murmured, reaching down to brush a lock of sweaty blond hair from his eyes. My jaw hardened. “Good.”
I stood up slowly, fluidly, and stepped over his body to head back to my friends.
Remy watched me with worried eyes as I approached. “You okay, babe?”
I nodded and looked at Lulu. “Is what you did to them permanent?”
She glanced over. “I crushed their ribs. Sort of … ground them to dust. They won’t be able to get back up unless I reform the bones.”
“Don’t,” I told her in a cold voice.
Lulu nodded.
“Right,” Nikolai said sharply. “Can we commence with the beheading of every person in this shithole before heading back home?”
“We’re not killing everyone, Nik,” Mom said with a frown.
He turned to her, his eyes glittering with rage and retribution. “I don’t see why the fuck not.”
“They’re not all bad,” Mom told him, laying a hand on his arm. The simple act seemed to calm him, some of the fury leaching from his expression. “Some of them are just scared. Trapped.”
“But not all of them,” I replied bitterly. “Some of them need to be punished.”
“Okay, but how?” Larkin asked, meeting my gaze. “Do we kill them all? Put them in jail?”
“We don’t have a jail big enough to put them all,” Rhodes murmured. “Blackwater doesn’t have issues that have required the need for housing inmates indefinitely. Usually issues like this would be handled by the Council.”
“Which no longer exists,” Dante sighed.
Alexei folded his arms over his chest. “So, we kill them all. Problem solved.”
“It’s not the worst idea,” Dimitri agreed, pressing his lips together. “At least then we won’t have to watch our backs, waiting for them to stab us the first chance they get.”
“We’re not killing dozens of people today,” Remy said finally.
Nikolai arched a brow. “You plan to let them off with what? A warning? Perhaps community service? They can build a playground or some other utterly useless reminder of what they’ve done to the people you claim to love.”
“I don’t plan to let them off at all,” Remy ground out. His eyes flashed dangerously as he glared at Nikolai.
“Then explain how you plan to punish those who have committed the most heinous of acts!” Nikolai’s chest heaved as he stared at Remy.
I glanced down at the men on the ground. “They haven’t shifted back.”
“What?” Remy frowned at me.
I took a step forward. “The guys on the ground. They never went back to their human form.”
“Probably because they can’t. Humans need their ribs to protect vital organs. Their bodies probably have no idea what to do,” Lulu answered slowly.
“You can make people change,” I said suddenly, sharply.
“I can,” she agreed cautiously.
“Can you make a shifter not be able to shift?” I demanded.
Understanding dawned in her eyes. “Holy shit. That’s pretty fucking brilliant.”
“Can you?” I pressed, latching onto the idea.
“What are you two talking about?” Dimitri asked, looking back and forth between us.
Lulu smiled. “We can take away their ability to shift. Their own body will be their prison. If we keep them as wolves—”
“—they’re no longer a threat,” Remy mused. “She’s right. It’s brilliant.”
“Can you do that?” Dimitri questioned, staring hard at Lulu.
“Yeah. It’s not unlike the moon spell. It's actually easier. This time I’m just … locking a door, so to speak. I’ll sever the bond between the human and the wolf. The human aspect will eventually fade away. I can make them just an animal.”
Dimitri’s teeth ground together. “Yeah, and we both know what kind of drain that puts on you, Lu.”
“He’s right,” Nikolai agreed, looking concerned for the first time.
My heart sank. “We can’t do it if it’s a risk to you, Lulu.”
Her shoulders squared. “It’s my risk, and I can do it.”
Dimitri swore. “Lu—”
“But I might need help,” she said, turning to Remy. “You’re their Alpha now. You won the pack.”
“What do you need?” Remy spread his arms. “I’ll do what I can.”
“Command them to change,” Lulu told him. “If they’re already wolves, it will make things easier.”
“Everyone?” Remy asked.
“No,” Mom jumped in. “Not everyone. Not everyone deserves to spend the rest of their life as an animal.”
“Probably won’t be a long life,” Ryder added, waving a dismissive hand. “Farmers and hunters will likely shoot most of them. There’s a reason natural wolves aren’t around much in this area. They’ve been killed off by cattle ranchers.”
Remy looked at me and then Mom. “Can you two figure out who should be saved?”
My eyes met Mom’s. Could we? Could we objectively pick and choose who deserved a second