Justus

“What the hell were you thinking?” Titus demanded again the moment the door closed behind Kaci, and I could tell from the volume of his voice alone that he knew the room was virtually soundproof.

He’d commandeered Faythe’s office to yell at me.

“Do you mean the cash advance on my card, or trying to flee the country?” I sank onto the couch, trying to look calm and in control—and nothing like the kid he obviously still thought I was. “Or marrying Kaci?”

“I mean all three of them. Somehow you’ve managed to commit a trifecta of stupidity, and you dragged a traumatized little girl into it.”

“She’s not traumatized. She’s…scarred. Healed. She’s strong, and she’s smart. And she’s not a child.”

“She’s eighteen years old!”

It wouldn’t do any good to point out that it was perfectly legal to get married at eighteen, or that eighteen was old enough to vote. He would only point out all the things eighteen wasn’t old enough for. So I went with a different kind of truth. “She’s older at eighteen than I was.”

“She’s probably older at eighteen than you are now!” Titus snapped. “Please tell me you haven’t slept with her.”

Anger flared inside me like fuel dumped on a bonfire. I’d never really fought with Titus, yet suddenly, he felt more like an enemy than the lifelong ally I’d always thought of him as.

My brother knew what it was like to fall in love at an inconvenient time. He should be celebrating with me. Not grilling me.

“What Kaci and I have done is none of your business,” I growled.

“Do not take that tone with me,” he growled back, and I fought an infuriating instinct to cower away from him. This Alpha crap was bullshit. I was in the right. Kaci and I were both of age, and we’d made a legal and binding decision. One I would stick with until the day I died.

“She’s my wife, Titus.”

“Don’t—”

“You should be happy for me. You should be cracking open a bottle of fucking champaign and welcoming her to the family, not yelling at me. Not interrogating me.”

His mouth snapped shut, and he seemed to be consciously trying to edit whatever he wanted to say as he sank onto the couch across the rug from me. “She’s a child, Justus. So are you. Tell me this isn’t binding. Marc said he didn’t think you’d…consummated. I’ve spoken to my lawyer, and we can get this annulled if you two haven’t—”

“None. Of your. Business.” I managed to keep from growling that time, but only barely. “The things I will listen to from you right now include, ‘Congratulations, Justus, I’m so happy for you!’ and ‘She’s wonderful. Mom and Dad would’ve loved her. I hope you two are very happy.’”

His gaze darkened. “Mom and—”

“You have to say that, Titus,” I growled at him. “Someone has to say that, and you’re the only one left. They would love her. You know they would love her.”

“Of course they would love her. She’s fucking adorable, and Marc says she’s smart, and quick on her feet—hell, she wrecked a car to get away from a kidnapper—but none of that is really relevant. Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me? To all the people in my territory who depend on me? I’m fighting to get our territory recognized. To provide basic civil rights to a population that’s been disenfranchised for centuries. To protect them. To protect you. Marc and Faythe took you in as a favor to me. To help you. And you run off and sleep with their fucking daughter. You marry her to get your damned inheritance.”

“You know that’s not true.” I launched myself off the couch and paced toward Faythe’s desk, then turned to face him and sat on the edge of it.

“It’s not about what I know. It’s about what the council will think. It’s about the facts, and the picture they paint. In college you were with a different girl every week, until Ivy. Whom you’re on trial for infecting. Who died because she cheated on her boyfriend with you.”

“Do not throw that in my face. You know Drew—”

“I know what Drew did. I know that wasn’t your fault. I’m on your side. But they’re not. Half of the council—maybe more—is looking for any excuse to execute you. To make an example of you. You have to give them a reason to be on your side, but you skipped straight from infecting a girl you were cheating with to manipulating a traumatized eighteen-year-old tabby so you can access your trust fund, on your way to fleeing the country! What are they supposed to think? How are they supposed to rule in your favor now? How are they supposed to rule in my favor?”

“This isn’t about you, Titus.”

“Bullshit.” He stood, gesturing with both hands, just like our dad used to do when he was mad. “This is about all of us. Whether you like it or not, out here, you represent all strays. You don’t get the luxury of making mistakes any natural-born tom would get away with because when natural-born cats mess up, people assume they’ve made an isolated mistake, but when we mess up, they assume we’re demonstrating an innate inferiority. That we’re justifying their prejudices.”

“That’s bullshit!” I snapped.

