Chapter 31 #2
Mallin puffed with indignation, undoubtedly sensing the truth in Elijah’s words.
“This is absurd. Whoever is responsible for their deaths, it never would have come to that but for his involvement, and there is no question of his hand in murdering Zeke.” Ooh, that came dangerously close to admitting fault.
“I was there. Zeke attacked us. He wouldn’t listen to reason. He didn’t even recognize me. Whatever Beatrice Harker did to him made him a mindless, killing beast. He would have torn through half the pack if Josh hadn't stopped him. A task, I’ll remind you, he nearly died to accomplish.”
Mallin slashed through the air as if slashing through Elijah’s argument. “Enough. I am the Alpha here. This is not a debate. My word is law, and I decree that Joshua Harker’s punishment for his crimes against the Klamath pack meet that of his mother’s.”
I watched all the blood drain from Elijah’s face. “No,” he murmured.
Mallin looked down at me, and I transferred my gaze from Elijah’s stricken face to meet his penetrating glare.
“Death,” Mallin finished ominously, then snapped his head back up to glare at Elijah.
“As for you, my patience has run out. It is only out of love of your mother that I do not deal you the same fate. However, your repeated insolence deserves an equally serious punishment. Consider yourself banished. Let’s see how you fare without a pack to feed your narcissism. ”
Elijah
I didn’t give a shit about being exiled from the only family I’d ever known. I cared that Conrad hadn’t even pretended to listen to reason and stepped forward to personally execute Josh.
He reached down and yanked Josh’s head back, exposing his throat. His other hand rose high as claws sprouted grotesquely from his fingers. Josh snarled at him, but remained on his knees and didn’t put up a fight.
In two bounds, I cleared the short distance between the crowd and the platform. I caught Conrad’s wrist on its path to tear out Josh’s throat. “I can’t let you do that.”
Blind rage shone in Conrad’s dark brown eyes. “I should have killed you years ago.”
“And I should have challenged you when I learned you set my father up in that ambush.”
All eighty of the gathered pack shuffled uncertainly, but no one moved to intervene. This was an Alpha problem, and I’d just invoked a challenge.
“It’s about fucking time,” Josh snapped as he threw off the silver chains like they were nothing. They hit the ground before him with a thud, and those closest shuffled back.
I looked over at him as he stood and dusted himself off. “Are you okay? What did he do to you?”
“Nothing that won’t heal.”
For the first time, I noticed a deep bruise on the side of his face. My grip on Conrad’s arm tightened, and I turned to look at him. “You tortured him?”
“He deserves worse.” Spittle flew from his lips with the snarl. “To me!”
I only had a moment to be confused when something solid slammed into my back.
My hold on Conrad loosened, and he slipped free.
I quickly turned to determine what had happened, only to be hit head-on by Neevah, one of the pack’s most notorious troublemakers and a staunch supporter of Conrad.
We stumbled back as Josh spun to land a debilitating kick in Cara’s gut when she tried to give him the same treatment.
She let out a pained “Oof” and fell forward.
I shoved Neevah in an attempt to dislodge him, but without leverage, the effort had little effect.
From the edge of the bystanders, Eric stepped clear.
“No,” I grunted as Neevah slammed his fist into my side.
“He can cheat, but we won’t.” I brought my elbow down on Neevah’s collarbone hard enough to hear bone crack, cringing inwardly.
He let out a howl of pain and rolled clear.
I pushed up from the platform in time to see Josh dance through Marley’s defenses.
Even being one of the largest, meanest weres in the pack couldn’t save him from the fury that was Joshua Hart.
Josh’s fist slammed into the side of Marley’s face in the exact spot as Josh’s own bruise.
Marley went down like a dead oak while Josh remained panting over his body.
“Not so nice, is it asshole?” he snarled. Dylon moved closer to the edge of the platform, and Josh zeroed in on him. Josh’s eyes narrowed to glittering gems of menace. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Dylon’s gaze slid past Josh to the silver chains only a few meters away.
