“What if they come back? You will never be safe as long as they live.”
“I’ll be safe because they will abide by the condition of their release.” She turned to Amon. “Won’t you?”
He stared at her and then lowered his head. “We will.”
I looked at them. “I hereby decree that you will be banished. You will be escorted to your homes to pick up supplies and then escorted to the edge of the property. You are to never return here, upon pain of life internment in the underground caves.”
All three of them bowed their heads. I wondered if they really thought this idiotic plan of theirs would work.
Amon, Frank, and George headed out the entrance of the cave. They would be watched until they left our clan’s territory.
I turned back to Luka. She had cuts and bruises all over her from the journey to the cave.
“Do you think you could stand a couple more bear rides? I’d like to take you back to the den, introduce you to the rest of the clan, and get you checked out by the doctor.”
Luka nodded. “I’m proud of you. You handled yourself like a true leader. You will do well in this role.”
“Thank you. I was just trying to watch out for you.”
Although we didn’t linger, I did go slowly back to the den. I wanted Luka to be as comfortable on the ride as possible. She had ridden two bears now, both at breakneck speeds. Neither time was I the bear she road.
It took us about an hour to get back to the den. The six warriors were still off doing their duty, but the majority of the family was there.
As we entered, Luka slid off my back and walked beside me.
We stood on the rock dais inside of the cave.
“Greetings, family and friends. This has been a crazy night. Before I go into that, I want to introduce my wife, Luka. She has proven herself worthy of being one of us today, and I’m honored to have her as my bride.”
She blushed, and everyone clapped for her.
“Second, Amon, George, and Frank have been banished from the clan and from the territory because of their actions tonight.”
That announcement was met with silence, as it was a huge deal to be banished.
“Third, I want to say that I am proud of one shifter here, Alarik. He defied his friends and risked his life to tell me where Amon and his crew were hiding after they kidnapped my wife. I consider his actions to be truly brave, and I honor him.”
Everyone clapped for him. As soon as I was done with my announcements, Dr. Ursa approached. She transformed into her human form and pulled Luka to one of the rooms inside of the cave so she could be checked over.
I waited anxiously for them to be done. They both came back, and Dr. Ursa said, “I give her a clean bill of health. I’ve given her some salve for her cuts and bruises that she suffered from the trees during her ride, but she’ll be fine.”
Luka hugged the doctor. It didn’t seem to faze Luka that the doctor was naked. I guessed that she had come to accept the fact that it wasn’t always practical for us to have clothes when we transform.
“It’s been an honor and a pleasure meeting all of you here tonight. I hope you’ll understand and forgive me if I say it has been a long, crazy day, and I’m exhausted, and I really need to go home.”
There was a chorus of encouraging words. Alarik helped her up on my back.
She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Thank you, my friend,” she said.
He started blushing and quickly turned back into bear form. I was sure I could see his red face through his dark brown fur.
I could hear Luka yawning as we made the trek back through the woods to the house. We were both surprised to see that the cabin was brightly lit up.
Madison, Lanie, and a couple of their friends met us at the door.
“We knew you would be tired, and we didn’t want you to come home to the mess that Frank left for you. I hope you don’t mind that we took the liberty of cleaning up. We even put in some new furniture and dishes that we raided from everyone’s homes. You can get your own stuff and return the borrowed items when you have had the chance to rest up a bit.”
Luka hugged each of the women tightly. “Madison, you are amazing.”