Chapter 90 Preparation for Justice
The two weeks before the Council hearing passed both too quickly and too slowly.
Young Sera spent her days preparing testimony with Kael and Lyra. They went over every detail of her captivity. Every conversation with Thomas. Every moment that could be used as evidence against him.
It was exhausting. Reliving ten months of trauma. Speaking out loud about things she had tried to forget. But it was necessary. The Council needed to understand exactly what Thomas had done.
“He said he loved you?” Lyra asked, taking notes. “Those were his actual words?”
“Yes. He said he had fallen in love with me. That he did not want to wait the full year. That is why he moved up the bonding ceremony.”
“That is important. It shows premeditation. Shows he planned to break the agreement from the beginning.”
Young Sera remembered that morning. The white tent. The minister. The guards are blocking every exit. The moment she realised Thomas had never intended to honour his promise.
“He was never going to let me go,” young Sera said. “The whole year was just him pretending. Playing a game. Making me think I had a choice when I never did.”
Kael looked grim. “That fits his pattern. Thomas always makes things look legitimate while hiding his real intentions. The Council needs to see through that.”
They practised her testimony. Lyra is playing the role of a hostile Council member. Asking harsh questions. Trying to poke holes in young Sera’s story.
“Why did you agree to stay for a year if you knew it was dangerous?”
“To save Kael. Thomas had him prisoner. I traded myself to secure his release.”
“But you claim Thomas broke the agreement. If you agreed to stay willingly, how can you accuse him of kidnapping?”
“I agreed to stay for one year with the understanding I could leave after. Thomas tried to force a permanent bond before the year was complete. That is breaking the agreement. That is kidnapping.”
“How do we know you did not want the bond? How do we know you are not lying to avoid the consequences of your choice?”
Young Sera felt anger flash. “Because I stabbed him when he tried to force it. Because I ran the moment I had the chance. Because I would rather die than bond with someone who treated me like property.”
Lyra nodded with satisfaction. “Good. Keep that fire. The Council needs to see that you are not a helpless victim. You are an angry survivor who is demanding justice.”
The practice sessions helped. Young Sera felt more confident in her testimony. More certain she could face the Council without breaking down.
But she still felt nervous. What if the Council did not believe her? What if they sided with Thomas because he was a powerful Alpha and she was just an omega?
“The Council has changed since the last hearing,” Kael reminded her. “You helped pass reforms. You serve on the Omega Rights Committee. They respect you now. They will listen.”
“Some of them will listen. Others will still see me as a troublemaker who breaks laws.”
“Then we convince the ones in the middle. The ones who could go either way. We give them so much evidence that they have no choice but to find Thomas guilty.”
Besides testimony preparation, young Sera also had to deal with the emotional aftermath of captivity. Mora insisted she attend counselling sessions. Talking to a pack therapist about trauma and recovery and learning to trust herself again.
“You are experiencing hypervigilance,” the therapist explained. “Your body learned to be constantly alert for danger during captivity. That does not just turn off when the danger ends. It takes time to retrain your nervous system to feel safe.”
“How much time?”
“Months. Maybe years. Trauma recovery is not linear. You will have good days and bad days. Days when you feel normal and days when everything feels threatening. That is all part of healing.”
Young Sera hated that answer. Hated that she could not just decide to be better and make it happen. Hated that Thomas had damaged her in ways that would take years to fix.
But at least she was not alone in the healing. Diana attended the same counselling sessions. Sarah and Michelle came too. Four omegas who had survived different traumas but were all learning to live with the aftermath.
“I still have nightmares,” Sarah admitted during one group session. “About my father locking me in the basement. About being trapped in darkness. I wake up panicking even though I know I am safe now.”
“Me too,” Michelle said. “I dream about the wedding. About Vincent forcing the bond. About being trapped forever in a life I did not choose.”
“I dream about Thomas,” young Sera said quietly. “About the ceremony. About him completing the bond before Diana arrived. About waking up connected to him forever with no way out.”
Diana nodded. “I dream about being captured by the Westbrook Alpha. About the torture. About thinking I would die in that cell. The dreams feel so real that I wake up not knowing where I am.”
They all looked at each other. Four survivors sharing the weight of trauma. Understanding each other in ways no one else could.
“But we survived,” young Sera said. “We are here. We are free. The nightmares are just echoes of the past. They cannot actually hurt us anymore.”
“Tell that to my brain at three in the morning,” Diana said with dark humour.
They all laughed. Dark laughter that came from understanding. From knowing that sometimes you had to laugh at the horror or it would consume you completely.
One week before the Council hearing, Thomas sent a message.
It arrived through official Council channels. A formal letter addressed to Luna Queen Sera of the Northern Kingdom.
Young Sera opened it with shaking hands. Read the words with growing anger.
“Luna Queen Sera, I am deeply sorry for the misunderstanding that occurred at the end of your stay with me. I recognise now that moving up the bonding ceremony was inappropriate. I let my feelings override my judgment. However, I maintain that our original agreement was fair and that I treated you well for the majority of your time with me. I hope the Council will consider my remorse when determining consequences. I look forward to presenting my side of events. Respectfully, Thomas Reed.”
Young Sera crumpled the letter. “Misunderstanding. He calls attempted forced bonding a misunderstanding.”
