Chapter 138

. Alpha Gabe POV

"NO!" Jenna squeezes my hand, pulling me back as I stand to intervene. This is my pack, my meeting room, my land. I will not allow anyone to disrupt sanctioned proceedings here! I cannot let any more bloodshed or chaos take hold.

"Gabe, please," she nearly screams in my ear. I turn to see her eyes pleading with me. "This is not your fight, nor ours. Let the council and guardians handle this." I take a deep breath and close my eyes. She's right, of course, as always. Jenna tugs my arm, and I sit back down, and she takes both of my hands and holds them in hers. "Give this a moment to play out my love, we've been way too involved in all of this, it's time to let it go."

As I turn back to inspect what has unfolded in front of us, I see that the wolf that had flown to the front of the room was Mariah Kennedy's father. In a few short minutes, he has returned to his human form and is being escorted out of the room by a guardian, although he is not restrained. The room is quieter, and the council works to restore order so that the proceedings can continue.

As the room finally becomes quiet, the council reads out loud a short list of some of the extensive documents presented to them. These documents clearly identify many of the acts that Alpha James committed. You cannot deny what is written, they tell him, you cannot deny sworn testimony from those who were personal witnesses. He is told about Mariah's testimony and the things she endured. He is told that Luna has a mate who now sits beside her in the back of the room. He is told of the suffering he has caused to many. He is informed that his position as Alpha is officially revoked and that he no longer belongs to a pack. He is informed that all of his guardians were relieved of their contractual obligations to him days prior, so he may not look to them for help. When they finally ask him what he has to say about all of this, he snears at them. Finally, in a last-ditch effort, Alpha James asks if he can be part of his only living son's life. If this is an attempt to see if they will keep him alive, it's hard to say. But the Luna screams from the back of the room, "YOU HAVE NO SON, YOU MONSTER!"

The Luna is removed from the room, and her mate follows behind her with a backward glance over his shoulder to the council members. They give him a nod of understanding, as if to say, "It will be handled", after which the door softly closes behind him.

"It is with a heavy heart and a prayer to the Moon Goddess that we deliver our decision regarding your fate, Alpha James." You can hear a pin drop, if not for the heavy animalistic breaths coming from Alpha James at the front of the room. "You have committed heinous crimes against our kind. You have colluded with humans in the course of your crimes, thereby giving out secrets of our kind, you have murdered, you have lied, you have been party to torturous acts that have altered lives in so many ways. I could probably spend an entire day listing the crimes you have committed. I won't put the people in this room through that. It's just too dark and disturbing for me to put it into words," he shakes his head. "You were given your opportunity to speak, and even then, you show no remorse for what you did. While you admit you did wrong, you want to use your knowledge of others to get yourself out of trouble. You want to use your son as a form of leverage. I will give you this, though: his mother has asked that he be the Alpha of the pack, as is his birthright, when he becomes of age, so, despite what you have done to her, she recognizes that her son deserves more than what you gave your own eldest son." He doesn't reply; he doesn't even seem to flinch as he stares forward.

Another councilman chooses this moment to speak. "With the power given to this council, and the authority that was bestowed upon us by being chosen to lead and to protect our kind, we have decided that the best course of action here is to give you death." No one is surprised. There are no audible gasps around the room, no protesting. I do hear a few murmurs of approval and a candid "Thank the Goddess" from the back of the room. Jenna squeezes my hand and whispers, "You see."

I close my eyes and continue just to sit and listen, the stress of the past few months leaving my body. I am relieved to hear them state that he will be put to an end using either lethal injection of wolfsbane or beheading. They have offered to allow him to choose by which method he would like his life ended, to which he lets out a loud snort and looks away. He will be assassinated, and that's one step in the right direction, even if it pitches my stomach a bit. What about the others involved? Then I realize, as I think this, it doesn't have anything to do with me. I did my part, and finally, my pack is released from all of this insanity. We can be at peace again, at least for a while. Connor can take over for me in the next year as we had planned, and this won't be hanging over his head to deal with.

I open my eyes and look around. I see Michael sitting with Shawna, and the utter look of relief that crosses her features. I see Mariah Kennedy silently crying in the back of the room, as she leans against her mother. I recall the look on Luna's face as she was escorted out of the proceedings, her real and true mate by her side. Connor sits on the other side of Jenna, his arms crossed over his chest, eyes focused on the proceedings. My son has witnessed something that most Alphas will never have to be part of. Fortunately, he's been surrounded by all of these strong Alphas, the men who sit on the council in front of us. He will be a great leader, an incredible Alpha. As for me, I feel finally at peace. I can focus on my ranch, my mate, and living out my days, watching my son lead our pack to be even better than it was with me in charge. A smile crosses my lips as I look down at Jenna, and she smiles back. A rightness with our world is here, and for that, I thank the Moon Goddess.