Rescued by the Pack by Leah Knight

and kneeled beside the grave, paying silent respects while also avoiding the confrontation.
     
    Luke’s nose wrinkled as he sniffed the air, and his face reflected what he undoubtedly knew.
     
    “I smell the stink of it,” Luke snarled, his face contorted with disgust.
     
    “Brother, let me explain,” Michael began.
     
    “I owe you nothing,” Luke said. “You betrayed the pack. You are not my Alpha.”
     
    “But what about…” Michael tried to protest.
     
    “The oath we all made to Thaddeus?” Luke interjected. “No, I haven’t forgotten it. Perhaps it is you who has forgotten.”
     
    “I have never forgotten it for a second!” Michael shouted.
     
    “Then what happened to remaining a pack?” Luke retorted. “What happened to looking out for one another?”
     
    “I’m not the one who abandoned my pack!” Michael snapped.
     
    “Abandoned?” Luke asked. “No. I didn’t abandon my pack. I reorganized it.”
     
    “Reorganized,” Michael repeated dully.
     
    “In other words,” Luke said coolly. “ I’m the Alpha, now.”
     
    “You can’t do that!” Michael exploded. “There are protocols in place! There are rules that cannot be…”
     
    “Cannot be what, Michael?” Luke challenged. “Rules that cannot be broken? Alas, you , Michael, are the one who so nonchalantly breaks pack rules!”
     
    “You don’t understand,” Michael attempted to explain. “It’s not like…”
     
    “There is no explanation you can give,” Luke stopped him. “You broke one of our sacred laws. Because of my oath, I cannot oust you from our pack, but I can rightfully take your place as Alpha, and I am exercising that right effective immediately.”
     
    “But…”
     
    “Like it or leave it, Michael,” Luke said firmly, standing with head held proudly aloft. “Literally, if you don’t like it, you’re free to leave.”
     
    Michael’s eyes shifted toward Logan, who stared solemnly at the grave.
     
    “Logan?” Michael asked, seeking help.
     
    Logan said nothing, which spoke more loudly than any words ever could have. Michael knew he was defeated.
     
    “Fine,” Michael sighed.
     
    “My first act as Alpha is banishment,” Luke stated, and Michael’s eyes grew wide.
     
    “But you just said…”
     
    “Not you, Michael,” Luke interrupted him. Then he nodded at Allison and said, “Her.”
     
    Michael’s face expressed pure disbelief, and he turned to look at Allison who had failed to grasp what had just happened. She stared at him like a deer in headlights.
     
    “You can’t do that!” Michael shouted, stepping into a defensive position beside Allison.
     
    “I can, and I have,” Luke said. “You have two choices. You can take her somewhere safe immediately, or you can turn her over to Victor. The choice is yours. But you have until sundown to make it.”
     
    Normally ever strong, Michael crumbled. In an instant, it was as if his very essence was drained from his body by some lecherous, soul-sucking vampire. He folded to his knees.
     
    “Luke, please… I can’t do this,” Michael’s voice was pleading as he shook his head slowly.
     
    “You’ve made your bed,” Luke said. And then more venomously, “Now lie in it.”
     
    Michael looked to Logan for help once more, but again Logan kowtowed to his older brother, and he continued to stare at the ground over Thaddeus’s grave.
     
    Allison had never seen a human being torn in two, but she was witnessing it now, right before her eyes, and she was helpless to stop it. The only thing she could do was play the martyr.
     
    “I’ll go,” Allison said softly.
     
    Michael opened his mouth to object, but Allison placed a finger on his lips and shook her head.
     
    “It’s the only thing to do,” she said.
     
    “Victor will find you,” Michael argued.
     
    “I’ll go somewhere no one can find me,” she said. “I know where, but I won’t endanger you by telling you.”
     
    “I’m going with you,”