“Try it,” Josh dared him.
Brains had never been Dylon’s strength. He made it all of two lurching steps before Josh had him laid out as well.
I shifted my attention to where Conrad was watching on in shocked horror.
From the size of his eyes, it was clear he’d underestimated just how lethal Josh could be.
I took a step towards him, and Jaye blocked my path.
“Can’t let you do that, Red.”
“Step aside,” I growled.
“Not interested.” The words had barely left his mouth when I drove into him. Air rushed out of his lungs as I slammed him into the ground.
I wrapped my hand around his throat as he tried to get back up. “Stay down, Jaye. This isn’t your fight. This is between me and Conrad.” He wheezed, unable to form a response. My grip tightened, and he finally nodded, his fingers scrabbling uselessly at my forearm.
A blur of motion caught my attention. I looked up to see Josh sailing through the air to collide with a fleeing Conrad. His momentum was enough that while he brought Conrad down, he barrelled on, tucking into a roll.
I surged to my feet and raced after them. The pack parted before me, all eyes riveted on the spectacle playing out. By the time I got there, Conrad had found his feet.
I skidded to a halt in front of him. “Just admit defeat.”
“Never! This is my pack!”
“It hasn’t been your pack for a long time, and you know it.”
Conrad’s eyes darted around at the quiet faces. His shoulders slumped as only impassive looks greeted him.
I took a step forward. “They’re not yours anymore.”
Without warning, Conrad’s fist collided with my face. My nose cracked beneath the force, and pain blanketed everything.
“Son of a badger!” Blood ran past my lips in a river. Through the slowly evaporating haze, I saw a furious Josh reemerge.
Once again, he launched himself across the distance, this time with claws extended.
Conrad turned to bolt. I grabbed his shirt and yanked him back. He was mid-stumble when Josh crashed into him for the second time. Conrad hit the ground hard enough to shake it.
Josh pushed to his feet and advanced, mindless animal rage plastered on his face. He fisted a hand in the front of Conrad’s shirt and pulled him up with no effort.
“Josh, stop.”
His fingers tightened, and a growl that made the hairs on my arms stand up rolled out of him. “He deserves it. He’s the reason your father is dead. He wants to see you dead.”
I placed a hand on Josh’s arm and realized he was literally shaking with the effort of holding back. “I know. But this isn’t us. We’re better than this.”
“What if I don’t want to be better than this?”
“That’s not true. You’ve always been better than this. Today, you get to decide who you are. No one else.”
A shudder passed through Josh’s body, and he threw Conrad back to the ground. I looked down at the Klamath Pack’s former Alpha and saw the terror in his eyes. “All I ever wanted was peace.”
He curled his lip back in a snarl, still unable to see past the hate he held for my father.
It was with a clear conscience that I wiped it off his face.
He crumpled to the ground and didn’t get back up.
With a sigh, I looked at Josh. The rage had cleared somewhat, and he looked more like himself, but the grim set of his mouth suggested he wasn’t happy about my decision to spare Conrad’s life.
I lifted a hand to gently touch the burn marks left by the silver chains. “Are you okay?”
He waved away the question and gestured to my nose. “Let me see.”
I did as he asked and turned. In one swift motion, there was another crack. “Moons of Jupiter, Josh! What the fuck?”
He simply shrugged and wiped the blood from my formerly broken nose on his vest. “You wouldn’t want it to heal crooked, would you?”
Just then, Remus exploded into the oddly quiet scene. “You were right. That fucker was growing wolfsbane. I’ve burned it all, but it looked like some was missing.”
“I knew I recognized that smell,” Josh muttered.
I turned to him. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve worked with wolfsbane nearly my whole life, but I’d never smelled it as a werewolf before. Only the familiarity registered,” he answered as if that somehow cleared it all up.
I shook my head, struggling to get all the pieces to fit. “Josh, I don’t understand. When did you come into contact with wolfsbane?”
