7. Terra

The meeting clearly doesn't go well.

Rylan storms out after, coming down the steps before shifting. As the wolf, he catches my eye for a second before he runs away.

After he goes, Thorne and the enforcers saunter out onto the porch. I overhear Thorne mutter a command to them. "He gets an hour before we go find him. If he's still on pack lands when the hour is up, kill him."

Kill him.

I step forward, ready to defend Rylan, but my mom's hand on my wrist stops me.

"Terra," she whispers. "Stop. We can't."

We can't.

That's the truth. We can't afford to have this pack taken away from us. In the grand scheme of things, Oakwood is a wonderful pack to be a part of. Thorne is a kind alpha. We all have a relatively equal stake in the pack, and while the enforcers are definitely the most powerful ones, they don't bully the rest of us.

Well. They don't bully us as much as they could, or as much as they do in other packs.

The whole reason my mom and I were lone wolves is that she left our original pack when I was a baby. She told me that she couldn't handle it, that the abuse was out of hand. That it was so terrible, she escaped in the middle of the night. She would rather be a lone wolf with a baby than stay in that pack for another minute.

When we found the Oakwood pack, back when we still lived in Alaska, it was like a dream come true. I don't want to ruin that dream for my mom.

Rylan would understand.

I nod and step back, holding my mom's hand. "Should we head back to the house, or…?"

"You," a voice snarls.

My mom and I both freeze. One of the enforcers from inside the compound is staring at us. I haven't the foggiest clue who he is. I don't even know his name.

"You brought him here," he snarls.

The ugly, consuming way that he says it leaves me no doubt that he's the enforcer that set Rylan up to fall for his crimes.

I throw my shoulders back. "I brought him to tell the truth."

"You harbored a fugitive!"

"Is this true, Terra?" the alpha rumbles.

I turn to face Thorne. I know what he's going to say. I know that we're risking everything, and I know he's going to tell us that if I was harboring Rylan, then he's going to kick my mom and me out of the pack.

I throw back my shoulders. "I wasn't harboring him. I didn't know he was alive until recently."

Thorne studies me.

"But for what it's worth, I don't think he's lying."

"Why?"

I step closer. I don't really want to tell this business in front of the whole pack, but I do want to tell Thorne. "Can I speak to you?"

"Alpha," the enforcer barks. "Why the hell?—"

"She asked the alpha to speak, jackass. Not you."

My heart squeezes. Ember.

My best friend emerges from the throng that's gathered. She's in her scrubs and has her curly hair pulled back into a neat braid that runs halfway down her back. She widens her stance, glaring at the enforcer, and her amber eyes seem to flash.

"Back off," Ember barks at him.

"Or what, female? You're going to challenge me?" he sneers.

Oh. This could be bad.

Ember grins. "Yeah. I will."

"Alpha." I turn to him, my voice pleading. "A word?"

He nods. "Come in."

I walk inside Thorne's office. I'm hoping that everyone will wait for the alpha to be around to brawl, because if he's not there, I'm not sure that the others will engage in violence.

If they do…

Ember's secret is going to be made clear to the world. Because she will put a smackdown on that enforcer that's way more than any wolf, let alone female, should be able to give.

Thorne doesn't sit at his desk, but he does clear the others out of the room. He nods. "Why do you think he's telling the truth?"

"He has scars," I say. "He's covered in them."

"And how do you know that?"

I blush. "I'm just saying. He stayed away for two years. He put himself in danger to come back here and tell you. He knows what he's risking. Why would he stay away for so long and come back unless he's telling the truth?"

"He's also about a month shy of his thirtieth birthday."

"And?"

"Maybe he wanted to come back to see if he still had a chance with his old flame. So he didn't lose his ability to shift," Thorne says softly.

I growl. "So you're implying he's manipulating me?"

"What I'm saying, Terra, is that I know Chet. Our fathers were really close. He experienced a lot of the same trauma that I did from having a dad who is a gambling addict. I know how much it hurt him when his dad spent all their money on slots or cards instead of food."

My eyes narrow. Of course Thorne believes this Chet guy. He thinks he knows Chet because he knows himself. And he thinks Chet is the same.

He's never going to believe Rylan. Not without proof.

"Rylan isn't lying, Thorne."

"Did he tell you what happened last time?"

"Yes." I nod. "Chet framed him for taking money from the pack's bank accounts."

"We have witnesses," Thorne growls.

"It's not true. Whatever happened, Chet must have set him up."

Thorne shakes his head. "He wouldn't do that."

"You don't know him, Thorne. Rylan wouldn't do something like that."

"I don't know him, you're right," he says. "But I do know Chet. And I know that he would never do something like that, especially to a pack member."

"You must not know him as well as you think you do," I say under my breath.

Thorne stares at me for a minute. "If I had some evidence…"

"He's not lying. I swear," I protest.

"I understand how you feel. But I'm telling you that I can't make that assessment without evidence. Without that, I can't prove or disprove anything, and I have to go on my gut," Thorne says.

"That's reasonable. Thank you for your time, Alpha," I say calmly.

He nods. "You can't help him, Terra. He can't come back, and I can't have someone who harbors an enemy of the pack as someone in the pack."

I nod. "I understand, Thorne."

"Then we're clear."

I smile. I'm clear about one thing and one thing only. In order to clear Rylan's name, we need evidence. Proof that he isn't lying. Proof that Chet is the one who manipulated him. Not the other way around.

I hold out my hand to shake Thorne's. "We're clear, Alpha. As crystal."