Chapter 209 The Benefit of the Doubt

Chapter 209 The Benefit of the Doubt

Darius's POV

"Arrange for Tyson to be relocated to another pack," I said, before he could slip out. "There's no use keeping any of them here. Especially him."

Tony's expression shifted immediately, his jaw setting hard, and I could see the argument building behind his eyes before he even opened his mouth. "Alpha, with respect, I think that's a serious mistake," he said. "I get that he might have been treated unjustly but you have to consider everything he and his cronies have done in addition to orchestrating Camille's escape, threatening a guard's family into cooperating with him, nearly killing and you want to reward him with relocation instead of proper punishment for any of it?"

"It's not a reward," I said, keeping my voice level. "It's a second chance, and I'm not offering it blindly, Tony."

“True but we might be wrong and members of his previous pack, right.” Tony pressed. "They knew Tyson better and I don't think the council would throw around baseless accusations. All we have is a gap in the record and a story from a man who has every reason to lie to save himself from execution. That's not nothing, but it's not proof of innocence either."

"I'm aware of that," I said. "I'm not claiming certainty here. I'm choosing to extend the benefit of the doubt where the evidence genuinely doesn't rule it out either way."

"He's dangerous," Tony said, his voice hardening further. "Whatever happened to him years ago doesn't erase what he's done since. I'd feel a great deal better if we kept him under closer watch regardless of what you decide, Alpha. Just in case."

I considered that for a long moment, weighing the reasonableness of his caution against the decision I'd already committed to overnight. "Note that down as a standing recommendation," I said finally. "Whichever pack agrees to take him in should be made fully aware of everything he's done, without exception, and asked to monitor him accordingly for as long as they see fit. I won't send him off with a clean slate pretending none of this happened."

Tony didn't look fully satisfied, the tightness still visible in his shoulders, but he inclined his head anyway, accepting the order even if he clearly didn't agree with the reasoning behind it. "Understood," he said quietly. "I'll begin arrangements this afternoon."

Once he left, I made my way down to the holding cells myself, wanting to speak to Tyson before anything went down. I found him exactly where I'd left him days earlier, sitting against the far wall of his cell with his head bowed low.

"Tell me what actually happened," I said, standing just outside the bars. "Your brother. The exile. All of it, from the beginning."

He didn't lift his head at first. "There's no use," he said, his voice flat and worn thin. "No one's ever believed me before. I don't see why that would change now, coming from you of all people."

"I would," I said. "I want to hear it properly, Tyson."

That got his attention. He raised his head slowly, studying me with an expression caught somewhere between suspicion and pure exhaustion. "Why are you so eager to hear it now?" he asked. "Did you go digging into my past?"

"Yes," I admitted. "And I didn't find much of anything definitive either way, which is exactly why I came to hear it directly from you instead of relying entirely on secondhand accounts and old rumors."

Tyson let out a short, humorless laugh that dissolved quickly into a rough cough, his hand coming up to press against his bandaged throat. "I already told you everything," he said once he'd recovered, "and you didn't believe a single word of it. Isn't that why you had my past dug up? So why should I waste my breath repeating myself now, just to watch you dismiss it a second time?"

I stood there a moment longer, waiting to see if he'd reconsider, but he simply lowered his head again, clearly finished with the conversation as far as he was concerned. Something in me wanted to push harder, to demand the full account I'd come here for, but I recognized the futility in trying to force him to repeat what he'd already clearly relayed to me.

I turned to leave, then paused with my hand on the cell door.

"Get ready to be relocated to another pack," I said, without turning back around to face him. "I don't know exactly what happened to you all those years ago, and I may never know for certain. But whatever it was, it isn't going to happen again under my watch. So comply, quietly, and use this chance for something better than what you've made of your freedom so far."

I didn't wait around for a response. I walked out of the holding block and back into the daylight, leaving him alone with whatever thoughts he chose to keep to himself.