“You shouldn’t,” came his broken reply.

“I was there, Charlie. I remember. I don’t know what was going on in your head, but I know how Alex died. You didn’t push him over the edge of that cliff on purpose.” Once again I didn’t realize the truth of my words until I actually said them. “It was an accident. Yes, you could’ve done things differently and he would still be alive today, but the same thing could be said for Jase. Or me. Or even Alex himself. We all made mistakes that night, and we’ve all paid a price.” I wasn’t naive. I knew we would all keep paying in some way for the rest of our lives, no matter how short that might be. But we needed to move on. All of us.

“I don’t deserve you,” Charlie said.

I attempted a smile. “And I don’t deserve you. Guess that makes us even.”

Chapter 27

It was three hours after Charlie left when a phone rang at the top of the stairs. Bob answered, asked about “the Matthews girl”, and then informed the caller “we” would be on our way. When Bob opened the door and told Cory, who had been standing guard since Travis’s shift ended, I finally realized Jase wasn’t coming to see me.

“Ms. Donovan, we’re getting ready to take you out to meet your accusers,” Cory said as he turned off the electricity going to the cage. “I’m going to come in and put these handcuffs on you. It would be in your best interest to not do anything stupid.” Since Bob was aiming a gun at my head, I thought he was probably right. “We will be walking you up the stairs and outside to the hall. Bob and I will be your only escorts, but the rest of the Stratego and Taxiarho are standing at alert. There is no chance for escape.”

“I’m innocent,” I said in a dull, defeated voice. “Why would I try to escape?”

Cory came through the door, and I held out my arms to him.

“Place your arms behind you, please.”

I did as he asked. A tiny voice told me I should be enraged at the indignity or terrified by the loss of the use of my arms, but I really couldn’t be bothered to care. My talks with Talley and Charlie left me emotionally drained, and Jase’s inability to make an appearance left me feeling hollow. I knew what was happening, what all of this meant, but I felt like I was watching it on TV.

“Thought you’d want to know, Talley is going back to the Hagan Pack for now,” Cory said as he snapped the cuffs into place. “Jase is going to stay there a while too.”

“Don’t mates always stay together?” I asked even though I had a pretty good idea as to the situation before Cory said it.

“They’re not mates. The queen decided to not recognize Jase’s declaration since he and Talley both are now in training to become part of the Alpha Pack. She didn’t want any complications should one of them prove to be a candidate and the other not.”

My heart clenched even tighter, turning itself into a tiny little bouncy ball in my chest. Talley was in training to join the Alphas? What did that even mean? Did they give her a choice? Or was this yet another “perk” of being a gifted Seer? I was so lost in my thoughts Cory had to give me a push so I would start moving.

It was strange to leave the basement after two weeks of confinement. The light in the hallway was too bright, the pattern of the kitchen floor a sensory overload. I had a crazy desire to run back downstairs until Bob opened the French doors and the evening air wafted across my face.

“It feels amazing out here,” I said.

“It’s seven o’clock at night and the heat index is at ninety-eight degrees,” Cory replied. “It’s miserable.”

I disagreed. Sure, it was oppressively hot and the humidity was so high it felt like you needed to do the breaststroke to walk from one place to another, but there was something to be said for the openness of the great outdoors. I closed my eyes, confident Bob and Cory would lead me in the right direction, and took a deep breath. Even with the new moon I could pick out a million different scents. The lake. Pine trees. Roses. A nearby cornfield. My gray wolf.

I almost tripped over my own feet. Cory was opening the door to the miniature replica of the main house, but I got another good whiff of the night air before being pushed inside. The smell was definitely there.

There were two options. One, I could rationalize how my panicked brain was creating something to comfort me in my hour of need and forget it. Or two, I could believe that Alex really didn’t leave me alone.

Since I didn’t have much else going for me at the moment, I chose the second option. And thinking I wasn’t alone made facing the lynch mob a bit more bearable.

Now, as lynch mobs goes, this one was relatively organized and subdued, but as the roomful of eyes turned towards me, there was no mistaking their intent. You could almost hear a ghostly echo of “Burn the witch!”

The building turned out to be a one big room type affair, probably operating as a game/party area when it wasn’t being overtaken by a bunch of supernatural creatures. As it was, rows of chairs lined up facing what was either the judge’s bench or main stage, depending on your view of the whole affair. About thirty Shifters and Seers sat in the chairs. I spotted Mr. Matthews on one side, looking like someone just took away his next five Christmases and birthdays.

The Hagan Pack sat on the other side. I saw Talley sitting beside Toby, who had one arm draped across her shoulders in what could only be described as brotherly affection. Makya sat on Toby’s other side, a leer in his gaze even now. On Talley’s other side sat the only person in the room who wasn’t looking at me - Jase.

Cory and Bob led me past all the gawkers to the middle of the open floor. Sarvarna and Stefan sat in the middle on big, ornate chairs that were probably supposed to be thrones but instead looked like Old Spaghetti Factory leftovers. To Sarvarna’s right sat True, Mischa, and Lizzie, and to Stefan’s left were Mandla, Hashim, and Travis. I sorta expected matching robes, or at least some gaudy gowns, but everyone was dressed very business casual. Sarvarna was rocking a black pant suit and crisp white top, which looked both classy and evil, in a corporate take-over kind of way.

Cory and Bob bowed at the waist. “My Queen. Polemarch,” Bob said, addressing the Alphas. “I present the accused, Harper Lee Donovan.”

There was a long pause when everyone looked at me expectantly. I thought about mentioning my lack of Shifter etiquette training, but decided keeping my mouth shut was probably the best idea.