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“I dare you to try,” Colin whispered.

Lorcan took a step forward, but hesitated as Mr. Bamey
cleared his throat.

“Aw, that’s right,” Colin grinned. “If you kill me,
you’ll be breaking a law, huh?” He chuckled, throwing his head back for
emphasis on the amusement he found in the other male’s conflict. He sighed
heavily, crossing his arms over his chest. “What a bummer.”

“That’s enough,” Davey Berdine muttered. “You should
leave, Colin.”

“Gladly,” Colin shot back. “I was getting sick of
this place anyway. You’re nothing but a bunch of pathetic cowards waiting for
your slaughter.”

Arnold Goult took a step towards him, his fingers
balling tightly against his palms as he growled.

“Oh, not you, too,” Colin laughed bitterly. “Are you
suddenly going to take a stand against me as well, old man? I could take all
of you with a hand tied behind my back. Please, take another step. I’m
begging you.”

“Don’t,” Mrs. Bamey frowned. “Colin, stop this.
What’s gotten into you? Your parents would be so disappointed.”

“I don’t give a damn what my parents think,” Colin
scowled. “I am done living by this code. I am finished following the
instructions given to us by a god we can’t even trust exists.”

Everyone gasped in horror at his proclamation. Even
Presley; beautiful, naïve Presley stared at him in horror. What he stated was
blasphemy in their eyes, but he simply did not care. He was finished with the
ways of Urseth.

No one paid any mind to the stirring human in the
recliner; at least, not until he spoke.

“Is Lorcan going to turn into one of those big bears
again?” He asked, his speech slurred. “Cause I kind of need a heads up this
time so I don’t shit my pants.”

While the human found humor in his own words, no one
else thought it was funny at all. He’d just signed Lorcan Bamey’s death
sentence without realizing it. No one wanted to say what everyone else was
thinking, but Colin saw yet another opportunity to ruin everything.

“Lorcan Bamey,” He hissed in a malicious whisper. “You
violated the Clandestine Code.”

Twenty Seven

I
t had to be a bad dream. There was no way in
hell this was actually happening right now. Lorcan had not survived being
abducted by psychotic werewolves, persevered after suffering the agony of
losing his brother, and finally landed the girl of his dreams just for
something like this to happen.

“Don’t say that,” Mrs. Bamey pleaded. Her bottom lip
quivered as she stared at Colin in horror. That little jackass was just asking
to be brutalized; and Lorcan would be all too happy to do it.

His fangs clashed against flat teeth as he allowed his
gaze to wander from his mother to Colin, and then he glanced at Presley. Her
thoughts were hitting him at a million miles per hour, and all he wanted to do
was wrap his arms around her and reassure her that everything would be okay.

Truth be told, at this moment in time, he wasn’t sure
he could make such a promise. Colin had stumbled over a dangerous ledge of
desperation, and his obvious envy of Lorcan’s good fortune was too much for him
to handle.

“You violated the Clandestine code,” Colin repeated.
“Never reveal, remember? You’ve done just that.”

“He didn’t mean to!” Mrs. Bamey wailed. A choked sob
escaped her lips as she clutched a hand against her chest. “Davey, please
don’t listen to him. It was an accident, I’m sure. Rutley’s three sheets to
the wind right now. He-He bumped his head when he crashed his car. He doesn’t
know what he’s saying!”

Davey Berdine released a heavy sigh as he lifted his
eyes to gaze at the distraught female.

“It’s not easy being an elder,” Davey said softly. “I’m
sorry, Charlotte, but the laws are older than any of us. You know we cannot
simply ignore this.”

The elder male’s tone was apologetic, and the look on
his face told Lorcan that he really didn’t want to do this. Hell, who wanted
to convict one of their own to death? As a matter of fact, Lorcan was really
starting to question their god as his eyes slowly trailed back to Presley. Her
big green eyes were full of tears as she stared at him, a hand resting against
her stomach as she bit at her trembling lower lip. He would never get the
chance to see their cub…..

“Well do it already,” Colin sneered. “He is guilty.
I’ve reported him. You know what to do now, old man.”

“You can’t kill him!” Mrs. Bamey cried. Lorcan watched
as his father wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort her. “He’s all
we’ve got left! I’ve already lost one boy…please don’t take the only one I have
left.”

“I’m so sorry,” Davey whispered.

“That’s bullshit!” Kyle Frey voiced as he slammed his
fist down against the kitchen table. “You can’t just kill him! We don’t live
in the olden days, you know. There has to be another form of punishment.”

“There isn’t!” Colin growled. “These are the laws of
Urseth and we must follow them. Rules
are
rules.”

