Chapter 126 - Unreject Me

Kaya’s pov

I was barely holding myself back from lunging at him. His expression spoke volumes. Repeating himself was unnecessary to prove anything to me. I stared at him for several seconds, as he actively avoided making eye contact with me. A deep frown creased his face as his gaze wandered around. He would look at anything but me.

Oh, he was guilty. I just knew it.

I narrowed my eyes at him as I balled my fists together. Finally, the mastermind behind the attack was standing in front of me. I always wondered if the security of the Golden Cresent was so poorly maintained that the Silver Claw were able to launch such a deadly attack. Even after speaking with Helena about my old pack, I couldn’t think of a reason good enough for them to fail so miserably at saving the pack. Surely several wolves would have willingly sacrificed themselves to protect their turf and their loved ones. Since there was no way I could get to the bottom of what truly happened, I assumed that the pack must have had traitors in it.

Golden Crescent had a traitor, and he wasn’t someone I expected. Trembling in anger, I sauntered towards him. Pete must have leaked the secrets, exposing the weak points in the pack. The invaders must have taken everyone by surprise. I didn’t even want to think about what they must have done to the commoners living in their homes or the sick wolves admitted to the hospitals. To know that no one survived was enough. If what my parents endured before their death was unspeakable, what the ordinary pack member went through couldn’t have been any better.

“So it was you. You were the traitor?” I hissed at him.

His lack of response felt like a confession.

“What? Kaya? What are you saying?” Helena asked me.

Her intuition must have told her what was going on, but she probably didn’t want to believe that Pete could do something like that. I glanced at her.

“Pete here knows exactly what happened to my mom the day Fin and his terrorists attacked the Golden Crescent. I never uttered a word about it, simply because it was just horrible. The only other person who would even have a hint of what happened would be the one who actively took part in the action, or the one who planned it.” I cast a glance of disgust at him. That I was even related to such a despicable man was appalling. “Isn’t it, Pete? Is that why you never returned to the wolf’s territory? You were too much of a coward to face the truth. You were evasive because that’s what cowards do. It was a good thing Grandpa didn’t pass the pack to you. You would have destroyed everything.”

He sneered. “I was telling the truth when I said that I didn’t care about the pack. I didn’t mind Benedict being the Alpha. All I wanted was Kate.” As soon as he said that, he stopped in his tracks and looked at Helena. “Don’t get me wrong. I adored you and wanted you to be my Luna. I just wanted Kate on the side, but when she refused, I kind of got obsessed with her.”

She rolled her eyes. “You are the worst manwhore in the history of manwhores. All this time, I thought you were just a bit too sexcrazed. But after so many years, I have realised that you aren’t only a mawhore but a deranged lunatic. You hired Fin to attack me just so I would lose my pup. Did you hire him to attack your brother’s pack too?”

All eyes were on Pete. When he silently glared at Helena, I knew there must be some truth to that.

“Deranged lunatic is right! I need to hear a confession,” Mira grumbled as she gritted her teeth.

I grabbed his chin, my claws elongating and digging into his flesh. The marks they left on his face were just minor injuries and would heal within minutes, but putting him in any kind of distress gave me a strange feeling of triumph. Even without his confession, we all knew he did it. Mira had channelled her aura with mine as I hissed into his face.

“Tell the truth, Pete. What did you do? I hear you were happily confessing to a lot of things just moments ago. Why stop now? Hmm? You have an audience now.”

Seeing fear flash through his eyes was satisfying. Despite being unable to budge, he struggled a little. The soldier's grasp on his limbs didn’t loosen up even for a second. I couldn’t care less what went through his small mind or if my aura caused his discomfort. Because unease was exactly what he deserved.

“I am waiting, Pete. You hired Fin to attack Opal Moon, and then what? Golden Crescent?” I forced him to look into my eyes. When he didn’t say anything, I pushed my claws further into his cheeks. “Answer me! Now!”

My voice thundered in the woods, echoing in the distance. He sucked a breath in. I could see that he was fighting an internal battle. His lower lip trembled, and beads of perspiration appeared on his forehead. I didn’t care what was happening to him. All I wanted was a response from him. Suddenly he dropped to his knees and wheezed. I always knew that my aura had superiority over other alphas, but that was the first time I had seen another wolf react to me like that.

“I can’t… I can’t fight anymore. Your aura is too much.” His voice trembled as he spoke. “Yes. I admit. I did it. I hired Fin. I was jealous and bitter and wanted to destroy their lives. Fin attacked Opal Moon. Specifically Helena, and when I learnt that although she survived the ordeal, she was no longer able to have pups, I asked him to let them live. I wanted them to live with the pain of never being able to conceive.”

