The wolves caught him outside the mansion and chased him down, shooting him with multiple darts that stung as they filled his body with chemicals. They outnumbered him and fought as a pack, even in human form, and as they bore him down to the ground and tied him up, Atticus reconsidered Sophia's advice to study a specific discipline of fighting. Maybe if he'd been a kung fu master, he could have defeated the wolves.
They threw him into a van and jammed a needle into his thigh. Even though he roared and fought and his lion strained to take control, the wolves remained impervious — ready to die in the van, if it came to that, though they held tasers at his head.
The plastic zip-ties dug in to his wrists until blood dripped down his fingers, and when the pain remained for too long, Atticus stared at them. "What the fuck did you give me?"
"Wolfsbane," one of them answered, expressionless. "Prevents you from shifting and keeps you from healing. Works on lions, too."
Atticus snarled, trying to kick the son a bitch, but one of them charged their taser and the world went black.
Flashes of light and bouncing woke him. Atticus struggled but half a dozen sets of hands restrained him. When he opened his eyes, he saw semi-familiar halls of the Council meeting rooms and very familiar faces. Miles and Todd Evershaw, the alpha and second of SilverLine pack, strode beside their pack as they carried Atticus through the halls. He groaned. "What the fuck, Evershaw?"
He didn't even look at Atticus.
They dragged him into the Council room, into a meeting in progress, and dropped him in the middle of the circle of tables where the alphas sat. The pack members retreated as Logan jumped up, his expression dark. "Release my brother immediately."
Evershaw addressed the assembled alphas. "The leopard ran. She's loose now, and God only knows who she'll hurt before we catch her."
"And what does that have to do with Atticus?"
"He was her guard, was he not?" This from Todd, who looked at him as if Atticus were something he'd scraped off his shoe. "And he chose a rabid stray over family. He let her go, Logan. He's threatened the lives of everyone in this room, and the lives of everyone we love and protect. We cannot let that pass unaddressed."
The chemicals, that wolfsbane, worked through his blood until Atticus felt weak and disoriented. Figures blurred as they moved, and sound distorted as the alphas argued. The only thought in his mind was Sophia. She had a headstart. She was resourceful enough to make a good run. Maybe they'd never find her.
"So what is the punishment?" Logan growled more than spoke. "What punishment would the Council agree on?"
"He is not above the rules," came a grumbly voice, and Atticus's heart sank. Kaiser. So the bears attended. The giant grolar bear, half grizzly and half polar bear, leaned on the table in front of him until it creaked. "We cannot make exceptions for those close to us if we hope to enforce rules across the rest of the community."
"Love blinded him." Edgar didn't get up from where he sat but stared at something Atticus could never see. "She's his mate. Would any of you do differently if a group of alphas threatened your mate?"
"Which is why we will not require his death," Evershaw said. Logan roared at just the suggestion, and lifted the solid oak table to hurl across the room and over the heads of the jackal and hyena alphas. Evershaw folded his arms over his chest. "We gave him wolfsbane. He can't shift, won't be able to heal. He must know the pain his mate could have inflicted on us or on humans or yet will. We will beat him within an inch of his life. There will be scars. He will be marked for the rest of his life for his folly, so he will remember the price of his disobedience."
Logan paced along the wall, pale eyes liquid gold and hands clenched in fists. "We do not agree."
"We can hold a vote." Kaiser shook his head, shaggy hair falling across his forehead, and gave Atticus a mournful look. "All opposed?"
"Opposed," Logan snarled, echoed by Edgar.
Everyone else remained silent.
"Just do it." Atticus forced the words out, made himself stand. Rolled to his feet despite his bound hands and feet, and stood to face the alphas as a man. "I accept my punishment. I would do it again."
Ruby, alpha of BloodMoon pack and Natalia's best friend, gave him a dirty look. Edgar shook his head, though. "No, Atticus, we will not —"
"Edgar," Atticus said. He felt so damn tired. At least his lion accepted this, understood this was the price they would pay for saving their mate. He didn't like it, but it meant protecting Sophia. Atticus straightened his shoulders and met their gazes, one by one. "I accept my punishment."
Silence. Then Evershaw picked up a wooden baseball bat from the corner. He walked into the center of the room, eyes on Atticus. "Good for you. You'll regret it, but good for you nonetheless."
Atticus braced for the first blow, though he bared his teeth at Evershaw. He'd always hated that guy.
Evershaw didn't look away, but he held the bat out to where Logan paced and Edgar sat. "And since he's yours, you will administer the punishment."
"No," Atticus said, just as Edgar stood. Atticus shook himself. "No. Don't make them do it. One of you."
"It's Logan's punishment, too," Ruby said. Her expression betrayed nothing, and Atticus wondered how she would explain this to Natalia. It was a savage kind of justice. The BloodMoon alpha didn't look away from him. "He failed to control you. He was remiss."
Logan stormed forward, about to hurl another table, but Edgar shoved his arm across the alpha's chest to cut him off. Edgar held out his hand for the bat, keeping Logan away. "I'll do it."
"Edgar —"
The security chief shook his head, wouldn't look at Logan. No emotion crossed Edgar's face as he stepped closer to Atticus. "I should have done something about it earlier. It's my fault."
