Page 158 of Claimed

After asking her if she wanted to talk about the brothel and getting a very firmno, I told her how wonderful life is being mated to an alpha from Arcana Falls. I told her how beautiful their village is. I told her how I just yesterday hoped she would somehow, someway be identified by one of the Arcana Falls alphas, and the look of accusation on her face – as if I’m responsible for this happening to her – it threw me off.

She looked very skeptical when I told her how incredible sex is when you’re having it with your fated mate. She’s on emotional and information overload in addition to dealing with the reality of life changing for all of us. I tried to explain what I knew of the alpha’s urges and issues between the time of identifying their mate and claiming them and backed off when she got terror-stricken. I reiterated how good Grey is to me, how Brody seems like a really good guy, how Grey speaks very highly of him.

I mentioned he wanted to take on running this pack and this was news to her, so I also told her about Malachi being in Arcana Falls after giving her a full update of what I knew of the health condition of pack members.

And now, after witnessing the difference in several of our people after shifting, I suggested to Grey and got the thumbs up to suggest to the non-ill members of the pack that we all shift all at once outside the gates in the forest.

***

“Wolf shifters need to shift,” I call out. “And we should. As often as we feel the need. Our wolves need us to connect with them, and they need to connect with the earth, the moon especially. It was wrong of Wyatt to make it a punishable offence to shift without his permission. It’s one of the ways he was keeping control, weakening us both physically and mentally. I’m told leadership here is going to change and I suspect you’re all goingto be part of the decision-making process. Instead of your leader being decided by might alone, you get to decide who is the right leader for you. But regardless of what happens with Wyatt, whoever takes on a leadership role for this pack, please let us not ever repeat history. Let us learn from it. If our leadership isn’t looking after us, doesn’t have our best interests in mind, we need new leadership.”

“Hear, hear!” Eloise calls out.

“I don’t know about you all, but I’m ready to shift. Let’s all stay close, though, okay? Let’s not stray too far for the moment. You’ll feel a little wobbly, probably, but each shift will have you feeling stronger. I want to shift again when we wake up tomorrow so let’s do another group shift at dawn for whoever wants to.”

The men, other than the few who were sick and are now on the mend, are still in the barracks, but me and most of the rest of the women are all in wolf form now. Misty, Caroline, Jennifer and a few of the other girls that were rescued last night are here, too.

I switch shapes and most of the others do the same, though a few of the older women have difficulty. Of all who are able to shift, a few are sniffing around and walking the perimeter of the side yard behind the schoolhouse. A few of the younger women are happily playing with one another, chasing, play fighting. The kids watch from inside the schoolhouse as we wanted to make sure they stayed safe after Grey warned that those who hadn’t shifted in several years, which included several, could be dangerous.

Although I can see the handful who haven’t been able to shift are visibly upset, I also see Lincoln, still in person shape, talking to them, offering what looks like reassurance and comforting.

Nobody here seems like a danger whatsoever, but Grey stood in wolf shape between us and the schoolhouse to stay on the safe side of things.

The mood is jovial, more so than I’ve seen for years around here. And I’m so, so happy that I beam a smile at my mate who, still in his wolf shape, winks at me.

44

Grey

When the group of Silver Hills women shifts back to female forms, I shift as well. After everyone is dressed and Mitch administers his experimental drug to three of the four that were unable to shift, he approaches, about to speak with me, but the lady Stacy sang to last night, Patsy, approaches the two of us looking at her feet but obviously wanting to speak to me or Mitch about something.

“Can I do something for you, Patsy?” I ask.

Her eyes meet mine, flit away, then return, like she’s given herself permission to continue eye contact despite her instinct to avert her gaze.

“I’d like to know… what’s going to happen to our alpha? Will he go to a prison, or will he be put to death?”

“I’m conducting an investigation,” Mitch replies. “Once Wyatt Meadows is apprehended, I’ll be interviewing everyone in this pack individually before I submit my report and then our council will discuss a plan of action. I expect him to stand trial.”

“Might I ask…” She waits.

“Ask anything you like, ma’am,” Mitch invites.

“What are the potential punishments?” Patsy asks, but she’s still got eyes on me, as if she’s not certain if she can look at Mitch.

“He could be sent to prison. He could also be put to death. He could be sentenced to serve time in a work camp as well.”

“Couldwedecide what happens to him? Stacy says she believes we should be offered a chance to choose our leadership. Could we, perhaps, do a joint impact statement like they do in the Hollywood movies so that can be taken into account for sentencing?” She finally looks at him.

“I can make that recommendation,” Mitch replies. “No promises you’ll choose the sentence, but you can certainly recommend a sentence in a statement.”

“And… might I ask… what if we decide to do something before he stands trial?“ she inquires. “What if folks here decide to mete out their own punishment?”

Mitch gives her a wide smile and takes a minute before he answers. “As he’s your alpha, if there were a mutiny situation, we would study the aftermath and the reasons behind it and make a decision based on that.”

“Could some of us stand trial if we put him to death?”

“Ma’am, while I am but one member of the council collective and have no way to predict the future, I will say that we rarely intervene when a pack challenges their own alpha as it’s usually deserved. I suspect that if, after all I’ve seen here, Wyatt Meadows’ people put him to death … nobody in the SCC would likely bat an eyelash. If they did, there would be a whole lot of people standing up and taking the backs of the accused and I’m sure that would factor into any decisions or consequences.”

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