It was about time he paid the price for his actions. His life had never been the same, but that never seemed like a proper penance. Now, Gavin would pass judgement. Perhaps, for Daphne’s sake, Ford would be exiled instead of executed. He didn’t want to take her away from Casey and her new sister-in-law.
“King killer,” Gavin said, finally.
Ford’s attention snapped to the man speaking. Gavin stood tall, his expression unreadable. Ford saw the glint in his eyes, though. It was either the spark of madness or rage. Either way, Ford didn’t think this would end well for him.
“Tell us why you did it,” Gavin said. “We need to understand why you turned on your leader if we’re going to accept you.”
Accept him? That was not a statement Ford had prepared himself to hear.
He cleared his throat, trying to shake off his shock. “You aren’t going to exile me?”
“That’s up to you. Tell us that what you did was justified and perhaps we can make arrangements for you to join us.”
Erik snorted, a smirk on his face. He turned his gaze on Gavin. “Look at you. Taking on your leader duties like a fully functioning adult. I’m so proud.”
Gavin kicked Erik in the back of the head hard enough to make Erik cringe. When Erik looked to Bree, she shrugged as if he deserved it.
Shifting his glare from Erik to Ford, Gavin asked, “Do you really think we’re the type to judge for rebelling against clan leaders?”
Ford sucked in a breath, feeling his lungs expand for the first time. He blew it out and prepared himself for a short story.
“I had a mate once. She had a condition that would have killed her, but my clan leader…” Ford waited for the pain and anger to choke him, but it didn’t come. “He took it upon himself to try to change her. She didn’t ask for it. That wasn’t a future she ever wanted for herself. When my clan leader’s actions led to her death, I killed him.”
Daphne pulled her hand from his. For a moment, Ford thought he would lose her, too. Then she touched his lower back and pressed her cheek to his arm. Perhaps she had suspected this. He’d given her bits and pieces of his past. Daphne was clever enough to put it all together, and still she hadn’t left him.
“Your clan leader,” Gavin said. “Was he prone to behavior like that?”
Ford fell back through history, shuffling through dusty old files in his memory. Finally, he nodded. “The guy was a pretentious dick. Women in the pack weren’t allowed to mate until they’d reached a certain age or fulfilled a number of years of service to him. I always wondered if my wife had survived, if he would have forced her service, too.”
Daphne’s lips curled. Ford put an arm around her. While her anger was warranted, it could serve no purpose. The man had died years ago. His punishment had been meted out already.
Across the room, Gavin nodded. “He sounds like a dick. He and my father aren’t cut from the same cloth, but they definitely came from the same asshole store.”
A jolt passed through Ford when Gavin looked him head on.
“Would you help me kill another clan leader? My father’s time in this world needs to come to an end. He cannot go on treating people like they’re disposable possessions.”
“Will you take his clan when he’s gone?” Ford asked.
If Gavin wanted a small army to help him overthrow his father just so he could assume power, then Ford wanted no part in this war. He saw no reason to remove one horrid ruler only to replace the man with another who could grow worse in time. He wouldn’t pull Daphne into harm’s way when they could run as far and fast as possible.
“These fuckers are enough for me,” Gavin said.
Ford couldn’t contain his surprise. His brows vaulted upward. Gavin shared a small smile with him.
“I don’t even want them.” Gavin gestured toward the clan around him, though they all grinned at him with obvious admiration.
“You’re like that father who says he doesn’t want a cat and then goes on to become the cat’s best friend,” Erik teased.
“My father tossed you out for a reason,” Gavin snarled back.
“I love you, too, buddy.” Erik winked suggestively.
Ford couldn’t believe there wasn’t more uproar from Gavin’s clanmates. He thought they would have argued against Ford becoming part of their clan, even if his inclusion was temporary. Weren’t they afraid of him? He’d spent so much time assuming that no one would ever want him around again, that this meeting rather confused him.
He looked from face to face. Some, like Gavin and Casey, were unreadable. Others were warmer. Evangeline grinned up at him. The pregnant blonde brought him something to eat before taking her seat beside Dillon. Ford already knew that Bree and Erik would welcome him, but he’d assumed that was because neither had a braincell between them.
Instead, it seemed that Ford had been mistaken. They weren’t accepting because they were dimwitted, but because they were walking a similar path. Ford had opted himself into a war. But for what?
He glanced down at the woman with her head on his shoulder. He’d acted without thought earlier. When he saw Zander grab her, Ford had struck. What about this woman had propelled him into action when he’d kept himself separate from this clan up until now?
Everything about her made him want to protect her. It was not that she was weak and needed his protection. He saw everything wonderful about her and wanted to keep the world from breaking her the way it’d broken him.
Maybe he needed her strength, too. She’d been thrust from the only home she’d ever known but didn’t seem bothered by it. Surely, she would have to face the truth later. He would be there when it hit her, and she had to process it. He would help her with all the ways he’d learned to deal with his own exile.
What was this if not the bond of mates? That shouldn’t be possible, but he couldn’t deny what he felt any longer, either. Had he been blessed twice? Or, had his wife kept him company and shown him how to love deeply before she left this world?
Both Ford and his wife had known that their time together would be short. She had few options before the last one had been forced upon her. He should have prepared himself for that day, but instead lost himself to his fury and self-loathing.
Whatever he’d had with his wife, there was no way to tell anymore. What he had was the present and this bond Daphne had formed with him.
“If you need me, I’ll stay,” Ford told the room.
How long that stay would be, he didn’t know. Once this was over, once Daphne found a mate, Ford would need to find a way to move on again.
***
“I don’t get how you can forgive me,” Ford said. He crouched on a low stool, his gaze focused on the floor.
The clan had left them alone after the meeting. Since Ford didn’t want Daphne alone, they’d retreated to her room at the cabin instead of going back to his place. She hated how thin the walls were here and how it felt like she would never have the privacy she craved.
Daphne stilled. “What is there to forgive? We’re in the middle of a similar situation with an equally horrible clan leader breathing down our necks. If we can’t understand why you did what you did, then how can we reconcile what needs to happen now?”