Leevi heard Summer gasp. He wasn’t sure if it was because they were talking about her, or because of the thought that he was about to be married off to another being. He gritted his teeth. War would have to start all over again before he allowed that to happen. He was about to turn his head to smile reassuringly at her but the Enforcer carried on. Christ. There’s more?
“Thirdly, you were granted the right to mate with a male on the understanding that he would take second place to the female chosen for you. From your own lips you have again and again refused to accept that your female would be superior to the male.”
It was Rik’s turn to exclaim. Actually what Leevi had declared during his interrogation this afternoon was that he regarded as both his mates as equal, but he didn’t dare look over at Summer to see if she understood this. Instead he closed his eyes as the ghastliness of the situation began to unfold.
The Enforcer stepped back, having completed his duty, and Matias spoke again. “I now call for people to speak for or against accused.”
Rik stood up so suddenly his chair nearly toppled over. “Accused! You know full well Leevi only got involved because I came to him, and he and I saved Summer’s life. We’re not the ones who should be tried. They are,” he shouted, pointing to the four surviving members of Jaakko’s pack that sat on the opposite side of the hall. The men Rik indicated started to rise to their feet, hackles raised, fangs obvious as they began to snarl. People around them quickly shuffled in their seats, not wanting to be caught in the middle of a fight. Leevi hesitated. He wanted to drop to all fours, ready to protect his mates, but more Enforcers from the back of the room swiftly came forward, one to hold Rik if necessary and others to demand Kari and his group sit down. Leevi let his stance relax and his eyes settle back into human form.
After they all calmed down, peace was restored, although tension simmered in the air still. The leader of the Council turned a kindly eye on Rik. “Please sit down, Rikhard Linna. Only clan may speak.”
“What?”
“Enough, Rik.” Leevi finally spoke to his lover in a low voice.
Rik turned on him, his face showing his shock at Leevi’s demand. “You can’t expect me to let you go through this alone.”
“Sit down.” Matias’s raised voice reverberated around the room. He was now getting angry, his former sympathy for the situation dissipating. “You allowed in here on understanding you remain quiet and not interfere. If you speak again I will have you removed.”
Leevi watched in agony as Summer reached up to wrap her arms around Rik’s waist and pull him down to his seat, shoulders slumped. Leevi hoped she realized he was saying thank you with his eyes. Rik just wouldn’t look at him, a resigned look on his handsome face.
Movement came from Leevi’s right and he looked over and grimaced. It was Annukka. He hoped she wasn’t going to speak against his actions.
“I continue what Rik started. If not for him and Leevi, my granddaughter, Summer, would not be alive. She owes life to them.”
Around him Leevi was pleased to note several murmurs of agreement with Annukka’s statement. Above that though, he heard a shocked gasp and glanced over to see Summer staring at her grandmother, her hand over her mouth. But he didn’t get a chance to smile at her and relish her delight of finding Annukka as Erno stood up suddenly, blocking his view.
His body was rigid with anger and voice full of antagonism, “The girl’s life would still have been saved if Leevi had done things properly. That is to say he should have come to us, the Council, or at the very least, to Matias to act as—what is English word—?”
“Mediator.” Leevi closed his eyes in defeat as he said this, knowing Erno was perfectly correct. He wasn’t sure himself why he had gone tearing off with Rik. It could have been the chance to spend time with his former lover. Or maybe it was Summer’s scent on Rik that had affected him so much. Either way he had known for hours, ever since his Beta had passed on the information that Summer had been taken by Jaakko’s pack, that it was wrong and things were going to end badly. He had just ignored the tension in his stomach. Or tried to. Until now.
“You see.” Erno turned to the audience around him, his satisfaction clear in his voice. “Leevi knows what he should have done. Instead he defied tradition and law.” Placing his hands on his hips he stared defiantly at Leevi, who wondered if Erno was pushing to become the next Prime. They had never been friends, but they had been friendly. This new stance was proving that their former connection must have been just for show on Erno’s part.
Annukka clearly wasn’t pleased by what was happening judging by the snort coming from her and the patronizing look she gave Erno. Leevi forced back a chuckle. He had been on the receiving end of that look himself on several occasions. She was quite an advocate for whatever cause she took up, generally the rights of the women in the clan. “And by time Matias aroused himself out of comfortable chair, my granddaughter may well have been dead.”
“That is enough, Annukka,” huffed Matias, indignant, red in the face.
She just smiled at the Council leader and serenely sat down, her hands resting in her lap, back straight, legs crossed at her ankles, ignoring the fact that she had just insulted him.
“And you can sit down too, Erno. Instead let us hear from Kari.” Matias turned to instruct the former member of the dissident pack. “Remember, please, we have interrogated you already, so we want only truth. Tell us what were your intentions.”
Kari stood up from his seat in the audience hesitatingly, as everyone turned to stare at him. He shrugged as if debating whether to be honest or not. “We not totally sure what Jaakko intended to do with girl eventually, but he use her to draw out Leevi.”
