Annie, The Alpha Sow

Annie, The Alpha Sow
Gerry
I weakly pushed myself up from the floor where I landed after my sister threw me, wincing in pain. I had never seen my little sister so furious, and to be honest, it was a little scary. Before I could move back toward her, Annie went toe to toe with Orion and uttered 14 words that made my blood go cold.
“Logan didn’t kill Kirkland. I did. What are you going to do about it?”
Orion bared his teeth at Annie as he roughly grabbed her arm. “Then you will take the punishment! I recommend death for her obvious callous attitude toward taking an alpha’s life.”
“Orion, you–” Osprey started to say, but immediately fell silent when Annie started to laugh.
All of our attention was drawn back to her, only to find that she was looking down at Orion’s hand on her arm. His grip tightened on her arm.
“This isn’t funny, little girl! You committed a serious crime! This isn’t a fucking joke!” he snarled.
Annie’s eyes snapped back up to his face as anger pulsed and wavered around her. Vines exploded out of her body at the same time her aura whipped around the room, forcing everyone to their knees except Logan, who was still in his chair, and Orion, who was only held up by the vines that had wrapped so tightly around him that his eyes bulging while the rest of his body looked like a sausage link ready to explode from being overcooked. Holy shit! Annie was fucking incredible!
“Very well, but you will take your punishment first,” Annie said, entirely too calmly. “For crimes committed against my mate, I sentence you to lashes!” She paused to look around the room, challenging each and every person inside. “Vote!”
All of the council members swallowed hard before saying, “Aye.”
She returned her attention back to Orion with a smirk on her face. “You may think you are in control of the council, but you are trying to fill a space that is entirely too big for you! Only Ezekiel and now me, can fill it. This is my council, and there’s not a motherfucking thing you can do about it!”
There were gasps from the people who knew Annie, as the curse word easily fell from her lips. It was very clear that Marsha was in full control. Her smirk widened as the vines lifted Orion higher under her command. He was almost to the ceiling before Annie waved her hand, and Orion was slammed into the floor. The sound of his bones breaking, echoing throughout the room, was the only thing that made the deafening silence less all-consuming. She moved two fingers across her body to the other side, and the vines followed her movements, forcing him into the floor again with a loud thud. He screamed in agony, and the only reaction he got from Annie was for her to point to the floor in front of her. When the vines forced him upright in front of her, she roughly grabbed his chin to force him to look into her fiery eyes.
“You may be an alpha, but I am so much more. My mate is so much more. As of right now, Logan, Giselda, all of Havana, and our pack are pardoned from all crimes relating to Kirkland and Crosstimbers! If you aren’t going to defend the side that’s right, I will force you to. Vote!”
Another round of ‘Ayes’ went up without hesitation while her eyes continued to bore into Orion’s. “And another thing, my sleuth, as well as my pack, my mate, my family, and my beta are all off-limits as of now. I will deal with them.” She looked around her eyes, daring someone to say something to her. “This is not up for debate. There will be no vote. I am only informing you of what I’ve already decided. Touch any of them, and you will answer to me. Am I understood?”
“Yes, Annie,” Osprey answered for all of them.
Without another word, Annie had the vines lift Orion high in the air again before she retracted all the vines from around him, letting him crash into the floor. She knelt beside him and gripped his hair to pull his head back before baring her teeth at him. “Don’t ever forget this warning, Orion. You will only get one. And this was it.”
She let his hair go, and his head immediately slammed into the floor. She leaped to her feet to rush over to Logan and started to run her hands over his body, checking him over to make sure he didn’t have any injuries, while she murmured almost silently to him. Giselda nudged my shoulder before glancing at Annie, silently asking me if Annie was back in control, because it was clear that Marsha wasn’t going to be calmed. I leaned forward a little to look at Annie’s eyes, and when they were back to her usually green, I gave Giselda a small nod. She cleared her throat as she stepped forward.
“Annie, sweetie?”
Annie plopped down on Logan’s lap, facing us, while he wrapped an arm around her waist. “Hey, Giselda! Gerry, I’m sorry Marsha threw you.”
I shrugged as I rolled my shoulders back. “Marsha wasn’t trying to hurt me. I understand. Are you feeling better?”
