Page 46 of Shifters Unifying (Shifters Destiny: Willow Creek Shifters #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

emma

The Gathering Place

Between Bear Trees & Red Tail Territories

Seated on the square relic, at the front of the conclave, I sent energy into the magical artifact, shocked once more by the way it amplified the power. No longer a nondescript stone, it became a crystal and glowed beneath me. Every shifter in the conclave seemed to hold their breath.

Salali had been tied to the council table, and she wept. Torbin stood at her head, his expression a hard mask of contained fury. He placed one hand on either side of her head as sobs wracked her body. He gave me a grim nod.

Beams of magic stretched into the bear shifter, curled around him, seeped into his mind, and then linked twelve more. As each connected to the others, their eyes luminesced.

Most of them were strangers to me, but they’d been selected by their peers. Raccoons, big cats, and many more were represented, including Flynn, Beauregard, and Levi. Justice knew no clan.

Torbin bent over Salali and sent his own magic into her head, and I startled as her memories played backward in my mind. As Torbin sifted, the images changed and time rolled back.

“To the beginning,” Torbin muttered. “Show me the beginning.”

Images of me filtered through my mind, times when she must have been watching from the trees. Raven shifters fluttered in and out. They had been her handlers. Even while I trained her warriors, she’d reported on my abilities.

The confrontation at the creek burst through my head. I shuddered as Acheron’s laughter echoed through her mind. The evil mage had promised her everything that belonged to the Six-Mile pack. Our homes. Our land. Our lives.

“Where is he hiding?” Torbin demanded. His probing increased in strength, and her anguish bled through the link. “Where is your master?”

Salali cried out and convulsed on the table, her arms and legs banging against the surface. Her eyes widened. “No, no, no,” she whimpered. “There’s nothing else.”

Finally, Torbin straightened. “She knows nothing else. You may release the link.”

I tried, but primal energy poured through me, unrelenting.

My heart squeezed, and my chest warmed. Every muscle in my body pulled taut, and my jaw clenched. I should have been able to release them. A tug at the back of my mind pulled me from the task in front of me. Wrath filled me, consumed me. My chest heaved, threatening to break in two.

Shit! Logan! No!

A new burst of super-heated light shot out, through the warding, and out into the forest in the direction of No Man’s Land. The earth rumbled beneath the soles of my bare feet. Lightning flashed, and the sky overhead boiled.

Thirteen shifters groaned as pain shot through my fated mate bond, and I hunched over my knees. Logan!

I grimaced and struggled to maintain control of the energy uniting Torbin and the twelve shifters. Not again. Not again. Releasing the flows abruptly could injure them all. Sweat slicked my skin, and my body shook.

Marcus placed a steadying hand on my shoulder. “Use me.”

“Us, too,” Evie whispered, close to my ear.

More flows joined his, and I straightened as I leaned into the shared strength and renewed focus. One by one, I released the jury, each one breaking away and stepping to the side as the glow in their eyes winked out.

Torbin was the last, and when he stepped away, I screamed as the energy snapped back into the stone relic with a clap of thunder. I fell to the side and landed in the dirt.

Marcus crouched beside me, feeling around until he found me. “Are you alive?”

“Barely,” I rasped.

“What the hell was that?”

“Logan needed me, and he took what he needed.”

Marcus’s expression softened, and he awkwardly hooked his hand beneath my shoulder blade to help me up. “Could you tell why?”

I climbed to my feet, hoping no one could see me tremble. “There’s only one reason he would syphon energy off me like that.”

He sighed. “Acheron.”

Torbin slammed his gavel on the council table twice, hitting a spot near Salali’s ear. “All shifters except the selected twelve will leave the Gather Place. Deliberations will begin now.”

Twenty minutes later, Flynn called us back into the conclave, and we each took our seats in the amphitheater. The jury took their seats across the two sides of the front row, and the others filled in the other seats, bunching together by clans.

Dark clouds still churned over the conclave, and the air practically popped with tension. Thunder boomed, and lightning flashed. All of it as if to warn: Acheron is coming.

From the front, Torbin yelled, “Have you come to a consensus?”

The spy on the council table hadn’t moved since I’d released the witnesses, and I chose a seat on the end of the front row with the shifters who had assisted Torbin as he rifled through the squirrel shifter’s mind.