“That is incredibly unfair,” Dimitri stated softly as
Lorcan met his gaze. “If you kill Lorcan you are no better than Breslin
Connor. There are so few of you as it is. Would you really rip a son away
from his grieving mother? Would you really take a father away from his unborn
child?”

Dimitri
did
have a point, but Lorcan knew there
was no way around this. The laws of Urseth existed for a reason. They
protected both humans and ursithropes, and he’d broken the biggest law of them
all by shifting in front of Rutley Holter. He was guilty.

Lorcan felt the warmth of Presley’s hand against his
arm, and he turned his head to stare down at her. The tears rolling down her
cheeks caused his heart to shatter. He never wanted to see her cry. He never
wanted to be the reason behind her tears. All he’d ever wanted in life was to
make her happy…..and now he wouldn’t get to be in her life at all.

“He can’t get away with this, right?” Presley asked in
a small voice. “There’s got to be something we can do to stop it….they can’t
just kill you, can they?”

Her eyes held so much hope, and as much as he wanted to
tell her there was a Plan B; he couldn’t lie to her. He would never lie to
her.

“Pretz,” He whispered, lifting his hand to brush away
her tears. “I know this is hard to accept but-”

“No!” She took a step away from him. She acted as if
his touched burned her, and that killed him on the inside. She shook her head
furiously and the anger in her green eyes became the only thing Lorcan could
focus on. “You promised we would be together forever, no matter what! You
can’t do this to me. You can’t do this to us,” She sobbed. Her voice broke as
the tears fell harder.

All he wanted to do was hold her. He wanted to step
back in time and prevent any of this from happening. He wanted to make her
tears stop. He wanted to take the pain radiating from her body and pull it
into his own, to shield her from the heartache of the inevitable.

Presley turned her tearful eyes towards Colin, her
anger only growing stronger as she jabbed a finger in his direction.

“This is your fault! You selfish, self-centered,
egotistical bastard! We’re having a baby and you’re taking away my mate! I
hate you!”

No one uttered a word as Presley’s heart wrenching sobs
echoed around the room. Even Colin, the pompous jerk-wad he was, seemed to
feel guilty for his actions as she disappeared down the hall and slammed the
door. Lorcan didn’t make any move to follow after her. What was he supposed
to say? She was too upset as it was, and then a chilling thought hit him.

What if she loses our cub because of this?

A low growl sounded in his
throat as he turned his eyes back to Colin. His skull felt like it was about
to explode as his head began to swell. His heated flesh ignited to dangerous
temperatures as he balled his hands into tight fists and took another step
towards him.

“You can’t touch me,” Colin snapped, taking a step away
from him. “You can’t do that, Lorcan. Rules are rul-”

He was cut off by a large fist colliding with his
jaw. He stumbled backwards and hit the wall before falling to the floor.

Lorcan turned his head to see Dimitri standing there,
gazing at his knuckles. The shocked ursithrope blinked.

“He had that coming,” Dimitri replied as he licked his
lower lip. “And I won’t allow you to die, Lorcan. It’s my fault that you even
shifted that night. You’d just escaped from a horrible situation and you
picked up on the scent of a lycanthrope. I should be the one to take the
blame.”

“I can’t let you do that,” Lorcan argued with a shake
of his head. “I’m the one that shifted.”

“But you can’t
die
,” Dimitri frowned. The wolf
turned around to gaze at the other ursithropes, a pleading expression on his
face. “Will you really take a father away from his child? Will you allow that
cub to enter this world without a daddy to look after him or her?”

Lorcan’s eyes scanned the room, taking note of the
sympathetic look everyone seemed to share. Beau was even frowning over the
thought.

“What kind of law can possibly exist that would allow
this to happen?” Dimitri continued. “Does your god not value the meaning of
family? Isn’t that what you stand for? Togetherness. Family. Unity?”

“I’m sorry,” Davey frowned. “I wish I didn’t have to
do it, but it is the law of Urseth. We’re never supposed to reveal our true
nature to humans. It puts both species in danger. I’m afraid Lorcan and
Rutley must be punished.”

“Lorcan
and
Rutley?” Dimitri asked. “What the
hell does Rutley have to do with this?”

Oh. Dimitri definitely didn’t know about that small
detail.

Lorcan’s jawline tightened again as he stared at his
brother’s mate, frowning.

“It is said….in our law…that both the ursithrope
responsible for breaking the code and the human who witnessed it must die.”

Dimitri’s eyes widened.

“What? No,” He shook his head. “Hell no. Rutley’s
innocent. He didn’t do a damn thing wrong.”

