Chapter 16 Accused
Accused
Felix
For all the years I’d lived here, it had never struck me how loudly the birds chirped in the morning. They filled the air with their songs as we slowly made our way back to the pack house.
For the most part, we were silent, even down to our footsteps. However, it was nothing like the tense gulfs that had separated us before. For the very first time it felt like peaceful companionship, the kind of silence that cured anxiety rather than spread it.
Monte leaned against me as we walked, partially out of companionable comfort, but I could also tell that he was completely exhausted by the combination of the emotional turmoil yesterday, our feral mating, and the objectively poor sleeping conditions.
We had slumbered heavily in the aftermath, but we’d both woken to a staggering collection of bruises, aches, and pains.
I’d made sure to check on my own wounds while Monte wasn’t looking.
There were several gashes in my belly caused by Hunter’s claws, but they looked far worse than they felt.
After probing and cleaning them, I decided that they hadn’t gone any deeper than the muscle, so the best course of action was to slowly make our way back.
As long as I made sure not to open them again, everything should be fine.
Once we were back at the pack house, I’d clean them out and treat them thoroughly.
“What are we going to do?” Monte asked as we made our way over a particularly nasty root.
“About what?”
“The… the marking,” he whispered, as if embarrassed by the very thought.
I couldn’t stop myself from grinning. “Don’t tell me you’re regretting it now. It’s a little late for that, Monte.”
Yes. It was far too late. In the state we were in, anyone could tell what we’d done. My tattered shirt hung around Monte’s waist over the shredded remains of his pants, and the hickeys covering my neck and shoulder, and the scratches he’d left down my chest were proof enough of our night together.
He shook his head, and I could feel the determination as he straightened his shoulders. “No, I don’t regret it. I mean that we can’t hide it. Everyone will know, won’t they? What will Hunter do?”
That wiped the grin from my face, but it was replaced by a sense of grim resolve that I hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
At least not this intensely, not since I had avenged my father.
I really had forgotten what it was like to have a single, tangible goal that needed to be achieved above all else.
“I’ll handle it, don’t worry.” As if to reassure him further, I took even more of Monte’s weight. My body protested the burden, but it was a pleasant burn, just like all the other evidence of our passionate night together.
For the remainder of the journey, I tried to focus on my mate’s presence beside me.
I tried not to think about the ramifications of what we’d done and how I’d need to tell Hunter.
But the thoughts prodded at my mind regardless.
All I had to do was pull him aside, quietly inform him, and then send him back on his way before he could cause a scene.
In all likelihood, he’d want to return to his debauchery outside Redrow territory as soon as possible anyway, so it surely wouldn’t be too difficult to give him a push.
All hopes of that happening were dashed the instant we came within sight of the pack house. It was not still slumbering as I’d hoped, but rather a buzzing hive with dozens of wolves gathering outside, engaged in loud arguments that were nearing the point of violence.
Monte didn’t say anything, but his hand tightened around my arm. I gave him a reassuring squeeze, then escorted him right into the lion’s den.
Few noticed us at first, but that was more a testament to the ferocity of the debate than anything else. Some claws were drawn, but nobody was actively carving anyone else up yet, so I didn’t intervene.
“The Alpha would never do that!” more than one voice growled.
Monte gave me a nervous look, but didn’t say anything. A growing sense of unease gripped the back of my neck as well, but there was no sense in alarming him too, so I tried to hide it as best I could.
One voice abruptly rose above the others, and all my worst fears were confirmed.
“You saw it! You all saw it!” Hunter howled, his words slurring and sounding more inebriated than I’d ever heard him.
“Before the wedding, you were all there! Felix accused him of being promiscuous, and because I was a fool, I didn’t listen, but just look at what’s happened now!
He has managed to seduce our Alpha and trick him! ”
Shit.
Monte stiffened beside me, and I had to quash my first instinct to leave him here while I went to confront Hunter. With the way things were currently going, nowhere was safe for him except at my side, even if that meant forcing him to face my bastard brother once again.
I needed to get to the bottom of this. Hunter was an idiot, but he wasn’t this particular brand of idiot. At least I hadn’t thought so, but maybe Monte was right. Maybe I really had been giving my brother the benefit of the doubt for far too long and had grown blind to his flaws.
As we drew closer to the source of Hunter’s voice, I noted that Wyatt was watching with a furrowed brow and a deep frown.
