Bound

Chapter 30

"So," Nyah began, "I suppose what I need to know most, is if everyone has decided to leave Blackwater Ridge, and was it an immediate decision?"

"Kind of, and no." Karen settled back and propped her plate on her knee. "A few hours after you left we held a pack meeting—not in the pack house; we all sat on the grass outside, which was weird," she frowned, as if just realising the fact, "because it was the middle of the night. Anyway, everyone agreed Michael should take the alpha position, but he refused straight away. I've never seen him so resolute about anything. It was a flat out no, and it threw everyone. Michael said the position should be Blake's, but Blake said no, too. After that, it all got a bit gnarly."

Karen peeled a piece of bread from the burger, frown strained as she rolled it between her fingers. "We all agreed we wanted someone to pull us back together, but no-one wanted to accept. And then Michael said he was leaving, said he didn't deserve to be part of a pack after what he'd done."

She sighed and dropped the little ball of dough onto her plate. "Even Leanne and Eddie Stone's family said they wanted him as alpha, but it didn't make any difference; Michael insisted that taking the lives of pack members was unforgivable. After that he vanished into the forest. He was gone the next morning."

Nyah pushed her plate off her knee and leaned forwards. "So the pack agreed to splinter?"

"Not at first. There was a lot of discussion about what we could do to stay together, but bit by bit we realised it had already begun. Michael had gone, I'm going to the Carverbacks to be with Tom, you're here in Carter Plains, Tanya and her kids are living with her sister, and . . ." Karen faltered, "well, everyone appears to have a place to go."

"I see what you mean. It kind of has happened already."

"I think Blake wants to stay here. He likes Dean, and he wants to be part of a big pack. You know Blake; he's always loved to be surrounded by people. I think remaining in Blackwater Ridge would kill him without Michael."

"And what about the place itself?" Nyah asked with hesitant curiosity. "What happened with my—the pack house?"

"Well," Karen paused again, casting a wary glance at Nyah before continuing, "we agreed to take Cassius Ochre's advice."

"To burn it down?"

"Yes. He came to do it."

"He did?"

"Uh huh. He's actually an okay guy, very gentle and understanding. I think you'd like him."

"In time maybe," Nyah shook her head. "Everything's still too fresh. I just see him as the man who worked that awful magic on me."

"I get that," Karen poked at her burger again. "Hey, we really don't need to talk about this today. We can leave it for another time."

"No, I'm okay, I promise. I want to know."

Karen pressed her lips together. "I'm getting the stink eye from Dean again," she whispered.

Nyah picked up her plate, purposely avoiding Dean's worried glare. "Just give me the bullet points. Then we'll talk about something nicer."

"Okay." Karen followed her lead and bit into her burger again. "Ochre cleaned house," she said. "Real good."

Nyah laughed. Karen was the only person from whom she wanted to hear these facts, because Karen knew how to deliver them without crushing her friend.

"There was sprinkling of blessed water, chanting of incomprehensible rhymes, burning of buildings, and burying of charred wood."

"Burying of charred wood?"