Flynn sat to my right. Marcus, Evie, and Ahmie sat behind me.

The rest of the conclave had gone so quiet that I had to look over my shoulder to make sure they were still there.

Finally, Levi stood and stepped forward. “There is only one punishment for an alpha who betrays the multimorph.”

Torbin waited without comment.

“It’s death, ye big oaf,” Flynn snarled. “It’s unfair, yer makin’ him say it. That’s his alpha on the table.”

Levi paled and glanced to me.

I laid a shaky hand on Flynn’s gingery forearm, my thoughts still on Logan and what he must be going through to need that much energy. “It must be said. For all to hear.”

Levi waited for my nod before he continued. “Salali must die.” He cleared his throat. “As punishment for her betrayal, the alpha of East Nuttal Delta must die.”

Salali turned her head away and sniffed, but she made no other sound. Maybe she had resigned herself to her fate, or maybe she knew Acheron was coming and a death at our hands would be the better option.

“How should we execute her punishment?” Torbin asked, more softly this time.

I braced, expecting to be given the task of ending Salali’s life. I didn’t know how to do that. Death was the opposite of what I wanted as a vet and as a multimorph, but I had promised to approve any punishment the chose. Leaders required strength.

“We, as her warriors, will carry her out of the conclave, return to Six-Mile, and we will end her life. Not with by magic but by beheading. We will return her to the earth. May her energy be cleansed by the primal.”

Behind me, Evie and Ahmie stood. Father back, Reuben and Benjamin joined them. Each one nodded.

“Is this acceptable to the multimorph?” Torbin asked.

I swallowed the bile which threatened to escape from my stomach. Beheading. Maybe I hadn’t known what I’d thought they’d choose, but it was more violent than anything else I’d ever witnessed. And they hadn’t demanded I do it.

My knees wobbled as I stood. “It is decided.” A collective gasp moved through the crowd, and I raised my hands to quiet them. “We will reconvene in Six-Mile.”

The squirrel warriors moved to the front while the somber assembly filed out of the Gathering Place.

I slipped out, avoiding the crush of people, but Marcus appeared at my side.

His unfocused eyes stared at a distant point on the horizon. “May I escort you, multimorph?”

“Sure.”

“Dr. Wise will be sorry she missed this.”

“Is that really all you can say?” I snapped.

He stopped and turned toward me. “I could say you did well, that the strength you exhibited rivaled all the best alphas…” His voice trailed away. “But I don’t think you want praise for sentencing a spy to death.”

“You got that right.” I frowned at him. “Tell me. What do we do with the body? We don’t exist without a footprint in the human world. How do we explain the disappearance of shifters or any of the people who Acheron consumed? How do we explain a beheading to the police?”

“Many agencies know about us, so we make a phone call, and they shuffle the cases into the unsolved stack or sometimes the cold case files.”

“Convenient.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “So, I can’t even use that to intervene.”

“I’m afraid not, multimorph. Not this time.” He leaned close and lowered his voice. “Did you figure out why Logan needed you?”

My shoulders drooped. “No, but I know he’s not dead.” I tested the bond. “And I think he’s on his way back.”

“Well, let him know, if he hurries, he might make it back for the beheading.”

“Fuck you,” I growled and marched away.

Two hours later, a small pack of shifters had formed on the other side of the gym. Torbin, Flynn, and Marcus were all in attendance. Logan, where are you?

How the hell had this happened? What would he say when I told him? Would he congratulate me or condemn me?

Salali had not earned the Death Rite. Instead, her actions brought her to her knees and her neck to a chopping block. Her arms had been bound behind her, and her ankles were tied so tightly that her feet were turning purple.

Her warriors circled her, and Reuben held an ancient, ceremonial Katana he’d retrieved from the relic horde.

I squeezed my eyes closed, unwilling to witness it. Even without seeing it, it would haunt me for the rest of my days.

Carefully, he drew the weapon from its sheath and lifted it high over his head. With a grunt, he swung as hard as he could. The blade sang through the air.

Chunch.

I bit back a cry and turned away. It was finished. How many more would die before we beat Acheron? Weariness weighed on me.

“Multimorph, would you like to make any comment?” Torbin rumbled.

I turned toward the group. “Remember this in the days to come. I demand loyalty, and I demand obedience,” I said. “Acheron is coming. Our survival depends on unifying the clans.”

Then I fled.