Kael read the letter himself. “He is trying to control the narrative. Making himself look reasonable. Making you look like you are overreacting to a simple mistake.”
“That is not going to work. I have too much evidence. Too many witnesses.”
“Thomas has witnesses too. Guards who will testify that he treated you well. That you seemed happy. That the bonding ceremony was mutual until you changed your mind at the last second.”
“That is a lie.”
“Of course, it is a lie. But Thomas is good at making lies sound convincing. We need to be ready for that.”
Young Sera felt old fear stirring. Thomas was manipulative. Skilled at deception. What if he convinced the Council that she was the problem? That she had agreed to bond and then backed out unfairly?
“We have Maya,” Lyra reminded her. “She can testify about the secret phone. About how you coordinated omega rescues while pretending to consider bonding with Thomas. That proves you never seriously considered him. That you were surviving, not agreeing.”
“Will the Council allow Maya to testify? She is not an official witness.”
“We make her an official witness. We put her on the list. Force the Council to hear her testimony.”
They spent the next few days preparing Maya’s testimony along with young Sera’s. Building a case that was so strong Thomas could not talk his way out of it.
But young Sera knew the Council hearing would not be simple. Thomas had power. Had allies. Had spent years building influence across territories.
This was going to be a fight. Not a physical fight like with Victor Kane. A political fight. A battle of words and evidence and convincing powerful Alphas to do the right thing.
Three days before the hearing, young Sera received another message. This one from an unexpected source.
Alpha Maria Santos. The older female Alpha who had voted against Kael initially but changed her vote after seeing his wolf was stable. The Alpha who had interviewed young Sera about her legitimacy as Luna Queen.
“Luna Queen Sera, I have heard about Thomas Reed’s actions. I want you to know that I believe you. I support bringing charges against him. Not all Council members will be sympathetic, but you have allies. Come to the hearing prepared to fight. We will stand with you. - Maria Santos”
Young Sera read the message three times. She had allies on the Council. People who believed her. People who would support her case against Thomas.
She was not walking into this alone.
“How many Council members support us?” young Sera asked Kael.
“Maria Santos for certain. David Chen has also confirmed support. Katherine Williams is leaning our way. That is three votes guaranteed. We need seven votes to find Thomas guilty of the most serious charges.”
“So we need four more votes from nine uncertain Council members.”
“Yes. And Thomas will be fighting for those same votes. This will come down to who presents the more convincing case.”
Young Sera felt the weight of that responsibility. Four more votes. Four Council members needed to be convinced that Thomas was guilty. That omega rights mattered. That forcing bonds was a serious crime deserving serious punishment.
She could do this. She had convinced the Council before when they wanted to strip her title. She could convince them again.
The night before they left for Council grounds, young Sera could not sleep. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Mind racing with everything that could go wrong.
Kai appeared at her door around midnight. “I saw your light on. Could not sleep either?”
“Too nervous. Too worried about tomorrow.”
Kai came in and sat on her bed. “Want to talk about it?”
“I keep thinking about what happens if we lose. If the Council finds Thomas not guilty. If he walks away with no consequences. What does that say to every omega who is suffering? What does that say about my leadership?”
“It says the system is broken. Which we already know. But it does not say anything about you. You are doing everything right. Fighting the right way. If the Council fails to deliver justice, that is on them, not you.”
“But the omegas counting on me do not care whose fault it is. They just care about results. If I cannot get justice for myself, how can I get justice for them?”
“You have already gotten justice for them. Forty-three omegas rescued. Reforms passed. Network established. You have done more for Omega rights in one year than most Luna Queens do in a lifetime. One Council hearing does not define your entire legacy.”
Young Sera wanted to believe that. But tomorrow felt enormous. Felt like everything depended on the Council’s decision.
“I am scared,” young Sera admitted. “Scared of seeing Thomas again. Scared of having to relive everything in front of strangers. Scared of the Council not believing me.”
“All of that fear is valid. But you are going to do it anyway. Because that is who you are. Someone who does the scared thing because it needs to be done.”
“When did you become so wise?”
“I have been listening to you for two years. Some of it rubbed off.”
Young Sera smiled despite her fear. Kai always knew how to make things feel manageable. How to remind her that she was stronger than she felt.
“Will you come with me tomorrow? To the hearing? I know you are not an official witness but I need you there. Need to see a friendly face in the crowd.”
“I will be there. Front row. Looking encouraging the entire time.”
“Thank you.”
They talked for another hour. About nothing important. About movies and books and normal things that had nothing to do with Council hearings or trauma or justice.
It helped. Reminded young Sera that she was more than just a survivor seeking justice. She was also just a girl who liked terrible music and made bad jokes and had a friend who loved her exactly as she was.
Eventually, Kai left to get some sleep. Young Sera lay back down and closed her eyes. Tomorrow was the Council hearing. Tomorrow she would face Thomas again. Tomorrow she would fight for justice with everything she had.
But tonight she just rested. Gathered her strength. Reminded herself who she was and why she was doing this.
Tomorrow would come soon enough. And when it did, young Sera would be ready.
She was Luna Queen Sera. Survivor. Fighter. Protector of omegas.
And Thomas Reed was about to face consequences for every crime he had committed.
Justice was coming. And young Sera would make sure it arrived.