My grimace deepened. He confessed alright, but that wasn’t all I wanted to hear.

“And then what? What about Golden Crescent?” I asked.

He hesitated for a while, but when our warrior shoved his head, ordering him to tell us everything, he sighed a heavy sigh. For the first time since we met him, I saw signs of defeat on his countenance. He gave me a weary glance, but as soon as he made eye contact with me, he quickly looked away. I wondered if he was looking for mercy, but was he compassionate when he hired the most brutal Alpha in the district to attack us?

Absolutely not.

“Even if you don’t admit it, I know you had a hand in it. You are going to jail anyway for kidnapping and killing my pup. Since you hired Fin to attack us, I bet you did the same to attacking your brother’s family, you sick bastard!” Helena screamed.

“No, I want him dead. So many warriors died in that war. Our unborn pup isn’t the only victim. Letting him breathe would be a disgrace.” I had never heard William so angry at anyone.

“My mom didn’t hook up with you. Is that why you wanted them to... assault her?”

It was hard to say, but I did.

He closed his eyes. “I didn’t… that was all Fin and his men. I just wanted them to kill them all.”

There it was. The confession. Although he denied that he ordered them to do what they did, I doubted him.

“I think they did exactly what you wanted them to,” I whispered as my body relaxed to some extent.

I looked at Theo and the others. “I want him to be killed in the ruins of Golden Crescent. I want the ghosts of the wolves who died there to haunt his soul forever. We shall not delay his execution. I want it to be done at once.”

Theo and William nodded their heads in agreement as Helena looked at me with eyes burning with rage.

“Burn him alive. Whoever didn’t die on the spot from your pack died because of the fire. When we arrived that day, a few pack members were badly burnt but not dead. We weren’t able to save any, unfortunately. They died because of the injuries. They saw it all and would have survived if it wasn’t for the fire.”

“Hey, you can’t do that. Come on. I wasn’t even the one who lit the fire. I mean, Kathy will be waiting for me. Our daughter too. You have to let me live. I don’t mind being locked up.”

I cast one last look of disgust at him. He looked pathetic.

“Don’t kill me?” He pleaded, but I felt nothing towards him.

When we fought against Asher, I thought no one could be worse than him. But then I got proved to be wrong. Pete was far worse than all the villains combined. “You are the worst. Kathy will be better off without you. In fact, the whole world would be a better place without you.”

We marched to the Golden Crescent territory while the warriors dragged him all the way. He begged us for a while, but once he realised it wasn’t working, he stopped. Perhaps he gave up. As always, arriving at my old pack’s turf aroused several emotions in my heart. However, this time, there was another emotion dominating my chest—a feeling that justice was finally being served.

The warriors cuffed him to the ruins and handed us the guns loaded with silver bullets. I let Helena and William shoot first. Each of them shot their shots at his hands and legs, deliberately missing any lethal points on the body. The sound of his screams was fulfilling. I once heard my mother scream and beg, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

It was my turn to shoot him. I took the gun and aimed it at his shoulder. His shouts got louder, and a smile curled on my lips.

“You know what, Pete? My mom also screamed that day. She was in pain. Inflicting the same pain on you would be fitting, but I wouldn’t degrade myself by doing what they did to my mom.”

I could have sworn he was sobbing, but why would I care?

“Oh, and by the way, Kathy will soon learn what you really did to her. I have a recording of you describing what you did to prevent her from conceiving. I bet she wouldn’t want you back in her life after that,” I said.

The warriors started to stack dried twigs and leaves around Pete. I looked at Helena.

“Oh, we are burning him,” she said.

I snickered. There was no point in refusing. She used a lighter from one of the warriors to light up a dried branch and handed it to me.

“Kaya. I think you should do this.”

My lips curled into a smirk as I took it from her and lit everything up.

“No. Kaya! Please!”

The rising flames cackled as we stepped back from them. His screams rose above the cackling sound until I could no longer hear him. I didn’t realise my breathing had laboured until Theo pulled me into an embrace.

“You are panicking,” he whispered into my ears. “Close your eyes and take deep breaths.”

I followed his instructions. His scent and his warmth quickly calmed my nerves. We stayed there for as long as the fire burnt. I wanted to make sure that it was truly over. I didn’t want him to return and cause more trouble for us or anyone else. Once the flames subsided, I examined the heap of ashes.

A breath of relief escaped my lips. His last cry was fixed on his face as his burnt body sprawled on top of it.