Chapter 26 Chapter 26
Chapter 26: I lost My Mate!
~ Ignas's POV
The screams had finally died down...or so I thought, but the silence was worse. The silence was heavy and suffocating. My people were broken. Some were sobbing, some were silent, some were too stunned to do either.
I stood in front of the pack house, just above the stone steps. Blood still stained the courtyard. The torches the warriors were holding were turned low, and the light was casting long shadows across the crowd.
“We want justice,” someone growled from the back.
Another voice yelled louder, “Kill the traitor!”
Garith was on his knees beside Beta Renna. His hands were tied behind his back with silver cuffs. He looked half-dead already, with his head hung low and his face swollen from the punches he had taken when we dragged him here. Renna. Renna didn't want to know or care about anything. She was always so strict and bonus point was that she was not on good terms with Garith. I raised my head and looked down at him. There was no fear in him. Only cold pride. That made it worse.
What if he was not on this alone? Why didn't he have any sort of fear or redemption? Was he working for an outsider with this? Was there any other things they have plotted that haven't worked out or started manifesting before this?
I took a deep breath and took a step forward.
“I understand your pain,” I said, raising my voice. “I feel it too. But we will not answer betrayal with madness.”
“You say that because you didn’t lose your mate!” a woman shouted. Her face was streaked with tears. “You didn’t find your pup dead by the well!”
“My mate died too!” someone else screamed. “She drank that water! She trusted the pack, and she died choking on poison!”
I didn't lose my mate? I DIDN’T LOSE MY MATE? Maybe she was one of those new rogues we took in and haven't been acquainted with the rules and news of this pack.
I wanted to be angry at their words, but i understood. Gods. I understood. They were stricken with grief and pain and I remember being in that situation after Cali.
My throat burned, but I didn’t let it show. “Garith will pay. I swear on the Moon. But he will face a trial. We will do this the right way.”
The crowd didn’t like that. Some growled. Others cursed. Still, no one moved.
Then a voice from the middle of the pack spoke up. “What about the well?”
Everyone turned. It was Roy. His face was pale and his eyes were sunken, but he stood tall. Even Roy was shaken. This was a serious matter. It involved children for goddess sake! Garith had gone too far. Way too far.
“We’ve sealed it off,” he said. “But that well feeds our water supply. The animals drink from it. So do we. What do we do now?”
Silence took over the hall.
That question hit different. It wasn’t just grief anymore. It was now about survival. I didn’t even think of that. I didn’t know where to start from, but I could do this. We could all do this.
“We need clean water,” someone mumbled. “Soon.”
“I say we dig a new well,” an elder said.
“That’ll take weeks,” someone else replied. “And the ground near here is dry. The last time we tried, we hit stone.”
“What if we boil the water?” a young warrior asked.
“And poison our lungs with the smoke?” another snapped. “You want us to choke ourselves next?”
Another voice, higher up, shouted, “We could get help from the River Packs. Ask for a trade or donation.”
“They hate us,” an older woman said. “Ever since the last border fight, they won’t even send messengers.”
The noise grew again. Everyone had an idea. Everyone had something to say. But nothing made sense. Nothing felt strong enough. Safe enough. Everyone talked over each other. Chaos again.
That’s when he spoke.
“I have an idea.”
The voice cut through the noise like a blade.
Lykon.
He stepped forward from the edge of the crowd. I took a deep breath at the sight of him. I hadn't seen him since that moment. His silver like white hair caught the firelight, his golden sharp eyes looked calm and if you didn't look closely enough to see that hint of alarm and worry in his eyes, but would say he didn't care and that he was nonchalant about the situation. He looked out of place here. He looked like someone carved from a different world. His voice was steady as everyone turned to him.
“I’ve used water purification roots before,” he said. “I’ve been exploring the North mountains since I got here,” Lykon said, his voice sounding calm and sure. “There’s a plant that grows deep in the woods. If we crush it and soak it in the well, it’ll pull out the poison. I’ve seen it myself. We can harvest enough before nightfall.”
For a second, no one said a word.
Then someone scoffed. Loud.
“You think we’ll take advice from you?” an elder sneered. “You’re not even from this pack. How are we even sure that it's not poison and you want to eradicate more from our pack?”
Another one spat at Lykon’s feet. “You’re the reason rogues are near our lands in the first place!”
I saw a flicker in Lykon’s eyes, a flash of anger.
“That’s not true,” I said, stepping forward. “He helped stop them.”
But it was like no one heard me.
“You’re not one of us!” a woman snapped. “You think you can show up here, kiss the Alpha, and suddenly you're our savior?”
Lykon didn’t move. His jaw clenched, but he didn’t speak again.
Another man laughed bitterly. “Water purification roots? What, do you think this is a fairy tale? What if it doesn’t work and we all drop dead next?”
A younger boy, barely sixteen, muttered, “At least he had a plan.”
But the elders ignored him.
“Stay in your place, outsider,” one of them barked. “Your blood doesn’t run through this land. You have no voice here.”
I took a step forward. “That’s enough—”
“No, Alpha,” the elder said, bowing just slightly. “With respect, this is pack business. And that one,” he pointed at Lykon, “hasn’t earned the right to speak about our water, our dead, or our land.”
I looked at the others. Most of them nodded. Some even turned their backs on Lykon. It made my stomach turn.
Lykon stood there like stone. His face was unreadable. But I knew that silence. That was the silence before something cracked.
“You say you want answers,” he said quietly. “But what you really want is someone to blame.”
The crowd didn’t like that either.
“You’re lucky we haven’t run you out,” a man growled.
“Yet,” said another.
I stepped in front of Lykon. My hand brushed his arm, trying to calm the storm behind his eyes. But it was too late. The tension in t
he air had changed.
"You too, have to go!"
I could feel the heavy breathing coming from his chest.
Damn it.