Moonsong (32 page)

For her part, Adele merely shrugged, as if she’d been caught switching decaf for regular coffee. “I was looking out for the best interests of the pack.”

“It was an unfortunate development. I only wish there could have been another way. I can assure you; it didn’t come without a cost to me.” Adele didn’t bother to deny her involvement in it and Amelia’s anger skyrocketed.

“An unfortunate development? How can you call the murder of your family an unfortunate development? Don’t you have a heart at all? Or a soul for that matter?”

“My heart and soul have bled for this pack far longer than either of you have been alive!” her eyes blazed. “Remy knew what I wanted for you and still he defied me! His life was forfeit, mine to do with as I chose.”

“As yours is now to me,” Cutter interjected grimly.

“I haven’t stepped down and you haven’t been accepted by the pack yet.”

“I might not have gone through the ceremony yet, but I’ve been accepted by the pack. If you’d bothered to stick around last night, you would have seen that.”

“I have no intention of relinquishing my position now, and I’ll make certain the day never dawns where you are the one to take up the mantle of power,” she snapped back.

Ignoring her protests, Cutter’s voice rose formally. “You no longer have any position of authority within the pack, your life is forfeit to me and you live at my convenience only.”

“You have no right to do this. You have no proof I’ve done any wrong. Who is the pack going to believe? A man who abandoned them in the past, or the strong leader who ruled them justly for over fifty years?”

“The pack will believe him… and us.” Chase stepped into the room with Scarlett at his side, their faces solemn.

“The pack will see your betrayal for what it is, the chance to scrabble for power that has been denied you thus far.”

“No Grandmother, they’ll finally see you for what you are, as I see you now,” Scarlett said sadly, tears welling at the corners of her eyes. Briar emerged from the doorway, flanked by two senior members of the pack, their expressions speaking volumes.

“Lies… you know me, you know they are conspiring against me,” Adele looked to her old friends who stared back grim faced. Finding no quarter from them, she turned back to Cutter. “You have no right…”

“I have
every
right!” Cutter thundered, his fist slamming onto the desk hard enough for the wood to creak in protest. “You’ll pay for your crimes.”

“Cutter… please,” Amelia’s voice was soft beside him, hands reaching up to stroke his arm. “Don’t stoop to her level.”

“Your life is forfeit,” he repeated. “I give you what you could not spare for me or for your own flesh and blood. Mercy.” Taking a long breath, he spoke the formal words, stripping her of all rank and position within the pack. “I abjure thee. You are nothing and have no voice. Never to dwell upon the pack lands from this day forward, you are cast out upon the world until the day you die.”

Adele tore her eyes from his terrible gaze, finding the other faces in the room equally as damning. Stricken, she shook her head, not wanting to accept the pronouncement. “Mercy… you would have done better to hold a gun to my head and give me a quick and painless death than to banish me from the home I’ve traded my soul for,” she laughed bitterly.

Cutter gave Amelia a speculative look, but she shook her head no, firm in her belief that there had been enough death dealt over this.

Briar stepped forward, his voice devoid of pity or emotion. “Your name will be stricken from our hearts and our minds. You will leave this place within this very hour. To return would mean instant death.”

Adele nodded, staring off at nothing, opening the slender desk drawer and slipping something small into her hand. Slowly she rose from her seat and walked with an eerie calm to the window to gaze out into the trees.

“I was born in this house,” she said softly.

Amelia traded glances with Cutter and her cousins. She had expected more of a tirade, maybe some kind of last stand; the quiet acceptance was hard to accept. Cutter himself was still tense and rigid by her side.

“So were you, you know.” Adele didn’t turn to look at Amelia, but everyone else did at that moment. “I was so full of hope when you were born; it seemed like the dawn of a new era. I promised to move heaven and earth to give you the future you deserved, but time and again I was thwarted.” A tiny pucker of a frown marred her proud brow.

“Grandmother,” Millie said softly, trying to draw her attention from the window. “I have the future I deserve. The man I love, the position within the pack, a chance to be happy. Why couldn’t that be enough for you?”

Turning now to focus those steely gray eyes on her granddaughter, Adele nodded once. “Why indeed…” A quick flick of the wrist and she emptied the contents of the vial she held, swallowing the bitter tonic with a grimace. “I was born in this house,” her gaze returned to the woods once more. “And I shall die in it.”

Scarlett raced to Adele’s side, guiding her to a nearby chair as her legs started to fail her. “My dear Scarlett, you are free now,” Adele wheezed, voice faint as her lungs no longer fully rose and fell.

Amelia felt more sorry for Scarlett than anything she felt for Adele. She didn’t feel a single pang of loss for the last living relative, nor did she feel any thrill of revenge in her family’s honor. They were still dead and gone, nothing could change that fact. But maybe now they could all put it behind them.

“It is done,” Briar declared after a few moments. The two pack elders started forward to tend to the body, but Briar stayed them with a raise of the hand. “She will not be given the blessings to take her to the next life, nor will she be laid to rest within pack lands,” he reminded them.