His claws clicked in thought, one of his tells that I’d picked up only after many, many years together.
That he was deep in thought rather than breaking up the scene boded ill indeed.
I also noticed Ara among the servants, but her reaction was the exact opposite of Wyatt’s. She was a vibrating ball of rage that her comrades had to hold back lest she jump into the fray and start spilling blood.
“And just what is being discussed here so fervently, without your Alpha present?” I demanded, my voice cutting through the crowd, and suddenly all was silent.
A path opened, and Hunter stood a mere handful of steps away, a complete wreck of a wolf who was supposed to be my Beta.
His shirt hung in tatters and his eyes were raw and bloodshot; telltale signs he hadn’t slept a wink.
The reek of alcohol hit me from where I stood, and from the way he swayed on his feet, he was in no shape or form to address the pack.
At my side, Monte leaned against me for just a brief moment before straightening and standing defiantly. Goddess, how had I overlooked his courage for so long?
But then a wolf stepped up behind Hunter, and all my attention focused. I hadn’t noticed Jared at first, but that was clearly by design. He skulked and hid in the shadows, first trying to get his claws into Monte and now whispering into my brother’s ear.
But then an even more curious thing happened. Hunter looked chastened, as if Jared was counseling him wisely and told him to calm down.
I forced the tension from my shoulders and drew a deep breath. Maybe I was being too harsh on Jared. If he really did defuse this situation, then I would be in his debt.
“No!” Hunter snapped, spinning on his heel and baring his fangs to his advisor. “I will not let bygones be bygones! Don’t you see how humiliated I am? Don’t you see what that mewling bitch has done to me?”
A growl rumbled from my throat. “Mewling bitch? Let me remind you—you were the one who abandoned your duty. You chose to run away on your wedding day. You almost brought shame to our pack’s reputation. You left!”
Hunter let out a short, harsh laugh then let it unravel into a long, mocking snort. “Marriage’s a big step,” he drawled, “I needed space to come to terms with it. What’s so wrong with that? You of all people should understand that.”
With every word, the reek of alcohol washed over us anew, not to mention the disappointment that filled me with each. For the first time, I was forced to accept just how far my brother had fallen. He was no longer capable of even being my Beta, not in this pack.
I held his gaze, and he glared back, stubborn and unyielding to his Alpha. Around us, the crowd had gone silent, every eye fixed on the stand-off.
“We shall discuss this later,” I said at last, my voice carrying across them all, “Until then, let’s return to our duties and let cooler heads prevail.”
But Hunter spun back to face us, and his gaze focused on me, then Monte. His face twisted in a drunken snarl as he stumbled forward with one claw outstretched.
“You nearly killed me, brother! But I can forgive you because I know you were manipulated. I get it, you like the Omega. But the both of us are being fooled by this disgusting, depraved excuse for a wolf. If we let him stay in the pack, he will rot us from the inside out.”
I wanted to rip his damned head off.
I wanted to tear him limb from limb with my bare hands.
Every fiber of me thrummed with a violence that made my vision go red. How dare he spit those words after what he’d done?
I flicked a hard look at Jared; he winced, watching Hunter with real worry. The unease in the crowd stirred my wolf. Even they could tell this was about to turn uglier.
But I didn’t want to give them the sight, didn’t want whatever came next to end in blood and shame for us all.
So I forced the air down, let the growl die low in my chest, and turned my attention back to my wretched brother.
“Very well,” I hissed, “If that is how you want to proceed, then let us not waste any time. We shall bring the matter before the council tomorrow.”
A stunned hush fell over the gathering.
“T-tomorrow? That quickly?” a tentative voice asked from the crowd.
“I spoke too quickly,” I snarled. “Make it this very evening.”
I grabbed Monte’s hand and dragged him towards the pack house. The crowd, so taken aback by my declaration, parted just long enough for us to make our escape.
I spared only a single glance backward, and I saw Hunter gaping after us, his face riddled with shock and confusion.
Ara, Wyatt, and Jared, on the other hand, all looked relieved that the situation had been defused. The rest of the crowd was cautiously waiting to see which way the wind was blowing before they reacted.
But I had no more time for any of them. All that mattered now was preparing for the council and putting an end to this, once and for all. That wouldn’t be a sufficient apology to Monte for my behavior thus far, but it would be a start.