Chapter 38
Three days later, her phone rang from an unknown number, and Tuesday’s stomach rose into her heart.
She answered the phone, and her heart rate went crazy when she heard Cora’s voice.
“I can only think of one thing you’d ask to come to me for, instead of Kenny. I’m not sure why you want Marco included, but if you come tomorrow between three and seven, we’ll be able to meet with you.”
“Thank you. Can I bring my grandmother?”
“Of course. Everyone respects June’s advice, and I’m sure she’ll be a comfort for you, though in the end, all decisions will have to be yours.”
“I know. Thank you for your time. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She stressed over what to wear and ended up in a hunter-green skirt that swooshed when she walked, with a simple white blouse. Dressy without being over the top, because it was a little like visiting royalty, and you don’t do that in jeans.
On the bottom of the mountain the next day, she stopped to buy an expensive bottle of wine.
She wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to offer as her gift to the power-couple until she saw the perfect Barolo — Italian, aged to perfection, twice the amount she’d budgeted, but it was so perfect, she bought two bottles: one to gift, and one to drink with a nice homemade pasta meal she would make for herself in the coming days.
- - - ? - - -
The mountain road to Homewood wound tightly back and forth and all around.
Her grandmother filled the silence with gossip about the newest pack family.
The father had been transferred to Chattanooga, and the parents had oathed in.
Their kids were too young to have had their first change, but the oldest wasn’t far from it.
Tuesday nodded and kept up the conversation, but wondered if she’d ever actually meet this family.
An eagle shifter watched them walk from the parking area to the front door, and Tuesday was relieved when Cora opened the door to welcome them in.
She walked them downstairs through hallways Tuesday would never find her way back out of, and then they were in what was clearly Marco’s office.
It was warmly lit, with a large screen on the wall showing a view of the front yard, complete with curtains around and over it to give the impression of a window.
Marco stood and moved around his desk, “Welcome to Homewood, Tuesday and June. Let us sit and talk.”
Tuesday turned to Cora. “I brought… it’s a joint gift. I hope it’s okay.”
“Oh, wow,” Cora said. “Thank you. This is wonderful.”
“The two of us will enjoy it together,” Marco said. “It’s an exceptionally thoughtful gift. Thank you.”
The four sat on opposite sofas, facing each other across a low table, and then there was nothing left to do but say it.
“Thank you, both of you, for meeting with me. The thing is… I’m in love with a member of the Rolling Thunder MC. His name is Knife, and we’ve been…”
She sighed. “We started spending time together in February. It became serious despite both of us knowing it couldn’t.”
Cora didn’t say anything. Her expression was neutral, and Marco’s was both pleasant and blank at the same time.
“The MC has rules against members having a close relationship with someone who can’t keep their secrets,” Tuesday added, hoping she didn’t have to spell it out more.
“They do, indeed,” Marco said.
“After the big party, the one here, I knew we had to split. We were lying to ourselves, thinking it could just be friends with benefits.” She stared at her hands. “I broke it off that night, and he told me he loved me, but then he let me walk away.”
“And you ended it,” Cora said. “Not him.”
“Yes. The day broke my heart, being so close to him without acknowledging what we were to each other.”
She looked at Marco. “I saw you watching us at the party. We accidentally ended up across the food table from each other, and when I turned, I saw you watching us. I’d like to know what you saw.”
Marco was quiet for a moment before saying, “I saw two people managing an impossible situation with considerable pain on both sides.” A pause. “I saw his brothers clock it. And I saw him navigate that without lying and without betraying either of you, which was not a simple thing to do.”
“Do you think I’m crazy for doing this?”
He held her gaze. “No one can make this decision for you, and I can’t tell you how he’ll respond.
The feelings are clearly present on both sides, but you already know this.
What happens next? If you do what you’re considering?
” He spread his hands slightly. “That’s between you and him. I can’t add to what you already know.”
She nodded. She’d known that would probably be his answer, but she’d still had to ask.
Cora leaned forward. “You understand what you’re asking. This isn’t a transfer to another pack. This is full severance, with major legal implications. Permanent, unless you can convince Kenny to take you back, or find another alpha to take you in.”
“I understand.”
“Kenny will know the moment it’s done. I’ll speak to him before you leave Homewood.” Cora’s voice was even, not unkind. “He’ll be angry with both you and the situation. He’ll need time.”
