Chapter 182 Already Claimed

Chapter 182 Already Claimed
CASEY -

The name left Eric’s mouth, and Casey’s fingers curled before he could stop them.
Jaxon Maddox.
Freya went still beside him. Casey felt the change through the bond as much as he saw it in the way her shoulders drew in and her breath caught.
After what happened at the warehouse, he could only imagine what must be going through her mind.
He kept his feet planted as Jared’s smile stayed in place, though it lost some of its warmth. “Jaxon Maddox? Is that someone I should care about?”
“He is,” Eric said, his voice carrying easily through the hall. “He was brought before the Council before this Gathering opened.”
“And you kept that from the rest of us? What exactly is he supposed to share that could mean anything to this meeting?” Jared asked.
“He was a guarded witness with sealed testimony, so it was kept from everyone. I wasn’t permitted to discuss it.” Eric didn’t look at Casey when he said it, which told Casey his father knew exactly how angry he was. “Jaxon is not cleared of what he did, nor is he allowed to approach Freya. However, while his crimes have yet to be addressed, his investigation into Freya makes him a witness in this Gathering. And his testimony proves something Jared has been trying to twist.”
Jared lifted his brows. “And what would that be?”
Eric faced the room again. “His testimony matters because he made a claim against Lance Calder’s daughter before this hearing ever began.”
Freya’s fingers brushed Casey’s sleeve. The touch was small, but it was enough to remind him that moving toward Jaxon would give Jared exactly what he wanted. Every rumor about the Berserker rampage was already on everyone's minds, and they were waiting for Casey to prove it.
The side doors opened, and two Stiller guards led Jaxon into the hall.
He looked thinner than Casey remembered, with bruising along one side of his face and silver-lined cuffs holding his hands in front of him. The scent of healing skin, old sweat, and silver-burn moved with him, and several wolves nearest the aisle drew back as he passed.
Jaxon’s gaze lifted once toward Freya.
Casey stepped forward before he thought better of it, and the guards’ hands closed harder around Jaxon’s arms. Jaxon looked away, fast enough that Casey felt no satisfaction from it.
The Council elder leaned forward. “Jaxon Maddox, you have already given closed testimony. You will answer only what is asked of you now. Do you understand?”
Jaxon swallowed. “Yes.”
“You investigated Freya Roberts before her Calder name was brought before this Gathering?”
“Yes.”
“You believed she was Lance Calder’s daughter?”
Jaxon’s jaw worked once before he answered. “Yes.”
A murmur moved through the hall, and Casey felt the weight of every stare slide toward Freya. Her arm stayed close enough to his that warmth moved between them each time either of them breathed.
The elder’s voice stayed cold. “And because you believed that, you attempted to force a Mate bond with her?”
Casey’s wolf shoved hard against his skin, and Freya’s fingers pressed into his sleeve.
Jaxon’s eyes stayed on the floor. “Yes.”
Jared let out a quiet breath, almost amused now that he seemed to understand where Eric was taking this. “So your witness is a jealous boy who wanted what your son already had? That may be unfortunate, but it has nothing to do with me, or this gathering.”
Eric didn’t look at him. “No one claimed otherwise.”
Jared’s smile faltered again, just a little.
The Council elder continued, “Why did the attempt fail?”
Jaxon’s shoulders drew in. For a moment, he said nothing, and Casey hated that Freya had to stand there and listen to any of this.
His anger at his father rose, because whatever reason they had for keeping Jaxon sealed away, Freya should not have had to learn about it with half the room staring at her.
The room felt too warm and too crowded, as every eye turned toward Freya like she was the one being judged, and Casey understood too well how easy it would be to give them the rampage they expected. 
Finally, Jaxon lifted his eyes to the Council. “Because she already had a Mate.”
The words cut through the hall.
Jared’s head turned toward Freya, and the concern he had been wearing cracked open into something sharper. “That isn’t possible.”
Casey’s blood went cold.
Freya’s hand fell from his sleeve, but she didn't move away. Through the bond, he felt her fear and anger twist together, as her personal life was laid bare in front of people who were strangers to her.
Jared recovered quickly, but not fast enough. Too many wolves had seen the first reaction. “A forced ritual failing does not prove a lawful Mate bond. It proves nothing except that this boy was reckless and desperate.”
“It proves,” Eric said, “that another wolf tried to claim Freya for what she was before any of you were gathered here to argue over whether she should be allowed to speak for herself.”
Jared’s gaze slid to Casey. “And let me guess. That bond," he lifted his hands in quotation marks, "belongs to your son? How convenient. My niece is not Mate bonded to a child whose mind is filled with sports and girls. He is just a selfish child trying desperately to mark his claim and maintain an Alpha position that should have fallen to me the moment my brother died.”
Casey took one step forward, and the room shifted with him. He felt it in the way the nearest wolves straightened, their attention sharpening around the Alpha blood in his command. He was not Eric. Not yet. But he wasn’t a boy standing in a school hallway either.
Freya moved with him, not behind him and not against him. Her shoulder nearly brushed his arm, and the bond steadied around her presence until the wolf in his chest stopped trying to claw through his ribs.
“She isn’t a thing for either of you to claim,” Casey said.
Jared’s eyes hardened, but Grace’s mother stepped away from the wall before he could answer.
The white buckskin moved softly around her legs, and the dark markings on her skin seemed to pull the light toward them. Grace followed with one hand near the pouch at her waist, and the low muttering died as the Council elder turned toward them.
“Speaker?” the Council elder asked.
Casey had never heard that title in a room like this, but every older wolf seemed to understand something he didn't.
Grace’s mother looked from Jaxon to Jared, then to Freya. “The living have spoken enough for the truth to be twisted.”
Jared’s mouth curved. “And what would you have us hear instead?”
Grace opened the pouch.
Cold moved through the hall, sliding over Casey’s arms and lifting the hair at the back of his neck. Freya’s hand brushed his again, but this time the cold didn’t come from her alone.
Grace’s mother looked toward the doors. “The Stones.”