Chapter Twenty-Two
When they pulled up at their grandparents’ land, Mac noted that Huston took a different, less-used back road and parked at the edge of the old barn.
“No use being flashy,” Huston told him as he got out. He left the keys in the ignition. If they transformed they lost their clothing, which tended to rip and then money or keys got lost.
Long ago they’d learned to leave the keys in the car so even if they lost everything, including their clothes, they still could get in the car and go home.
“Dad’s in the bunkhouse,” Everett said quietly.
The moment hung there. This was it. If he went to see his uncle before he showed up at the house to discipline his father and brother, he’d be drawing that line that’d separate him from them for good. He’d be taking up the leadership his father had simply let fall from his hands.
He turned toward the bunkhouse instead of staying on the path to the main house.
Inside, Bern waited with six of the ten elders.
Huston and Everett settled at either side of Mac as he nodded his greeting to the others gathered there.
“We’re all here to pledge, openly and without hesitation, our fealty to you as Patron,” Bern said. “The rest of the elders will wait to see what you do next.”
Then they went to one knee, fist and forearm over their hearts.
The weight of it, of their loyalty and strength, fit right into spaces he hadn’t known he possessed. All just waiting for this moment.
“I humbly accept, proud to lead,” Mac told them as he indicated they stand once more.
These men and women were the strongest in Pembry. The most respected. With this group on his side going in, the coming trial would be easier. He’d still have to play everything exactly right to survive; agitated wolves who didn’t have a clear leader would tear one another apart after a while. Mac would be fighting against that and he’d have to tap into their greater need to belong. The need of pack, fraternity and community.
“Full house tonight,” Bern told him as they approached the wall of glass beyond. The kitchen was full, as was the table, where his father sat, unrepentant, with Darrell at his side.
His mother perched on a couch in the family room, staring off into space. He wished for Aimee just then. Knowing she’d help, even after how terrible his parents had been to her and her loved ones.
“Yeah, I see some cronies around. I imagine Nan let them in for a reason so I’ll let it go.” His father’s crew, a bunch of friends since high school so he figured they should know better, were derogatively known as the cronies. Good enough guys. Or they used to be, but like him, they’d gone lazy and entitled.
Bern snorted.
“You took your sweet time,” his father said, standing and sending the chair back a few feet.
“Shut up and sit down.” Mac kept walking, not stopping until he’d gone to his grandmother and showed his respect.
She smiled at him, pride clear. “You got this, punkin.”
He knew he did. Which was scary enough in its own right.
“You don’t tell me to shut up,” his dad challenged.
“For fuck’s sake, Dwayne, you’ve done enough. Rein it in before we lose everything,” his mother said from across the room.
“Don’t you talk that way in my house,” Nan told her and his mom flipped her off.
He didn’t really blame his mom for that. His grandmother could be such a self-righteous person for someone who smoked weed when she thought no one knew.
“Enough. This is not why we’re all here. Mom, I need you over here now.” Mac sat at the head of the table opposite his father. In his grandfather’s old seat. His mom settled in at the middle and Samuel came to sit just behind Mac.
“You don’t get to decide that. You’re not Patron yet,” his father said after his gaze flicked over to Samuel. The eldest, Billy, sat next to their mother at the table, but on Mac’s side, which given his brother’s extreme avoidance of any kind of conflict, was a statement in Mac’s favor.
“I get to decide everything right now. You brought an outsider into Diablo Lake without sanction.”
“It had to be done. She’s a lying whore.”
“We’re going to pause a moment right here.” Mac folded his hands on the tabletop in front of him, his knuckles red from where he’d given his father the swollen nose and developing black eye.
His grandmother put a cup of cocoa with little marshmallows at his right hand. The absurdity of it nearly made him laugh. He thanked her because he liked doughnuts on his birthday too much not to.
“Right now this is just you and me. Mac to Dwayne. If you speak that way about her again I will knock out your teeth. And when they grow back I’ll knock them out again. And so on.”
He sipped his cocoa, noting that she’d put in some cinnamon, his favorite.
“Now, we’re back to our situation as Pembry wolves. Because you violated the most sacred rule. You endangered us all and for what? None of them are going to vote for you now. Well fucking done.”
Nan tutted at him but he didn’t flip her off.
“The Consort has filed a complaint, as have the Dooleys and the cats. They had to use magic on the human to keep her from exposing us all. What were you thinking other than what a thin-skinned sore loser you are?”
“That b—girl,” he corrected himself before he called Aimee a name and got his teeth knocked out. Subtly, more energy in the room shifted to Mac as his father’s support dwindled. “She had to be exposed.”
“You broke the law. You brought that human woman here unsanctioned. You exposed us all. And on a side note, you destroyed that human’s family and told her kids. What right do you have to act like that?”
“What about the witch trying to shove me out of my job? No one cares about that?”
“He doesn’t because he’s nailing that witch.”
Mac got up, stalked over to his brother and yanked him up, out of the chair.
“You and me got some talking to do when this official pack business is over,” Mac snarled as he got in his brother’s face.
“You think.”
