"Now, that’s enough!" Alpha Dennis roared, his wolf threatening to co to the surface. "Luna Reana, you’ve made your point. Now, you can have your seat and let this eting be held in peace!"
Reana rolled her eyes. This eting wouldn’t be held. She’d make sure of it. But she said nothing and strolled to her seat like she owned the place, though her breathing was ragged and laced with exhaustion.
Fighting that brute took all of her strength. But she didn’t let them see it. Not the tremble in her fingers. Not the ache in her ribs. Not the blood she could still taste at the back of her throat.
Markkus stepped forward and handed her the cloak she’d taken off earlier. She wore it and flipped the hoodie over her head, hiding her facial features once more.
As she sat, her eyes swept across their faces – all pretending not to be shaken by what they’d just witnessed. All pretending they hadn’t seen a belittled Luna thrash one of them.
Cowards.
Reana’s lips curled slightly, she was satisfied.
Her pent-up rage, carefully corked behind a facade of calm for far too long, had finally been released.
Now, she could think properly about what might have happened to Ryder.
Alpha Dennis turned back to the room, chest still heaving, his voice tight with fury. "Now that Luna Reana has made her dramatic entrance—"
"I walked in," Reana muttered under her breath, loud enough for all the Alphas to hear, thanks to their heightened senses.
A few stifled snorts followed. Dennis ignored it.
"...we will resu this ergency eting. As you all know, Luna Reana of the Black Moon Pack violated the rules and disfigured Alpha Killian of the West Wood Pack – on his diplomatic visit to her pack. She connived with the Beta of West Wood Pack, egging him on to bypass custom and steal the Alpha seat, irrespective of the fact that the West Wood Pack has a fitting successor, Malric, previous Alpha Killian’s twin brother." He paused, letting the accusation sink in.
"All of those malicious sches just to snatch ownership of a mine, a crystal mine that belongs to the West Wood Pack." He finished.
Every Alpha turned to her. Alpha Dren, who’d also returned to his seat, sneered. "We hope that Luna Reana would be decent enough to speak the truth in this council and not wrap her tales around fancy little riddles."
Reana didn’t acknowledge him with her gaze, but her tongue quenched his soul. "If the truth burns your skin, Orgasm Orphan, don’t stand so close to the fire."
Gasps rippled through the council hall once more. And the slap was indeed felt, not just by Alpha Dren, but other Alphas too. So looked at him with pity, so coughed and looked away, and others sneered at Reana, but that was all they could do.
Alpha Dren groaned after his initial shock. She called him ’Orgasm Orphan’. The nerve of this bitch! His lips parted in stunned silence before they twisted into a snarl.
"You insolent—" he began, rising to his feet.
"Sit," Reana snapped, not raising her voice, yet the command hit like a lash.
Dren hesitated, but he sat. It was as if he was hypnotized. Maybe because he didn’t want to fight her for a second ti, afraid of losing again.
If the battle ended on one trial, he could always say that she got him through luck. He could say she used his anger against him. But a second defeat, even a pup in his pack wouldn’t believe that.
The Alphas finally saw it now – Luna Reana has lost her mind because of her boy toy’s death.
"Luna Reana, you stand accused of breaking the Council’s rules – you attacked an Alpha who ca into your pack for diplomatic relations. How do you plead?" Alpha Julius’s voice rang through the hall, calm, yet authoritative.
She was on Reana’s side, but things still had to be done for the appearance of order. Even allies had to play their parts when the stage was this grand and the audience this bloodthirsty.
Reana tilted her head back, hood still covering half her face. She let the silence stretch for a breath longer than was comfortable, her gaze scanning the room like a slow blade.
Then she leaned forward slightly, elbows on the table, and said without missing a beat. "Guilty. And I’d do it again."
A low growl rippled through the room.
Beta Theon’s head snapped towards her. She was taking the bla for Ryder. His lips thinned but he didn’t speak.
However, this admission would greatly affect their mission.
Alpha Dennis banged a fist on the table. "You don’t get to disrespect the structure that holds us together, Luna!"
"No," Reana replied, voice icy and devoid of any warmth. "What I don’t get is how that sa structure allowed an Alpha to walk into my pack, couldn’t strike a deal and resorted to hurling insults. What, would you welco such a level of disrespect under the guise of diplomacy."
"This council is for solving such matters, you don’t take laws into your hands. If Killian disrespected you, he should’ve been reported to us, not maim him because you could!" Alpha Dennis interjected, his tone sharp and exasperated.
Reana laughed. It was soft and humorless. "Reported to who? This council?" She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms as her gaze sliced through each Alpha like a blade. "Do you an this council? The sa one that has prejudice tied around its neck like a prize won for bullying a powerless she-wolf?"
At the ntion of ’powerless she-wolf’, the council didn’t know where to put their faces. This malicious vixen! Wasn’t she the one bullying them all?
"I may have maid Killian," she said with pride, "but I didn’t disfigure his pack’s future." She continued, "he ca to seek my pack’s help in defending his territory against Nightwing monsters, and I requested a crystal mine that was in no way beneficial for our werewolf community, but Killian didn’t like his pack at all. He crossed the line with a Luna and forgot she had teeth."
Alpha Hargan’s brows furrowed. "So you admit it then. You admit what you did and you don’t feel remorse?"
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