Rutley groaned, seemingly coming around again as he
lifted his head from the recliner and glanced about.

“What did I do?” He asked drunkenly. “Besides wrecking
my damn car….It was almost paid off,” He whined, wincing as he touched his
fingertips to his temple. “Is that blood? Am I bleeding?”

––––––––-

He wasn’t sure how he always ended up making things
worse than they already were. Maybe he just had a knack for it, but Rutley was
seriously tired of stirring the pot no matter where he went.

No one was really talking to him as the sun slowly
crept into the morning sky. The awkward tension surrounding him made him
uncomfortable, and not even the pulsating ache in his head could distract him
from the growing worries in the very back of his mind.

I’ve done something bad,
He thought as he licked
his dry lips. His entire body was throbbing; and for good reason. What
dumbass decided driving his brand new car was a good idea while intoxicated?
Only him, apparently. He would have to wait to mourn over his prized
possession at a later time. Right now, he needed to figure out what the hell
was going on and what he could do to help.

Pushing himself up from the recliner, he limped into
the kitchen and rested a hand against the corner of the table.

“Are you gonna try to bite my head off?” He asked
quietly, his eyes landing on the side of Dimitri’s face.

“I’m not going to bite anything off,” Dimitri mumbled,
his eyes rolling upwards before he met Rutley’s gaze. He seemed so sad. Why?

Rutley eased down into the chair beside of the wolf,
wincing from the sharp pain shooting through his shoulder.

“Are you going to tell me what I did?” He asked
quietly. “Is Mrs. B. upset with me for running over her flowers? Or is it Mr.
B.? I’d totally understand if he’s pissed at me for destroying his
toolshed…..”

“It has nothing to do with that,” Dimitri snapped
suddenly.

Rutley fell silent, dropping his gaze to the floor.
His jawline tensed and relaxed before a frown graced his lips.

“Then what is it?” Rutley asked in a small voice.
“What did I do to make everybody act like somebody died?”

Dimitri exhaled heavily as he leaned forward in his
seat, resting his elbows against the table top as the muscles beneath his skin
danced and rippled. He turned his head to stare at Rutley again, the corner of
his mouth twitching.

“It’s complicated,” He replied.

“Yeah, well, I can deal with complicated,” Rutley said
in an annoyed tone. “I’m a frickin’ werewolf hunter, you know? I’m pretty
sure I’ve experienced ‘complicated’ in the past. Now can you please tell me
what’s going on?”

Dimitri shook his head slowly, lifting a hand to the
back of his head as his fingers raked through tangled, messy auburn locks. He
closed his eyes for a few seconds.

Rutley wasn’t sure if he was going to answer him at
all, and it only agitated him further. If he did something bad; he needed to
know. If he could fix it; he wanted to do just that. Keeping it from him
wasn’t going to help a damn thing. Mrs. Bamey had been crying non-stop in her
bedroom for the last three hours, and Presley only emerged from Lorcan’s
bedroom to use the restroom. She looked equally upset, and Rutley just didn’t
like it at all.

“There are laws,” Dimitri finally said. “Laws that are
put in place to protect people; to protect
you
, Rutley. Lorcan broke
one of them the other night.”

“What?” Rutley blinked, squinting his eyes in
confusion. “What laws are you talking about?”

Dimitri’s nostrils flared as he lowered his voice
again.

“I’m talking about the other night when you and I went
into the woods. You were pretty damn out of it. I didn’t even think you would
remember…but you did. And you told everybody about what happened.”

“I did?” Rutley shook his head, rubbing at the back of
his neck as he licked his lips once more. “I don’t remember too much from that
night at all. I know I screwed up by drinking
your
coffee and then
Lorcan suddenly turned into a-oh,” His shoulders slumped. “
Oh.
I guess
people aren’t supposed to know he can do that, huh?”

“No, they’re not,” Dimitri growled. Anger flashed in
his eyes as he pressed a palm flat against the table top. “No human is ever
supposed to know about their existence. But Lorcan shifted in front of you and
now he has to die.”

“What the fuck?!” Rutley exclaimed, his voice raising
an octave higher than usual. “But why? I’m not going to tell anybody!”

“Yeah, that’s the point of it,” Dimitri barked as he
glared at him. “Lorcan’s not the only one in trouble here, Rutley. You need
to understand what I’m saying. Their law states that the human that witnessed
the transformation has to die, too.”

And that was it. It felt like someone punched him
right in the gut, knocking the air from his lungs. His thoughts came to a
screeching halt as the blood drained from his face.