She smiled up at Logan. “Yes.”
“Good, but, Annie, honey, you can’t let Marsha act like that. It’s dangerous,” Giselda told her.
“Why not? Orion wasn’t taking into account that Kirkland was losing his title. He deserved it! He was trying to kill Logan!”
“I know, love, but I don’t think the council would have voted for that.” She glanced over her shoulder at Orion, who was still on the floor, struggling to heal. “Was this punishment enough for Marsha?”
“Yes. She is content,” Annie answered.
“Good. I think you should heal Orion a little. I can hear him dying as we speak,” Giselda told her.
“Good. He deserved it.”
Giselda’s eyes widened. This wasn’t the same little Annie from even a few months earlier. This Annie was colder and less tolerant of people who chose to do bad things. I stepped forward, but Logan shook his head a little behind Annie.
“Annie, baby, I think Giselda is right. I understand why you feel like he should suffer, but this is too much. I’m okay. Trust me, you don’t want to rule like this. My father tried to rule with an iron fist, and it led to issues that I don’t want you to have to suffer through.” He pecked her cheek. “Heal him, please. If not all the way, then at least halfway. That way, he still suffers some, but he doesn’t die.”
She sighed as she nodded. “Okay, Logan.” A vine came out of the floor to inject something into Orion’s wrist before disappearing again. “There! I did it! Can we go now?”
“Yes, baby. Let’s go. You need to get home. I’m sure your family is worried about you,” Logan told her.
They both stood up, and he eagerly took her hand. We all turned around to leave, and immediately drew up short when we saw both Vinekeeper Annaria and Vinekeeper Marissa standing by the door. Annie immediately swallowed as she walked over to them.
“Mothers, I am sorry, but–”
Vinekeeper Annaria held her hand up to stop her apology. “Listen to me, Annie. We understand. We didn’t come here to lecture you. We came to support you. We know the trouble that Orion had caused Ezekiel. We didn’t want him to cause you problems, too.”
“Thank you, Mothers.”
“You’re welcome. Come on, now. Your mate is right. We should get you home. Your parents are very worried about you,” Vinekeeper Marissa told her.
As they began to walk out together, Orion crawled over to his chair and pulled himself up, panting hard as he glared at the back of Annie’s head.
“There’s still the matter of your punishment!” he called out.
Annie stiffened as she slowly turned around. “Okay. What is my sentence?”
Orion smiled like the Cheshire cat. “Death.”
Marsha immediately took over. “You won’t get that. I think you’ll find it hard to get support for any sentence you wish to put on the table.”
After a quick glance around at the other council members, Orion leaned back in his chair. “How about a compromise. I know you want the girl. She’s your gamma’s mate, isn’t she?”
I clenched my jaw together. How did he know?
“She is, yes.”
"I'll release the human on one condition." He paused for dramatic effect. "I want your bond with the vines severed."
Vinekeepers Annaria and Marissa stepped forward angrily, and Annie raised her hand to stop them.
"You asked me for a compromise, so this is the only one you get. I will agree to sever it until I'm 18, but you have to release the girl. Immediately."
Orion smirked gleefully, obviously thinking he won. He beckoned Sonia forward, and she approached him fearfully. He met Annie’s eyes as he whispered in her ear. She nodded before turning around to come over to where Logan and Annie stood.
"Done! Your turn."
“We won’t sever our bond,” Vinekeeper Annaria said.
Annie took her hand, smiling sweetly at her. “It’s okay, Mother. I’ll be okay. Do it.”
Tears filled the vinekeeper’s eyes as she gripped Annie’s hands. Energy and power swirled around them for a full moment before fading away, leaving the vinekeeper’s shoulders sagging a little.
“It is done,” she said sadly.
Logan turned toward Annie to grip her face in both of his hands. "You shouldn't have done that, Annie."
"We both know I needed to. Just promise me something, Logan."
"Anything, Annie."
"Promise me that you'll be there to get me right at midnight on my 18th birthday." She looked past him to meet Orion’s eyes. "I have a feeling there will be hell to pay."
The alpha's lips curled up in a cruel smile. "Bring it on, Little girl. I’ll be ready."