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he just doesn't feel like staying
anymore.”
    I looked over at Griffith.
    He nodded almost imperceptibly and stepped
forward from where he'd been holding up the wall.
    “ Yes, I did leave. My
reasons had to do with how the pack was being run. I didn't like
John or his methods.” He looked over at me. “But I trust this Alpha
with my life. I'm older now, and I'd like to think wiser. I most
definitely know myself better. I wouldn't make this commitment
unless I knew I could handle it.”
    Tija gave him a hard stare, but he just
stared back at her calmly.
    Finally, she gave a begrudging nod.
    Griffith stepped back again.
    “ Manny is planning to
attack.” I had their attention now, all the grumbling dying down as
they focused on me. “I tried to reason with him, but he won't be
dissuaded.”
    “ You shouldn't have broken
the terms of the agreement.”
    I turned to Xing.
    He hadn't been on the Council long, but he'd
always seen eye to eye with my father. He had the kind of ruthless
practicality that could be an asset, but could also justify too
much as a means to an end.
    He wouldn't be happy about the change in
line up.
    “ The terms of the
agreement were unacceptable. I had to get Sofia to safety as soon
as I could.”
    “ That's all well and good.
If you have a hero complex, fine. But just because the terms were
unpleasant, doesn't mean you get to put the whole pack in danger
for one person.” He looked over at Sofia, who was sitting behind
me. “No offense.”
    She snorted and stood up.
    “ No offense? You're saying
I should have been left to be imprisoned and raped. No offense?
Yeah, I take fucking offense. If this is a pack that condones
something like that, then I don't want to be a part of it. If
that's the kind of pack that you want...”
    She shook her head, at a loss for words.
    “ If that's the kind of
pack you want, maybe this isn't the one for you,” I finished for
her, giving Xing a hard stare.
    He looked away, but I wasn't stupid enough
to take it as a sign of agreement.
    I'd have to keep an eye on him.
    I needed to have a clear idea of how the
Council stood on this.
    “ Hands for how many of you
think Sofia should be sent back.”
    Xing, Lupe, and Marco raised their hands. A
couple of others looked unsure, but didn't join them.
    “ OK, that's a small
minority. You've been outvoted.” Not that a majority vote would
have swayed me anyway.
    “ That matter is tabled. We
need to focus on what to do now to defend ourselves.”
    We got down to the business of hammering out
security. Everyone would have to pitch in for sentry duty and
patrolling. We needed to have an air tight perimeter.
    Our packs were about evenly matched in
numbers, but Manny didn't have any reservations about hurting
children or the elderly. Usually, if a pack surrendered, they would
be given the choice to leave or join.
    Manny was of the mind to not leave any
survivors that could stab him in the back later on.
    We set out the schedules. We'd done drills
of this nature before, but this would be the first time during my
lifetime that we had to actually implement one.
    People on duty at the perimeter would have
strict orders not to leave their posts if they heard something
somewhere else. The last thing we needed was everyone rushing to a
point of attack and leaving us vulnerable to a multi-prong
strategy.
    “ Prisoners?” Sultan asked
quietly.
    He was an unassuming army
vet. I had no doubt he could take everyone in this room if he
wanted to.
    He'd never wanted to, content to be in
charge of our security.
    “ Yes. Everyone except
Manny and those who refuse to be taken prisoner. We'll give them
the choice when all is said and done. However, that doesn't mean
putting our lives in undue danger to do so. If you think it's too
dangerous to try to capture, kill.”
    Sometimes those decisions had to be made.
And at the end of the day, my pack was my priority.
    “ Everyone get to
work.”
    The room was cleared in less than a minute
as