Yeah, and Leevi had fallen straight for it. He cursed to himself at the knowledge that he had jumped straight into Jaakko’s trap. He was never sure when Jaakko had started hating him, but suspected part of it was that Jaakko lacked courage to go to places like Helsinki and learn more of the world like Leevi had. Or maybe it was jealousy.
“Thank you, Kari.” Matias waited until Kari resumed his seat.
Some muttering came from Kari’s pack, “What did you say that for?” Leevi guessed Kari would be drummed out of their group now. Not that it was likely to continue without Jaakko to lead them, as there was no obvious person strong enough to take on the separatist element.
Matias continued, “As we have no clear knowledge if Summer death was Jaakko intention so we assume Leevi could have come to Council with this issue. Let us now consider second matter of matehood.” Matias looked him straight in the eye. “You knew when you became Prime it important to have good female mate to pass on strong wolf traits. You agreed to this.”
Leevi swallowed. He knew he had, and at the time it hadn’t mattered, until he had met Rik.
“And yet you disregard this when you firstly mated Rik and then English girl.”
Matias stopped and looked around at his fellow Council members, his face grave. Leevi could hear a mutual gasp across the room as people waited to see what Matias would say. “As Council spokesperson I not allowed to vote on important issues because of conflict of interest, as this relates to my successor, unless there is deadlock. But I remind you that in past for offence of killing we throw guilty party from balcony of fort.”
Behind him Summer said, “Jesus fucking Christ.”
Glancing at her, Leevi could see Rik was comforting her, his own features showing his shock too. Erno, meanwhile, looked delighted. Leevi snorted. About that punishment he wasn’t worried.
“However, modern tradition is to strip rank from offender and exile from pack. How do you vote?”
Leevi held his breath. Now he was anxious as one by one all the Council said ’kyllä’—yes. All bar one—Annukka, although a couple were hesitant before saying yes, but Leevi knew he had been in the wrong. It was just such a harsh punishment never being allowed to come back home, to the woods where he had learned to trail and hunt, to the lake where he had learn
ed to swim, to the house where he had grown up in, to the soil where his ancestors were buried. His ties to his heritage would be severed, and there’d be no going back.
Matias held up his hand as the audience began to mutter, some in agreement with the sentence, others not. Several whom Leevi considered friends, he was glad to hear, were most vocal about their unhappiness with the decision.
“We also have to punish for defying Council orders regarding choice of mates. As we all know, alphas are proud lineage, strongest of our kin. Since time immemorial we have preserved them through alliances with alphas and daughters of alphas from other clans to enhance our wolf bloodlines, so we do not become inferior to humans and their progressive ways. Tradition says penalty is for every member of clan to have one slash on body of guilty, but now ritual is for Council only. What say you?”
Once again Annukka wholeheartedly disapproved of this, although a few more were very uncertain and also voted no, but the majority went against Leevi again. He could hear Rik and Summer exclaiming, “Christ” and “No” as they rose to their feet. They were barred by the Enforcers from getting any closer to him. Not that there was anything they could do. Nor he, despite his efforts to modernize the clan. If he wanted to retain some dignity he had to go through with this.
“In that case I ask you to remove shirt please,” Matias asked the now demoted Prime, who suddenly felt very ashamed in front of his loves, and he knew this was the end of his chance to live happily ever after with his mates. He didn’t care about being demeaned in front of his pack or clan, although at one time this would have mortified him. There was no way he could be mate to Rik and Summer now. Not only did he not have a home, a pack, or a clan to offer them, he would have to leave clan lands, and that meant leaving his garage, so he was jobless too. But for them to see him punished like this was the final straw. It was so humiliating, particularly to someone who had been the head of the clan for many years, and successfully too.
Steeling himself, not so much for the pain that was about to follow, but to the voices of his now former mates who were yelling at Matias, the Council, anyone to stop this travesty, Leevi did as was requested. Two of the Enforcers came forward to hold his arms.
“That is not necessary,” he growled at them.
“But it is tradition,” the one on his left responded in a terse voice that spoke his disapproval of what Leevi had done, despite the fact that he was supposed to be neutral.
Standing with his arms outstretched and held by the Enforcers, Leevi braced himself as Erno strode forward, his face glowing in his eagerness to strike the first blow, and Leevi nearly howled as he was swiped with the fully formed claws of the wolf shifter. It was perfectly possible for his people to partially shift so Leevi gritted his teeth and stared boldly at the man in front of him, not wanting to show any submission by means of letting his head bow, looking away, or showing pain. Erno clearly wasn’t happy as he frowned fiercely before being pushed aside by the second person.
One by one, they came up in order around the circle, following Erno’s lead. Even the tentative people came up to make their strike across Leevi’s body. The tradition was that it could only be across the body from the shoulder to the waist, but occasionally in their zeal a claw swiped across his neck, his face, and his arms. He was glad they didn’t hit a jugular or he would have died, although Matias growled loudly when the last of the pack leaders placed his claws around Leevi’s neck in readiness for his swipe. Giving the Council leader a surly snarl, the man made do with a viscous swipe across Leevi’s left nipple instead, which was, actually, incredibly painful, and he choked back a whimper. Leevi had to resist pulling away from the grip of the Enforcers at that point. His body trembled as blood trickled down his chest from the wound. Apart from Erno’s commencing strike, which had gone from his right shoulder to his left side, that was the worst. Three were very shallow and very short indicating the uncertain emotions of the people in question as to the rightness of the punishment.
