Justus

“You are brilliant!” I whispered as I tugged Kaci into her bedroom and closed the door at my back. “Also, you’re beautiful. Have I ever mentioned that you’re beautiful?” I pressed her against the wall with my body and nibbled on the back of her jaw, just beneath her ear. “And delicious,” I murmured against her skin. “How did you know that would happen?”

She giggled. Then she purred, deep in her throat, as she ran her hands over the front of my shirt. “I didn’t know for sure, but I figured most people would vote for themselves, if they were nominated. And Pierce’s was the vote I couldn’t be sure of, so I thought we should try to take him out of play entirely. But I truly had no idea Davidson or Gardner would vote for him too.”

“You totally split the vote.” I ran one hand into her hair. The only thing sexier than Kaci Dillion, it turned out, was Kaci Dillion working to save my life.

“Yeah, I guess I did.” She looked pretty pleased with herself, and the confidence—well deserved—made her even hotter.

“Hey—” The door lurched forward, throwing Kaci into me, and Faythe made a startled noise from the other side.

Kaci pulled me away from the door and opened it. “Sorry,” she said as our Alpha stepped inside.

Faythe glanced at me, then at Kaci’s disheveled hair. Then she pushed the door closed. “The recess is about over. I just wanted to…” She frowned. “That was…”

“Brilliant?” I suggested.

“Yes. Exactly.” Faythe smiled, and she looked…proud. “I had no idea you had such a politically savvy mind!”

“Me neither,” Kaci admitted.

I shrugged. “I knew.” They both turned to me, and Kaci actually rolled her eyes. “Seriously. I knew from that phone call you made to Taylor the other day. No, wait, from the one you made to Faythe, while we were on the way to the airport!”

“What?” Faythe turned on her. “Well, I guess in retrospect, you were playing me.”

“Like a fiddle,” I agreed, and Kaci elbowed me. “What? I meant it as a compliment.”

“Manipulating one’s Alpha isn’t generally considered a positive trait, but…well done out there,” Faythe finished. “No matter how the rest of this plays out, you’ve given Justus a much better shot than he had going into this whole thing.”

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked as I slid my arm around Kaci’s waist.

Faythe shrugged. “Our only real option is to try to put together a tribunal that will at least give you a fair trial.”

“What are the chances we’ll be able to do that?” I asked.

“Well, we’re going to try for a redraw of just Paul Blackwell’s seat, so that we don’t risk losing Di Carlo’s vote in your favor.”

“But that means we’ll also keep Ed Taylor’s vote against him,” Kaci said.

Faythe nodded. “Unfortunately, it also means we risk drawing Robert’s name.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “That hardly seems fair, considering what they tried to do.”

“It isn’t fair,” Kaci insisted. “Especially considering that Faythe, Marc, and Titus have to recuse themselves, even though they didn’t do anything wrong.”

Excitement shot through me, and I grabbed Kaci’s hand as I turned to Faythe. “I might have an idea about how to even the field…”

* * *

“For our last order of business in what’s turned out to be a longer-than-expected evening, we need to fill the empty space left on the tribunal by Paul Blackwell’s death.” Rick Wade looked particularly satisfied by his position at the head of the table. And the truth was that I was kind of happy for him, despite my belief that—as council chair—he should have been able to anticipate the Taylors’ mutiny. “Faythe has asked that we keep the rest of the tribunal intact, so if there are no objections to that…?”

All eyes turned to Ed Taylor, but he remained silent. Of course he wasn’t going to object, because if they redrew the entire tribunal, he’d likely lose his spot on it.

“Actually…” Several surprised faces turned toward Faythe. “We’ve decided we’d like to redraw both Blackwell’s seat and Ed Taylor’s seat.”

“What? On what grounds?” Taylor demanded, his hands fisted on the table.

“On the grounds that you have an unfair bias against me,” I blurted out.

Marc gave me a subtle but firm shake of his head. I knew it wasn’t wise to butt in, unacknowledged by the council, but my life was at risk!

“Yes,” Faythe said, drawing their attention away from me. Then she turned to my brother. “Titus?”

Titus cleared his throat. “Two days ago, Ed Taylor called to offer me his vote in Justus’s favor, in exchange for my vote to help him unseat Rick Wade as council chair. He said he’d formed an alliance with his brother and that if I didn’t help them, they’d vote to execute my brother.”

“This is ridiculous!” Taylor stood, his face flaming.

Faythe actually rolled her eyes. “Sit down, Ed. Titus told us about the ‘deal’ you proposed just hours after you called him. Titus, Marc, Rick and I all knew coming into this meeting that you’d call for a revote on the council chair.”

“It’s true,” Rick Wade said. “Don’t dig yourself any deeper by lying.”

“It’s not against the rules to form alliances,” Taylor insisted.