Atticus looked at his brother, heart in his throat, and tried to find words. The beating from the wolves already swelled one eye shut, which was probably a good thing based on the burning in his sinuses. But he squared his shoulders and thought of Sophia. "I'm sorry, Ed."
Atticus stared straight ahead at where Rafe, Ruby, and Evershaw stood in a line, watching to judge the punishment. Only the harsh sound of his breathing disturbed the silence. As he waited for the whistle of the bat through the air, a chair scraped across the floor. Atticus dared a glance to his right. Kaiser lumbered around the table and held out a hand to Edgar. "I'll do it."
Edgar's jaw set. "It is a matter for the lions, it —"
"This is not a thing to have between brothers." Kaiser rested his hand on Edgar's shoulder and Atticus swallowed a knot in his throat at his brother's expression. Kaiser went on in a lower voice as he pulled the bat away. "He might forgive you one day, but you would never forgive yourself."
Edgar closed his eyes, then nodded. He shook Kaiser's hand but didn't look at Atticus. "I'll repay you one day."
"You can knock Axel around for me," Kaiser said, attempting a smile, and nodded at the grim polar bear in the corner.
The Chase security chief looked at him, then back at Kaiser. "Like I said, one day I'll repay you."
So Kaiser smiled as he turned his attention to Atticus, and his face turned grim. "I will not go easy on you, young man."
"I wouldn't expect you to." Atticus took a deep breath and tried to center himself, as Sophia taught him. Expelled all of the stress and concern. Lived in the moment. Breathed in and concentrated on gratitude. He closed his eyes and flexed, braced himself.
The first blow across his back rocked him forward, but Atticus regained his balance and braced for the next. Pain radiated from his shoulders to his knees with the steady drumbeat of the bat against his body. Every hurt accumulated until it welled up in his throat and threatened to spill out. The lion raged, fighting to free itself, and yet shifting wasn't even a possibility.
Logan cleared his throat, but his voice broke as he said, "Do you acknowledge —"
"My mate is free," Atticus said through clenched teeth. His fists clenched as he struggled to breathe. "My mate is free."
Kaiser sighed. "Boy, you are stubborn."
"She's worth it." Atticus sucked in air, grateful for the respite from the beating. "I'd die for her."
"You might." The bear shuffled back and the bat whistled through the air.
Atticus lasted half a dozen more blows before he went to his knees. But he refused to cry out. It would end eventually.
The stoic faces of the Council looked down on him without mercy. He represented a threat to their people, to their families, and they would not have mercy. Atticus paid the price.
It was worth it. He knew it in his bones. Completely worth every moment of it, up to and including his death, because Sophia was safe. Safe and far away from the stupid Council.
The door behind the table where Logan sat swung open and a slight figure walked in, too blurry from the blood in his eyes to see who it was at first. But people jumped to their feet and pounded on the tables, and Edgar reached for the tranquilizer gun.
Atticus's heart sank. It couldn't be.
Then Sophia edged through the ring of tables to stand in front of him. She took his battered face in her hands and tried to smile. "Sorry I'm late."
"You should run," he said, forcing the words out past split and bloody lips. He prayed it was a hallucination, that he spoke to himself in a moment of weakness, and Kaiser would return with the bat to put him out of his misery. But Sophia kissed his forehead and wiped the blood out of his eyes.
Atticus shook his head, lurching to his feet, and tried to put himself between her and the Council. "No. Let her go. I'll pay the price. She's innocent, she's fine. Don't do this."
She caught his wrist. "Atticus —"
"No." He snarled at Edgar when he got too close. Atticus would have shifted if it weren't for the wolfsbane, if only to buy her time to get away again. He faced the Council, stared at Logan until his eyes burned. "Do not do this. Please. I will take her place."
"You can't," his brother said, eyes sad. "Atticus, it's her fight."
The strength left his legs and he stared without hope at the people surrounding him. Men and women who promised to protect the weak and ill, and yet would kill this girl who was adrift and without family. His chest ached. The lion roared distantly, furious he couldn't protect his mate, and Atticus flexed his fists.
He took a deep breath as he stared down each of the Council alphas, waiting until hackles raised and growls echoed in the room so they would know he was serious. "If you kill my mate, every single one of you will pay for it in blood. I swear it."
His brother's eyes shone gold and his voice dropped, but he only looked at Sophia, standing next to Atticus. "She isn't condemned yet, Atticus. Save the death threats until the girl fails."
Sophia's dark eyes locked on Atticus and she stroked his cheek. "I won't fail."
His hands shook as he stared at her face, trying to memorize every eyelash and freckle, trying to cement the softness of her skin against his. The pain took a back seat as his forehead rested against hers. "If you can't —"
"I will." She trembled, though, and red rimmed her eyes.
"If you can't." Atticus kissed her forehead. "If the leopard is in there and she can hear me, if you can't control the shift and they try to kill you, take me with you."
"I couldn't —"
"Sophia." He tried to smile, rubbing his thumb across her cheekbone. It left a smear of blood. "Take me with you."
A tear slid free and down her cheek. She nodded, then cleared her throat and turned away. "I can do it."
"I know you can." He wobbled back and then fell, his strength gone. He lay back and watched Sophia face the Council and his brothers as his lion raged and the grip of the wolfsbane weakened.