Chapter 24

Chapter

Twenty-Four

If I'd thought my decision to cut short my conversation with Charles was tough to explain to Sean, Ben, Matthias, and Malcolm, that was a freaking walk in the park compared to facing six angry Were Ruling Council members. The fact Sean stood beside me instead of sitting next to the rest of the Council somehow made the situation worse.

Nothing like literally being called on the carpet.

Sean, Matthias, Ben, and I stood on an enormous round rug bearing the seal of the Council. The head of the Council, Willa Meyers, a black bear shifter, sat in the center of the semi-circular dais with the gavel in front of her. On her left and right were senior Council members Drew Montgomery, a panther shifter, and Sarah Webber, a werewolf I'd met before. Hazel Burrows and Blake Hicks were also werewolves. The sixth Council member was Alvin Cress, another panther shifter. The empty seat on the far right belonged to Sean, the newest member of the Council.

I missed having Malcolm with me, but "closed session" meant no spectators and that included ghosts too. He waited outside in the lobby .

Willa's dark gaze swept over our faces before she focused on Sean. "We deplore the fact this respected body has in any way become implicated in actions taken by you or any member or associate of your pack."

" Alleged actions," Hazel interjected. "Sean has made it clear these charges are baseless. We have no reason to think otherwise."

"No reason but what we know the Tomb Mountain Pack has done in the past," Drew countered. "This pack has a well-documented history of what I'd call harmful and reckless behavior."

"We have no sanctions against us by the Council," Sean pointed out. He had his hard alpha mask on and had muted his pack bonds so as not to pass his anger on to the others. "I can only guess what you might deem ‘harmful' or ‘reckless,' but I dispute that assessment too."

"We aren't here to discuss any past questionable actions taken by Sean or his pack," Willa stated. "This meeting has two purposes: to hear their testimony and discuss our unified response not only to the charges made against the Council, but those brought by the Vampire Court against the Tomb Mountain Pack."

Ben stood slightly behind Sean, as our acting beta, and I stood on Sean's other side with Matthias next to me. I hadn't been sure how Matthias would react to facing six angry shifters who were strangers to him, but he didn't so much as waver and his spine remained ramrod straight. Whatever was going through his head, he had poise in spades.

The fact the Council had yet to acknowledge him, however, had me quietly seething. Drew's body language made it clear he thought Matthias was not to be trusted, as if he was a Court spy in our midst. The others looked wary at best—even Hazel and Alvin, who Sean believed would support us during the hearing.

"We've presented the facts," Sean said, drawing my attention back to his conversation with Willa. "If the Court insists on taking this matter to trial, they will lose because they have no evidence to support the charges against the Council or our pack. "

"How do you know they have no evidence?" Drew asked.

"Because there is none." Sean's tone was flat. "I'll draw the Council's attention to the report I filed after Alice and Daniel Holiday were kidnapped from our pack land by Valas's operatives. If you review the report, you will see they did nothing to assist Valas, even under duress, and only barely survived. You should also have a copy of the official statement provided by Assistant Special Agent in Charge Trent Lake of SPEMA on the conditions his team found at the scene of Valas's death."

"Yes, we have read all your documentation." Willa studied Sean. "I may speak to your consort?"

Moments like this were always jarring for me, since Sean was never the sort of alpha to rule his pack with an iron fist, much less tell me when and where I could speak. But some packs were like that, which was why Willa asked.

"Please do," Sean said. "She may answer your questions freely."

If we hadn't been standing in front of the Council, I was sure his eyes would be twinkling because he knew damn well I'd say what I pleased. I missed the humor and sparkle in his eyes. I hadn't seen any hint of it since the moment the Vamp Court enforcers showed up at our house.

"Ms. Worth," Willa said, folding her arms on the table. "Everything in Sean's report on what transpired during your kidnapping is completely accurate?"

"Every word is true," I stated. We'd only omitted a few key facts. Everything else was utterly genuine.

"If that's the case, and there's no evidence against you, why has the Vampire Court targeted you and us with these charges?" she asked. "Other than their demand for the return of Mr. Albrecht, which we'll discuss later, what does the Court have to gain from this circus?"

"I'd like to know the answer to that too," I said with feeling.

"Care to speculate?" Drew prodded .

"No, I wouldn't. I don't have enough information to speculate. Your guess is probably as good as mine."

"You're a former employee of the Court, aren't you?" he persisted. "So is your business partner. Neither of you left on anything that could be considered good terms. Are these charges some form of retaliation for that?"

