Strength. The card the fortune teller had pulled for her. Could she be that for me?
She feels our pain.
No. She couldn’t. She wasn’t one of us. She didn’t know what it was to be pack, to be bonded.
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. Too many two-legged worries. Concentrate on the problem at hand.
I examined her. “Are you hurt?”
Savannah shook her head. “No, but we need to find Billy. They took my blood, and the sorcerer is using it for something. We have to find out what.”
I looked to Sam. “Do you know who this sorcerer is?”
“No idea,” she replied. “But if Billy is working with him, I’m willing to bet he’s also someone who has a beef with the LaSalles.”
We wound through the forest toward the trucks we’d purchased from the East Wisconsin wolves at extortionist prices. Tony was on the phone. Savannah and Sam were behind, talking quietly. My mind, however, was occupied.
Billy must pay for betraying the pack.
I’d have to kill him to set a precedent. Bile rose in my throat. Could I kill my own brother-in-law? We’d been through so much together. How had it come to this?
Deep down, I knew the answer. It was simple: rage.
He and my sister had been true mates, I was sure of it. When she’d died, I’d wanted revenge, but Billy had wanted to tear down the world, to leave half of Magic Side in ashes. Rather than grieving her death, I’d had to keep him in check until his bloodlust had passed.
Apparently, it never had.
And now Billy had crossed the line. Gods only knew what kind of shitstorm he’d started.
Tony strode over and hung up his phone. “Our guys searched the sanitorium and found two more captives, alive but just barely. No clues as to where the sorcerer is. We caught a she-wolf who claims that Billy was the only one with a direct line to him.”
“Then we find Billy.”
We’d have to take him down outside of pack law. If there were a trial, the whole pack—and inevitably the Order—would know the truth about the sorcerer, the pack’s role in the attacks, and that Savannah’s blood was like a drug. There would be a firestorm. We couldn’t risk an open trial, so Billy had to be dealt with quietly and quickly.
As soon as we reached the trucks, I fixed my shrinking inner circle with a glare. “Billy is family, but he betrayed us and put the pack in peril. He’s made deals with sorcerers and demons and put his lust for vengeance above everything else. We could lose our reputation, our lives, and our alliances. From this day on, Billy is an exile. No longer family, no longer part of this pack. He no longer has rights to trial by pack law.”
Scents of anger, shame, and regret filled the air. I took a deep breath. “We treat Billy like any other threat. We take him down, now. Everyone understand?”
They nodded. We all knew what had to be done.
I leaned on the truck. “Unfortunately, Billy must have known we were going to raid the sanatorium, and he probably suspects it’s only a matter of time before we figure things out. My guess is that he’s turned tail and gathering his allies at his cabin in the Upper Peninsula. I’m betting he’s expecting us.”
“Should we call everybody up? Go in heavy?” Tony asked.
“No. Billy’s got a lot of friends in the pack. We need to be discreet and fast. Tony, Regina, call only the people we absolutely trust. People who are stationed up here, or who can get here quickly. And none of the dock workers. Have everyone meet at the Garden Corners Rest Area, and have them bring guns and silver.”
Tony nodded. “You got it, boss man.”
It was time for a reckoning.
42
Savannah
Apart from glimmers of the full moon peeking out from the clouds and the passing headlights, the night was dark.
I finished my second meat and potato pasty—a local Michigan staple—and brushed the crumbs off my tank top. Regina had given me a clean pair of jeans and a shirt, and though biker chic wasn’t my style, they fit, and I was glad to be rid of my damp and blood-stained clothes.