Free Mated to the Pack by Alanis Knight Page B

mistakes.”
    “Perhaps,” Michael said. “But not as
grievous as the one I’ve made. He never betrayed us.
    Allison sighed. This weighed heavily on her
heart, because she knew that ultimately the responsibility rested
on her shoulders. If she hadn’t come into their lives, the pack
would still be together.
    “You have to stop blaming yourself,” Allison
said. “If I wasn’t here…”
    “If you weren’t here,” Michael interrupted
her, pulling to his feet and grabbing her shoulders firmly, “then I
would still be wandering aimlessly through life with no purpose!
You’ve given me purpose! For the first time in my life, I know what
I’m alive for! I’m living for you!”
    “My, what a pleasant sentiment.”
    The voice startled them both, and they
whirled in unison to face it. Luke was trudging up the hill toward
them, followed closely by Logan, who hid behind him.
    Luke kneeled beside the grave and pressed
two fingers to his lips, brushing them through the grass over
Thaddeus’s grave. Then he rose and approached Michael,
seething.
    Logan cleared his throat uncomfortably and
kneeled beside the grave, paying silent respects while also
avoiding the confrontation.
    Luke’s nose wrinkled as he sniffed the air,
and his face reflected what he undoubtedly knew.
    “I smell the stink of it,” Luke snarled, his
face contorted with disgust.
    “Brother, let me explain,” Michael
began.
    “I owe you nothing,” Luke said. “You
betrayed the pack. You are not my Alpha.”
    “But what about…” Michael tried to
protest.
    “The oath we all made to Thaddeus?”
Luke interjected. “No, I haven’t forgotten it. Perhaps it is you
who has forgotten.”
    “I have never forgotten it for a second!”
Michael shouted.
    “Then what happened to remaining a pack?”
Luke retorted. “What happened to looking out for one another?”
    “I’m not the one who abandoned my pack!”
Michael snapped.
    “Abandoned?” Luke asked. “No. I didn’t
abandon my pack. I reorganized it.”
    “Reorganized,” Michael repeated dully.
    “In other words,” Luke said coolly.
“ I’m the Alpha, now.”
    “You can’t do that!” Michael exploded.
“There are protocols in place! There are rules that cannot be…”
    “Cannot be what, Michael?” Luke
challenged. “Rules that cannot be broken? Alas, you ,
Michael, are the one who so nonchalantly breaks pack rules!”
    “You don’t understand,” Michael attempted to
explain. “It’s not like…”
    “There is no explanation you can give,” Luke
stopped him. “You broke one of our sacred laws. Because of my oath,
I cannot oust you from our pack, but I can rightfully take your
place as Alpha, and I am exercising that right effective
immediately.”
    “But…”
    “Like it or leave it, Michael,” Luke said
firmly, standing with head held proudly aloft. “Literally, if you
don’t like it, you’re free to leave.”
    Michael’s eyes shifted toward Logan, who
stared solemnly at the grave.
    “Logan?” Michael asked, seeking help.
    Logan said nothing, which spoke more loudly
than any words ever could have. Michael knew he was defeated.
    “Fine,” Michael sighed.
    “My first act as Alpha is banishment,” Luke
stated, and Michael’s eyes grew wide.
    “But you just said…”
    “Not you, Michael,” Luke interrupted him.
Then he nodded at Allison and said, “Her.”
    Michael’s face expressed pure disbelief, and
he turned to look at Allison who had failed to grasp what had just
happened. She stared at him like a deer in headlights.
    “You can’t do that!” Michael shouted,
stepping into a defensive position beside Allison.
    “I can, and I have,” Luke said. “You have
two choices. You can take her somewhere safe immediately, or you
can turn her over to Victor. The choice is yours. But you have
until sundown to make it.”
    Normally ever strong, Michael crumbled. In
an instant, it was as if his very essence was drained from his body
by some lecherous, soul-sucking