“Yes.” Titus’s nod was short and sharp. “But it’s also reality. What your mistakes are telling the people who have the power to keep guys like you and me from becoming citizens is that if they let us into their world, we might steal their cars and gamble under age—either of which could draw the attention of the human authorities—and drag their precious daughters into a fucking crime spree! Tabbies are everything out here. You may not understand that, but—”

“I understand. I’ve been living the shifter immersion program for four months, Titus. But Kaci’s not like the other tabbies. They don’t think of her like that. They…” Anger flared inside me at just the memory of what I’d heard from Brian Taylor, and from Kaci herself. “They call her the man-eater.”

My brother blinked, his head cocked to the side. “What?”

“That’s what they call her behind her back. Though she hears them. She’s grown up like that. Feeling like a freak and a monster. Like no matter what she does, no one will ever want her, despite how rare and precious women are in their world, and how desperate they are for female shifters.”

“Why?” Titus’s forehead furrowed; obviously Marc hadn’t told him that part.

“Because when they found her, she’d been living on her own in the woods, stuck in cat form for so long that she’d nearly forgotten she was ever human. She was terrified and starving. She found a human corpse, and she ate from it to survive. But these assholes out here don’t understand shit like that. They’ve never been stuck in one form. They’ve never thought they were losing their minds, when their bodies start doing things they don’t understand. Demanding things they don’t want. They’ve never not known how to handle hunger, or rage, or bloodlust. But Kaci has. She’s just like us. Titus, she may have married me for the money—so we could both get the hell out of here—but I married her because I understand her. And because I knew after just one night with her that no one else would ever understand me like she does.” I sucked in a deep breath, then spit out the truth. “I fucking love her, man.”

“You…? She… She’s a stray?” He combed through his hair with one hand, and I enjoyed his confusion way more than I should have. Historically, there had been very few things that I understood but my older brother did not. “I thought Robyn was the only one.”

“She’s not a stray. She’s what they call a genetic recessive. Her parents both had the werecat gene, and one of their daughters inherited two recessives—which activates the gene—and the other didn’t. Kaci was born to human parents who had no idea shifters existed. Then she hit puberty, and one day: bam! She shifted into a big cat. Out of the blue. She wasn’t scratched. She didn’t grow up in a house full of shifters. She was a human, then she was a cat, with no preparation, warning, or infection.”

“Holy shit,” Titus whispered as he sank onto the couch again. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”

“I didn’t either. Evidently no one did. They theorize that she wasn’t the first incidence of that. She couldn’t have been. But Marc can tell you all about that. What I know is that after she shifted, she was terrified and freaked out, and she accidentally killed her mother and her sister, when they found her in the back yard.” I frowned. “Well, actually what they found was Kaci’s clothes, and a big black cat growling at them. They tried to defend themselves. She tried to defend herself, and shit went sideways. She’s been through things neither of us can imagine, Titus. So, you’re going to be fucking nice to her.”

My brother stood and pulled me into a hug. “I’m sorry Justus. I didn’t know. And Mom and Dad would like her.”

“Yeah. They would.” And for a second, I thought I’d actually gotten through to him. I thought maybe I could bring Kaci back in, and we could start over and be a happy fucking family for a few minutes.

But then I realized there was something off in his expression. In the sad but determined way he was looking at me. Like he looked at me the day he told me our parents had died.

“But Justus, that doesn’t change anything. Sit down. Please.”

“No. Just say whatever you’re going to say, so we can get on with this argument.” Because that was clearly all this discussion would ever be.

Titus held my gaze as he sank onto one of the couches again. “I’m releasing your funds.”

“What?” I sat on the sofa across from him. That wasn’t what I’d been expecting.

“I’m releasing your funds. I have that authority, as the executor. I’ve already bought you a ticket.”

“A ticket.” And suddenly I understood. “You want me to run? No. I’m not going, Titus. Not without Kaci.”

“You don’t need to run. The tribunal is going to rule in your favor, in absentia, the moment they have confirmation that you’re out of the country.”

“How do you know what they’re going to do?” And, more important, “Why would I need to leave, if they’re going to acquit?”

“Because that’s part of the deal I made. In a few years, after Kaci—” He had the decency to look uncomfortable with whatever he was about to say. “—has married and given birth to at least one child that isn’t yours, you can come back. Live a normal life. Still a member of the South-Central Pride, if you want. Or you can come to the Mississippi Valley. You’ll always be welcome at home.”

“But not until Kaci marries someone else.” This can’t be happening. This makes no sense. “Not until she has someone else’s kid.” Rage made my vision go dark around the edges. “She won’t do that. You can’t make her do that. How the hell could you make a deal like that? We’re not toys for you to play with Titus!”

