Page 31 of The Last Ultimatum: Part 2

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to believe him or not. To get my hopes up and have them crushed would only make their betrayal all the worse.

Not wanting to call anyone else in until this was behind me, I took to pacing the room instead.

When the doorbell rang to the penthouse, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Chelle peeked her head out into the hallway.

“It’s okay. Sorry you were startled. I called them in.”

“Oh, okay.”

She shut the door and disappeared once more. She’d been laying low for a few days and I knew we needed to have another talk soon. But right now, I was solely focused on myunsanctioned mission to rescue my mate. If that meant teaming back up with Delta, then I’d do it.

I wasn’t quite ready for any of this and I couldn’t even bring myself to admit just how badly I needed them right now. The fact that none of them had called to check on me hurt, but for Tilly, I pushed down that pain and anger.

They filed in one by one. No one quite met my eyes.

I escorted them to the large dining room table. We sat down in awkward silence.

“You’re probably wondering why I called you all here.”

“I’m just happy you did,” Tucker admitted.

“We’ve missed you,” Colin said.

“Whatever it is, let us help you,” Michael blurted out.

“Help me? I can’t even trust you right now after what you did.”

I knew that was a little harsh. I called because I needed them, but my pride didn’t want to need them.

“I know we went about it all wrong. Trust me, we know. I think Walker’s going to require more therapy over that than he did after meeting Lindsey.”

He was trying to make a joke, but it fell flat. I stared at him, just waiting for him to continue.

“Look man, I’m sorry. We’re all so sorry. I had my reasons but I really didn’t take your feelings into consideration. I’ve lived through it, so of course I know, but I’ve also been on the other side of things and the fall out that comes from mating. I was trying to avoid an international fall out from causing chaos within a Tribe that was already on edge from various fronts including a merger with a rival tribe through mating of your freaking mate.”

“But you didn’t know she was my mate at the time, did you?”

“No, I didn’t. You were getting aggressive and partially shifting in dingo territory, not your Tribe, I might add. That alone was extremely out of character for you and concerning. I knew we had to shut it down quickly. Was using a tranquilizer an extreme measure? Yes. Did any of us take pleasure in that? No. Of course not.”

“Knowing what you know now, would you have taken the same course of action?” I asked in a calm but steely tone.

He looked me directly in the eyes. “No. I would not change a thing, especially knowing what I know now.”

I considered that for a moment and let the anger subside from me. I prided myself on being able to see things from multiple points of view. If I were in his shoes, I wasn’t sure I would have made the same call, and I didn’t think I could have pulled the trigger to tranq one of my brothers, but if I removed the emotions I was feeling, I could understand why he came to the conclusion that it was the best course of action.

And he was right. I hadn’t been right in the head. I wasn’t thinking straight. With Tilly being who she is, I would very much have ruined the mission and likely caused irreparable damage to Westin Force amongst the dingoes. Being a dingo myself in another Tribe was just another check against me. Dingoes never shifted in another’s territory without explicit approval from the Alphas or in declaration of war. It wasn’t going to go well if I had completed my transition and gone after my mate.

“Say something, please,” Walker begged. “I didn’t take any pleasure in shooting you. We were just worried and needed to get you out of there quickly before it was too late to intervene.”

“I stood there and let it happen,” Colin said. “That makes me just as guilty.

“Yeah, if you’re going to be mad at Michael for making the call, and Walker for carrying it out, then you might as well be pissed at all of us,” Tucker said.

“We may not have stopped and voted in the moment, but we all stood behind Michael’s decision,” Linc added.

My shoulders sagged as I deflated under their words.

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