Chapter 15 - Riley
I left the infirmary wanting to quickly ask Janella a question.
I hadn't expected to run into this. I don’t know what happened, but it didn’t look good.
Dustin was across the street, lying on the ground.
Janella was shaking, and the other two were frantically yelling that she'd done it.
Nothing made sense, but I only cared about one thing.
Her.
Janella’s hands were scraped as I pulled her up. She looked horrified and white as a ghost. Her entire body was shaking as I held her.
Had she done this? How could she have? She couldn’t even heal a simple wound, but she managed to throw Dustin across the street? It didn’t make sense.
But from the look in her eyes, I shouldn’t doubt what I’m seeing. She wasn’t denying what they were saying, so it must be true. I didn’t know how I felt about it, though.
I should want to protect my pack, but this was Janella. The shy girl who stood by and took everything. She couldn't even protect herself, let alone hurt a fly. I felt in my gut it wasn’t that simple. I could tell from her reaction that she didn’t mean it. She didn’t even know how she did it.
“I didn’t mean to,” she repeated, shaking her head as she glanced at Dustin across the street. “I swear I didn't mean to. I don't know how it happened.”
“Would one of you go across the fucking street and check on him?” I snapped.
Tyler looked at me like I was crazy. “Lock her up.”
I glared at him. “I'm not locking up my wife!”
“She could have killed him! She can't just walk away from this like it's not an issue.”
“I will handle this.”
I watched as Tyler and Lucas looked at me, horrified. But then I saw the way their faces twisted up. “Jesus, you're a fucking pathetic excuse for an Alpha. You can't even protect the people that are closest to you.”
Our friendship had split after high school for several reasons. One of the big reasons was that I grew up. I realized that things weren't so black-and-white.
“How about you shut your mouth and go check on your friend.”
“You think you're going to just sweep this under the rug like all our other problems?”
I felt my anger building. I grabbed Tyler by his shirt. “I'm not going to repeat myself. Go. Check. On. Your. Friend.”
I shoved him, and he stumbled back a few feet before landing on his ass. Tyler shook his head as he pulled himself up. He bared his teeth as he growled. “We will go to the council.”
I felt my stomach dip knowing they were serious. But I still held my ground. I looked at Lucas, who hurried across the street with Tyler. I turned to Janella and bent down. I cupped her face, her low lip quivering now.
“Deep breaths.”
“I swear I didn't mean it.”
“I believe you.”
I pulled her into a hug and held her as she continued to shake. I didn't know if it was all fear or if part of it was her magic making her shake. But I wanted to be here for her.
“Are they really going to go to the council?” she asked, her voice sounding so broken.
“Probably. Lucas and Tyler are kind of snakes. Nothing is going to happen. I promise.”
“You can't promise that.”
“I can. I'm Alpha.”
She shook her head. “I swear I didn't mean to. I just wanted them to leave me alone.”
I frowned. It was clear that they still hadn't moved past their bullying ways.
I don't know how long we were there, but long enough for the other three to disappear. I knew they would head straight for the Council, and I should head there. If we went anywhere else, it would seem like I was trying to cover it up.
We arrived there, and I held her hand tightly as we went inside. Thalia was at the entrance waiting for us. She tried to offer a soft smile, but it didn't reach her eyes, which told me the other had already been here.
“I was just about to go look for you.”
“No need, Thalia.”
She walked past her and headed for the room they were always in.
They were waiting, and I could feel the room was tense.
I ground my teeth together as the Council glared at all of us, but their eyes remained on Janella.
I understood having to protect their pack members, but Janella hadn't been in the wrong.
Kelly spoke. “We had two very angry members just here informing us that Janella.” They all looked at her again. “Just used dark magic against another member.”
“That's not true,” I snapped. “That isn't the full story, and it wasn't dark magic.”
Laura raised an eyebrow at us. “Did she throw another member across the street into a light post? Not only hurting a member but damaging city property?”
I frowned. “Yes.”
“Sounds like you don't have her magic under control then.”
“She is just getting into her magic.”
“She threw Dustin across the street, and now he’s in the infirmary. I think that gives us cause to step in.”
