They all turned to look at him, the councillor included, so he cleared his throat and tried to gather his thoughts into something more coherent than the tangle of emotions they currently were.
“It just occurred to me what she’d been through. I saw what it did to Mel and Dean when the provost had to break their bond to make sure it was a legal bonding, and again with Asher. Even without the geas, it was agony for her, and him too. She’s had to do that for hundreds of shifters, not once, but many times. All of those shifters that were given to her to defeat, they would have been the ones those bitches couldn’t beat themselves.”
He paused and shuddered. “And each time she completed the bond again, she’d get the shifter’s pain on top of her own. She’d get to feel them weaken, be disoriented, give in. And then they would be taken away from her for good. She’d get the most fleeting of bonds, knowing that it wouldn’t last, knowing that she’d get no comfort from it, only pain, and then she’d get to experience it being ripped from her one more time.”
Silent tears trickled down Melody’s face, and Oz knew that he’d only scratched the surface of her past.
“Then there’s the breeding thing. I don’t know if you all heard that, but I sure did. Her aunt wants to use Nick and Jus as studs, and Melody as their mare. Do you really think she’d fucking do that willingly? Or them? That crazy bitch would have made them do it, rape on both sides. Mel knew that was what she had to look forward to, but all she was worried about was saving us from being killed, from being used up and burned out like the others. Her first concern was us, always us. It’s like she was resigned to what would happen to her if she failed to avoid us. Like she thought …” Oz broke off, horror engulfing him. He knew. He fucking knew it, and it was so wrong, but how could he convince her?
“She thinks she deserves it,” he whispered. “Like it’s the least of the punishments she deserves for all the shifters that she bound to them.”
Oz glared at her and shook his head slowly. “Mel, how fucked up is that? How do you think Nick and Jus would feel, knowing that they were being used to punish you? You think they deserve that?”
Her head dropped in shame, and her voice was so low that even his shifter hearing barely caught the anguished ‘no’ that fell from her lips.
There were gasps from the others, but the largest reaction came from the councillor. He stood abruptly, like someone had jerked a string inside him, pulling him upright. Behind him, his chair clattered noisily to the ground, making everyone jump.
He took several steps away from her, the back of his hand across his mouth, as if he was afraid. Oz could smell bile on the air and knew the man had almost thrown up. Just as fast, the man spun and dropped to his knees in front of her, taking her hands in his where they rested on the other men’s laps.
“If I may, please allow me to help you to draw strength from your bonded familiars,” he said quietly.
With that statement, Oz knew that they had at least convinced Councillor Argrum of her innocence. Nick looked at Oz, lifting his chin in acknowledgement of what he’d just achieved. Ryan came up and put his arm around Oz, and even Dean and Asher looked at him gratefully before their attention was claimed again by the process taking place in front of them. Both men finally relaxed as the colour returned to Melody’s face and her posture straightened.
“Thank you,” said Melody, claiming her hands back and folding them in her lap. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by the shifters, nor by Mrs Hardinger who tutted under her breath.
Oz bent down and picked up the fallen chair, just as the councillor reached for it. He nodded his thanks before sitting.
“Melody, I can see that I was wrong, and for that I offer my profound apologies and my sincerest condolences. The provost was a remarkable woman and the world is that much darker a place without her.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably and shifted in his chair. “I would also like to congratulate you on joining Coven Canticum. I only wish that Coven Aer had heard about you, I’m sure we could have convinced our coven mistress to accept you.”
He smiled ruefully at Melody’s startled look. “Argrum may be my sire’s name, but my dam was Aer. Provost Aer-Canticum was my cousin. We were very close. I called in a lot of favours to be the one allowed to question you. I can see now that I was very wrong to do so. I allowed my grief to colour my opinion of you, and my bias to skew the interview.”
He sighed heavily and stood. “I think that I have all of the information that I need for now, although I may have to return with more questions, depending upon the needs of the High Council. This will need to be brought to the attention of the World Council as well. If your aunt’s ambition extends that far, then they need to be informed. It may be that she will ignore America for now and focus more on them.”
Melody simply sat there, frozen to the spot. Oz could see that she’d reached her limit, even with the strength that she’d drawn from the others, she was beyond a coherent response now that the pressure to continue performing had been taken from her.
“Gentlemen, if you intend on bonding this woman, then I suggest you do it sooner rather than later. While you have convinced me of her innocence, the ripples from these events
