“I renounce my Pride membership and reject the authority of my Alpha and of the council appointed to protect and defend me. I reject all sworn allegiances. I waive all rights to property, resources, lineage, and protection of or by the Pride.”
I only knew the right words to say because I’d studied the formalities of our ruling body to contrast it with those of the human world. But I understood the process well enough to know that it was both legal and binding, based on long-standing tradition.
My father stared at me, stunned.
Faythe stood, fresh tears gathering in her eyes. “Abby, please rethink this.”
Ed Taylor slammed both hands down on the table and glared at Jace. “Are you going to let her put herself in that kind of danger because of you?”
Jace opened his mouth, already turning to argue with me, but I was faster.
“Jace has no authority over me. He can’t stop me. And the same goes for all of you.”
“Abby,” my father said, and I could see his heart breaking. I blinked back tears of my own, then rounded the table into the hug he already had open for me.
“I’m sorry,” I said as he squeezed me. “They didn’t leave me any other choice. I have to do this. Tell Mom I love her. You guys are welcome to come visit me. I’ll be in Mississippi.”
My father’s breath hitched—that was as close as I’d ever seen him come to crying. He inhaled deeply, then he slowly, deliberately let me go.
I smiled up at him through my tears, well aware of what that had cost him. Then I turned to Jace as the other Alphas all started arguing at once, most of them demanding that my father try to stop me—one of our few, precious tabbies—from defecting.
“Ready?” I took Jace’s hand while he stared at me in shock.
“I can’t believe you did that,” he whispered as I tugged him from the room, then down the hall, toward the front door. In the chaos, Jace’s escort to the border had been forgotten.
Lucas and Teo caught up with us on the front porch. “What the hell happened in there?” Luke demanded. “I’ve never seen so many Alphas all shouting at the same time.
“They kicked Jace out.” I looped my arm through his. “Total exile. Effective immediately.”
“Are you serious?” Luke said. “Man, I’m so sorry.” He frowned, studying us closer. “Why don’t you two look more upset?”
I shrugged and gave him a secretive smile. “Part of it’s shock.”
“The rest is because Abby defected,” Jace said, while his former enforcers gaped at us. “By the way, you both now answer to Isaac. Or you will soon, anyway.”
“Wait, you’re leaving?” My brother looked like he couldn’t quite wrap his head around that concept. “I’ve never heard of a tabby defecting.”
“Holy shit!” Teo swore, and I laughed.
Lucas’s mouth opened and closed. “I don’t know what to say,” he finally spat out, after a couple of false starts. “I can’t believe you’re leaving! Either of you.” He scowled with a sudden new realization. “I can’t believe I work for my little brother.”
“I know. It’s crazy, but we have to go.” I pulled Lucas down for another hug, anxiously aware that as soon as the Alpha’s finished arguing, they’d try to stop me from leaving. We needed to be gone by then. “We’ll call you when we know where we’re going.”
“Take care of her,” he warned Jace over my head, while I slowly suffocated against his chest.
“You know I will. You two watch out for Mel and Isaac, okay?” Jace pulled me free from my brother’s grip. “They’re going to need a lot of help.”
“We’ll do what we can,” Teo promised. He thumped Jace on the back as we clomped down the front steps and onto grass. “We love you guys.”
“Love you too. But we gotta go.” I gave my brother one more hug, then started pulling Jace toward his rental car.
“The council’s not really going to let you go, you know,” he whispered, as we waved goodbye to Des and Parker, who were playing in superhero capes on the lawn.
“Then they’re going to have to catch me.” I dug the keys to his rental from his pocket on the way toward the car, then slid into the driver’s seat, adrenaline buzzing beneath my skin. He got in as I started the engine, and less than a minute later, I pulled out of the long driveway and onto the road. I didn’t have so much as a suitcase to my name.
But I’d never felt more in control.
Jace took my hand as I drove, and together, we watched the Lazy S fade into nothing in the rearview mirror.
