I take a long breath in and let it out slowly, raising my eyes to look right at Alpha Reggie, not sure if I am more relieved or angry that he is forcing me to confess this part of my history. I keep my focus trained forward in a tunnel vision as my voice comes out monotone and flat.
“I was tied up, both my hands bound above my head and whipped with a whip laced with wolfsbane so the cuts would open quickly and deep. Then my feet were lifted so I was parallel to the ground, silver powder poured onto the wounds. I was then dragged out to the woods and left to die. That was when and why my wolf showed up early. It took two days for us to heal.” I took another shuddering breath, feeling the pressure in my chest, but I refused to cry.
Kaley and her torture would get no more tears from me. I kept starting at Alpha Reggie, but I could see Luna Anne in my peripherals, silent tears staining her cheeks. I couldn’t hear breathing from any of my friends. They must all be waiting to see what I do next.
“And that right there is my confirmation that you can fight off even my aura.” All of my friends gasp for air, even Xander. “Will you take that secret to the grave?” I didn’t need clarification on his question. He forced me to tell my story willingly to see if I would give up my attacker and when I didn’t he tried to force it, going as far as controlling all of my friends and Xander surrounding me.
“Like I told Alpha Lucas and the guys, it is too little too late. There is no going back to fix things now. We need to move forward.” I don’t take my eyes off of him. “So the abnormality is that I have more than one enhancement?”
He takes my cue and nods. “I have never known any female in our family’s history or any other Royal family’s history to have more than one enhanced ability. What I have found is that my Great Great Grandfather’s second son and his son experimented on the women in their family trying to take on their enhancements, eventually killing them.
I think that might have been what Mike was doing with all of the females he took. He is a part of that lineage, but we don’t have records of names for that portion of the family. They were looking for your grandmother and mom, knowing they went into hiding.” “And you still put her in harm’s way, knowing she was the end goal target?” Wyatt sounds murderous.
“We didn’t have confirmation on that until last night. Doc Gannon and Doc Sylvia were able to confirm the tissue samples that were taken and reverse engineer the process, giving us a better scope of the situation. Without Skylar’s contribution to the mission we would never have confirmed that and we have been going at this blind for far too long.
Some sacrifice is worth ending this. She understands this. Watch your tone boy!” Now the Alpha King was out, his wolf’s voice laced with his own. Alpha Reggie is menacing when he is angry and it’s amazing to watch. I can feel the fear and respect radiate off of my friends, but I am in awe of the spectacle.
“Yes, your majesty.” Wyatt’s head dropped and turned to the side, a sign of submission to the Alpha.
“Now you all know what you need to know to do your best job bringing my cousin, the Rogue King, in. He will be given a formal trial in front of the council of Elders and all of the Alpha Kings and we will decide his fate.”
“Decide his fate? He needs to die for his crimes. How many innocents has he killed in the name of taking over as the Alpha King? He will kill you without a thought to get what he wants. He has to kill you to get what he wants. Why would we give him a trial? He doesn’t deserve the decency.” It’s my turn to lose my temper with Alpha Reggie. I want to see Mike and whoever this Alpha King is, burn. There is no reform for anyone who has gone to their dark lengths for power.
“I thought you knew your place, Little One?” He does not get angry with me the way he did with Wyatt. He looks at me curiously.
“I do, but, with all due respect, sir, you were not there. You didn’t have to suffer at Mike’s hands. His violations alone deserve death at best. At worst he deserves to be put through the same torture he inflicted on others.” I clench my hands together under the table. “If the Rogue King is anything like him, or Goddess forbid, worse, they both deserve to die.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath, controlling my heartrate and my anger. If I can’t keep my emotions in check, I will not be allowed to be a part of this mission.
“Would you inflict that punishment?” I opened my eyes at the question. “Would you be capable of looking at another person and watch them tortured, or deliver the blows yourself? You are not that kind of person. Would you force someone else to torture for you? That would make you no better than those you want to punish. What about any children that they may have conceived? Do they deserve punishment because of their blood ties? Where does the punishment end? This is why we hold trials, why we have a council, so emotions can be heard and felt, but logic is also a part of the solution too. The Moon Goddess will also be a part of those trials through all of the Luna Queens. She will be the ultimate deciding factor for their fate. If you want them punished, you need to find them first and bring them in…alive.” I squeeze my eyes shut, again hating how his logic makes sense to me. I wouldn’t be able to do to Mike what he did to me or Jena or the countless other girls he took.
