Alpha Graham’s POV
What the hell is going on? This night has turned out to be a nightmare. I should never have come, why did Reagan insist on us coming tonight? Raven was getting the life that she always dreamed of, and honestly, I didn’t want to see her happy. The whole thing was just over the top. All their bullshit comments Alpha Cole and Luna Olivia were saying about how strong she was, and how far she has come in such a short time. All of that was complete crap. She is the same girl that three weeks ago managed to escape from Silver Blade before we could silence her. She has been an abomination to me her whole life. A reminder each day that my mate, my other half, had never truly belonged to me. That I saw her, wanted her, and took her away from her mate. Us being here at his pack is a threat to my marriage. The second she realizes that Cole has always been richer than me, she is going to make my life a living hell. That was another reason not to come here.
This wasn’t even his pack house. This was just a giant building that they built to house meetings, training, ceremonies, and things like this party. It is nowhere near his packhouse. He wanted you near his border, so you can’t go around and see what they are doing here, or get anywhere near the packhouse. It was brilliant, and if I were willing to build something like this, I would have done the same thing. It is near the training area and the unmated warrior's house. So if something came up, they could have warriors here, and very quickly. Case in point to my position right now, and the reason why I am kneeling on the floor, handcuffed, and unable to protect myself. This was completely unacceptable. Cole can’t just do whatever the hell he wants to, and he is going to answer for this humiliation that he is giving me.
“Uncuff me now, Cole. I swear to you that I will be going to the council with this blatant disregard for my rights. Brandon is healing and won’t have a mark on him. I just got over-excited and lost control of my temper. I misunderstood that they were mates and thought that she was trying to seduce Justin again, as he is mated to her sister. I am sorry that I lost control. It happens with us Alpha’s, we are very passionate about our families. You yourself have done it. Just let me and Cassandra go right now, Cole, and I will let it go as well. I won’t report you to the council. This is, provided that you let my daughter out of your cells too. I saw Cheryl attack Raven, so I know that you may need to punish her, but Reagan didn’t even get near Raven tonight. There is no need at all to punish her, she is innocent” I told them.
I kept my head slightly lowered, as for this to work out, Cole needs to think that I am submitting to him. Submitting to his authority, when I am not, I will just wait to get him back after I get my family’s freedom. I am going to deal with Justin too. That asshole started this whole thing. Yes, I tried to spin it for people to think that Raven was attempting to take Reagan’s mate, but I knew what he was doing. It is like he is deliberately trying to anger me, and he is. I will deal with him, but he knows where he stands now. He is refusing to be with Reagan, only on "paper" as he insists to me. I didn’t think I need to have sex in the contract, at the time. They had been having sex for months, I seriously didn’t think he was suddenly going to stop. I thought just having the 5-year clause in there was good enough. By that time they should have 3 or 4 pups, Goddess willing. I thought that alone would be enough to hold him to Reagan forever. He is smarter than I gave him credit for. He is clearly still drawn to Raven, even after the rejection, and that is going to be a problem.
“Graham, you can tell them right now. The council was here for this event. In fact, he was one of the eyewitnesses to what your daughter Reagan did. But don’t worry, even if you didn’t see it, or allegedly didn’t know about what it is that she did, it is ALL caught on video. You can watch it all play out at her trial” Cole tells me, and my eyes fly up to his. What in the hell has Reagan done this time? First, she lies to me that the bond between Justin and Raven was broken through rejection, and I find out about that lie as my very life was being threatened, and now this. Reagan has overstepped, I didn’t know what she has done, but I don’t know that I can get her out of it. The council is here, and it was recorded. Nothing that you say can go around the proof of what has happened. The whole council will see it, and they are not stupid. They will judge fairly, and with the law on it. What in the hell has Reagan done?
“I will of course want to see it. I am not aware of any wrongdoing by my daughter Reagan. I was not aware of anything happening tonight. Other than Cheryl starting a fight with Raven. That was it. Raven defended herself, it should be over with at this time. Raven bested Cheryl, so you should release her too. She received punishment for her actions tonight. I don’t really know Cheryl, she is the daughter of my brand-new beta, Silas Peters, and I was not made aware of any agenda that she may have had. They just arrived at my pack yesterday. I needed a Gamma, and I have known Silas for over 20 years. I had no reason to think that there would be a problem adding him and his family to the pack. How can I be held accountable for anything Cheryl does? I am sure this whole thing was just a big misunderstanding. I think if we calmly sit down, and discuss this, then we can get it all worked out. Raven is clearly OK, and with her mate now, so I don’t see what the problem is?” I told them. I am desperately trying to stay calm here. I am at their mercy right now.
