“No way in hell.”
“I’m still following her. Looks like she’s headed home.”
“Stay on her.”
“I will.” A few minutes later, Bentley called yet again. “She parked in her garage.”
“Stay there and follow her if she leaves.”
“Will do.”
Elizabeth was trying to mess with Kintail’s leadership; he just knew it. She’d done it before, and he’d be damned if he’d let her do it again.
He got in his pickup truck and headed toward Ada’s house. He would tell Elizabeth how it was. They were going to have a funeral service for her grandmother whether Elizabeth wanted to go to it or not. He had to show that he honored loyal pack members in death, even though Ada hadn’t disowned her traitorous granddaughter like he had insisted she do.
He had to prove he was still in charge of the pack where Elizabeth was concerned. What she wanted or didn’t want… well, that just didn’t matter.
***
The knock on the door sent panic shooting through Elizabeth. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and she was afraid Kintail had figured out what she was up to and had sent someone to stop her from leaving. But when she went to the door and saw it was Kintail himself, she felt her skin chill. She opened the door and let him in. The place was neat, no packing boxes anywhere, but she noticed he was taking everything in like a wary wolf would.
Elizabeth didn’t offer him anything to drink or to take a seat or anything. She just stood in the living room, waiting for him to leave.
“When are you going to have the funeral service? You didn’t even tell me Ada had died. That’s protocol, you know.” His lips curled in a haughty sneer.
The coldhearted tone in which he referred to her grandma sent fresh tears down her face. She let them fall, daring him to say something. It was still sinking in, her grandmother’s death, and Elizabeth didn’t know if she’d ever get over it. The tears, and the fierceness in her voice when she answered him, were both real. “She didn’t want a funeral, and no memorial service either.”
“That’s just not done. How do you think everyone else will feel if they can’t say goodbye to her?”
That was Kintail’s doing, not Elizabeth’s. Her friends had stopped coming by when Elizabeth had moved in after being declared a traitor. Her grandmother made it clear she didn’t want to be suddenly seen as a friend of the pack, one that they missed dearly. They were no friends of hers.
“We’ll have one in a few days. If you won’t set it up, I’ll have someone else do it.”
“Fine. She didn’t want one, but do whatever makes you feel better.”
“I hear David finally found a mate.”
Her heart hitched, and she didn’t have to fake the distress on her face this time either. She hadn’t expected Kintail to bring it up; she only hoped her shocked expression was seen as a reaction to her heart being broken and not fear that he was poking around in her carefully constructed story.
“Yeah, so? Once I left, that was the end of any relationship we might have had.” She prayed her false bravado worked.
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you. Come to your grandmother’s service or not. It’s up to you.” Kintail headed for her door and left without another word.
She hurried to lock the door behind him, feeling like she might throw up. Did he not believe David was mated either?
Elizabeth called David. “Kintail came by.”
“He’d better have been offering condolences,” David said.
“No, just trying to bully me into having a funeral or memorial service for Grandma. She didn’t want one. I told him so. I’m…I’m just afraid he doesn’t believe you’ve moved on with a new mate.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’re taking you home with us no matter what.”
“Okay, I’m going to lie down for a bit.”
“We’ll be there for you, Elizabeth. Just hang on. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Exhausted after being up half the night, Elizabeth tried to take a nap after that. But all she could think about was Kintail not believing her about David having a mate. And worrying that she would be stopped before she could reach the airport and the plane and safety. And of Bentley, and maybe others, following her every move.
***
Before Elizabeth knew it, it was time for Sheri to come over for lunch. That was another reason for fixing lunch for the two of them. To eat up some of the groceries in the fridge. Luckily, Elizabeth didn’t have a lot of perishable food. She had been getting only what she and her grandmother had needed every few days in anticipation of just this scenario.
A knock on the door caused Elizabeth to jump again, even though her mind knew it had to be Sheri.
“I should have made lunch,” Sheri said, giving Elizabeth a hug, her own eyes misty, looking as sad as Elizabeth felt about her grandmother. Sheri had loved her just as much and didn’t have any remaining grandparents, so Ada had been like a grandmother to her too.
“I have too much food to eat now as it is. Maybe you can help me out and take some of it home with you,” Elizabeth said.
Sheri’s eyebrows immediately rose in a questioning arch, and Elizabeth was afraid she’d said too much. “I just mean, without Grandma, some of this will go to waste.”
“Uh, sure.” Sheri continued to study her as they sat down to eat their chicken salads. “I heard Kintail was angry with you for not having a funeral or a memorial service for your grandmother with the pack.”
“That’s the way my grandmother wanted it. You know how she was—angry with him and the others for snubbing me. You know he wanted her to disinherit me.”
“That was the worst. And that’s what I said to anyone who mentioned it, and that made them shut up.”
“Good. Grandma wanted me to spread her ashes on the rosebushes in her garden.” Elizabeth wasn’t sure if Sheri wanted to help her with that or not, but she didn’t want to put her on the spot either. She’d already saved some aside in a plastic bag she’d take with her on the plane.
“Oh. Do you want me to stay with you while you do it, or do you want to do it in private?”
“I want you to stay with me. You’ve always been my best friend no matter what I got myself involved in.”
“Of course. What kind of a best friend would I be if I hadn’t?”
“And my grandmother loved you too. She would be pleased if you were here with me, the two of us, doing this together.” Elizabeth thought Sheri needed to say farewell to Elizabeth’s grandmother almost as much as Elizabeth did. Spreading her ashes together would be a nice way of doing it.