EPILOGUE
Jace
Abby finally fell asleep about an hour from the border, with her head propped against the window of the locked passenger’s side door. Her hair fell over her face, hiding her profile from me, but I could still hear her voice in my head, chattering about all her plans.
Finish college in the free zone.
Get a little house in the free zone.
Make new friends in the free zone.
Do whatever the hell we want, in the free zone.
She was high on the possibilities, and I couldn’t blame her. But she didn’t fully understand the danger. I would fight to the death to protect her, but I was only one man, and the free zone was the equivalent of the Wild West for shifters.
I wanted her to have everything she wanted, and I wanted to share all those things with her—more than I’d ever thought possible. But she deserved more than an anonymous existence in a lawless place, a constant source of fascination, curiosity, and desire to dozens of strays who’d never seen or smelled a female member of their own species. She deserved the comfort and security she’d grown up with. She deserved a support system and a true community.
And I was damn well going to give it to her.
I dug my phone from my pocket and dialed from the favorites menu.
Titus answered on the third ring. “Today’s the big day, right?” he said in lieu of a greeting. “Did it go like you expected?”
“Not even close.” I glanced at Abby as she shifted in her bucket seat, but her eyes never opened. “They didn’t just take my territory; they kicked me out.”
“Ouch. Sorry, man.” Something clicked over the line, and a washing machine began to slosh. Titus had been in a fight—he only washed his own clothes when he got blood on them. “But you know my door’s always open if you get tired of serving at the pleasure of whoever they gave your spot to.”
“Yeah. About that. Exactly how wide open is your door?”
“What does that mean?”
“Abby defected. We’re headed your way right now, if you’ll have us.”
A door closed, and the sloshing got softer. “You’re bringing a tabby into the free zone? Jace, they’ll start a war over this. You have to take her back.”
“Not gonna happen, man. I’m ready to put our plan into action with a drastically accelerated timeline, but she and I are a package deal. Take it or leave it.”
Titus growled, but there was no real anger in the sound. “You know I can’t do this without you.”
“That’s kind of what I’m counting on,” I admitted with another glance at Abby.
Titus took a deep breath, and I recognized both exhilaration and anxiety in the sound. “So, we’re really going to do this?”
“Effective immediately.”
“Okay. We’ll meet you at the border in an hour.”
I hung up the phone and couldn’t stop smiling.
A couple of minutes from the border, I shook Abby’s shoulder. “Ab. We’re almost there.”
She sat up, wiping a shiny spot from her chin, and her brown eyes brightened instantly as what I’d said sank in. “Mississippi? The free zone?”
I nodded, smiling. “Another word for it might be ‘home.’”
Her smile widened and she stared out the windshield, where the Welcome to Mississippi sign had just appeared on the side of the road. Then she held her breath until we’d passed it.
“That’s it!” She turned to me, still beaming. “We’re home.”
“Yup.” I put on my right blinker and swerved gently toward the rest stop just past the state line.
“You need a break? I can drive some more.” Abby unbuckled her seat belt as I pulled into an empty space near the restroom. Then she froze as five large men stepped out of the shadow of the building, headed straight toward us. “Jace…” She sniffed the air but couldn’t have caught much of their scents from inside the car.
“It’s okay. They’re friendly.”
I pulled her jacket from the backseat and set it in her lap, then opened my door and got out. Abby joined me, zipping her coat, and I could hear her heart pound as her hand slid into my grip.
The man at the center of the group stepped forward as I tugged her onto the sidewalk, and her pulse began to race. “Abby, this is Titus Alexander.”
Her eyes widened. She recognized the name.
Titus smiled and turned on the charm, but unlike most of the women he met, she only smiled politely and shook his hand. None of her clothes fell off at his feet.
“Titus and I are going to turn the free zone into a real territory,” I said, and her brown eyes widened. “We’re going to make it a home, and you’re going to be safe. You’re going to have everything you ever wanted. Here. With me.”