“Holly Fontaine, be seated,” Darius barked. “This is not a place for grievances amongst Clan members.”
“My grievance is not merely that of Clanswoman against Alpha,” she responded. “We all know that someone has waging a campaign of violence amongst our numbers—trying to weaken Clans, distract others. This campaign has been waged to influence this election, and I know who waged it.”
She paused as the crowd around her exploded. Shifters were on their feet, people were moving—and two were very clearly headed toward Holly. I stood, taking a place at one side of her as Theino rose on her other side and Mary slipped neatly in behind us.
Without even looking, I knew that Tamara, Celine and O’Malley were moving closer, making sure they were in a place to cover us if things got worse. The tension ratcheted in the air as the shouting continued, accusations and counter-accusations flying all around us.
“BE SEATED,” Grandfather bellowed a second time, and this time, every ounce of energy and command and Power the old Alpha had cracked through his voice. A pointed, wrinkled finger silenced Darius before he could speak, and he turned back to Holly.
“I would hear the girl speak,” he continued. “Will you approach the table and face the gaze of the Alphas?”
I could almost feel the fear in the girl. Darius had tried to kill her in the past, indirectly, and the Alphas were the strongest of her kind, any one of them able to kill her with a single swipe. Nonetheless, she squared her shoulders and walked forward, holding Enli’s gaze every step of the way. The old shifter gave her an approving nod as she stopped directly in front of the table, facing Grandfather as a way to avoid looking at Darius.
“Speak, child,” Enli said quietly.
“I overheard two of the men I knew were close to Darius talking,” she began without pre-amble. “They spoke of the bombing of the Tenerim Den—with perfect knowledge of what had happened. They thought they were alone and so did not conceal that they had been the ones to attack the Den—on his orders.
“I thought they must have been mistaken, that my Alpha could never order such an action, so I demanded Clan right of truth of him,” Holly told the assembled Alphas. “He told me to keep my mouth shut or I would be silenced.”
“This is ridic—” Darius began, but the massed glares of the other Alphas silenced him in mid-sentence before Enli gestured for Holly to continue.
With a deep breath, and a swallow I could hear from where I stood half a dozen feet behind, she did. “I intended to take my fears to the Clan Council of Fontaine, and I mentioned this to another Clan member,” she said softly.
“That evening, I was attacked in my home by several warriors of my Clan,” Holly continued, her voice very small, yet carrying to every corner of the tent. “They told me Darius had sent them to silence me—told me they were going to rape me and murder me to carry out his orders.
“A friend from Clan Tenerim and another from the fae Court saved me,” she told Enli, gaining some strength as she continued bravely. “They sheltered me where no Fontaine could find me, so I could speak here today.
“I accuse Darius Fontaine,” she finished, her voice harsh, “of the murder of shifters in time of peace between Clans. Of the firebombing of a Den. Of ordering the murder of his own Clansmen. I name him oath-breaker and call upon Clan Fontaine to strip him of rank and authority.”
“This is ridiculous; why would you believe this claptrap?” Darius demanded, rising to his feet. “This woman is clearly insane,” he told the crowd. “Please, Grandfather, let me have my people take her home to rest.”
Wordlessly, to forestall any further action on anyone’s part, I stepped forward to stand by Holly’s side. I didn’t draw a weapon, but I didn’t have to.
“She is speaking the truth,” Enli said flatly. “But all she has heard is second-hand—the words of other men to your actions, Darius Fontaine.”
“I am innocent of this slander!” the Alpha growled.
“If you are innocent,” Michael Tenerim said sweetly, “then you will lower your defenses and allow the Alphas to See the truth of your side of this story. This sort of accusation cannot be left unanswered when the Speaker is elected.”
“This is preposterous,” Darius told Michael. “Clearly, my Clanswoman has been deceived by those who wish to steal this election. What possible reason would I have for this kind of violence?”
“Why don’t we ask someone who was working with you on it?” A quiet voice cut through the tent as a chill wind blasted through the suddenly open tent flap.
I turned, and everyone else turned with me, to face the tent entrance. Talus, noble of the Joint Court of the fae, stood in the chill wind, the handcuffed Laurie held easily in front of him with a single hand.
“This woman, high in our trust,” Talus continued as he walked through the crowd, all eyes on him and his prisoner, “betrayed us to work with part of a conspiracy to undermine the peace of this city. I think if we ask her about Alpha Fontaine’s actions, she will be most illuminating.”
I glanced back at Darius as Talus spoke, and the Alpha’s face was terrifying. Before anyone could respond to the noble’s words, the Alpha jerked his hand at Talus, and suddenly everything went to hell.
Someone in the crowd near Talus pulled a gun and opened fire on him. Someone else—either Celine or Tamara I suspected—opened fire on them. The crowd went crazy, some people diving for cover, other shifters trying to either put down the original gunman or protect him and create more chaos.
I dove forward, grabbing Holly by the shoulder and pulling her backward. Mary was beside me in a moment, grabbing Holly’s other shoulder as we tried to protect the deer shifter from the chaos in the crowd.
We were watching for the wrong threat. I don’t know what warned me, but the hairs on my neck all stood up and I looked up as an animal roar tore through the tent. Unthinkingly, I stepped between the sound and Mary and Holly, shielding the two women with my body.
The world seemed to slow around me as I looked up and realized that my body was about all the protection I could give them. Darius Fontaine had shifted, and a huge, magnificent polar bear, larger than even Tarvers in his other form, charged at me. I hadn’t drawn a weapon, and my faerie flame would be nothing against the sheer brute power of an enraged shifter Alpha. In that moment, I knew that Fontaine was going to kill me.
Then, as his claws were slashing toward my face, there was a burst of light, and the claws were gone. The polar bear flew back a good ten feet, shattering the table, and Lord Oberis was suddenly in front of me. His hand was still extended in the open-palm strike that had thrown the shifter back, and the strange dark light of the Between scattered from him as he strode forward.
Darius tried to charge him again, and Oberis caught him with a cross-strike that blurred faster than even fae eyes could see. The bear Alpha lurched sideways, and the entire tent stopped as the Fontaine followers brave, stupid or loyal enough to try and fight, and everyone else, at this point realized what was happening.
Sluggish, lurching from the blow, the massive polar bear tried to circle around to go for Holly again. I don’t know what was running through his head at that point—maybe he thought if he destroyed the evidence by killing her, he would somehow at least be able to walk free.
It didn’t work. Oberis blocked him again, and this time, one of the polar bear’s massive legs broke, the crash of shattering bone as the fae lord smashed Darius’s foreleg aside clearly audible through the tent.
“Yield,” the Lord of the Court ordered. “I do not wish to kill you.”
Darius roared in response and charged, his broken leg already healed. The ground shook under the impact and force of the bear’s charge. Somewhere in the middle of it, Oberis struck.