Mac sneered. “That’s your response? It’s going to feel so good to beat the hell out of you. Again. Sit down now and let the adults talk.” He turned his back and headed to his place once more.
“I know Darrell and Dwayne Pembry were part of this action. The question remains as to who else was involved.” Mac looked to his mother.
“If I’d known this was what they were up to I’d have stopped it. These two have no idea what they’ve done. I wanted you to end up with the witch! I wanted her in the pack to make us stronger. I don’t know if I want some homewrecker in this family though.”
“As Darrell and Dad know, the human male had an elaborate second life. His mistresses had no idea he was married, including Aimee.” Several people had told him independent of one another, and Carl Benton had been one of them. He’d given Mac a brief overview, including the way Aimee’d found out not too very long before she and Mac started dating. Long after she’d broken things off with the jerk.
“Your mother didn’t know.” At least his dad had some honor left and wasn’t going to let his wife be punished for his misdeeds. “This was part and parcel of the election. I had a right to expose the witch. Even if she claims she didn’t know, it just goes to show her bad judgment.”
“You brought a human to Diablo Lake unsanctioned,” Mac repeated. “The why might have been a mitigating factor in your discipline, but it doesn’t erase the law breaking. And in your case, it does the opposite. You do understand that, right?”
“I don’t have to sit here and take this. We run this town. We don’t need to be beholden to any of them. The witches fixed it up, didn’t they? It was a misunderstanding.”
“Dwayne Pembry, I find you guilty of breaking the law of sanction. Darrell Pembry, I find you guilty of the same. You will be sent up for twelve months, after which time you may petition to return. You have an hour to get what you need,” Mac said after looking at the wall clock.
His dad stood again, sputtering with rage. Darrell came at Mac, who nodded and jerked his head, indicating they take it outside.
Their mother yelled at them both to stop.
“You’re the one who started all them rumors about Katie Faith and now you’re going to call me out for this?” Darrell bellowed at her.
“No one’s gonna fight. We’re gonna calm down and think before this gets out of hand,” his dad said, struggling to sound reasonable.
“I challenge you for Patron,” Mac said then.
Nan chuckled at his back and the energy, all that swirling, forest loam and fertile earth began to pour into him as Pembry wolves settled their allegiance with him over his father. One by one.
“You think you’re ready for that?” his father asked.
“Let this be the physical part of your discipline,” he said to his dad, feeling like a stranger in his own body. “Huston, Everett, make sure Darrell sticks around. Since he’s been hiding from me, I made it public knowledge that he’d be punished and he’s violated the pack rules. Again.”
“You didn’t hand that down in person. I didn’t even know there was a problem until today,” Darrell lied.
“You knew enough to hide for two days. Stop lying. You’re crappy at it and I’m good at knowing when people don’t tell the truth, Darrell.” Mac looked at his dad. “So?”
“Dwayne, don’t do this,” his mother said quietly. “This is the way of things. He’s meant to take over.”
She didn’t say that he was old and slow compared to Mac, who’d had Special Forces training. Mac was the sharpest blade possible and they ought to know because they sent him away from home to be made into their weapon.
Except he was no one’s weapon but his own and only in service of his pack. He’d learned that too. Learned it while falling in love with Aimee. Realizing he had so many reasons to be proud and confident in his path and ability.
He waited, staring his father down.
* * *
He came in bloody.
Took his shoes off at the back door, stripping off dirty, torn clothes, tossing some in the wash basket and the others into the trash.
She stood there in the kitchen, watching him. The sadness clung to his skin, but there was pride too. He’d taken on the Patron position; she could see the power around him like a cloak.
All his wolves, their needs and wants, on his shoulders.
Despite the blood, dirt and sadness, there was a satisfaction to him. He’d made a choice and there was no regret.
He looked up, catching her gaze. She wanted to move, to close the distance between them and pull him close. Wanted to use her magic to soothe all the anxiety and sadness away.
But she knew him. Knew this male she loved needed that distance for a while until he’d finished picking things over in his head. As much as she hated it, she respected the way he had to work through something pack or family related.
They said nothing, but in that look she told him how she felt. That nothing had changed, despite the blood tracked into her mudroom.
What had changed was the fact that she could no longer pretend away that she’d be Patron with him at his side. His wolves would be hers too. She hoped she could do as good a job as Katie Faith had.
Then again, Katie Faith’s in-laws were a walk in the park compared to what hers would be.
“I’m going to shower,” he said at last, once he’d stripped down.
She nodded. “I’ll get you a towel.”
He smiled. It wasn’t a big smile. Or even a happy smile. But it was for her. To her. His way of reiterating what she’d just told him. That nothing had changed between them
His spine was straight and he stood tall as he took his adorably naked butt down the hall to the bathroom.
Two in the morning. She heated a towel in the dryer and then left it for him, folded up on the counter in the bathroom.
After a quick text to Katie Faith to say he’d come home and was all right, Aimee snuggled down in their bed to wait for him, pretending to read but really just staring at the screen until the letters swam into soup.
