Page 32 of Remy & the Wildcat

“Absolutely not,” Mayor Applebaum said. “My husband had an adopted sister who was a wolf shifter, and he very vehemently supported shifters’ rights. I’m not about to let anyone tell me whether or not your pride can come into this town. I called an emergency meeting in town already and everyone—honestly, every single adult in Copper Creek—wants the pride to come here. It’ll be good for the town and good for our economy. So I don’t care who it is who wants to keep you out of town. I’m positive it’s not anyone in town, but other than that I don’t know who it is. The garage is already being painted over and I didn’t lose anything of value so don’t give it another thought.”

“We’ll still be bringing the heads of the pride families on Saturday,” Remy said. “But in the meantime, we’ll investigate on our end. It’s possible a pride family isn’t happy.”

“Well, make sure they know that I’ve got a registered handgun and I’m well- trained and not afraid to use it.”

Thyme smiled at Remy. “We’re glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks, dear. You two keep each other safe. I’ll see you and the families on Saturday around lunchtime.”

The call ended and Thyme dropped the phone into the cup holder with a groan. She put her head in her hands and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Remy rubbed her back in slow circles, his wolf snarling in his head.

“It was obviously Leif or his buddies,” Remy said.

He was really beginning to dislike the male.

“Or his grandfather or mom. Gracious, I didn’t realize how many enemies I had until I was in a position to take over the pride.”

Remy thought over what had happened, then said, “Okay, so first his grandfather went to the pride families and lied, putting pressure on them to not support us as alphas. Would that even matter?”

“What do you mean?” She sat back and looked at him.

“Does it matter if the pride doesn’t support us? Like could they vote to overthrow you as alpha and put Leif in as alpha instead, with whatever female he cajoled into mating him? I’m trying to recall what was in the law books.”

“I don’t think so,” she said slowly, like she was thinking over what she’d read recently. “The alphas decide where the pride lives, period. If there are pride members who don’t want to move, they can leave the pride, it’s really not a huge deal. I just don’t get why they’re so insistent on staying in Marin.”

Remy didn’t know either.

The day before, they’d met with the heads of the pride families. Of the sixty-five pride members, they’d met with thirty-some adults, some mated and some unmated, some with grown children and others with young ones, and everyone seemed happy with the news, excited to get out of the depressed area with no hunting and polluted land and water and start over.

Then it turned out that Jacob went behind their backs to dissuade the families from supporting him and Thyme, and then Leif attacked not only Marty and Mila’s coffee shop, but also the mayor’s home.

He saw Thyme reach for her cell and he knew she was going to call Liam. He put his hand over hers and said, “Let’s leave him out of this for now.”

“He told us to keep him looped in on anything,” she pointed out.

“I know, but he may be sharing things with Jacob out of habit, with them both being elders, and he’s proving to not have much real power in the eyes of the pride. Everyone seems to be afraid of Jacob and Leif. I think we should handle this ourselves.”

“How can we handle things that don’t happen when we can witness it? We didn’t see Leif threaten Marty and Mila and nearly destroy their business, we didn’t see who slashed our tires, or who went after Mayor Applebaum.”

“Look, once we get to the full moon and the ascension ceremony, Leif has no standing to try to take over as alpha. But I think he and his family might be trying to undermine us in the eyes of the pride, to set the stage to take a run after you. If he can prove you’re not fit to lead before the ascension ceremony, then maybe there’s some loophole in the pride laws that he knows about, and he can challenge for the right to be alpha. Without the pride’s confidence in your ability to lead, he could easily make the case that you’re not fit. I doubt Liam would be able to stop him.”

“Damn it.”

“Yeah. But the good news is that we can follow him. I was thinking that we could put some trackers on the vehicles of him and his friends, including Brilla’s family. Then we’d know what they’re up to.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said, brightening. “Where do we get trackers?”

He put the truck into reverse and backed out of the drive. “I know just the place.”

Friday came faster than Remy expected, but he and Thyme had been up to their eyeballs in preparation for the joining ceremony, as well as keeping tabs on Leif, Brilla, her family, and Leif’s cronies. All told there were two dozen people they were keeping their eyes on with trackers they watched on phone apps.

With the trackers, they’d managed to thwart Leif from going after the mayor again, Jacob from threatening Marty and Mila again, and Brilla from causing problems with another pride family that supported Thyme.

They’d both read through the law books and history for the pride a second time, and they had finally looped Liam into what had been happening, showing him how Leif, Jacob, and Brilla had been going out of their way to try to undermine them in the pride as well as financially injure and threaten pride families.

Liam had been furious but admitted that there was little he could do. While what the group was doing was shitty, they weren’t technically breaking pride law. He suggested they stay the course, keep prepping for the joining and ascension ceremonies, and keep each other safe.

As the day of the joining ceremony arrived, Remy and Thyme had the support of everyone in the pride except for the two dozen who supported Leif. They’d spoken to everyone individually and promised to do what they could to keep them safe. It felt good to have so many people support them, since he was still a virtual stranger to them.

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