"With the vamps, anything is technically possible," I admitted. "But I don't think so. Arkady left the Court as amicably as anyone could, and I was never their employee. I did investigative work for them as an independent contractor only."

"You're splitting hairs and dodging the question," Sarah Webber said. She'd remained quiet so far, but everything about her body language made it clear she didn't believe a word we said.

Like other werewolves who thought alphas should only have shifters for mates, she'd despised me from the earliest days of my relationship with Sean and even participated in a campaign of intimidation trying to run me off. The fact we were now engaged had only increased her animosity.

"I'm not splitting hairs or dodging anything," I said, my voice calm and even. If she wanted to goad me into lashing out, she'd have to try harder. "I'm clarifying a misunderstanding. My direct answer is that I no longer work for the Court on a contract basis and haven't since well before Charles Vaughan took over. My agency has as much work as we can handle and the Court has their own dedicated investigators now who are employees."

"Where does your loyalty lie?" Alvin Cress leaned forward as he spoke. His tone wasn't angry or confrontational, but the question was certainly very pointed.

Maybe it was a fair question, given I'd begun doing work on a contract basis for the Court not long after I'd started training to become a mage PI. And I appreciated that Cress framed it that way, rather than as an accusation. His wording gave me the opportunity to make a positive assertion about my allegiance rather than simply repeating my denials about my relationship to the Court .

"My loyalty is to Sean and our pack," I said without hesitation. "As it has been since Sean and I became a couple. They are my family."

"You're loyal to Charles Vaughan," Drew argued.

"I have never been loyal to Charles Vaughan or the Vampire Court," I stated. "Ask them and they'll tell you that too. They'd probably laugh at the question."

"As if we would believe a word they say," Sarah muttered, loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"We've known about your allegiance to Vaughan since you first became involved with Sean," Drew said. "That, along with your background and other very questionable alliances, have always been of great concern to the Council."

"Is there a question in there?" I asked. "I thought we were here to talk about the indictments."

Willa raised her hand to halt Drew's angry retort. "You asked Alice a question, and she answered," she told him. "We're not here to interrogate her."

"With all due respect, I think we are," Sarah interjected. "I don't believe we would be in this situation at all if it weren't for Ms. Worth's long history with Charles Vaughan and the Vampire Court. We need the truth from her more than anything else. I'd love the chance to extract it. I for one don't want to hear any more evasions or lies."

Extract it? What the hell? Did Sarah just threaten to torture me in front of the Council and the most dominant wolves in our pack? Magic sparked on my fingers and anger made my vision go red around the edges.

Meanwhile, my companions growled. The Council members on the dais responded with angry glowing stares and surges of golden shifter magic. Matthias's deep rumble in particular drew their attention.

"Keep him in check," Sarah told Sean. "If he shifts and attacks, he dies. "

Sean took a step forward, putting himself physically between Sarah and us. His fury seared my skin. "Not one more threat or insult." His low growl told me this was his wolf speaking as much as his human self. "Alice is my fiancé, consort, and future mate, which you all know damn well. Matthias is a member of my pack. You will extend them every courtesy and honor to which they are entitled by the customs of the Council and its laws."

"Enough." Willa used her gavel to bring an abrupt end to the exchange. "We've heard your testimony regarding the indictments. Now we will turn our attention to the matter of Matthias Albrecht."

She glanced at Matthias and then looked at Sean. "Setting aside for the moment the Court's demand for his return as stolen property, we've read your statement regarding his involvement in the attack on your pack and the kidnapping of Alice and your associate Daniel Holiday. Why in heaven's name would you bring this man into your pack rather than kill him for harming your consort?"

"As far as I'm aware, the Council has never demanded a justification for anyone's inclusion in a pack," Sean said calmly. "We all know the reasons someone may join a pack. Many of those reasons do not involve pleasant circumstances."

"There's unpleasant circumstances, and then there's taking in Valas's right-hand man," Drew said. "The only reason I can think of for that decision is you have a connection to the person who infected Matthias in the first place. You must have felt an obligation that outweighed your instinct to kill him."

My stomach lurched. More than almost anything I feared my father would be implicated in Matthias's situation. I'd dreaded this moment since the night Valas died. But in a room full of shifters, with their sharp eyesight and heightened sense of smell, I could not let on that I felt afraid. Everything depended on that—and Matthias's ability to sell them on his claim that he didn't know who'd bitten him.

"You claim in your statement that Matthias can't name who infected him with the shifter virus," Willa said. "Sean, I respect you as a man and a colleague, but I find it difficult to believe."

