“They’ll find out about Marita,” Reuben finished and hissed, “Damn. OK. Who exactly on the Council is doing this?”

She gulped and Lucien reached over to sooth her. “All of them.”

“Ah, I see. Well, there’s nothing for it. We just get Nikolai out of there.”

“What do you mean? The Midnights will start attacking again.”

“Well they’ll just have to. We can’t deal with that and Marita.”

Lucien watched with pleasure as Caia growled down the phone at Reuben. The vampyre didn’t know her that well. “I’ll deal with it. I’ll just do what I was doing before. I’ll send reports to Alfred and the Council.”

“And what about our-”

“We’ll talk later. Just warn Nikolai to get his ass out of there.”

She hung up, trembling.

‘And what about our-’… she cut Reuben off for a reason. Something was going on he wasn’t aware of. He’d felt it every time he’d spoken with her in the last day. She had this guilty look in her eye. And it had something to do with the vampyre.

“What’s going on?”

“I thought you would have guessed from that conversation.”

“I’m not talking about Nikolai and his Council. I’m talking about you and Reuben.”

She guffawed, “What on earth are you talking about? You’re not suggesting that Reuben and I are…”

He bristled at the implication. “No. But it’s funny that was your first thought. Something I should know about?”

“No,” she snapped and he almost flinched at the resentment in her voice. “And need I remind you that you reprimanded me like a child for being jealous about Rose. It’s not an appropriate time, remember?”

Damn her for throwing that in his face. “That’s not what I was saying.”

“That’s exactly what you were saying.”

“No, that’s what you said. I was just asking what’s going on. Because you’re clearly hiding something from me.”

Surprised by the sudden silence that descended over the cab of the van, Lucien looked sharply at his mate. She was staring straight ahead, her hands twisting and un-twisting the hem of the over-long t-shirt she wore. His heart skipped a beat. Oh crap, something was going on. And he just knew he wasn’t going to like it.

Five minutes later Lucien was struggling to contain his anger and disbelief.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” he managed hoarsely.

She shook her head, her eyes wide and pleading with him.

What?! Is she expecting me to accept this? To understand?!

“How the Hades can you even think about doing this?!” He bellowed, not caring it caused her to skitter back in her seat like a frightened rabbit.

“Because I have to. You said before you trusted me to make the right decision.”

“Because I thought you would know that killing innocent people is the wrong decision!” He spat. “You don’t have to do this! How can you… Caia, these are innocent people! You can’t kill innocent people! How can you even-”

“You don’t know they’re innocent!”

He threw her a disgusted look. “Is that your argument? Jeez, Caia… do you even know if they’re innocent? Have you checked out the Midnight’s trace?”

“I haven’t had a chance yet.”

Lucien drew a deep breath. This was Caia. There had to be a reason she would even consider doing this, some reason he didn’t know about. His Caia would never – could never – hurt anyone, unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Why?” He managed quietly, calmly. “Why? There must be a reason.”

“There is. Lucien, Marita will only get more powerful with the trace. If I can get rid of the trace then she’ll be a much easier target.”

OK, that was not a good enough reason.

“Is this about the pack? About revenge… because I already told you the pack is not getting involved in a vendetta. We have to move on.”

“And you can. But I can’t. I’m a part of this, and while I am, I might as well get some justice out of it.”

His fingers turned white on the wheel. “Caia, you have to give me another reason. There has to be another reason. You wouldn’t do this. You couldn’t.” He glanced at her and he saw her mouth tremble. There was more. There had to be more.

“No. I just really want this to be over.”

“So you’re going to kill the Septum? Seven innocent people?”

“Seven against thousands. Do the math, Lucien.”

An overwhelming ache flooded through him, his stomach churning, his heart palpitating. After the last horrendous days Lucien hadn’t known he could feel any worse. “If what you’re telling me is true, then we have a serious problem.”

“I have to do this.”

