Page 34 of Deception

You don’t have to do this,his eyes said.

Oh, but she did. She could never make a future with him if she didn’t get the regrets off her chest now.

“I helped Emmett track down his victims. I helped plan his ambushes.”

An older man eyed her sadly with an expression that said,But, dear. You’re so young. It wasn’t your fault.

She shook her head. “I didn’t know what they were doing at first. I never asked why. I never bothered thinking about what was really going on.” Her voice threatened to crack, and she cleared her throat. “Which makes me just as guilty.” And Jesus, did she feel the guilt. Every day. Every night.

She looked around the room, expecting glares. But the others had either lowered their eyes to the floor or were nodding in agreement.

“I knew it couldn’t go on, but all I could think of was to run away. All I could think of was myself.”

Drew looked at her and shook his head.The cubs. You saved the cubs.

That wasn’t the point. Didn’t he get it?

She was about to say as much, but a strong, clear voice sounded first, filling the room. It was Lana Dixon, Ty’s mate. A woman with as powerful a presence as her mate.

“You were part of stopping them. You had the courage the resist.”

“Not at the beginning, I didn’t.”

“One person can’t stop a runaway train. But one brave person can still act. And you did. What you did helped defeat the Blue Bloods.”

Brave.Had Lana Dixon, kick-ass alpha she-wolf of the Twin Moon pack, just called her brave? Summer locked her knees before her legs went out from under her.

“Brave enough to be the first to speak, too,” Thomas said, nodding.

Holy shit. The new alpha of a pack was making a positive example of her.

Thomas looked around the crowd with fierce eyes. “This isn’t about blame. This is about coming clean. We can’t concentrate on building our future if we don’t face the past first.” He paused while staring at each person in turn. “So, who else?”

The crowd fidgeted, but then an old man spoke. “I was against it from the beginning, but they didn’t listen, and I just gave up…”

A younger wolf chimed in next, gulping hard. “If my leg hadn’t been hurt, I would have gone with them on their latest attack. I wanted to be part of it. I just didn’t think it through.”

More and more people spoke, all of them in dull, quiet tones. Their shoulders slumped, their faces were heavily lined. Some held their tongues and kept their eyes on the ground, but Summer wasn’t worried about them. They were the type to follow a strong leader, and as long as that leader wasn’t a Whyte…

She glanced Mett’s way, but his eyes were cast down, too. She couldn’t see Gretchen behind the crowd, but really, what could Gretchen do now but hold her tongue? Her powerful brothers had been killed for their sick ideas.

When the room went quiet again, Thomas’ voice boomed out. “Anyone who objects to putting that all behind us, say it now.”

The silence that stretched awkwardly was the death knell of the Blue Blood movement.

“Those who directly participated in the killings are dead, and we have a future to build,” Thomas said. “A future in which we concentrate on rebuilding this pack in peaceful, honest ways.”

She shot a glance at Drew, who grinned at her from across the room.It’s over. It’s done.

Her knees really did buckle then, and as the visiting alphas spoke up to pledge their support for Thomas — another ritual that could take hours — Summer edged out the door.

Sunlight struck her like a physical thing, and the anxiety that had chilled her body slowly faded to a warm feeling of peace. A feeling of release.

She put her hands on her knees, closed her eyes, and replayed Drew’s words.

It’s over. It’s done.

Summer couldn’t help it. The second she folded over her knees, she cried. Shook. Sobbed. It hurt, that process of tearing herself away from so much guilt and fear — but it felt good, too. So she didn’t hold her emotions back. She probably couldn’t if she tried. And if anyone spotted her looking like an utter mess, who cared? It was over. Finally, it was over.

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