Tuesday didn’t trust her voice, so she nodded.
“Your family remains your family. Blood doesn’t change. But the pack energy, the bond, the connection you’ve felt since you were old enough to oath — that ends. All of it. At once.” She sat back. “It’s going to hurt worse than you can imagine.”
Tuesday breathed out. “I figured.”
“I’ll need you to ask me to do it now, and then restate it later, just before I do it.”
“Please sever my ties to the pack.”
Her grandmother breathed out in pain, and Tuesday looked at her.
“Your decision, and I’ll support you in it. I’ve already told you I’ll always be your grandmother, no matter what.”
Cora stood, walked around the table to an open area of floor, and told her, “You’ll want to be on your knees for this, not because I’m alpha and I demand it, but so you don’t fall on your face or your ass when I sever the bonds and you lose… all of it. At once.”
Tuesday stood and walked to her, then went to her knees.
Cora’s fingers suddenly had sharp claws on the ends, and she swiped across Tuesday’s cheek with one of them. The claws disappeared, a finger collected the blood dripping down the side of her face, and Cora lifted the finger to her own mouth. Licked it.
“You’ll need to say you wish to be a lone wolf, that you wish to cut all ties to the pack, and you deny the oaths you made to both Randall and Kenny,” Marco said from behind her.
With her heart in her throat so tight it was hard to get the words out, Tuesday said, “I wish to be a lone wolf, to cut all ties to the pack. I deny all oaths made to Randall, and then again to Kenny.”
Cora’s power moved through her like a storm, and then her world turned inside out, permeated by pain.
She’d thought it would feel like something being taken, but it felt as if she was emptied.
Like a sound she didn’t know was ever-present was suddenly silenced, and that lack was more painful than anything she’d ever felt in her life.
A frequency playing every moment of her life, suddenly switched off. The power and heat that’d pulsed through her blood since she’d first changed was simply gone. Severed.
She fell on her side, grateful Cora hadn’t done this when she was standing. Tears and snot flowed. She tried to scream, to somehow alleviate the agony, but couldn’t draw enough breath to power more than whimpers.
The pain was everywhere and nowhere. Her very soul had been severed from the energy that’d powered it, and she had to figure out how to get what she needed from the universe. From the air around her. The pain was in every cell of her body. In every raw nerve ending.
And in her heart and soul.
Cora walked away, and Marco crouched beside her. “I won’t do you any favors by offering energy for a short time. Breathe in your own power. That’s all you’ll have now. What you can breathe in and hold onto.”
She didn’t know how long she writhed on the floor. Long enough that she became aware, eventually, of her own gasping, desperate breathing, of her heart struggling to beat. Of the quiet that was going to be her life now.
She made herself stand and was surprised when her legs held.
“Take whatever time you need,” Cora said.
“I can manage the walk to the car,” Tuesday said. “Thank you for your help.”
“June will need to drive you down the mountain.”
“I can certainly do that,” her grandmother said. “At last, I’ll get to see what’s so special about this SUV over the ones that cost less than a quarter of what it does.”
So her grandmother had looked it up. The thought made Tuesday want to smile, but she couldn’t quite manage it. Everything still hurt like fuck, but she somehow managed to put one foot in front of the other and stay upright.
Cora walked them to the door, and her last words were, “You should know that one doesn’t drive onto the MC’s compound without an invitation.
If you want to talk to someone in the clubhouse without calling or texting first, you go to the restaurant across the street and let someone in a vest know who you want to see. ”
“Thanks for that,” Tuesday told her. “For all of it. For not making it harder than it had to be.”
“You’d made your mind up before you wrote the letter.
I’m sorry it came to this, but I truly hope it works out for you.
” She drew in a breath. “If it does not, and if Kenny won’t take you back, I’ll welcome you into our little pack.
There’s something to be said for someone strong enough to make this decision and go through with it.
Now, go get your man, so it doesn’t come to that. ”
Her grandmother was quiet on the way down the mountain, at first, but then thankfully filled in the silence.
“Wow, it really does drive better, doesn’t it? I mean, not enough to spend that much more, but I get the difference. It isn’t just a name-brand thing. It has more power, and the steering is easier. The balance when it goes around curves is quite different.”