Page 121 of Shifters Unifying

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.