and wolf. Acksel was facing off against men that he had known his whole life.
Maybe leaving the pack for love was the safest thing she could do. Not only for herself and Luke, but for their future kids. She didn’t want their kids to be held to outdated beliefs. Punished for loving someone who was different.
She wanted better for her family, and she wasn’t going to find it in Wilde Creek.
Chapter 10
Acksel had never felt such fury as he stared at the three males. He had known Barry, Rufus, and Taylor his whole life. Considered them friends. And they’d tried to get him to kill Luke.
He glanced over his shoulder to where his father was carrying Luke while Eveny walked beside them. Eveny’s face was pale, her eyes filled with worry. He knew that he’d crossed a line somewhere in the last hour. If another human in town had hit and killed a wolf, he would have turned them over to the local police. But he’d smelled Eveny on Luke, seen her mark on his neck, and that had enraged him. He hadn’t stopped to question his pack members about the wild tale they’d spun of the human purposely hitting Vince and killing him. He had ignored the burns and singed fur that spoke of something other than getting hit by a truck. He’d wanted to have a reason to rough the human up.
Luke hadn’t even really defended himself. Only once had he said that he did kill Vince, but it hadn’t been with his truck. Acksel hadn’t given him a chance to explain. He’d called for a pack meeting, inviting males and females to watch as he held the human accountable for Vince’s death. They’d wanted blood. And he’d allowed it. Encouraged it. Turned a deaf ear to the part of him that knew it wasn’t right to make a person helpless and beat them within an inch of their lives.
Dread pooled in his stomach. He’d done a lot of shitty things to become alpha, but he’d never outright abused his power. Where had his calm head gone?
“You have one opportunity to tell me the truth,” Acksel said.
All three males refused to raise their heads to meet his gaze. That alone spoke volumes. Rufus finally cleared his throat. “It was as your sister said, alpha. Vince invited us to join him for her heat-cycle. He did not care whether she lived or not, and knew that you would be vulnerable in your grief whether she was hurt or dead.”
He felt the betrayal like a crushing weight on his shoulders. His pack members – males he’d considered friends – were willing to attack his sister when she was at her most vulnerable. The best possible scenario was that she would have been pregnant and mated to one of them, a male that thought nothing of sharing her with his friends. The worst was that they could have killed her in a sexual frenzy. Regardless of the outcome of her life, they had planned to challenge him and use her against him as he’d always feared would happen.
But he was no better than they were. He’d broken a promise to his dad. He’d betrayed his sister.
He would deal with the males and then he would deal with his sister.
“Chain them up,” he ordered and strode purposefully to the pole that was streaked with Luke’s blood. The pack watched with curiosity, remaining where they were until he dismissed them.
He spoke in a loud, clear voice as the three males were chained to the pole. “I will not tolerate lies within this pack, or those that betray any pack members. These males attempted to attack a female during her most vulnerable time, and were beaten by a human. Then they attempted to frame the human for the death of one of our pack members. For these crimes, I sentence them to the same beating that they administered against the human, and then to banishment from the pack and Wilde Creek for the remainder of their days.”
There were unhappy murmurings from the pack, but he growled loudly and threateningly and no one
Maybe leaving the pack for love was the safest thing she could do. Not only for herself and Luke, but for their future kids. She didn’t want their kids to be held to outdated beliefs. Punished for loving someone who was different.
She wanted better for her family, and she wasn’t going to find it in Wilde Creek.
Chapter 10
Acksel had never felt such fury as he stared at the three males. He had known Barry, Rufus, and Taylor his whole life. Considered them friends. And they’d tried to get him to kill Luke.
He glanced over his shoulder to where his father was carrying Luke while Eveny walked beside them. Eveny’s face was pale, her eyes filled with worry. He knew that he’d crossed a line somewhere in the last hour. If another human in town had hit and killed a wolf, he would have turned them over to the local police. But he’d smelled Eveny on Luke, seen her mark on his neck, and that had enraged him. He hadn’t stopped to question his pack members about the wild tale they’d spun of the human purposely hitting Vince and killing him. He had ignored the burns and singed fur that spoke of something other than getting hit by a truck. He’d wanted to have a reason to rough the human up.
Luke hadn’t even really defended himself. Only once had he said that he did kill Vince, but it hadn’t been with his truck. Acksel hadn’t given him a chance to explain. He’d called for a pack meeting, inviting males and females to watch as he held the human accountable for Vince’s death. They’d wanted blood. And he’d allowed it. Encouraged it. Turned a deaf ear to the part of him that knew it wasn’t right to make a person helpless and beat them within an inch of their lives.
Dread pooled in his stomach. He’d done a lot of shitty things to become alpha, but he’d never outright abused his power. Where had his calm head gone?
“You have one opportunity to tell me the truth,” Acksel said.
All three males refused to raise their heads to meet his gaze. That alone spoke volumes. Rufus finally cleared his throat. “It was as your sister said, alpha. Vince invited us to join him for her heat-cycle. He did not care whether she lived or not, and knew that you would be vulnerable in your grief whether she was hurt or dead.”
He felt the betrayal like a crushing weight on his shoulders. His pack members – males he’d considered friends – were willing to attack his sister when she was at her most vulnerable. The best possible scenario was that she would have been pregnant and mated to one of them, a male that thought nothing of sharing her with his friends. The worst was that they could have killed her in a sexual frenzy. Regardless of the outcome of her life, they had planned to challenge him and use her against him as he’d always feared would happen.
But he was no better than they were. He’d broken a promise to his dad. He’d betrayed his sister.
He would deal with the males and then he would deal with his sister.
“Chain them up,” he ordered and strode purposefully to the pole that was streaked with Luke’s blood. The pack watched with curiosity, remaining where they were until he dismissed them.
He spoke in a loud, clear voice as the three males were chained to the pole. “I will not tolerate lies within this pack, or those that betray any pack members. These males attempted to attack a female during her most vulnerable time, and were beaten by a human. Then they attempted to frame the human for the death of one of our pack members. For these crimes, I sentence them to the same beating that they administered against the human, and then to banishment from the pack and Wilde Creek for the remainder of their days.”
There were unhappy murmurings from the pack, but he growled loudly and threateningly and no one
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