My father nodded. “I’m sorry, Jace. Faythe will send two of her men to escort you to the border.” He waved Vic and Brian forward, and all at once, I understood why they were there.

“No!” I stepped in front of Jace, shielding him with my body as Melody had done for Isaac. “You have to reconsider. Please!”

“Young lady, you are in no position to make demands,” Ed Taylor snapped. “The sentence stands as it was read.” He turned to the enforcers by the door. “Vic. Brian. Please take Jace Hammond into custody and escort him straight to the territory border.” Taylor turned back to Jace. “If you go peacefully, we’ll see that your mother ships your belongings to your forwarding address along with the balance of your personal bank account. If you resist, we’ll have no choice but to declare everything you acquired as Alpha of the Appalachian Pride to be fruits of the position and pass them on to your successor.”

Unfortunately, there was a precedent for that as well. After the war, one of Jace’s brothers had been expelled from his territory without a cent to his name, for crimes committed during the war.

Vic reluctantly came closer, his jaw clenched. Even Brian looked uncomfortable with the order they’d been given. They’d both served as enforcers with Jace, when my uncle was Alpha of the South-Central Territory.

“No.” I stepped between Vic and Jace, without turning away from the council, desperate for a way around a sentence we’d had no reason to expect. “I demand a recount of the vote.”

“There’s no grounds,” Taylor said. “Denied.”

“Then I refuse to let Jace accept charges originally leveled at me.” I turned to Michael, desperate for his legal advice, even though the Territorial Council operated very differently from a human courtroom. “What are my options?”

Michael exhaled deeply and adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Unfortunately, you don’t have any. That was Jace’s decision to make, not yours. Only he can take it back, and it’s too late for that, technically.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Jace said, before I could reason with him. “I wouldn’t do it even if I could.” He reached for me, and I could see resignation in his eyes as he pulled me close.

“You can’t give up,” I said into his shoulder.

“I’m not,” he whispered into my hair. “But our best bet is to accept the sentence for now, then appeal it later, when overheated tempers have cooled.”

“No!” I let go of him and turned back to the council, because I knew his plan wouldn’t work. Our appeal would lose. If we accepted the sentence, Jace could never come back into any of the US territories. Ever. And my father would never let me spend serious time in the free zone, where I’d be beyond his protection.

Not as long as he had any authority over me, anyway.

I stood straight, fighting to project an outward calm, even as my brain raced and my heart pounded. I only had one option left, and it had never been tried. “Fine,” I said, relieved when my voice didn’t shake. “Kick him out. But I’m going with him.”

“Abby, you can’t—” My father began, but I spoke over him.

“I renounce my Pride membership and reject the authority of my Alpha and of the council appointed to protect and defend me. I reject all sworn allegiances. I waive all rights to property, resources, lineage, and protection of or by the Pride.”

I only knew the right words to say because I’d studied the formalities of our ruling body to contrast it with those of the human world. But I understood the process well enough to know that it was both legal and binding, based on long-standing tradition.

My father stared at me, stunned.

Faythe stood, fresh tears gathering in her eyes. “Abby, please rethink this.”

Ed Taylor slammed both hands down on the table and glared at Jace. “Are you going to let her put herself in that kind of danger because of you?”

Jace opened his mouth, already turning to argue with me, but I was faster.

“Jace has no authority over me. He can’t stop me. And the same goes for all of you.”

“Abby,” my father said, and I could see his heart breaking. I blinked back tears of my own, then rounded the table into the hug he already had open for me.

“I’m sorry,” I said as he squeezed me. “They didn’t leave me any other choice. I have to do this. Tell Mom I love her. You guys are welcome to come visit me. I’ll be in Mississippi.”

My father’s breath hitched—that was as close as I’d ever seen him come to crying. He inhaled deeply, then he slowly, deliberately let me go.

I smiled up at him through my tears, well aware of what that had cost him. Then I turned to Jace as the other Alphas all started arguing at once, most of them demanding that my father try to stop me—one of our few, precious tabbies—from defecting.

“Ready?” I took Jace’s hand while he stared at me in shock.

“I can’t believe you did that,” he whispered as I tugged him from the room, then down the hall, toward the front door. In the chaos, Jace’s escort to the border had been forgotten.

Lucas and Teo caught up with us on the front porch. “What the hell happened in there?” Luke demanded. “I’ve never seen so many Alphas all shouting at the same time.

“They kicked Jace out.” I looped my arm through his. “Total exile. Effective immediately.”

“Are you serious?” Luke said. “Man, I’m so sorry.” He frowned, studying us closer. “Why don’t you two look more upset?”

I shrugged and gave him a secretive smile. “Part of it’s shock.”

“The rest is because Abby defected,” Jace said, while his former enforcers gaped at us. “By the way, you both now answer to Isaac. Or you will soon, anyway.”

“Wait, you’re leaving?” My brother looked like he couldn’t quite wrap his head around that concept. “I’ve never heard of a tabby defecting.”

“Holy shit!” Teo swore, and I laughed.

Lucas’s mouth opened and closed. “I don’t know what to say,” he finally spat out, after a couple of false starts. “I can’t believe you’re leaving! Either of you.” He scowled with a sudden new realization. “I can’t believe I work for my little brother.”