"You may ask him directly," Sean said. He gave no hint that the Council had brought up the subject we most wanted to avoid. "He has my permission to answer your questions."

Matthias stood with his hands clasped behind his back and feet firmly planted shoulder width apart. Not quite aggressive, but certainly not cowed or intimidated. I suspected his body language had contributed to Drew and Sarah's obvious dislike as much as anything else. Maybe they wanted him to come crawling and begging for their acceptance and protection. If the Council didn't already realize how dominant he was, they'd figure it out pretty damn quick now.

Willa turned her attention to Matthias. According to Sean, he wasn't sure which way she would vote either on backing us against the Court or in regard to Matthias's status. She and Blake Hicks were our possible swing votes. It didn't take a clairvoyant to predict Drew and Sarah would vote against us. Hazel and Alvin were likely to side with us.

If they voted against us, or the vote was tied, we'd have to face the danger the Court presented on our own, without the Council's backing. If we got the votes, however, they would express their support to the Court, which in itself might be enough to get them to drop the charges. Even if not, if the Council backed us, so would the rest of the packs in the area. That would be another big factor in whether Charles pursued the court case against us or not.

We needed four votes to keep us out of prison, and to keep us from having to fight and die to protect Matthias from Charles.

"You understand you are bound by your honor and your life to answer us honestly," Willa told Matthias.

"Yes." Matthias's voice had that emotionless tone I disliked so much—the one that reminded me and probably everyone else here of vampires. I wanted to tell him to let himself show emotion because that might work in his favor, but I kept my mouth shut .

"Do you know who infected you?" Willa asked.

I focused on breathing normally and keeping myself calm. If the Council members sensed anything from me at all, I hoped they'd chalk it up to the horrors I'd witnessed at Valas's refuge.

"The fight during which I was bitten was very intense," Matthias said. "Many combatants were involved. The amount of deadly magic thrown by those fighting made it nearly impossible to track everything that was happening. I was also seriously injured and had lost a significant amount of blood. My ability to see was very poor. I did not see the bite occur."

"Other than Daniel Holiday, what other werwolves were present?" Drew asked.

"As I said, the situation was very chaotic and my vision was impaired. I could not see everyone who was present."

Six pairs of sharp shifter eyes fixed on Matthias's face. Breathe , I told myself. Show no fear. Trust Matthias.

"Was the person who bit you Daniel Holiday?" Willa asked.

"No matter how many times you ask, my answer will not change. I did not see who bit me." Matthias held her gaze and did not look away. The other Council members stirred in their seats and exchanged glances—some wary, some thoughtful.

"I do not like to admit a weakness, Madame Councilor, but I wasn't just badly injured when I was bitten," Matthias continued. "I was dying. My service to the Court left me bleeding to death on the floor of a cellar in the mountains of Colorado with no friends or even allies at my side. I meant nothing to them then and I mean nothing to them now."

His raw honesty and the hollow way he revealed that to the Council made angry tears well up in my eyes. Everyone in the room would be able to smell my unshed tears. Not that long ago I would never have allowed anyone see me hurting for someone else's pain, much less the damn Were Ruling Council. But I had the thought that if anything could sway votes in our favor, it was real, honest, human emotion .

"You swear to that?" Willa asked.

He nodded. "I do."

If Sarah was the least bit moved by Matthias's words or my reaction, she didn't show it. "If you mean nothing to the Court, why are they demanding your return as ‘stolen property'?"

"So they may execute me," Matthias told her.

"You know this for a fact?" Willa asked.

"I have no reason to think otherwise. From what little can be gleaned from conditions at Northbourne, every other person who was once loyal to Valas is dead on Charles Vaughan's orders. I was her head enforcer. I would imagine he plans to make a show of my execution."

And then, just when I was starting to breathe again, the other shoe dropped.

"What I want to know is how you've seemingly gotten past the initial phase of your change so quickly," Drew said. "I'm sure my colleagues want to know as well."

"That information is in our report," Sean said.

"There's no information—just speculation," Sarah argued. "You say it may be a result of all the vampire blood he'd consumed prior to his infection. That seems highly unlikely."

"He didn't just consume vampire blood," I pointed out. "It was Valas's blood. She had all kinds of weird powers and magic. She could heal wounds that would have killed most vamps. If anyone could transition to becoming a werewolf without all the volatility, it would be Matthias."

