Chapter 108
For a little while, I closed my eyes, my pulse pounding with impending anxiety. I knew that this time, when Morgan returned, it wouldn't be by himself.
"Do you think that your brother is as stupidly stubborn as you are?" Vera's own agitation caused her to bite out, and I couldn't help but snort and giggle at the same time.
"I don't know much about anything right now, but I do know that my brother is as stubborn as they come when it comes to the people he loves." When she turned to face me, her eyes went glassy, and I pinned her.
For once, she was quiet, mulling over what I had said.
"Do you think he will come back for me?" She had grown quieter and less confident as she came to terms with my situation.
She would be alone while I was gone—that is, if Derrick was unable to kill my mother—and from what I knew about my brother, I knew he liked to take his time. All he needed to do was wait for the ideal moment to change sides. I needed her to know she could trust my brother so that she wouldn't blame me for the decisions I was making, but there were just too many moving parts and opportunities for things to go wrong.
The room's door reopened before I could comfort her.
As the mob crowded into the room, Vera scurried to her feet. Like insulation, they lined the sides, forming a wall that forced us both into the center.
Their scorching looks and the alpha's rage coursing through their veins kept me in my place, and it made my heart race.
I turned to face the front of the room, bracing myself for my mate's arrival, and felt strong hands shove me to my knees.
For evenings, I had fantasized about seeing him again and the hate in his eyes as he gave me one more glance. Rather than providing solace, my dreams had been filled with violence and bloodshed, with retaliation and destruction—with claws digging into my chest and ripping me apart. The tenderness I had experienced in his company had vanished and solidified deep within; it had transformed into a weapon, rendering me feeble in its eyes.
The silver in my blood clogged my wolfish senses, preventing me from smelling him. When I was numb to my own feelings, I had occasionally felt his pain and his destructive ideas while he kept me imprisoned, but those feelings paled in comparison to the wave of emotions I experienced when he entered this room with me.
His wave of presence soothed his wolves—well, everyone but me.
With each step he took, I could feel the tremors in the earth and the rippling effect he had on the crowd. I could hear my wolf's desperate howls, pleading with me to glance at my mate, but my eyes remained fixed on the ground.
To keep the wild side of my wolf as far away from the outcome of this circumstance as possible, I needed to ground myself in this moment.
He got close to me, and my teeth bit into my lips, but the whimper flew past them. His footsteps wavered on the sound, and I felt his gaze narrow as I took a long breath, drawing his aroma into my lungs and making my body tremble.
Like mine, his wolf appeared to be only a few seconds away from breaking.
My pulse was racing as he ascended to his seat, and there was a moment of silence. My spine tingled at the pack's unanimity of movement as they bowed in submission.
Although I had never fully embraced their pack, I had received a warm welcome from each of the wolves here, and now I felt their resentment for my treachery.
As soon as the wolves surrounding me straightened their backs, Morgan was the first to speak.
The alpha king has decreed this trial, and it will be performed according to the old ways. I raised my head and took a startled gasp.
The discovery caused a general stir throughout the room.
The previous norms were intrusive; they took hold of the accused's thoughts and left it free for others to pursue their own answers. No one had taken such action in over a hundred years. It took away a wolf's independence by forcing its way inside their head in order to find the truth.
If my friend had the opportunity to witness it for himself, it would only be possible for him to accept anything I said. It was a trial of retribution and reckoning.
The king watched the swirl of emotions in my gaze without taking his eyes off mine. Even before the verdict of my death was proclaimed, this trial had the potential to permanently cripple me, but knowing him, I knew that I couldn't refuse his wish.
His face betrayed his lack of sleep, and his abandonment of self-care revealed the wild side of his own wolf.
I was the only reason he was in pain.
"The truth will be seen today, and then your fate will be decided." Even though his announcement seemed harsh, I couldn't help but feel relieved when I heard it.
Once more, someone pulled me up by my shoulders and hurled me to the base of the platform where my friend was seated. I looked at his legs, my gaze rising but not meeting his face as I felt the tightness in his body. From a distance, he appeared to be in charge, but now that I was only a few millimeters away, I could clearly see the reality in the way his claws ripped through the armrests of his throne, as if they were the only thing holding him back.
I had this mental image of myself in front of him, pleading, crawling, and grabbing, but as the seconds ticked by, I found it difficult to speak.
He turned to face his beta and began speaking with him via the mind link without making any move toward me.
The mental connection that would transmit my complete existence to every member of his pack. All of my ideas, fancies, and wants from the past, present, and future.
I pondered what it must have taken to get him to sit in front of me and what Morgan had said to him to get him out of the woods. I wanted to touch him so desperately that I was now close enough to do it.
My desire was—
He put his palm to my throat, and I held my breath until he turned to face me. We were both a mess, with decisions and mistakes that we had made or failed to make mixed together in our blood. He stared down at me, a scowl etched in his brow as his finger pad brushed the cracked skin on my lips, and for a second, it seemed as though he was lost. He growled low, and I took a deep breath.
"This will be painful for you." Gently, as though the words were a soothing balm.
He spoke almost as if he intended them just for me.