“Of course not.” To his credit, he looked distinctly uncomfortable with the deal he’d struck. “I made no promises on her behalf, and no one’s going to make her do anything. But you won’t be welcome back until and unless they’re sure Kaci won’t be handing the keys to the kingdom to a stranger, for lack of a better analogy. That’s the only way this will work, Justus. The only way I could guarantee that they’re not going to execute you.”

“I don’t need your help! Kaci was working on the vote. We only needed one more. And if I don’t get that, she’s coming with me.”

“Grow up, Justus,” Titus’s voice had gone hard, his gaze narrowed and impatient. “That’s not how the world works. If she goes with you, they’ll hunt you both down to get her back. She’s not old enough to defect. And there’s nothing you can do to get that extra vote, now that Blackwell is dead. The Taylors will vote together.”

“You don’t know that.”

“In fact, I do.”

“Because you made your deal with them.” I sounded as stunned as I felt with that realization. “Without even talking to me. That’s why you don’t want to redraw names for my trial! You want Robert Taylor on the tribunal.”

He shrugged. “They called me and made an offer. They’re using you to get to me—to get me to cooperate—and they will vote to execute you if I don’t give them what they want. I’m trying to save your life, Justus.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that! Kaci’s already married. To me. And I’m not leaving her.”

“You have to. That’s part of the—.”

“I’m not taking your deal.” My jaw ached, as if my teeth no longer fit in my mouth. I stood, and the urge to rip into something—to destroy something—was so strong it was all I could think about. My fingers cramped. They curled up, as if they were grasping for something.

I knew what was happening. The rage storming through me was familiar enough by then that I understood exactly what my inner cat wanted. As far as feline-me was concerned, I would be with Kaci, or I would rip the world to shreds to get to her. There were no other options.

Kaci, or the utter destruction of everything and everyone who came between us.

“Justus…” Titus stood. “Your hands.”

I looked down and discovered that I had claws. I ran my tongue over my teeth, and one of my incisors drew blood.

“Walk it back,” he ordered, his voice low and calm. “Reverse the shift. You cannot lose control in here.”

“I’m not losing control.” Kaci had said the partial shift was normal. Useful, even. I didn’t have to worry unless my skin started to itch or my bones started to ache, which would indicate that my entire body was about to shift. “What do they want, Titus?” I demanded. “What is this deal you made? What is so important that you’re willing to tell a girl who loves me that she has to be with someone else. Someone who thinks she’s a monster. Who will only ever use her for the children he can—”

My bones started to ache at the thought of someone else touching her. Someone who might not recognize the vulnerability in her eyes when she took her clothes off. Someone who might not recognize the responsibility and the fucking honor that went along with—

I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw shut to keep my teeth in check. To keep the bones of my face from reforming—though it was actually the willpower behind the act that made that possible. And when I was sure I had it under control, I opened my eyes. I pinned my brother with my gaze.

“What on earth could be worth that, Titus? What do they want from you?”

“My vote.”

“What vote? You don’t have a vote.”

“But I will. Blackwell was the last holdout on officially hearing my petition. On setting a date. Now that he’s gone, the Taylors are willing to push it through. Immediately. And they’ve agreed vote in my favor and in yours—to accept the Mississippi Valley Pride and to find you innocent—if I vote to help them oust Rick Wade as council chair.”

“What? Why?”

Titus shrugged. “All the usual reasons, I suspect. Power, mostly. They’re working on an alliance, and they know that as a swing vote, I’d be against them on most issues. So they want the chair position as a concession. To maintain the balance of power. We have the majority on most issues, but they’d have the tiebreaker on anything close.”

“That’s bullshit. That’s not how a democracy works.”

“This isn’t a democracy, Justus! It never was. Deals are made before the votes are ever cast. No one comes to the table until all that is worked out beforehand. That’s just the way it goes.”

“This isn’t for me. It’s for you,” I growled. “This is for your fucking Pride.”

His gaze looked sad, but firm. “That’s not true. I gave up the Pride to protect you.”

“And now that you have it back, you’re trying to make me give up Kaci to protect your Pride.”

“No. The Taylors came to me. They told me they’d vote to convict—to execute—unless I vote for Ed as council chair.”

“That’s why they took Kaci. They were trying to lure me into the territory so they’d have me in custody when Ed Taylor called you.”

“Sounds about right. They’re calling an emergency meeting, and when they have my vote, they’ll move to drop the murder charge against you. Then, when you’re out of the country, they’ll drop the infection charge. Tit for tat. Once piece at a time, until everyone has what they want.”

