tolstone while we’re here.
You committed a real crime, punishable by human law.
You have put yourself in the spotlight. If humans look too closely, they might see something we don’t want them to see.
” The hard, angry lines on Shane’s face deepened.
“You made a dumbass move, Andy. Why?” When Andy’s terror strangled his voice, Shane nailed him with dominance and shouted, “Why?”
Andy jumped and stammered out his defense.
“Shane, I … I don’t know what happened. Honest. All I remember was having this …
vision of the pack in danger. I saw hunters mowing down shifters, houses on fire, screams, and crying.
It was like something out of an apocalypse movie or something.
I’ve never had visions or premonitions. I’m just a preacher’s son.
You know that. I’m not crazy. I don’t see things.
I flipped out and just … I had this super strong urge to protect myself, protect the pack.
It felt like we were already in the warzone, and I had to arm us, or that’s what my brain was telling me.
” Andy held up his hands in supplication.
“I know now it wasn’t right. I shouldn’t have wigged out like that.
I should have talked to someone first. I’ve had all day to think about it.
Believe me, I know how I fucked up. I’ll pay the penalty.
I’ll pay whatever fines and do jail time if it comes to that. I’ll do anything to make this right.”
Shane absorbed it all. Not only what Andy said, but how he said it, the submissive posture, the pounding of his heart, and the sweat that rolled down his skin.
He never knew Andy to lie. He might have been lazy and apathetic to most things, but he wasn’t a liar.
If he told the truth, that meant he really saw something in his visions, and they should take notice.
“Have you told anyone else about what you saw?”
Andy nodded. “I told Cole about it when he arrested me, and he brought Dominic to the jail so I could tell him once I was more myself.”
Shane returned the nod. “Good. Because you won’t get another chance to tell him.
” Paul and Cody drew to attention, and three pairs of eyes fixed on their alpha.
“You may have had good intentions to keep the pack safe, but in doing so, you may have jeopardized our security in Tolstone. You betrayed my trust. I can’t forgive or forget that transgression. ”
Shane stepped forward and grabbed Andy’s throat.
His hands shot up to fight Shane’s hold, seizing his wrist. Shane’s grip was too firm to be broken.
Claws pinched into his skin, not enough to draw blood but enough to make his heart race faster.
This was just to get his attention, to let Andy know he meant what he was about to say.
By the way Andy’s pulse thrummed against his hand, Shane knew this threat worked.
“You, Andy Quint, are no longer part of this pack. You have until dawn to pack your shit and get out of Tolstone.”
Silent shock coursed through the three other shifters.
“But … the charges,” Cody offered.
“I will take care of the mess.” Shane yanked Andy toward him and forced the shifter off his feet, the tips of his toes dragging in the dirt.
He glared with golden eyes, willing Andy to fear for his life.
“If I come to your apartment tomorrow and you’re still there, or your scent is still fresh, I’ll make sure you will never be part of another pack again. Do you understand?”
Andy gave the faintest of nods, as much as he could with Shane’s hand inhibiting his vocal cords.
Shane tossed him to the ground. Like a scared rabbit, Andy scrambled to his feet and dashed away into the dark forest.
He waited a moment, then closed his eyes.
An alpha held the ties of his pack, spiritual threads that stretched from one shifter to the other like an invisible web of connectedness.
He, alone, could control who entered his pack and who was cast out.
When he took on the pack from his father, Shane was taught how to gather the lines of the pack and weave them together so they would all know he was their leader, their alpha.
When Kevin stole half of his pack from him, Shane had to rip each tether from his soul.
Each severed connection felt like ripping out a hook impaled in his flesh, leaving him raw and his spirit hemorrhaging.
The other shifters felt only a fraction of his pain.
Now, he had to whittle down his pack one more time. He found Andy’s pack bond and hesitated for only a moment. Was this right? Was it overkill?
Shane inwardly writhed and then yanked Andy free from the pack. He gritted his teeth and rode through the painful aftershocks. He told himself it had to be done. For the safety of the pack.
Once the last, noisy clambering of his escape faded into the night, Shane looked at Cody and Paul. They waited for another order, but Shane could sense their reticence and the flash of grief in their eyes as they experienced the broken pack bond as well.
“You two can spread the word to the rest of the pack, that if anyone dares to step out of line again, if they break any law, shifter or human, I will not grant a second chance. We can’t afford to lose our place in Tolstone before I find us a new home … Understood?”
Paul gave a solemn, accepting nod. Cody, on the other hand, cast his stare to the ground and Shane saw his jaw flex. One solid bullet of dominance at the shifter drew out the affirmation he demanded.
Shane was done playing games. He was done taking this lightly. He was alpha and it was time he started to act like it. He wouldn’t lose control again.
*
Come Monday, Kimberly didn’t know what to think.
Shane dropped her off at her apartment the night before, gave her a lukewarm kiss, and sped off to the courthouse jail to attend to his pack crisis.
He gave no promise, but Kimberly sent a text to offer that he came back to her place when he was done.
But she heard nothing from him all night. The first word from him came midmorning after she was already at work.
I’m bad company right now. Raincheck.
Rainchecks. Half of what they shared was built on rainchecks lately.
But after what happened in the woods the afternoon before, Kimberly wasn’t sure how to interpret his response.
Whatever Shane needed to work through, he didn’t want her around to see it.
That reminded her of what she told him Friday night.
She didn’t want to bleed on him, and apparently, he didn’t either.
Kimberly went through the motions of work, filling orders and checking inventory in between taking new orders. Mondays were opportunities to catch up from the weekend and tended to be a little busier.
Working with flowers and opening up her creative side allowed her to focus in a way that nothing else did.
Her mind replayed through the weekend, every conversation, every touch, every nuanced implication about what this thing was between her and Shane.
Part of her wanted to respect his space.
The other part, the part that had hope they could be something more than friends, that they could live out their fevered teenage dream of running off into the sunset together, refused to let this go.
What Shane said outside of Oakfield echoed in her head.
You’re mine.