“Oh, you will see it Graham, but it will be at the trial. Not tonight though, you can hang that up. But you can still find out what happened. When you get to the cells, you will be able to ask your precious, innocent, daughter what she has done this time. You should also encourage her to not lie about her actions. I already know that she will, she will not want to admit it, but you can tell her that rest assured that even if she never admits it, it is about to be a matter of record. She will rise to fame with everyone knowing what a vicious and dangerous daughter you raised Graham. It really shows what a difference a dad makes. My daughter doesn’t do things like that. She is loving and kind, and before you try to claim her as your daughter too, stop. You and Cassandra didn’t raise Raven or help her out despite the many times she needed it. She basically raised herself in a pack of abusive wolves. A pack that you encouraged to hurt her, with no punishment given for the abuse. So just realize, that you will be having your day in court too, Graham. I won’t let you get away with one little thing. You will answer for all your actions too, and Cassandra as well. She stood by, seeing it, allowing her own blood to be treated like that, and did nothing, all because she still wanted to go shopping on your dime. You two deserve each other, and I am so glad that the Goddess stopped me from marking her” Cole told the room, in a controlled voice. He was most dangerous when he was like this. He was trying to stay calm, but his wolf wanted to attack.
“We never hurt her” Cassandra called out, not realizing that Cole was hanging on by a thread. He could strike at any moment, and that would not be good for either of us.
“Dad, just take them to the cells. He is ruining my party, and I don’t want to see either of them. This was my fault for inviting them here. I wanted them to see that I was happy now when I should have realized that they would do anything to keep me from being happy. Please calm down dad, they will get what is coming to them, either by you, or from the Goddess, but it is coming” I heard Raven say in a soothing voice, I see her holding her father's hands in hers and getting him to look at her, and not me anymore. She is not scared of him at all, and I see him start to relax. I am kicking myself for not just bringing her to him. I should have, the moment she was born. I was just so angry and wanted someone to blame for all of this.
Keeping her was the dumbest thing that I could have done, and if we get out of this with our lives, I will be grateful. I knew he was furious, but he clearly has been getting ready with the council, so he can move forward once they give him the go-ahead. War is coming, and I doubt Cassandra and I will survive it if we are there when it happens. I am going to have to notify the pack. They will have to get ready, we will have less than a month to get prepared, that is the usual time for the council to thoroughly review all the charges. I bet he went either a week or two ago, so they need to get up to speed in the next two weeks. This is going to be a very tight timeline. I will also have to get a shelter ready for the elderly and children too. We haven’t been attacked for a long time and have nothing to protect the weak with.
“Protect the weak, that is a joke, right, Graham? Wasn’t that Raven herself, and yet you ignored her bruises and injuries? All for this woman who only wanted to be with a rich mate. That was her requirement. You snatched her up like she was a trophy. Great idea Graham, all of your actions, and hers got us here. You knew Raven belonged to Cole, and yet you kept her to take your anger out on. You not laying your hands on her doesn’t excuse either of you. The council won’t be swayed by your innocent act. You have already been exposed, and you will have to bear the penalty for it, in fact, the whole pack will, and they deserve it too” my wolf, Duko, said to me in our link.
“Shut up, don’t you think I know it? I should have killed her, and we wouldn’t be in this position” I growled back in my link.
“No, you should have let her go to her father, the minute your realized. Like he asked you to do. But instead, since you can't punish Cassandra or your pup, you chose to punish his. He was a victim, and so was his daughter, he is rightfully angry. You will get what you deserve out of this” Duko tells me and fades away to another recess of my mind.
“Timothy, can you and Joshua go with the warriors to take them down to the cells? You don’t have to let them share a cell. I changed my mind, I don’t want them to get into a fight with each other. They are idiots and might try to pawn their injuries off on Blood Walker like we did it to them” Cole tells his Beta.