Dean narrowed his eyes on Janella. Jasmine tapped her fingers on the table. “She needs to be arrested and monitored for the time being. What if she hurts other innocent people?”
Janella shook her head. “I didn’t mean to. I... I didn’t even know I could do that.”
“You knew that you had magic, and you were warned to be careful, and you weren’t,” Kelly said, shaking his head at her.
“I have been!” she said, looking desperate now. “I have been careful.”
“She didn't hurt anyone innocent, and she didn't do it on purpose,” I snapped.
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is we have an injured member of the pack, and she could hurt others.”
“She was using self-defense! She didn't attack them because she's dangerous. Magic is connected to emotion, and if she felt she was trapped, she had no knowledge of what could happen.”
“Which is just telling us she’s a danger.”
“I’m telling you she’s new to everything, and to give her a break. You want me to help figure out how to save the pack. Then you can't lock up the person; I need to do that.”
“Do we need a death on our hands for you to be concerned about your pack? Have you suddenly put her above everyone else?”
“She is a member of our pack!” I snarled back. “Just because she doesn’t shift doesn’t make her less. I am protecting my pack. I will not stand for bullying, and that's exactly what happened tonight. If you can't see that, you are all part of the problem.”
I sighed. “Dustin is going to heal up just fine, and maybe he will think twice about being a monumental asshole to people.” Janella didn't even have to tell me what happened for me to know how it went down. Those three were dicks, and I could imagine what went down.
“And you’re just going to say it wipes the problem clean. She attacked a member, but because she was defending herself, she’s fine? What stops her from using that excuse again?”
Because I knew her, Janella wasn’t the type to attack people. Even that dream I had wasn’t hers. The Janella I knew was caring about people. Sure, she had a smart mouth, but that was as far as the cruelty went.
“Because that’s not who she is as a person.”
Jasmine shook her head. “You need to think about what type of magic she possesses, Riley. If she possesses dark magic…”
“She doesn’t!” I snapped, not even letting her finish the sentence. “For one, you would smell it.” Janella’s magic was sweet like honey and spice. “And if you all know that to possess dark magic, we would feel it. If she were evil, we would know.”
“If she hasn’t come into her magic fully, we wouldn’t.”
“She clearly has tapped into it if she was able to throw Dustin across the street. And I don’t see or smell anything evil coming from her.”
They fell silent.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us. I need to have a conversation with my pack.”
I grabbed Janella’s arm and pulled her outside. We headed down the hallway and towards the front door. But as soon as we got outside, a crowd was waiting.
I spotted Lucas and Tyler, who were talking. “She’s evil.”
Pure rage filled me, and I pulled my hand free from Janella. The crowd’s eyes went to me as I walked towards Tyler and Lucas.
“Riley, don’t.” Janella grabbed my hand, pulling me to a stop. “Don’t please. It won't change anything.”
That was just it. It did change everything. This wasn’t like before. I wasn’t a teenage unable to think properly. I was an adult. I was the leader and I wasn’t going to stand for this.
I stared at them as they turned around, realizing we were there now. I saw red. I wanted to murder them for causing issues like this. For making Janella feel like she was less.
“Get out of my face,” I growled at them.
Lucas was starting down the steps, but Tyler didn’t. He puffed his chest up. “You’re protecting a witch over your pack! Don’t you see how much of a disgrace that is?”
I looked over the pack, taking in their faces. Some were mortified, while others looked angry. I could see heads nodding in agreement with them. It was clearly that they were divided.
If only they knew the truth. How we were fucked if it wasn’t for Janella.
I had ripped her away from her home because I had thought about the pack.
I had made her come here and give up her life for this pack.
And they couldn’t even stand by her. She had given so much for them, and they didn’t even know it.
Part of that was my own doing. They only saw half of the problem.
I let go of Riley's hand and grabbed Tyler, yanking him towards me. I bared my teeth. “If you so much as utter my wife's name in the wrong manner, you are going to pray to god I don't find you. I have no restraint when it comes to protecting.” I shoved him back, letting him tumble.