“No, though if there’s nothing in our bylaws prohibiting you from buying votes, there should be,” Faythe said. “Either way, it’s pretty obvious that since Titus didn’t take your deal, you’ll be out to get Justus. Which means you have no business on the tribunal. I make a motion to remove Ed Taylor from the tribunal. And to remove Robert from consideration.”

“Seconded,” Titus said.

“All in favor?” Rick asked. Nine hands rose around the table. Only the Taylors declined to vote. “Motion carried. We will now be replacing both Ed Taylor and Paul Blackwell on the tribunal, through the traditional random draw. Faythe, Marc, Titus, Ed, and Robert are all excluded. As is Bert, since he’s already on the tribunal.”

Faythe set a plastic cup in the middle of the dining room table. “Coins in.”

Each of the Alphas who hadn’t been excluded stood and dug a coin from his pocket. “Quarters?” I whispered to Kaci. But they looked a little big for quarters. And they were copper, rather than silver.

“Territory coins,” she whispered back. “Each one is engraved with the shape of the territory. They only use them to make quick work of drawing names, but they’re kind of a status symbol, passed from Alpha to Alpha as they retire. Or die, in Blackwell’s case.” She shrugged. “I guess Titus will have to get one made.”

Six Alphas dropped their coins into the cup, and Faythe shook it. “Bert, why don’t you draw?” Faythe held the cup out to him.

Di Carlo reached inside without looking, and plucked out a coin. He held it up between his forefinger and thumb, so everyone around the table could see. “Wes Gardner. Great Lakes territory.”

I glanced at Kaci to confirm what I was pretty sure I knew, and she gave me a small shake of her head. Gardner was not a friendly vote.

My chest felt tight as Faythe shook the cup again. The next coin pulled would determine whether I lived or died. Again, that fact seemed so infuriatingly arbitrary.

Di Carlo plucked another coin from the cup without looking. He showed it to the table, but I was too far away to make out the shape on the coin. “Isaac Wade. Appalachian territory.”

Kaci’s breath burst from her lungs in a sob of relief. Faythe gave her a smile. And slowly, my fate sank in. Isaac was Rick’s son. Abby’s brother. Jace’s brother-in-law. Faythe’s cousin and ally. He was a friendly vote.

Even if the tribunal found me guilty, I was going to live.

Ed Taylor stomped from the room without a word. Robert followed him.

Faythe and her allies were all smiles. Titus looked…jubilant. Relieved.

Despite the fact that not a single vote had been cast—that my trial hadn’t even started—it was evidently widely assumed that my fate had already been determined. My testimony would merely be a formality. As would the vote.

“Thank you, gentlemen—and Faythe.” Rick Wade beamed at the room in general. “The tribunal will convene in Montana tomorrow for Justus’s trial. Any interested party is welcome to attend, but I want to remind you that spectators are not allowed to speak during the trial. I will see you all there! Dismissed.”

Kaci threw her arms around me, and I squeezed her so tightly I wasn’t sure she could actually breathe. “Thank you,” I whispered into her hair. “Thank you so much.”

“I didn’t really do anything,” she said, her face pressed against my chest.

“Bullshit. You did everything.” I let her go so that I could kiss her, and when we came up for air, I found my brother watching us from a few feet away, a smile hovering beneath his typically stern expression.

“Kaci.” Titus took her hand. “I’m so sorry for what I did. I have no excuse, other than that I was scared for Justus’s life, and the only way I could see to save him was to make him give you up. I hope you can forgive me.”

“I forgive you.” She smiled as she held her hand up to show off her ring. “I did something stupid to save him too.”

I laughed and slid my arm around her waist.

“Welcome to the family, Kaci,” Titus said.

“So, we can…be married for real?” She looked up at me with hope shining in her eyes.

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute.” Marc crossed the room in three steps. “Maybe we could talk about an annulment, then a long engagement?”

“I wasn’t asking you,” she informed him. Then she turned back to me, grinning. “So? Are you going to make me propose twice?”

“That is tempting,” I teased. “But no. We’re already married for real.”

“You know what I mean,” she whispered. As if the room full of shifters with super-powered hearing couldn’t hear her. “I want to be married for real.”

“I know what you mean, and they do to,” I stage-whispered back.

“Okay, I’m out.” Marc plucked his glass from the table and drained it in one gulp. Then he kissed Faythe on his way out of the room. “You let me know how that turns out. I’m going to check on the boys.”

“I’ll come with you,” she said, shooting a meaningful look at my brother. “Titus, you’re on chaperone duty. I have to get us packed for tomorrow.”

“We should pack too,” Kaci said as her hand curled around mine. “If we’re actually going to show up for your trial.”

“We are.” I was ready to get it over with. To accept whatever non-lethal punishment they handed out, so I could get on with my life. With my marriage.

But Titus seemed to read my thoughts in my expression. “I’ll help you pack,” he said. “And I better not find any of your laundry in her hamper.”