Chapter 24: UNFINISHED BUSINESS
DANE’S POV
I handed Orin off to two of my wolves outside the building and watched them drag him down the path toward the pack house. Then, I told them I’d meet them at the prison block and to put him in the furthest cell.
They didn’t ask why the furthest one.
Good.
I walked back to Callum’s side of the building first, checked that Keisha was on her feet and moving and that Callum had her, before I turned around and went to the prison block.
The furthest cell was dim and cold as I walked in, and Orin was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall when I came in, his face already swelling from what Callum had done to it upstairs.
He looked up when he heard my footsteps and he immediately froze.
I told my wolves to wait outside, pulling off my leather gloves slowly and placing them gently by the door.
My wolves left immediately and I stood there for a moment looking at Orin.
"The Alpha already—" He started.
I hit him across the face so hard his head cracked against the stone wall behind him.
He slumped sideways and I grabbed him by the collar and hauled him back upright before he could go all the way down because I needed him conscious for this.
"Fake identities." I said quietly. "You sat in my briefings. Stood on my rotation. I assigned you to the northeast stretch myself." I hit him again, into his ribs, feeling something cave under my knuckles. "How long were you in this pack?"
He coughed, blood on his teeth. "Go to—"
I drove my knee into his stomach and he folded completely, a wretched sound leaving him as he collapsed forward and I let him hit the floor this time, crouching over him.
"How long?" I repeated.
"Four months." He wheezed it out. "Four months you idiots didn’t notice a thing."
I grabbed his hand and bent his fingers back until he shouted, the sound echoing off the stone walls of the empty cell block.
"Who sent you?" I asked.
He laughed, his limbs and broken but still laughing. "You think I’d tell you after what you just did to my hand?"
"No." I stood. "But I’m going to ask anyway." I brought my boot down on his shin and the laugh turned into a scream that he swallowed halfway through, biting down on it, his whole body curling inward. "Who sent you to this pack?"
Nothing.
I crouched back down beside him and looked at his face.
He was pale and shaking but his jaw was set in a way that told me he wouldn’t be useful to me.
"You came into my pack." I said quietly. "You sat at my briefing table and you learned our patterns and then you drugged a woman and put your hands on her in a room you made sure was empty." I looked at him. "And you won’t tell me who sent you?"
He met my eyes and said nothing.
Right. The idiot could have just been working on his own.
I stood with a cruel smile." Let’s play a quick game."
I spent another ten minutes in that cell and by the end of it, Orin wasn’t saying anything coherent at all and I was breathing harder than I would have liked and my knuckles were split on both hands.
I straightened up, looked at him on the floor before I grabbed my gloves and pulled them back on.
"Tomorrow you’ll stand trial." I told him. "And then you’ll leave this pack and if you ever come back—" I crouched one last time so he could hear me clearly. "I won’t bring you to a cell. Are we clear?"
He said nothing but I didn’t even wait. I walked out.
****************
Callum’s quarters were still occupied when I got back, which I expected. Nadia was sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up.
She looked up when I came in and her eyes went to my knuckles, then back to my face but she didn’t ask.
I think she had an idea.
Callum was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, not looking at anything in particular. He glanced at me when I entered and I gave him a short nod before he looked away again.
Keisha was on the couch beside Nadia, a blanket now draped over her shoulders and her hands wrapped around a cup.
My heart ached as I fought the urge to pull her into a hug in front of Nadia.
Nadia leaned toward her. "Do you want me to stay with you tonight? I can stay, it’s not a problem—"
"I’m okay." Keisha’s voice was soft. "Really."
"Keisha—"
"Nadia. I’m okay." She managed a small smile. "I just want to go home and sleep."
Nadia looked at her for a moment, then at me, then back at her. "I’ll walk you—"
"I’ll do it." I offered.
Nadia turned to look at me, nodding silently. "Okay."
Keisha looked at me briefly and then at Nadia. "It’s fine," She said, "Go to bed."
Nadia held my gaze for one more second. Then she pulled Keisha into a hug that lasted a long minute before she left.
Callum pushed off the wall. "Good night, Keisha." He muttered, clearly needing space.
I looked at Keisha on the couch. "Ready?"
She stood slowly, the blanket falling away, and nodded.
****************
We walked back to her house in quiet and I let it be quiet all through.
She didn’t need words right now, she needed air and space. She needed air.
Halfway there she cleared her throat, "How did he get in?"
"Fake records." I replied. "Everything he submitted when he was hired. Pack transfer, references, identification. None of it was real."
She was quiet for a moment. "How long was he here?"
"Four months."
She thought about that. "And nobody noticed."
"No." I said. "Nobody noticed."
At her door I stopped her before she went in. "Tomorrow there’ll be a formal hearing." I said. "Don’t worry, it’ll be casual. You’ll need to say what happened tonight on record. That’s all." I looked at her. "I’ll be there. Alpha Callum and I will be there to anchor you."
She nodded.
"He’ll be exiled." I said. "He won’t come back."
Keisha nodded, letting me into the house.
I made her coffee while she changed. She came back out in an oversized shirt and sat at the kitchen table and wrapped both hands around the mug and I sat across from her but we didn’t talk much.
She moved to the couch and pulled the blanket over herself and I stayed in the chair across from her and watched her breathing slow and even out.
She was so beautiful.
I sat there for a while after that.
Then I crossed the room quietly and stood over her for a moment, pressed my lips to her hair so lightly it was barely anything at all.
She didn’t stir.
With a small smile, I stared at her one last time before leaving.
****************
The trial the next morning was short and Keisha stood up to answer the questions.
The verdict was exile. Immediate and permanent. Some members voted for death but decided against it— choosing exile.
I escorted Orin to the border myself.
He walked ahead of me through the trees with two wolves flanking him and said nothing.
At the boundary line, I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and he turned and looked at me.
I looked back at him.
"If you come back." I said in a low voice.
He held my gaze for a second.
Then he turned and walked across the line and kept walking and didn’t look back.
I stood at the border and watched until the trees swallowed him completely.
Then I turned around and went home.
