The Council Part Two - Kendric's POV
Most of the council bows their heads, shaking them in disbelief.
Micah finally relents and collapses back into his seat once he sees no one will take his side. “Fine, what kind of punishment should we give them? The entire family is guilty, so make it good, but understand there may be questions as to why we are doing this.”
“Why are we doing this?” I ask, wondering who he thinks will question it. “No one is going to question it.”
A soft chuckle escapes from him as he suppresses his laughter. “He only harmed one girl that we might prove happened, and some alphas will say that it is within his right. They say you have to keep your pack in check and some are deserving.”
“You think if someone is beaten, then there must be something wrong with them and they deserved it? Are you insane? There are alphas who are terrible to certain ones just because they can be.”
Micah glances across the table at a few of the other council members, his dark eyes scanning their faces as if challenging them to speak up against him. “Not everyone sees it the way you do. Now, we can probably get him to admit his guilt over harming the girl, but I doubt they will vote to remove him from his position.”
“Then what happens to her?”
He has the audacity to shrug. “She will live there somewhere in the pack territory, I guess. I don’t really know.”
My eyes widen and my jaw slackens in disbelief. This is not the answer I was expecting. They have always done what is right, but today, they are just complacent about what is happening.
“Now that it is settled, we must go to the next room where they wait for their outcome.”
I laugh as I think about what they will do to them. “Let me guess. You will give them a smack on their wrist with a small scolding.”
Micah stands from the table and then stops. He looks at me, his eyes glowing a dim yellow as his wolf rises to the surface. I don’t break my gaze and hold it.
“You can tell them what the punishment is, but if it’s wrong, then you might pay the price for dealing it out. Remember, you are a lone alpha without a pack. The only reason you are on the council is because it was your father’s position. You weren’t even good enough to inherit your father’s pack.”
Micah scoffs as he turns to walk off toward the next room. The other council members rise from the seats and follow him.
I slump back in my chair, fists balled in my lap. Every muscle in my body hums with tension and the wolf, he lurks, ready to come out if needed. “My brother got the pack, and I got the council. Fair is fair when there are multiple children.”
Honestly, it was supposed to be the reverse, which is why he brought it up. They think I didn’t get offered it, but the truth is I gave it to my brother because of what was lurking within me. I also wanted the ability to travel so I could find her.
With all the others gone, I look over at Barrett. “Isn’t abusing their power punishable by death?”
“Are you insane, Kendric? If you suggest death, everyone is going to be ticked. I don’t even know if you can remove him as alpha, especially without Valeria here to give her testimony. Right now, our proof isn’t enough.”
Shaking my head, I know I can’t bring her here. “No, I won’t do that. She’s already lived through enough as it is.”
“Then get out there and do your best to save her from the agony. Pick something besides death.”
I finally walk toward the double doors leading to the next room. I can tell my work is already cut out for me. As soon as I get into the next room, I notice a few witnesses, if you can call them that.
Most of them are supporters of Jackson, so I’m not going to get anywhere.
A few look at me as I come to a stop.
One in particular is a tall blond man that I can never remember his name. “You will call Valeria to be here. If this truly happened, then she needs to testify along with others who say they have been abused by him. This alpha family is upstanding and won’t be demoted because of some baseless lie.”
“Call in a witness,” I say. “An actual witness and not a supporter of his family.”
“Call in the pack. This is wrong.”
I haven’t even delivered the punishment and they are already yelling out random phrases that mean the same thing to me. They don’t believe she’s been abused and think he’s well within his rights to do what he’s done.
Every time I open my mouth to say anything, more stand and shout from their seats to support the alpha family. As my gaze shifts to Jackson, he sits there with a smirk curling the corner of his mouth. The scent of his arrogance wafts across the room. It’s sharp, like cologne over rot.
They’ve all been bought, just as I suspected.
Barrett reaches over, his hand touching my shoulder lightly. “You will have to bring her here. There is no other choice. To put him in his place, she will have to show what he has done. We will need more of the pack behind us too, because there are too many of them supporting Jackson. The pack needs to be here.”
“None of them should have to do this,” I whisper. “The scar on her neck is more than enough to question him. But I don’t know that bringing any of them here will work.”
Barrett shakes his head as he withdraws his hand. “It was for us because that is our job. We look for those who need our help, but for all these other people, they don’t see it that way. They don’t care.”
“I don’t want to bring her here. The poor girl will be terrified. Can you imagine if she tried to talk with everyone shouting? She’s like a mouse as it is.”
Just thinking about her walking into that room, surrounded by them, I can’t stop the frantic beating of my heart. The wolf snarls, sensing her fear as if it was my own when she isn’t even near me.
Barrett hangs his head, the skin of his palms rasping against a day’s worth of stubble. The room is silent now, save for the distant, muffled voices of the waiting crowd outside. “There is no other choice, Kendric. I hate to even say it, but you must retrieve her and bring her to the council.”