The words clicked in my mind, their meaning clear. “Interrupt?”

My father nodded. “That’s all you have to say to stop a teleportation incantation.”

He walked out.

If I stayed with Curran, Atlanta would burn and the Pack would die. I could do nothing to stop it.

“Fighting him will be difficult,” Curran said.

“Yes.” Understatement of the year.

“Do you like being the Consort?” he asked.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

He came over, crouched by me, and took my hands into his. “Kate, do you like being the Consort?”

I couldn’t ask him to give up the Pack for me. But I couldn’t lie to him either. “No. I never wanted to be the Consort. I just wanted you.”

“Then problem solved. Barabas!” Curran called.

The door opened and Barabas stepped inside, his face puzzled. “I just saw a man leave. I’ve been at the guard station since we got here. I’m positive he didn’t come in. Unless I’m insane, none of us let him in.”

“I want you to release a general announcement to the Pack,” Curran said.

“Should I get a pen and paper?”

“No, it will be short.”

“I’m ready,” Barabas said.

Curran looked at me. “Effective tomorrow, we are retired. Jim has our blessing.”

What?

Barabas opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

“Take your time,” Curran said.

“You what?”

“We are stepping down,” Curran said.

“You can’t!”

“We just did.”

“But—”

“We’ll talk about the details in the morning.”

“But what do I tell them?”

Curran sighed. “Which them?”

“Them!” Barabas waved his arms. “Everybody.”

“Tell them we quit. Thank you, Barabas. That will be all.”

Barabas blinked several times, turned around, and left the room. The door behind him closed.

“You’re leaving the Pack?” I couldn’t believe it.

“No, we are leaving. Together. It’s freedom, Kate. Freedom from paperwork, freedom from sorting through petitions. We can have a day off whenever we want. We can have sex whenever we want. You can run Cutting Edge, I’ll help you apprehend bunnycats, we can go to Julie’s plays or whatever the hell she does, without having to make excuses . . .”

I put my hand on his lips. “But you’re the Beast Lord.”

He kissed my fingers and took my hand off his mouth. “I haven’t liked being the Beast Lord for a while now. I built all this so my family—so you—would be protected. Then I almost had to kill my own Council so that I could leave to save my mate. In the end, Roland just walked past all of my defenses. Screw this. I’m done with it. This is the best way to protect you and Julie for now.”

“You created all of this. I can’t ask you to give up your life for me.”

He smiled. “I know. You did it for me. You moved into the Keep with me. My turn.”