“Everyone except Rick Wade. And Kaci and me.”

“Yes. Rick is collateral damage. But he’ll accept that like Vic evidently accepted the broken arm you gave him—it’s an occupational hazard.”

“And Kaci? How will she take this?”

Titus sighed. “Okay, you’re looking at this all wrong. What you’ll be doing—it’s for Kaci too. You two just met.”

“We met four months ago.”

“Four whole months?” He rolled his eyes. “Well then obviously it’s true love.”

“Don’t be an asshole. How long did you know Robyn before you were willing to go to war over her? War, Titus. You were willing to risk other people’s lives.”

“That wasn’t just for Robyn. That was for sovereignty over our own territory. To protect my men. To keep the council from invading.”

“To keep them from taking Robyn back,” I spat at him.

“It’s not the same, Justus. You two are kids! It’s young love. It’s first love. You can’t know that’s real until you’ve lived a little more. Gained a little experience. She’s hardly out of high school. You’re probably her first boyfriend.”

“She’s eighteen, not eighteenth century. I’m not her first boyfriend. And you’re full of shit. This is just as real as you and Robyn, and you—” My mouth snapped shut, and my newly feline teeth didn’t fit well into my human mouth.

He knew. He knew everything he was saying was utter crap, and but he was saying it anyway because he was…scared.

That’s what I was seeing in his eyes. Fear. For me.

I wasn’t going to talk him out of what he’d decided. Not with it coming from a place of fear. But that didn’t mean I had to do what he wanted me to.

“Does Brian know?”

Titus frowned. “Who’s Brian?”

“Brian Taylor. Faythe’s enforcer, and Ed’s son. Does he know his dad and uncle are trying to sell out Faythe and Marc’s closest ally?” I sank onto the couch again as the connection finally hit me. “This isn’t just about power. This is also revenge. Titus, they’re unseating Rick Wade, because his daughter picked Jace over Ed Taylor’s son! Abby Wade and Brian Taylor were supposed to get married. Someday Brian would have inherited Rick Wade’s territory. That would have put two Taylors on the council.”

“Three.” Titus groaned. “Robert Taylor’s been waiting for Paul Blackwell to step down for decades. Jace told me that any other Alpha would have retired more than twenty years ago, but Blackwell’s been putting it off so long that he has great grandchildren.”

“Then this is actually a play they’ve been trying to make for at least four years.”

Titus frowned. “How’d you come up with four?”

“That’s how long Abby and Brian were engaged.” I leaned back on the couch, one hand over my forehead as another connection fell into place. “Oh shit.”

I wish I didn’t know what I know about Kaci, because someone’s gotta make a mom out of her.

The memory of Brian Taylor’s words sent chills marching across my skin. “They want to pair her with Brian. He said something the other day, and I didn’t really process it, but that has to be what they’re planning.” I leaned back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling as I followed the logical breadcrumb trail to its end. “When Abby ran off with Jace, Rick Wade lost his heir, and soon he’ll have lost his leadership of the council. Eventually the council will have to place a fertile tabby in his territory, and Kaci’s the only one without a home of her own. If they can pair Brian with her before that happens, he’ll get control of Wade’s territory and his seat on the council. Right?”

Titus frowned. “From what I understand of the council’s origins and procedures, that does seem to be a possibility. Every Alpha gets a seat on the council, and traditionally, an Alpha must be married to a tabby and must father her children. Faythe and Marc’s partnership being the obvious exception.”

I nodded. That was my understanding too. “So when Rick Wade retires, if the council gives his territory to Brian and Kaci…” I let my brother draw the obvious conclusion for himself.

“The Taylors will have taken everything from the man they blame for letting Abby break her engagement to Brian.”

“And they’ll have used us to do it,” I told him. “They’re playing us like chess pieces.”

Titus exhaled, and he seemed to still be processing. Then he looked me in the eye. “When did you get so smart?”

That seemed to be a serious question.

“It runs in the family.” I huffed. “Though I wasn’t so sure, for a minute there.”

“Are you calling me stupid?”

I shrugged. “You were saying some pretty stupid shit. If they’re willing to wait that long, to put that many pieces into play, and to threaten to execute me to get you to go along…you have no way of knowing they’ll stick to their word, Titus. You could do what they want, and they could still hunt me down and bring new charges.”

“But once they have what they want, why would they bother?”

“Because they know what my own brother doesn’t seem to have figured out yet. Executing me is the only way they’ll be able to keep me from Kaci.”