“No. You don’t.” He took in a shuddering breath and momentarily squeezed his eyes shut. He opened them just in time to see he was hovering a little too close to the car in front. He eased off the accelerator a little, wishing he could do the same with his relationship with Caia. “If you do this, and I let you, my word with the pack will be worth nothing. And after all they’ve been through they need a strong leader. They need me more than anyone else needs me right now. I owe them this.”

He knew she understood at the sound of her harsh in-drawn breath. “You’ll kick me out?”

He pounded his fist against the wheel. “Damn it, Caia!” he roared, shooting her a venomous look. “Don’t do this!”

Her eyes were wide with shock. “You’re kicking me out?”

“No! You are not doing this!”

“I am doing this,” she persisted. “And you’re kicking me out?”

Panic overwhelmed him. He fought to breathe. “You’re not doing this.”

“I am.”

A wave of nausea rushed over him but he maintained control, staring straight ahead. How could his life change so much in the matter of five minutes?

He hardened his heart against her. Fine, if she wanted to play hardball he’d play it right back. There is no way she’ll walk away from the pack, he told himself. No way. An ultimatum was the only way to stop her.

“Then I’m kicking you out.”

16 – Banished

“You can’t be serious,” Ryder responded in a hushed tone, his body language betraying his shock.

Jaeden sneered, throwing Lucien a look of disgust. “Oh, he’s serious, alright.”

Caia stood in the dining hall of the hotel Reuben had given to the pack as part of their bargain with one another. The last hour of the drive with Lucien had been one of the worst of her life. The silence had been brittle and furious and dislike for one another had resonated in every corner of the van. How could he do this to her? How could she do this to him?

Lucien had gathered everyone into the dining room as soon as they arrived, and proceeded to update them on Caia and Reuben’s plan to take out the Septum. The pack all stared at them in disbelief. She hugged herself trying to stop the trembling.

“Caia, tell him you’re not going to do it.” Magnus turned on her gruffly, his kind eyes bright with worry. “You can’t do this.”

She shrugged wearily, hating to see the disappointment on his face. “I’m sorry, but I have to.”

“For the love of…” Ella whispered. “Please don’t do this to us.”

“She’s not doing anything,” Jaeden snapped and brushed away from them all to stand by Caia’s side. She felt the heat from the lykan as if a warm blanket had been placed around her. She smiled gratefully at her, momentarily forgetting she was part of the reason this was happening to her. If Lucien knew she was being blackmailed into this he wouldn’t be kicking her out of the pack. She felt like she’d been kicked in the gut.

Lucien is kicking me out of the pack!

He stood across the room glaring at her, Rose and all his pack gathered around him protectively. Only Laila and Vil stood close to her uncertainly, and now Jaeden. Oh and now Alexa.

“Yeah,” Lex snapped at them. “Lucien’s the one kicking her out! Kicking her out for doing something that, as our Pack Alpha, he should be doing!”

“Alexa,” Mal warned, shaking his head. “Lucien’s doing what’s right.”

“How can you say that?” She cried. “Our parents are dead and he’s not doing anything about it! But he’s going to kick out the one person who will?!”

“Enough!” Lucien growled and strode out into the center of the group. His silver eyes blazed into Caia’s. “My word is law. I said there would be no acts of vengeance. This war is no longer ours. If Caia breaks the law… then she’s out of the pack.” He might as well have taken a knife and shoved it right through her heart. She couldn’t hate him for protecting the people they both loved.

The pack began chattering in confusion and hurt, completely certain that Caia wasn’t doing the right thing but uncertain that Lucien was. Caia shook her head and stood out to meet him.

“Don’t,” she said sternly and they all quieted. “Lucien is right. I have to do this and I don’t expect any of you to understand.” She struggled to hold back the tears. “It’s for the best anyway. I would have been pulled back into the war no matter what happened and I don’t want to drag you back in with me.” A sound to the right drew her attention. Reuben was there waiting for her. “You’ll be protected here.” She turned back and looked Lucien straight in the eye. With that look he begged her one last time not to do this. But she shook her head slightly and his face mottled with uncontrolled anger. “Will you keep Laila and Vil here with you? Please?”

He nodded and she thought he might not trust himself to speak.

“I’m leaving with Reuben. Now.”