Beneath the Surface

Drowning

The fallout was spectacular. Brody immediately declared war on the rest of my former pack for Sarah's actions, and though no one wanted to actually take responsibility, the fact that they'd stood aside for so long was enough to damn them forever. 

Micah, acting Alpha in Ben's absence, decided that the wiser course, however, was to surrender. "I don't want to fight," he said, his face showing misery as he found himself confronted by two very angry males. "I had nothing to do with what Sarah did to Charlie, and I'm not going to be blamed for it."

"No, but you stood aside and let it happen," Brody said coldly. "That makes you guilty by association."

Micah glared at him. "You do realise that won't stand with our allies," he said, his voice now as cold as Brody's.

"Then so be it," Brody said, his eyes glittering with rage. I instincitively shrank back, feeling less than impressed with my mate's determination. Privately, I agreed with Micah; there was no sense taking the pack to war when the main perpetrator had already been sentenced for a whole new raft of crimes, and was highly unlikely to get out of jail any time soon. Even Ben was reported to be disgusted with his daughter's behaviour, and though it didn't make him a saint in my eyes, I did hate him a bit less. 

And I didn't want to make my former pack suffer any more than they already had. The worst they'd done, really, was stand aside. They weren't complicit in the abuse, so therefore, even though they weren't entirely innocent, they deserved a chance to try and make things up. I wouldn't ever go back, of course, but if they were willing to offer an olive branch, I was willing to take it.

Brody, on the other hand, looked ready to bite any potential olive branches. "Have you anything else to say?" he asked.

Micah drew himself up to his full height. "Make war, and suffer for it," he said, his voice even colder. "Sarah is behind bars. We're willing to make amends with Charlie, if she's willing to do so with us."

I opened my mouth to agree, but Brody refused to even give me that chance. "My mate and my unborn cub almost died," he said. "There will be no amends made or accepted."

"The hell?" I burst out in disbelief. 

Brody turned to me, his eyes gleaming. "It is done," he said, his face showing he wasn't in the mood for an argument. 

I wasn't in the mood to be run roughshod over. "You can't just make that decision for me," I protested. "Jesus, Brody! At least let me speak for myself before you go arbitrarily deciding what I will or won't be doing!"

"You almost died because of your former pack," Brody snapped. "Why would you even want to listen to their lies?"

"Because unlike you, I believe in a tiny thing called being fair," I said, also rising. "No, they didn't help me, but they weren't the ones who took me out in a boat with the intention of drowning me so they could revive me and break my ties to you!"

"They are Keystones," Brody said. "They will never be friends of the Saltwaters. You are a Saltwater. You will not accept their false promises."

I raised an eyebrow. "You really are an ass," I said angrily, but also bitterly disappointed. 

"I'm only looking out for you," Brody insisted, but his manner was so stone-cold now, so different to the tender, caring male who'd treated me with such love the day we'd met. Now he was unrecognisable.

Barry stepped in before things turned ugly. "Let's all take a step back here," he said firmly. "Micah, on behalf of my stone-headed son, I accept your surrender. You and your pack are free to carry on as you were, but you will not bring any further harm to Charlie, physical, emotional or mental. I will also have you take over as permanent Alpha, thus ensuring Benjamin can never take your pack further into disrepute."

Brody rounded angrily on his father, but with the deed done, there was nothing he could do, except fume silently as Micah bowed. "I accept those terms," he said, before turning to me. "Charlie, on behalf of the pack, I'm sorry," he said. "I heard a few things after Sarah was taken back into custody, and, well, I'll be the first to admit the rest of us should have stepped in sooner. We didn't, and for that, I'm truly sorry."

"Apology accepted," I said, smiling depsite the bone-deep pain still resounding in me after the nasty shock I'd recieved about Brody's true character. It made me wonder if he really was as bad as Sarah made him out to be. 

I decided I didn't want to pursue that line of thought right now. 

Micah nodded, relief evident on his face. "Listen, if you ever want to come to Bath," he began, but he got no further as Brody drew himself to his full height. Thunder muttered unpleasantly outside, even though the sky was clear, and I shivered. 

"No one will be going to Bath," Brody snarled. "No one."

I took a deep breath. "Brody, that's enough," I said, but I also got no further as he rounded on me, a glare of truly menacning proportions on his face. 

"That is enough from you," he said coldly. "You've already suffered enough because of them; I will not permit you to suffer any further! Do you understand me?"

I stared at him in horror, as did everyone else. Stephanie looked ready to be sick, as did Ashley, and both Caleb and Harry looked as ill as their mates. GiGi had gone white, and Barry was staring at his son as if he'd never seen him before. "What the hell has gotten into you?" I demanded.

"You are my mate," Brody growled. "You go nowhere, do nothing, say nothing, without my say so. You carry my cub; you will not endanger yourself further."

That did it. Whether or not Sarah had been on the mark about the Saltwaters, I was not about to be made a prisoner again. "You know what?" I said, feeling ready to tear my skin off from the pain of what I was about to do, but knowing that it was the right thing for me and my cub. "You can just go to hell."

Breaking a mate bond hurt; breaking a direct tie to a pack hurt even worse. But nothing hurt so much as the shock and betrayal that crossed Brody's face as I dropped him like a hot potato. Deep down, however, I knew I'd done the right thing; he'd shown his true colors, and I knew that this was a male to whom I could not be bound for the rest of my life. He'd never let up, even after my cub was born, and I sent a silent apology to Sarah for not believing her about him. Of course, I didn't know if the rest of the pack was as bad - Barry had seemed to be the only other level-headed member - but, having just sundered my ties with them, I knew I wouldn't get the opportunity to find out. 

Nor, as I allowed myself to be led to my room so I could start packing, did I really want to.