There was something else on my mind, though.
“The way Kray treated me when he thought I was Camille…” I said. “Do you think he’s treating other women in his pack like that? I mean, that’s a dumb question, of course he is. Can anything be done about it? You’re an Alpha, you’re about to start your own pack, people will listen to you.”
Cody was sitting across the table, and he and Max exchanged a glance before answering me. Why? Was I being totally paranoid?
Max hesitated, appearing to consider what to say. “It has occurred to me,” he said finally. “It’s not the easiest issue to resolve. You know how reluctant the Elders are to interfere in matters within one’s own pack. The way they see it, if you don’t like what’s going on in your pack, you can leave and join another pack.”
“But that’s bull,” I said heatedly. “That’s such a cop out. If you join another pack – the Alpha of your old pack is within his legal rights to issue a Death Challenge. Nobody wants to stand up to Kray. So then no pack would take you, which means as a lone wolf, you’re technically the leader of your own pack, which means that Kray can issue the death challenge to you. So leaving his pack is like a death penalty.”
“You don’t need to worry about Kray’s pack,” Max said. “Leave it to me. Really. I’m the Alpha, it’s my job to worry and your job to-”
“Don’t say it! There are children present!” I cut him off quickly.
“My goodness, Josephine, I was going to say that it’s your job to enjoy life, and help out with pack issues. What did you think I was going to say?” Max asked, giving me an innocent, wounded expression.
“Ha,” I muttered, around a mouthful of eggs.
He was right about the Elders, which drove me crazy. They were all incredibly old – obviously, hence the name – but I felt that they were completely out of touch with life in the 21st century. Shifters live to be about a hundred and fifty, and many of the Elders were still mired in the ways of the 19th century.
The Elders, and all of us, followed the rules of an ancient book called The Covenant, which was a list of rules governing the behavior of shifters and punishments for various infractions, and spelling out when the Elders could interfere, and when they could not. Many parts of that book had been written in the Middle Ages, but it was treated as reverently as The Bible.
Unfortunately, the Elders held their position for life, and it was near impossible to get rid of them.
I just couldn’t let the whole issue with Kray go, though. “Have you talked to Kray at all? Is he still pursuing the alliance?” I asked.
“My people have talked to his people. I haven’t talked to him personally. As of yesterday, he still wants to meet up and draw formal paperwork,” Max said.
“So if you and he are allied…could you help the members of his pack?”
“If anything, he’d expect me to side with him every time there’s some kind of dispute,” Max said. “Let me worry about it, though. Really.” I could swear that he and Cody exchanged glances again.
A short time later, I was driving in to town in a car that Max had lent me.
I met up with Corwin and Bess in the parking lot outside of Flapjack Fannies’s. They were standing by Bess’s car holding hands, doing the lovebird thing. For once, I didn’t feel the sting of envy that I usually felt when I saw them together.
However, at the moment I was feeling something else. Pissed off, is what I was feeling.
“What were you thinking?” I demanded, stomping up to them. “You nearly got Peter killed!”
Shock crossed Bess’ face. “What are you talking about?”
“Peter came to the Timber Valley compound and told them that he was there to pick me up for our date!”
Bess turned to stare at Corwin in astonishment. “You did what?”
“Bess, I asked you to take care of it,” I said to her, struggling to stay calm. “What happened?”
“Corwin volunteered to help out. He was supposed to contact Peter.” She leveled a glare at him. “What. The hell. Were you thinking?”
He flushed, and looked angry and defensive. “I was thinking that this fake marriage thing is dangerous for our best friend, and we need to get her out of it. I wanted to demonstrate to that uber-Alpha asshole that the marriage is obviously fake, and it needs to end now. I wanted to rub his nose in the lie.”
“Corwin, you moron!” I yelled. “It was none of your business, and even if it was, which it wasn’t, you could have gotten Peter killed! That was a total dick move on your part!”