“I’ll take care of it,” Cutter said quietly. “Thank you for bearing witness to this today, you may go.” Grateful for the direction, the two nodded and left to carry news of what they’d seen and heard to the rest of the pack.

Briar turned to Cutter with a nod of deference. “We will need to hold the ceremony soon, should I make the arrangements for tonight?”

A shake of the head was given. “Tomorrow will be soon enough, and will give people time to prepare. Besides, I don’t want anything clouding the day,” his eyes returned to Adele’s still form.

“As you wish.”

“So, what happens now?” Millie asked, concern returning as Cutter sat down heavily on the edge of the desk, his eyes showing exhaustion since Briar and the other senior members of the pack had departed.

“Thank you,” Scarlett said simply, letting go of Adele’s hand. “I’ll go find something fitting for her to wear,” she murmured, taking her leave.

“Maybe you should be the one to go up and rest, I can take care of the arrangements,” Amelia suggested, knowing he had to be at the limit of his endurance or close to it.

“Thanks for the offer, darlin’, but it’s my duty now. It’ll be expected of me to step in and manage things. I’ll be up before you know it, now scoot,” he gave her rear a friendly smack.

“Alright, but if you don’t come up to join me in an hour I’m coming back down to look for you and drag you up with me.”

“You’ve got a deal,” he chuckled.

* * *

The funeral was considered a big success in town with nearly every prominent member stopping by to pay their respects as the local icon was laid to rest. If very few pack members stopped by, it was overlooked, as the viewing room already overflowed its capacity. Cutter and Amelia were present, as was Scarlett, working with Mr. Cuddahy to oversee last minute details over the reception. Chase remained conspicuously absent from the proceedings.

All in all there wasn’t much to the service itself, muted strains of music played, and people were allowed to come up to the open casket to pay their last respects. The reception was a bit livelier, with food and drink served. Amelia nodded and smiled sadly over all the condolences offered, holding tight to Cutter whose single look could send away even the most persistent well wisher with an uncomfortable swallow.

At long last, the stragglers cleared out and the little family made its way back to the mansion where Chase lounged in the living room before a crackling fire, drink in hand. His handsome face still sported an interesting array of colors from the bruises in various stages of healing, but his eye was no longer swollen shut.

“Ding dong the witch is dead,” he said, raising the glass in a salute as they entered the house.

“Chase…” Amelia scolded him with a pointed look at Scarlett who looked very tired and very pale.

“What? She
is
dead; I’m just toasting her demise, long may she… stay dead,” he knocked back the rest of the drink in one gulp.

“It’s been a long day; maybe we should call it a night,” Cutter suggested.

“Yeah, I’m wiped out and tomorrow’s a big day. Why don’t we head on up?” Millie nodded to Cutter.

“Whoa, hold on there, you’re not planning on spending the night together, are you?” Chase launched himself from his seat a trifle unsteadily.

“I’m afraid they’re right,” Cutter sighed, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. “It’s forbidden for us to see or talk to each other on the day of our mating until the ceremony begins.”

“We’re not short on traditions, something you’ll have to get used to,” Chase grinned and Scarlett smiled as well, picking up her hand to tug her towards the stairs.

“Come on, it’ll be fun, we’ll have a girl’s night.”

“We don’t have to separate
yet
,” Cutter frowned.

“Oh come on, it won’t kill you to go a night without her,” Scarlett chuckled, continuing to tug Amelia who gave Cutter a helpless look.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Millie shrugged, unable to resist the light that had come into Scarlett’s eyes after seeing her so depressed all day.

“Here, have a drink with me,” Chase suggested, pouring himself a refill and one for Cutter as well. “We’ll drink to your impending good fortune,” he waved the glass at him.

“I’ll be up in a few minutes to say goodnight,” Cutter called out as Scarlett all but dragged Amelia from the room. Accepting the drink, he downed half of it in one gulp. “So, we’re burying the hatchet are we? Let bygones be bygones?”

“No hard feelings on my side,” Chase shrugged, taking a slower sip. “We both went for it and… I guess the best man won,” he saluted him with his glass and took another drink.

“I could use some help with pack matters, at least until I get a feel for the current state of affairs, it would be nice to know I can count on you,” Cutter offered and Chase looked up in surprise.

“Say what you will about Adele, she knew how to recognize talent when she saw it. In exchange, you and your sister will always have a place here; her shame doesn’t extend to you.”

“You can say that to me after what I did at the trials?” Chase shook his head. “You’re a better man than I am, I woulda nailed you to the wall if I’d won.”

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think so. You did what you thought you had to do to win; I can understand that. Just remember we don’t cut corners like that now. Everything’s gonna be above board, will that be a problem for you?” Cutter extended a hand.

Chase gave him a long look before taking that hand and shaking it. “No, it’s not a problem, not at all,” he grinned, draining the rest of his drink. “Can I pour you another?”

“Another night, tonight I need to get some rest and get upstairs and give my mate a proper goodnight,” Cutter grinned, finishing his drink.