Page 33 of Deception

No wonder there were so many newcomers in the room. Thomas had called them in as witnesses not just to the start of his reign, but for some big announcement. The room tingled with anticipation as a dozen grizzled alphas looked on.

“This pack has made a name for itself—”

Thomas paused when a man tiptoed up to him and whispered in his ear. A second later, the barn door burst open, and everyone’s heads snapped up.

“Holy shit,” someone whispered.

“Fuck.”

“Man, oh man.”

Even Summer stared.

“The wolves of Twin Moon pack,” someone cried.

Five imposing shifters crowded through the door. Big. Menacing. Unamused.

Ty Hawthorne, the tall alpha of Twin Moon pack, glared the room into silence. Beside him was an equally imposing man — Zack, the wolf-coyote tracker. Summer had met him a few times at the saloon. They were flanked by their mates, two women who could have stepped straight from a history book about Amazon warriors, they looked so fierce. One even carried a bow.

“Mistress of the Hunt…” someone murmured in a voice filled with awe.

Summer had met all of them, but dang. In the saloon, they’d been nice, friendly folk. Now, they were all raw, looming power and barely bridled rage.

Behind the four wolves, the pack’s massive blacksmith filled up the doorway. A boar shifter — one of the gentlest, kindest people Summer had ever met. But not now. Holy cow, not now.

“Don’t let us interrupt you,” Ty Hawthorne growled as the five of them stood there, bristling. Sending a clear statement that the most powerful pack in the Southwest would keep a close eye on Hope Springs pack.

Summer trembled, and hell, half the gathered crowd did, too. Were her friends from the Blue Moon Saloon nearby, too? And crap, if Thomas’ announcement was not to their liking, what would they do?

Thomas seemed to be the only person in the room who didn’t blink an eye. He just nodded to Ty Hawthorne and went on.

“Hope Springs pack has made a name for itself in ways no honest shifter should support.”

A ripple went through the crowd, and Summer’s pulse skipped. Thomas was a good guy?

He swept his powerful gaze over every shifter in the room. “Ways that should make them ashamed. Too few spoke up against the men who led a rampage against innocent shifters who’d done no wrong. Too few resisted.”

Summer hung her head. And she wasn’t the only one.

“Many of you, I know, disapproved of the Whytes’ actions.”

Gretchen glared but kept her mouth shut.

“But did you act?” Thomas asked. “Did you speak up?”

He let the question hang in the air, and the room went from quiet to painfully silent as it became clear the question wasn’t rhetorical. The alpha expected an answer. Confessions.

Summer understood the need for the pack members to come clean and face their past. But, damn. Who would have the balls to speak up?

Floorboards creaked as the crowd shifted nervously on their feet. Thomas’ frown grew deeper. A sparrow fluttered through the eaves, and the whisper of its wings was a roar in the silence.

“I didn’t act,” Summer said quietly. Well, she meant to say it quietly, but the words came out loud and clear. “I didn’t speak up.”

Everyone whipped around, and their eyes burned into her. The girl nobody ever noticed was suddenly on center stage.

Her knees shook. Shit.

She took a deep breath. She focused on Drew and pretended he was the only one there.

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