"No one in documented shifter history has done it." Drew wasn't buying it, and judging by their expressions, neither were several of the others. "We know of shifters Changed while in service to the Vampire Court and they experienced the full force of the volatility. Surely if Valas had been capable of sparing them that?—"

"Have you ever heard anything about Valas that would lead you to believe she wanted to spare anyone from suffering?" I asked. "Because I don't believe it for a minute. If anything, she probably thought their suffering would make them stronger and better servants."

"I can attest to that," Matthias said, again in that hollow tone. "You did not serve her unless you had been broken very thoroughly, so she could rebuild you in her own way."

For several beats, a heavy silence filled the Council chamber. The first to break it was Willa. "The fact remains that the Court has claimed you are its legal property because of a contract you signed with them. Is this true?"

"I did sign a contract, yes," Matthias said. "I am not permitted to disclose its contents to you."

"So we've been informed." She laced her fingers together and propped her chin on her hands. "I understand your legal team is working on this, Sean, but if the contract is as the Court claims, the law is on the Court's side. Whether you have brought him into your pack or not, he must legally be returned to them."

Sean shook his head. "We won't turn him over."

"Refusing would break Vampire Court law," Drew said, scowling. "The Were Ruling Council is bound by treaty to recognize and uphold the Court's laws just as they do our own. This treaty has kept the peace between the Court and Council for more than a hundred years. We're not going to break it for him ." He jerked his chin at Matthias, who didn't react either to his words or his tone.

Thanks to my conversation with Charles, however, Sean was ready for that one.

"The Court must recognize the Council's laws as well, as you just pointed out. Matthias Albrecht is a refugee from their jurisdiction." Sean reached into his briefcase and pulled out a large envelope. "Our pack has granted Matthias asylum status under Council law. This is the formal documentation for your records." He placed the envelope on the dais and stepped back.

Drew and Sarah let out quiet snarls. "Asylum was not intended as a way for a Court runaway to put us between him and his keepers," Sarah said .

"Asylum grants protection from persecution and death. That's both the spirit and the letter of the law." Sean's golden alpha stare immediately caused Sarah to lower her gaze.

He turned his attention back to Willa. "You asked earlier why I would offer Matthias a place in my pack despite the harm he's caused. I don't owe you a justification, but I'll give you one. It's the same reason I've welcomed most of the members of my pack since becoming alpha. My conscience doesn't allow me to turn my back on those who've suffered like Matthias has suffered. That shouldn't be news to anyone here. I also see greatness in him that even he hasn't recognized yet. He needs our strength and we need his. That is the purpose of a pack."

If I didn't already love this man with all my heart and soul, those words—and the fact he so clearly meant every syllable—would have sealed the deal.

I searched the faces of the Council members, looking for signs of hope. We needed four votes to ensure the Council's backing against the Court. A tie of three to three would mean they were unlikely to take decisive action in our favor, even if Willa voted with us.

"Does anyone have more questions?" Willa asked the others. One by one they shook their heads.

She turned to Sean. "Do you have anything to add before we begin deliberations?"

"No, I don't." He glanced at me. "Alice?"

It certainly wasn't protocol for Sean to offer the last word to his consort, but Drew and Sarah—the sticklers for etiquette—weren't going to back us anyway and the others might listen.

If it wouldn't mean putting myself and my pack in a mountain of danger, I might have offered my ability to help shifters transition smoothly in return for the Council's votes. I wasn't above bargaining. But the cost would be too high.

"The Tomb Mountain Pack has long been one of the strongest and most stalwart packs in the area," I said instead. "Our strength is also yours. You stand to gain nothing if you allow the Court to threaten and attack us, but you would lose a hell of a lot. Not just because we'd no longer be your strongest allies, but because once the Court knows they can bully you and the packs you represent, they'll never stop. If you give them an inch, they'll take a mile. Every time."

"Thank you for that reminder," Willa said. "If you'll excuse us now, we need to discuss these matters in private. I have a feeling it won't be a short conversation. You may as well head home. I'll call you with the results, Sean. Thank you all for speaking to us tonight."

I wasn't sure how to interpret her comment that they had a lot to talk about, and her expression was inscrutable. I really could not tell which way she'd vote. Same for Blake Hicks, who'd barely said a word during our discussion. Damn it.

I wanted to walk out of this chamber believing we'd done everything we could to persuade them to back us, but I didn't know if that was true. We'd just have to see how the vote would go. I had a feeling the next few hours, or however long we'd have to wait for Willa's call, would crawl by.

I touched Matthias's hand as we filed out of the room. He squeezed my fingers quickly before letting go. That was a victory, at least.