I then turned to the crowd. “And I am protecting her. Because without her, we are fucked. Six months ago, we had a man lose his mind because his bond with his wife failed. This incident repeated. Over and over, people were starting to feel an imbalance in their emotions and their shifting abilities. We have had our bonding corrupted, and it's fucking up our abilities as shifters. It’s slowly ruining our bonds and breaking apart our pack.”
I looked at Tyler. “Go to the infirmary and see it for yourselves. We have members who have killed because they lose control of their wolves. Suddenly having the taste for blood. Wanting a woman who isn’t theirs.
Going complete animalistic. I have scars from holding members back from killing their loved ones. ”
I could hear murmurs in the pack.
“So, instead of looking down on Janella, you should be grateful she didn’t put up more of a fight coming here. She’s part of the answer to keeping this pack safe. And if anyone has a problem with that, they can answer to me.”
I grabbed her hand, pulling her away with me. I felt my hands shaking. I was so angry. We rounded the building before she ripped her hand free. I turned to her and froze, seeing she was shaking with anger.
“Are you insane!” she snapped.
I frowned at her, confused. I thought she would have been happy that I was standing up for her. I wanted to protect her.
“What?”
“Why would you act like I’m above everyone else in your pack?”
“Because you're my wife, Janella. I was making sure they knew not to screw with you. I don’t want them to treat you badly. I don't want whatever happened to be worse.”
“And they are going to think you don’t side with them. They are going to think I matter more.”
“I’m not siding with them! They had no reason to treat you like that. Tyler and Lucas were trying to tell everyone that you're evil. I was telling them the truth.”
Her hands curled into fists. “Stop it. Just stop acting as if you care.”
She started to round me, and I moved, blocking her from getting free. I pulled my hands up, caging her in. “What the hell does that mean?”
“You know what it means.”
I shook my head. “No, no, I don’t. So, enlighten me.”
She crossed her arms. “I’m not an idiot, Riley. Stop putting on this nice-guy act. You got what you wanted. You have me here stuck like a fool. You even slept with me. You ripped my life apart, so what more do you want?”
I stared at her, utterly blown away. Did she think this was all part of a plan? That I wanted to ruin her life, wanting to have all of this happen. How could she not see it?
“Do you seriously think that I wanted this? That I wanted to rip you away from your home?”
She shrugged. “You bullied me growing up. You watched me squirm because I was uncomfortable. You waited to ruin my day every chance you had. What’s stopping you from doing it all over again?”
I moved closer to her, my anger building up again. “I didn’t do that because I wanted to!”
She scuffed. “You have got to be kidding me, Riley. You had control.”
I shook my head. “I do it because I want control. I wanted to make sure no one else bothered you. I made sure no one else hurt you. I knew that I could never have you, and I didn’t want anyone else to.”
Her face fell. “What?”
I knew how it would look. Janella was frowned upon, and I was their future leader. I could never have asked for anything. “I liked you. But I knew that we couldn’t be anything. So, I set the bar of which people could bully you. If I treated you a certain way, everyone else would.”
Thinking back, it was a bad idea. But I figured if I was her big bully, no one else would be.
They wouldn’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
I never physically hurt her. I made sure of that.
People looked to me, and if I didn't do something, they wouldn't. I made a line in the sand, and I made sure no one crossed it.
I watched what happened. I put a mark on her that she was mine in my own twisted way. She remained untouched by others because of it. And I felt she belonged to me.
She shoved at me and took a step back. She shook her head, still looking angry. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? You bullied me so no one else could’ve been worse? You purposely made my life a living hell because you didn’t want people to know you had feelings for me?”
I swallowed.
She shoved hard, and this time it hurt. “You single-handedly ruined my childhood, Riley. You made my life a living hell, and you don’t even get how fucked up that is.
You took away my confidence. You ruined my ability to trust people.
You made me question my relationship with my own family.
You beat me down over and over. And here you are fucking it all up again. ”
She shoved past me and stormed across the parking lot. I knew I should follow. I needed to explain better, try to do something. But my legs were stuck as she walked away. I felt that twist in my gut, and I wondered if I ruined this relationship for good this time.