He gestured over his shoulder, where Conrad’s labored breathing could still be heard. “This substandard excuse for a werewolf tried to give me water laced with it.”
“He did what?!” Outrage momentarily clouded my vision and called into question my resolve to spare the miserable man’s life.
“I’d speculate he’s actually been trying to build up a tolerance, since he drank it as a show of good faith.”
My stomach rolled and my hands fell to my knees as I pulled in steadying breaths. Why hadn’t I just listened to Eric and Remus? One sip and Josh would have been dead before morning.
Eric cocked his head to the side. “Red, did you know Conrad was growing wolfsbane?”
I glanced up at my best friend and the myriad of doubtful faces behind him. “I… I saw the flowers when we met at the solarium. I didn’t realize what they were.”
Remus looked between me and Eric, then finally seemed to notice the groaning bodies littering the ground. “Seriously? I’m gone for like five minutes and miss a whole Alpha battle? What the fuck?”
Eric rolled his eyes and walked towards where Josh and I were still standing. “Now what, Red?”
I looked at Josh, who seemed to have the same question in his eyes. “Now we leave. Go start somewhere new.”
“Awesome, where to?” Eric asked, his usual pep once more in full force.
I turned back to him, already knowing he wasn’t going to like what I was about to say. “Not you. This wasn’t a formal challenge, and Conrad isn’t dead. He’s still technically the Alpha here.”
Josh looked at me, questions clear in his green eyes, but kept silent.
“There’s something else you should all know,” I said, raising my voice to address the gathered crowd.
Eric shook his head. “Don’t do this, Red. Not after everything.”
I took a deep breath and let it out. “I imagine most of you saw Detective Hart’s trial.
It’s true. He is a Harker. He did all the things you heard him admit to.
A lot of it is more complicated than that, but I won’t go into that now.
It's also true that the Klamath Pack held the sole authority to seek retribution. And I…” My voice cracked.
The faces that had been my family for so long stared at me in confusion and hurt.
“I took that away from you. I don't know where any of you stand on the things he’s done or what actions you’d hoped would take place today.
All I know is that I couldn’t stand by and watch Conrad kill my bonded mate. ”
Betrayal washed across Eric’s face, now pinched with pain as if I’d stabbed him.
He was still shaking his head, but it was too late.
Already my packmates were looking at me differently, reassessing my allegiance and motivations.
How could they ever trust someone to lead them when that person had sided with an ancient enemy?
“I’m so sorry I haven’t been there for you. I only hope that whoever you trust to lead you next can restore the family this pack once was. As for us,” I took Josh’s hand in mine and laced our fingers, “we’re going to start over and hopefully get it right this time.”
Josh’s eyes softened. “Remus, will you tell Tommy and Kale?” he asked without looking away. Of course, he would have noted their absence. My heart constricted at what I was inherently asking him to do as well. Neither of us would have a pack.
“No! You can’t do this. Elijah, enough is enough. Stop running!” Eric’s anger sliced deep into my heart.
Remus reached out to him. “Hey, this has been a weird ass fucking few months for all of us. Give them sometime.”
Eric threw off his hand. “Time won’t solve anything. He’s running like he always does. Even winning isn’t enough to keep him here.” With that, my best friend since I was five stomped off. Uncertain eyes followed him as he pushed through the crowd, then turned back to me, seeking answers.
I didn’t have them. I didn’t know what else to say.
Sure, Conrad had been defeated, but not killing him broke precedent, and while he was alive, he’d never stop trying to be rid of me.
I wasn’t a killer. I couldn’t execute him or even banish him, which would essentially have the same outcome.
It just wasn’t who I was. And if I couldn’t do what it took, then I had no business being in charge of a pack.
The knowledge that I had so unforgivably failed them was a bone-deep sorrow that would stay with me until the end of my days.
I wrapped an arm around Josh’s waist and pulled him close, mindful of my sensitive nose as I leaned into him. “Can we go now?”
“Okay, baby. We can go.”