That was smart because if we did get into a fight, and I truly wanted to slap Cassandra right now, I was planning on telling the council that he let his men abuse us. Timothy pulls me up to my feet, and his son Joshua helped Cassandra up, and we were taken out to the cells. The building itself was 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. It looked like a normal storage shed or something. It was actually built into the ground, and if you didn’t know it was there, you might have passed it. There were three warriors there for their shift, all sitting behind a 10-foot-long desk. They all stood up when Beta Timothy came in with me, and they all knew I was an Alpha and were surprised at my being there. Guess what guys, I am just as shocked at your Alphas nerve at locking me up as you are.
They unlocked a door behind them, and we entered a back room, with a 5-foot wide stairwell heading down to the cells. It was dark with the only light in the ceiling coming about every 5 feet. The cells themselves were surprisingly clean. They had a drain plug for each cell, and they had hoses built into the walks to spray the cells down with. No one had been in our cells for a long time. Not even rogues. I am also quite sure they hadn’t been cleaned in a while either. Didn’t matter, I won’t be going in them myself, I am just glad that these had been well taken care of. I didn’t want my tux to get messed up, and I am sure Cassandra would not like her dressed messed up either.
“I will do you a favor and put you near your daughter, so you can see her face. I think that you getting a front-row seat to see her as she lies right to your face will remind you of the viper that you raised. In you go” Beta Timothy said as he opened the cell door across from Reagan. She was excited when she saw me, probably thought that I was coming to rescue her from the cells, and then noticed that I was in the same boat that she was.
I see her face lose the smile and get sullen and then go back to the cot against the wall, to sit on the thin mattress on it. Cassandra was put in the cell next to mine and across from Cheryl when I noticed that the Beta's son started acting funny. I watched him motion his dad to the side and then speak for a short time and then call one of the warriors down from upstairs to speak to him for a minute too. What is going on? I am suddenly worried, are they going to try to interrogate us? Will they be hurting my mate, or daughter to get them to tell the truth to them? That would explain the hoses being able to power wash, and take care of the cells on either side of it, and why they might have to hose down the cells.
I realize that we could really be in a bad spot right now, and I am worried. I look across at Reagan and know I have to ask her what is going on. I need to know what she did. The men all go upstairs, and the door at the top of the stairs shuts, but I can hear them all speaking with each other. I don’t know what their problem is, and I couldn’t care less, we are alone now, and Reagan is going to tell me what she did.
“Reagan, what did you do at the ball? What have you done? I need to know as I can’t get you out of it or downplay it until I know exactly how serious the charge is going to be” I asked her.
She works up some tears and said, “Nothing daddy, I was just speaking with Brandon, from the Black Adder pack. He dropped his drink, and I offered him mine. That was it. I didn’t do anything else” Reagan tells me as she lets a few tears fall. She is good, I would almost believe her, but Cole is right, she is my daughter, and that is why I knew she was lying to me.
“Are you sure Reagan? Alpha Cole seems to believe that you and Cheryl here, colluded together to do something bad. Do you not want to tell me, so I can make up a defense for it? Are you sure you want to try to handle this alone, without my help? Because that is where you are about to be. I can already tell that it is bad, really bad, what you did. Cole told me that you would refuse to admit it. He also told me to tell you that he had invited the council here for the party. That the council member was an eyewitness to what you did. You sure you don’t want to come clean?” I asked her again, and she looks surprised, but she still stays with her story. She still seems confident in her answer. I am suddenly angrier than when Cole threatened my life a few weeks ago. That was because of her too. I remember what Raven just said to Justin at the venue, about “just discovering that you ended up with the lesser sister,” I just realized that Raven was right. All the spoiling, and coddling her, letting Reagan literally almost get away with murder, got us here. With an ungrateful, spiteful, entitled little she-wolf. I had to sit down. This was going to be really bad. It hits me, that for the first time ever, I may not be able to help her with this. She is going to have to pay for her actions, and I suspect that they were pretty bad from how she is acting.
“Reagan, I Know that you are lying to me. Please just tell us, or you will have to deal with this alone. You are tying our hands, and this is bad. I know it is bad” I told her.
“Dad, can you trust me? I got this. Even if they suspect, they can’t prove anything. They will have to let us go, so just chill. It is fine” Reagan tells me, and I shake my head in defeat. We are done here, she didn’t listen the last time to my warning, and she tried again after I told her to leave Raven alone. This is on her.
“Alpha Cole said to tell you that he knew you wouldn’t admit it. He also said to tell you that he has it all on video. Everyone will see them at your trial” I told her.
Reagan figures it Out