Maya and Daniel both stiffen. So do Jeffrey and Luna Marie. So does the whole room of onlookers, for that matter. Only Rook and I are completely at ease. But then, we know the real reason Alpha Toth is so pissed.
Luna Marie steps forward and places a comforting hand on Maya’s shoulder, while I move slightly to stand beside Jeffrey. I get close enough to rub arms with him. He notices the touch and frowns at me. I just shrug and crane my neck, acting like I’m trying to see around him to get a better view. He smirks and, with a smarmy smile, moves me right in front of him where I can see everything and he can keep his hands on my bare shoulders. I want to slug him, but I’ve also accomplished my goal—I can hear his thoughts. He’s seething at Maya and thinks she’s despicable for wasting herself on Daniel. But now he’s done wasting his time on her and has a new target—me. He’s confident he can win my affections. The fact that I’m not pulling away from his touch right now is helping that sudden ego boost.
“Honey,” Luna Marie says to Alpha Toth while I’m trying to listen to Jeffrey’s thoughts, “I understand the slight they’ve caused you, but a secret mate pairing is hardly a capital offense. Perhaps banishment would be more appropriate?”
Maya sags, letting out a giant breath she’s been holding. She gives Luna Marie a grateful smile, and the luna returns it with a sad one full of affection. Alpha Toth allows them their moment before nodding. “Yes, banishment would be appropriate if their only crime was a secret mate pairing.”
Maya and Daniel both stiffen again. It’s easy to see the truth. They’ve both gone pale and probably reek of fear. They know they’ve been caught and believe they’re dead already. Daniel starts to tremble.
It’s clear that Jeffrey isn’t in on it, either. His thoughts are curious, not nervous. He’s not worried they’ll tattle on him; he’s wondering what they’ve done.
Luna Marie frowns at her mate, and Alpha Toth sighs. He’s come to the same conclusion I have about Maya and Daniel, but he looks to me with a question in his eyes. He’s asking about Jeffrey. I shake my head once, and he nods his understanding.
Both Jeffrey and Luna Marie shoot me sharp looks. Jeffrey’s wondering what the hell that look was for and how I’m involved with Alpha Toth. Luna Marie is probably thinking the same. I have a feeling their questions will be answered right now.
“I have evidence,” Alpha Toth says to Daniel, “that you’ve been siphoning money out of pack funds for over a year.” His wolf rises again, and he growls at Luna Marie through a clenched jaw. “What’s the punishment for stealing from the pack?”
There’s no sound in the large multipurpose room filled with werewolves. Not even breathing. Everyone is watching the drama unfold, shocked and waiting to see what the alpha will do. But it’s the luna who moves. Gone is her calm, sweet composure. In its place is outrage. She marches right up to Maya, looking as if the betrayal was personal, and slaps her sharply across the face. The hit is a hard one. Maya’s head rocks from it and immediately begins to bruise.
Maya takes the beating in silence, her shoulders back and her head held high. Her eyes gloss over and her chin quivers, but no tears fall. Luna Marie is unmoved. “You were mine,” she hisses. “You were my wolf, and you betrayed me first for this disgusting excuse for a wolf, and then you have the nerve to steal from me, too?” She surprises Maya with a hard punch to the gut that has her doubling over, gasping for breath. “How dare you!”
“Luna, please,” Daniel whimpers. When the luna’s attention whips his direction, his face drains of all color. His eyes flick to Maya, and he mumbles, “Have mercy.”
“Mercy?” The luna laughs. It’s a chilling sound that sends goose bumps down my spine. “Why don’t you get on your knees and beg me for it?”
“Marie,” Alpha Toth whispers in response to the luna’s utter coldness.
“Daniel, no,” Maya whispers.
She shakes her head frantically, but Daniel drops to the floor anyway. “Have mercy, Luna Marie. I beg of you.” His fearful face becomes desperate. “You have to help us. Please. You are—”
Luna Marie lunges toward him with a roar and twists his head, snapping his neck before he can finish his plea. His body falls to the ground to the sound of Maya’s scream. Her cry is so anguished. I feel sorry for her, even though she just tried to attack me. And even though she stole money from the pack.
“Damn it, Marie!” Alpha Toth snaps.
She whirls on him next. “Justice had to be carried out, and you weren’t going to do it!”
“I would not have acted so brash, no. The alpha pair can’t just go around killing their pack at will. That is not good leadership!”
Marie bristles at the reproach. “Neither is letting those that lie to and betray you and steal from you go unpunished. You would have banished them. That’s what they wanted anyway. That is not punishment. Man up, Peter, and have the balls to do what needs to be done to rule your pack.”
Alpha Toth growls, his wolf rising to the challenge, and he clamps his mate around the neck with one hand. Her eyes widen with shock. “We do not rule our pack; we lead it. With justice, but also with mercy when needed. And I am alpha. I decide when mercy is needed. Do you understand me?”
Luna Marie holds onto her defiance until Alpha Toth squeezes her neck even harder. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?” he roars.
Luna Marie closes her eyes and nods once, showing submission, and Alpha Toth releases her immediately. “Forgive me, my alpha,” she says. I’m shocked to see lust in her eyes. She was excited by his display of dominance, and now she looks like she’s going to jump his body right here in front of her entire pack.
Alpha Toth doesn’t share her lust. He’s disappointed in her right now and ignores her physical reaction, turning his attention back to Maya.
Maya looks devastated, and I don’t blame her. Daniel didn’t deserve to die. The money-stealing ploy so they could leave together had probably been Maya’s plan. She’d probably been the one doing the stealing most of the time. Daniel had looked too new at it, too scared. His death is on Maya’s shoulders.
Tears stream down her face, but still she stands, back straight, chin up like a good soldier. She glares at her luna with pure hatred, while Luna Marie looks back at her with disappointment and heartbreak.
“I’m sorry, Maya,” Alpha Toth says. “The punishment was harsh, but so were the crimes. You’ve made our pack weak. Others will hear of this and think I am incapable of keeping control of my wolves. Your actions will make our pack vulnerable to attack. Even still, enough blood has been shed this night. If you can pay back the money, every cent, then I will spare your life. You will have to leave my territory and never return, but you will live. Do you understand?”
Maya clenches her jaw, and her entire body shakes with rage. “I understand this pack’s true weakness,” she growls. Her bloodshot, tear-filled, rage-filled eyes turn to her luna again. “Luna Marie,” she calls out loud and clear. “I challenge you! I challenge you for the position of luna.”
Cries of outrage and shock ring out in the crowd, but Luna Marie quiets them all. “Very well,” she says with a strange smile that makes me wonder if this wasn’t her plan all along. “But you’ll have to kill me, because I will never submit to you.”
Maya growls. Her eyes glow, and her body shakes, ready for the change. “I’m going to enjoy ripping you apart.”
The change is fast. Maya gets a head start, but Luna Marie’s change is almost instantaneous, and she’s a bigger wolf. The two crash together at the same time, each taking swipes from the other that draws blood.
That’s all I see before Rook whisks me away from Jeffrey and throws me up onto the stage. He hops up with me and stands in front of me like it would take a bulldozer to move him. I have to peek around his shoulder in order to see what’s happening.
The fight doesn’t take long. It’s a brutal frenzy of claws and teeth. These women aren’t fighting like Jeffrey and Wulf had been. Wulf toyed with Jeffrey until he got bored, and then he quickly subdued him. These wolves are much more evenly matched, and they aren’t messing around. They’re trying to kill each other. Both are bloody messes, but Maya’s wolf is losing too much blood from her right hind leg, and she’s limping badly.