Leevi snorted, he would rather they had protested more vigorously on his behalf instead of showing their unhappiness with the decision in this manner. The other two slashes included one across his waist—which could have been dangerous if it was deeper, but it still smarted nevertheless—and one across his left shoulder, which had also included a claw dragged across his cheek, which stung hotly. He could feel blood on his face.
Matias as spokesperson was not allowed to take part, but the sentence continued with the eight elected Council members who gave shallow or medium strikes—not particularly harmful or painful, except where a claw crossed a previous cut, and then Leevi flinched, wanting to arch his body backward to get away from the pain.
He gnashed his teeth and felt sweat trickle down his face. The penultimate one was a deep vertical slash on his right side, thankfully, avoiding Erno’s deep diagonal mark and the bleeding nipple on the other side of his body. Nevertheless, the person didn’t go lightly, and Leevi finally had to cry out as his body jerked under the onslaught. He started panting in response to the searing pain.
One to go, and Leevi nearly groaned out loud when he saw it was Annukka. By then he was shaking badly. He didn’t think she would harm him, but he was worried how Summer would react when she saw her grandmother hurting him.
Annukka walked slowly to stand before him. Unlike her granddaughter, she was tiny and round. Along with her gray hair tied back in a bun, she was the archetypal grandmother. She looked him straight in the eye and raised her hand. Somehow he managed to avoid flinching at the sight of her outstretched claws.
Summer sobbed behind him.
But Annukka simply laid her paw gently over his heart and stated, “This is mate of my granddaughter and so is family. I will do him no harm.” She looked intently at him. “You are welcome in my house any time.”
She gave him a loving smile, but Leevi knew it was no good. He couldn’t be the man that Summer needed. He would leave that to Rik.
“Annukka, you have no right,” exclaimed Matias.
“Are you exiling me too? No, then I have every right to allow who I choose into my home.”
Leevi almost pleaded out loud for her to stop talking. He couldn’t take her charity. It would be too degrading. He was in agony for this to finish. His heart was breaking in pieces, and he just wanted to run away.
Matias signaled for the Enforcers to let go of Leevi and spoke the ritual words to conclude the ceremony, “Leevi Valo, you now exiled from our clan. You have until midnight tomorrow to remove yourself.” The spokesperson glared at Annukka. “Leevi, if you choose to shelter within our lands, know that immediately you step outside house, any clan member may lawfully kill you according to our laws.”
Crying with relief, Leevi knew this was his way out, his reason for not lingering, his motive for leaving his mates behind and starting a new life—by himself—elsewhere.
“Now go.” Matias raised his arm in the direction of the door and then turned around, his back to Leevi. There was a shuffling sound as everyone else in the room followed suit, some more hesitatingly than others, all except Rik, Summer, Annukka, and the Enforcers who had to make sure he left the building.
Before Rik or Summer could move toward him, Leevi immediately shifted into his wolf, his remaining clothes falling to the floor. However, he hadn’t reckoned on how painful his chest would be. It felt like he was being gashed all over again as his wolf skin split as he changed, to replicate the wounds on his human body, only these slashes appeared instantaneously. He felt like he was being ripped apart, and the howl he let out reverberated loudly around the still room. He saw Rik clasp his hands over his ears. As Leevi gazed a last time at his lovers, he could see Rik responding with an anguished look, and Summer with tears flowing down her face as they started to step forward.
Almost with a leap, Leevi raced out of the hall, fleeing his loves, his pack, and his clan. Forever.
Chapter Eleven
“I have to get to Leevi before he does something
stupid.” Rik sprinted down the underground corridor, having pushed through the crowd inside the hall who all seemed destined to thwart his exit, feeling anything but calm. A terrible fear clutched his heart, and he knew that without Leevi in his life that a state of living death would consume him alive.
“He wouldn’t hurt himself. Would he?” Summer asked, slightly breathlessly, running after him, keeping up the pace remarkably well, once again displaying her athletic history.
“No. But he would skulk off into the night believing he has no worth beyond his station as a Prime. I have to get to him.”
“You love him.” Her tone suggested it wasn’t an accusation. It was, however, a statement of fact. There was some concern in her voice, even though Leevi had claimed her before the Council, but there was curiosity too, not to mention wistfulness.
“Yeah, I do love him. I love him with all my heart.” When they were outside again Rik stopped to look at Summer. He could feel the pull of the full moon urging him to shift, to run, to mate, but he squelched the instinct. “And, though we don’t know each other very well yet, I love you with all my heart too. I love you both, and I don’t want to lose either of you.” He ran an anxious hand through his hair. “I have no idea what the hell that means or what I’m going to do about it, or what I can do about it. All I know is I want both of you in my life.” He could hear the anguish in his own voice but couldn’t stop to consider the problem further, or wonder how she was taking it as he turned away, wanting to get to Leevi before he disappeared off the face of the earth.
The Last Werewolf (The Weres of Europe) Page 14