Surrogate for My Brother-in-law - Chapter 55: Chapter 55

Leo
Ethan stormed into Leo's office.
“Where is she?” he yelled. “Where's Tessa?”
Leo stood and approached his friend. The conversation would not be easy. But it had to happen. Ethan deserved to know the truth.
“Ethan, sit down,” Leo said, trying to draw his friend over to the seat by the desk.
Ethan shrugged him off. “I'm not sitting down. You're taking me to Tessa. Right now.”
“Ethan, I can't. We have to talk,” Leo said.
“No, you have to tell me what you've done to my mate. To the mother of my child!”
Leo winced and looked away. Telling him was going to hurt. So, so much.
“Ethan, I'm sorry,” Leo whispered.
“What? Why are you sorry?” Ethan paled. “She's not... you're not telling me she's dead. She is not dead.”
“No. No, Tessa's alive,” Leo said.
Ethan's shoulders slumped. “Just say it, Leo. This hinting and wincing is not like you and it's freaking me out.”
Leo nodded. “All right. Are you sure you don't want to sit down?”
“No,” Ethan bit out.
Leo sighed, and decided to just say it. Better to rip the bandage off, rather than draw the pain out.
“Tessa lost the baby. She miscarried,” Leo began.
“What? When? How?” Ethan asked.
“Yesterday, or then night before, we're not sure,” Leo said. “She went a little crazy. She shifted, for the first time ever, and she ran out in the woods. We had to hunt her down and lock her in the basement cells.”
“You locked a grieving mother in the cells? What is wrong with you?” Ethan demanded.
Leo held up his hands. “Let me tell the rest.”
“The rest?” Ethan snarled, already halfway to the office door, intent on rushing down to collect his mate.
“Tessa... before she ran off, she tried to steal Eva's baby,” Leo said.
“Eva had the baby?” Ethan yelped.
Leo nodded. “They must've gone into labor around the same time. Maybe Eva's labor triggered Tessa's, and the baby came too early. I've heard that can happen.”
“It's an old wive's tale from the humans, you can't trigger labor that way,” Ethan said.
“Then it was just a tragic coincidence,” Leo said. “I'm so, so sorry.”
Ethan shook his head. “Eva had her baby, and Tessa lost hers, and she tried to take Eva's? That doesn't sound like Tessa.”
“Neither does turning traitor, but,” Leo shrugged, and pointed to the papers on the desk. Letters, from Tessa to the Rogues, listing guard rotations and patrol routes, weaknesses in manor security, and more.
Ethan read through the letters. “This is fake,” he insisted.
“Ethan, I know you don't want to believe it,” Leo started.
“I refuse to believe it,” Ethan said. “The Rogues hurt her mother. She would never side with them.”
“The Rogues killed our parents, and my brother still sided with them,” Leo pointed out.
“Tessa's nothing like Zane,” Ethan argued.
Leo had to admit that he was right about that. Zane was bitter and ambitious. Tessa had seemed shy and sweet. But she was clearly scheming and vicious.
“Look, there has to be another explanation,” Ethan said. “At least let me talk to her. She's my mate, and as an alpha I have a right to examine all accused traitors.”
Leo nodded. “You're right. You do. I... I really am sorry. She fooled me, too.”
He wished he didn't have to let Ethan talk to her. It would only hurt more in the long run. But the law and custom were on Ethan's side.
“Those letters were fake, you know,” Ethan said. “They were typed. Anyone could have written them.”
“Tessa typed the letter that warned me about Zane's ambush,” Leo replied softly. “And Eva brought them to me. She found them in one of Tessa's favorite hiding places.”
“Why does Eva know where Tessa likes to hide things?” Ethan asked. “And why would she keep copies of incriminating letters, anyway? It doesn't make sense.”
“None of this makes sense, but why would Eva lie?” Leo asked. “This looks bad on her, you know. A Luna whose servant turns traitor? It makes her look incompetent.”
Ethan huffed and shook his head. “I don't believe it. I won't believe it.”
Ethan always had been a stubborn one. Leo sighed and keyed in the code to open the door to the basement.
They both ignored Zane as they passed him. He returned the favor. Tessa glanced up, looked at Leo, and then saw Ethan.
“Ethan!” she shouted, trying and failing to stand up. Why was she so weak kneed? She'd been running just fine out in the forest. Maybe she was trying to gain sympathy.
“You didn't even give her clothes?” Ethan growled.
“I,” Leo winced and turned away. He shouldn't stare at a naked woman, even with the blanket around her. “I haven't been down here. I didn't realize.”
“It was her first shift. You never keep your clothes with a first shift,” Ethan said. “You know that.”
He took off his own shirt, and held it through the bars. Tessa took it, and slipped it over her head. Ethan's t-shirt was effectively a dress on her slight frame.
Ethan knelt in front of the cell door. He stroked a hand through her hair.
“Oh, Tessa,” he whispered. “Don't worry. We'll make this right. I'll fix things. You'll see.”
Tessa shook her head, eyes on the ground. “Can't. No one can.”
Ethan twisted to glare up at Leo. “Let me take her home. Release her from your pack, and allow me to claim her.”
“Ethan. I can't. You know that. She has to be banished,” Leo said.
“If it has to be banishment, then why is Zane still in here?” Ethan challenged.
“He,” Leo paused, and leaned in closer, lowering his voice, “he'll just go straight to the Rogues if we banish him.”
“Won't she do the same thing?” Ethan asked.
Tessa shook her head, and then spoke up. “I saved your life, Alpha.”
“What?” Leo looked to see she'd climbed to her feet and was staring right at him.
“I warned you of Zane's treachery, and I interrupted the ambush. You owe me. You owe me this.”
Leo looked from her, to Ethan, to Zane. His brother stared back at him, eyes glittering with rage. Tessa's eyes, by contrast, held only pain.
He did owe her. Without that warning, he'd never have realized Zane's intentions until it was too late. And if she hadn't shoved over that bookshelf, he wouldn't have had time to shift. He would not have won without that advantage.
“Fine,” Leo growled. “I remand this traitor into your hands, Alpha Ethan. I release her from the bonds of pack and clan. I renounce her name under the moon. Take her,” he ordered, “and never let her step foot on my territory on pain of death.”
“Thank you,” Tessa whispered.
It was the first time Leo had ever been thanked for banishing someone.
Ethan clapped him once on the shoulder, but didn't say anything else as Tessa's cell was opened. Leo ordered two guards to follow them, but did allow her to stop by her room to gather a few possessions. He later learned that they left by the library door, so that Tessa could say one final farewell to the archivists who had been her only friends in the pack.
Odd. The archivists and servants would be the first ones to suffer under the Rogues' attacks. They always went after the weakest wolves first. Why would Tessa betray them? Maybe the Rogues had promised to spare the archivists in return for her cooperation. He'd have to ask Zane.
Leo watched Ethan's car vanish into the distance, and realized he hadn't just lost a wolf. His friend wasn't lost to him, but their friendship could never be the same after that. Leo had chosen the law. Ethan had chosen his mate.
Leo had done what pack law demanded, what he had been taught was right. So why did he feel so guilty?