He prowled in some minutes later and she lay back against the pillows to stare. So masculine and powerful. Sexy.
A few bruises marked his torso and his hands were a mess, but otherwise, he didn’t seem to be injured too badly. Not physically anyway.
He climbed into bed and pulled her to him, holding her close. She let down the walls she kept her magic behind and let it free, let it slowly blanket him. Protective.
“Tell me,” she said at last.
“I’m Patron. Everyone knows you weren’t at fault for that debacle at city hall.”
She kept waiting.
“I exiled Darrell and my father for a year for breaking the law of sanction. Darrell unfortunately needed a beating to get that fact through his head and I added another year to his sentence after that to underline just how serious I am. Wherever he goes, he might need some medical attention. No, you’re not going anywhere.” He tightened his hold. “He’ll get the help he needs but you won’t be the one to do it. I don’t want him near you or this town.”
Shifters did have healers, so it wasn’t like she was the only person who could help. And frankly, fuck Darrell Pembry.
“I didn’t want to have to physically challenge my father. But he wouldn’t listen. Not to my mom or anyone else.”
He shuddered and she had to fight her instinct to ask more questions. Fight her instinct to run out there and beat these wolves for hurting Mac’s heart the way they did.
“I had to really hurt him. He just kept coming. Over and over. I wanted him to keep down, to just fucking let it be over. It wasn’t as if he ever could have won. But...”
“Sometimes only the very painful lessons stick with some people.”
“He couldn’t stand anymore.” The emotion in his voice tore at her. “By the end, he was lying there on the grass under the moon and I felt good. I felt right. I beat the hell out of my father and all the wolves there howled and celebrated it. Including me. What is wrong with me?”
She let go then and poured her magic out, sheltering and comforting. He sighed, snuggling tighter to her.
He could always be vulnerable with her and she’d never betray him.
“There’s nothing wrong with you, Macrae. You did what you were born to do. What you had no choice but to do.”
“People don’t just beat their father nearly to death when they take over the family business.”
“Shut up about that. You’re not human. You tell me that all the time. Usually to talk me into something involving sex, but still.”
He snorted and she felt a little better.
“You’re a werewolf. Beating your daddy nearly to death when you take over a pack is sort of your jam. I mean, he could have avoided it if he’d passed it to you like JJ did, or like other Patrons when it’s time for a younger wolf to take over. He made his choice and because he made that one, you had to make yours. You did what you had to for the good of Pembry.”
“I know that in my head. My heart is another matter.”
She understood that very well.
“I think that just means you have a very big heart. What’s going to happen now? You exile them for a year, hell two for Darrell. What happens to Scarlett and Sharon and their kids?”
“Sharon and the kids will stay here in town. She’s got a job and the kids are in school. It’s not necessary to punish them any further for being related to my brother. Maybe Sharon will find her spine while he’s gone. Maybe he’ll figure out he needs to be a better man. Who knows?
“As for my mom, she’s a retired Patron like JJ and Patty are. Dad and Darrell claim she had nothing to do with the thing with Nancy at the town hall. She wants you in the pack, so I’m inclined to believe that. She’s got other secrets, as we both know, but I can’t punish her for that. Not unless I know more. She did start those rumors about Katie Faith so I fined her and made her donate the money to the Dooley recovery fund. She gave over her seat as Patron without blood so at least I didn’t have to leave her unable to walk, bleeding on the grass.”
Thank heavens, because though she’d love to punch Scarlett’s lights out, she knew Mac didn’t want to.
“She’ll remain in Diablo Lake. Billy offered to have her stay with him, but I think it’ll be the other way around. She’ll still make trouble, I can taste it.”
Aimee didn’t hide her growl. He had enough to deal with! His mother should be helping, not making things worse. And, her trouble seemed aimed at Katie Faith and Jace, which wasn’t something Aimee was prepared to tolerate.
But right then, it was about Mac. And about Scarlett being his mom and not the meddling, busybody bitch Aimee wanted to punch. There’d be time to handle that cow and Aimee would be the one to do it because she was done letting the former Patrons of Pembry hurt those she loved. Especially as the new Patron was Mac and she knew one day she’d be at his side.
It had been easier for Katie Faith when she took over with Jace, but Aimee saw the difference in their situations. As much as she loved Mac and most of his pack, she wasn’t ready to go get hitched and start running a pack at his side. At least not for a few months. Let them have a Valentine’s Day as a couple first!
She’d help. She’d nurture and love and do her very best. And as she did, she’d be preparing herself for the job. She didn’t want to reflect on Mac poorly, didn’t want to walk in without knowing a whole lot about pack culture and rules.
She’d been the instrument to hurt Mac and that needed to be in the rearview awhile for the other wolves in Pembry. If she pushed now, some would reject her out of hand simply because it was too much change.
Mac needed to make his way as Patron. Let his wolves see his leadership and commitment first.
“Go to sleep. It’s been a spectacularly awful day. I love you. You did the right thing and you’ll keep on doing the right thing. It’s who you are.”
He squeezed her, laying his head on her shoulder so she could comb through his hair as he fell asleep.