Chapter 130 Beta's Name.
Chapters 139
Jax's POV.
She crossed her arms tight across her chest. Her fingers dug into her own arms. "But you're the king. You wear the crown. You sit on the throne. Your word is law. Your decisions should be above everything and everyone."
"Listen."
I stood up from the bed. My legs straightened and I rose to my full height. I was taller than her by almost a head. "If you want to tell me something, just say it. Because when it comes to pack politics and decisions, it's so much more complicated than that."
I rubbed my hand over my face. My palm scraped against the stubble on my jaw. The sound was rough in the quiet room. I turned back to her. "Though I won't lie, I made mistakes with Mila's case too. Big mistakes."
My throat got tightened and narrow. It felt like someone was squeezing it from the outside. The words got harder and harder to push out. Each one took effort. I felt heat behind my eyes, a burning sensation that made them sting.
"That mistake still burns inside me every single day."
I put my closed fist over my heart and pressed it there.
Hard.
"Every morning when I wake up. Every night before I sleep. And I promise you, I swear to you, as long as I'm still king of this pack..."
I stopped talking. The words caught in my throat. I breathed in deep through my nose, pulling air into my lungs. My chest expanded. "That will never, ever happen again, I promise you."
"That's fine."
Frassie waved her hand through the air, cutting me off. Her fingers sliced sideways.
"I've heard enough of that." She replied.
"So back to what we were talking about."
She walked slowly to the small window on the far wall. It was barely big enough to stick your head through. Her feet made soft sounds on the floor. Her fingers reached out and traced the rough wooden frame. They moved along the edge, following the grain of the wood.
"The proof I have, the evidence I've collected, shows your Luna is having an affair with someone very close to your throne."
She stopped moving. Her hand froze on the window frame. Her shoulders went up and down in a shrug. "Like, very close to your throne."
I stepped toward her. My feet carried me across the small room in three strides. "Are you sure?"
My hands opened and closed at my sides. "Are you absolutely certain? Who is it?"
She turned away from the window. Her whole body rotated. "Sorry, your honor."
Her voice had sharp edges now. Each word was like a knife. "That might be too dangerous for me to tell you. Too risky."
Her arms wrapped around herself tight. She was hugging her own body. "Because if things turn bad, if this all goes wrong, you'll look the other way. You'll turn your head and pretend you don't see. Just like you looked away with the Luna you claimed to love so much."
Heat rushed up my neck. I could feel it spreading like fire across my skin. "Weren't you listening when I said I made a mistake? Didn't you hear me?"
Frassie walked away from me. Her feet hit the floor hard with each step. Thump. Thump. Thump.
"A mistake? Fine."
She spun around fast. Her hair whipped around her head. Her eyes were wet and shiny. Tears were gathering there but not falling. "I don't want it to be my mistake too. I care about the people around me. The wolves who depend on me. I won't risk their lives because of pack politics."
Her voice shook and trembled. "Or because I revealed secrets to a king who won't protect a poor Omega. An Omega who risked everything, her life, her safety, her future, to expose the dirty, terrible things happening right under his nose, right around his throne."
"I said Mila's case was a mistake!"
Like a time bomb, the words exploded from my mouth and spread through the room like disease. My legs drifted, drifted towards her.
My hand reached out across to her. My feet drifted like a cheetah. My hand reached out for her in a gentle manner and careful as well in such a way it would hurt her and she wouldn't walk through the door.
"I promise you, I will give you my word, I will protect you. Anyone who tries to hurt you because of what you tell me, anyone who even thinks about it, I'll stop them with everything I have."
She yanked her arms free, her warmth slipping from my grasp. Without turning back, she crossed the room to a small wooden table tucked against the wall.
A jug waited there, heavy with water, its surface was cold, beaded with moisture as if it had been sweating in silence.
Her fingers trembled as she reached for the cup beside the jug. When she poured, the water didn't behave. It was splashing, spilling and leaving dark stains on the table where it missed the cup.
I watched her drink quickly, lifting the cup so high. I watched her throat work as she drank the water inch by inch.
I didn't move. My hand felt like dead weight at my side. Exhaustion pressed into me, bone deep. It was clear, so clear that from her body language that she didn't trust me, even though she didn't speak of it.
Though to a large extent it wasn't her fault.
Who would trust someone who let their future mate die the way Mila died? Who stood by and watched it happen all because of some nasty pack politics.
She dropped the cup on the table and it struck the wooden table with a sharp thud echoing round the still room. A few drops of water trickled down her chin, she quickly brushed them away with the back of her hand.
Then she turned to face me. Her whole body shifted.
Her eyes locked on mine. Green meeting brown. Neither of us looked away.
"Your Luna is having something to do with Alpha Ryder, your beta.”