Mate Marked(41)
“We shouldn’t make any hasty decisions.” Mayor Winkelman was trying to be heard above the din. He looked distressed. This was not a man who enjoyed conflict.
Chelsea had brought conflict to the pack.
She pushed back her chair and stood.
Tears burned Chelsea’s eyes. She should have told everyone up front—but she’d been afraid of exactly this reaction. She’d thought that moving to another state and a brand new pack would be a way of leaving the past behind. She’d been wrong.
“There’s no decision to be made. I’ll be gone by tonight,” she said. Before she started crying and blasting everyone with negative vibes, she turned and hurried out the back door, with Pepper indignantly trotting at her heels, wheezing and farting in protest.
Chapter Nineteen
A beautiful sunset, a crackling fire, the pack gathered around the fire pit after hard day’s work…usually these were the things that made Roman smile.
Today he just felt sick.
He’d tried texting and calling Chelsea, and she was ignoring him. She must hate him right now.
Holly sat on the opposite side of the fire pit, drinking a beer. She’d tried to sit next to Roman, and he’d gotten up and walked away, which had earned him shouted threats about calling the council.
The pack members were avoiding looking at her or speaking to her. Benjamin was walking around clearing up the campsite, picking up fallen branches and sweeping away leaves with a grim intensity. Cleaning and organizing was how he coped with stress.
They could all sense the bad changes that were headed their way; a visit from the council would doom their pack. Roman could agree to be mated for life to a woman he clearly loathed, or the pack could disband.
And now Marcus was stomping up to the group, with an ugly look on his face. Roman tensed, in case Marcus actually tried to assault Holly. He couldn’t allow that, no matter what his feelings about her were.
But apparently Marcus wasn’t planning a physical assault. He had something far more deadly in mind.
“Bad news for you, princess,” Marcus growled at Holly.
“Watch how you speak to the Alpha’s mate,” Holly said icily. “You will treat me with respect.”
“The Alpha’s mate, sure, I’ll respect her, because it’s going to be Chelsea,” Marcus said.
Her eyes blazed with rage and she sucked in an angry breath. Before she could reply, he continued, “I made some calls today. I did some research on what happens when a shifter challenges a claim of Mate-Marking. It’s very, very rare, but sometimes it happens. We can expect a visit from a forensic odontologist real soon. He’ll be checking the bite mark on your neck.”
She clapped her hand over her Mate Mark.
“A furry sick what?” she squeaked, setting her beer down with her free hand.
“A. forensic. Odontologist. Basically a dentist who does criminal investigations. He’ll take a mold of the bite mark on your neck. Compare it to Roman’s teeth. And then we’ll get to the truth of the matter.”
Roman watched Holly’s face with interest. She looked horrified.
“That’s not even legal. That’s ridiculous. It doesn’t mean anything,” she said, her hand still hiding the mark on her neck.
“Oh, it sure does. It’s acceptable in court, and it’s backed up by science. Now, faking a Mate Mark claim—that is a very serious criminal offense. We all know that Roman didn’t Mate-Mark you. We all know that you like to lie and manipulate.” He glanced over at Zeke. “So you manipulated some poor sucker into Mate-Marking you when Roman was blackout drunk. Thought you could trap Roman that way.”
Holly burst into tears of rage, leaping to her feet.
Roman felt as if a thousand-ton weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He hadn’t Mate-Marked her.
“You can’t let him do this to me!” she screamed at Roman. “I’m your mate! You were meant for me! You’re mine!”
“You’re crazy, and I loathe the sight of you,” Roman snarled. “You hurt the woman I love. The woman I’m going to Mate-Mark, if she’ll have me. Get in your car and get out of here before I do something I’ll regret.”
The rest of the pack let out a huge cheer; Roman could see the looks of relief on their faces.
Holly left, screaming and swearing revenge. She was crying so hard that black rivers of mascara ran down her face and dripped off her chin, splashing on her shirt.
She drove off in a spray of gravel, tires screeching.
Leland slowly walked up to Roman.
“Don’t,” Roman growled, holding up his hand as Leland started to speak. “This is one of the rare occasions when I accept you questioning my leadership. If I had Mate-Marked a woman and abandoned her, then I would not deserve the title of Alpha.”