Helanie:
I kept my head down while telling my story from start to finish.
"It was also then that I promised the Moon Goddess I would not accept my mate until I had my revenge," I said, steadily raising my eyes to look at Kaye. His mouth opened in shock, but he kept his reaction subtle.
"One of them was Rayden, the other is Kaidon. Then there’s Zellu and Romeo—I haven’t met the others," I added.
Everyone was silently watching me, while Penn took deep, heavy breaths. He hadn’t lifted his eyes from the ground this whole time. And when he did briefly, I saw the tears in his eyes.
"And you all trust—" Emma, who had been standing in the corner, opened her mouth, but Norman hissed.
"Stay out of it," he muttered.
My mother sat in the corner, keeping her head down. Charlotte flashed a smirk here and there every time she heard me talk about that night. It was like she was happy I went through it.
"You’re hearing this? You think our nephew would do something like that?" Darcy asked Lord McQuoid, who refused to look me in the eye.
"I didn’t know our cousin was born with only pureness," Maximus scoffed at his mother.
"But he is born with our blood. We would never do something like that," Lord McQuoid hissed at his son. I watched my mother stretch her neck before staring at her fiancé.
Her eyes shifted to mine, and for a brief moment, we looked at each other before we both looked away.
"I will speak now, and I request everyone to let me finish," Lord McQuoid sighed, straightening his back in his seat. "I am not questioning your story. But this is a serious accusation. I have seen women lie every day. I am not saying it didn’t happen—it did. And the one who did it got his punishment of death. Rayden was responsible, there was proof of it. But there is literally no proof to go against such powerful alphas. And it would be wrong to accuse innocent people," Lord McQuoid said, causing Emmet to scoff and roll his eyes.
"We could give them some of those herbs or use those weapons to make them tell the truth," Maximus sighed, shaking his head as he mentioned the deadly weapons that forced people to confess.
"Maybe you’re forgetting that we signed an agreement stating those weapons will only be used during war and never on any pack’s alpha," Lord McQuoid reminded his sons.
"And how will you do that? You’re just a rogue—maybe a future rogue king—but you cannot control the alpha kings and if they will allow the shut down of the internet," Darcy was quick to use a stern voice with Norman the moment he tried comforting me.
"Our brother said it’s taken care of," shock hit Darcy when it was Kaye who supported his brother. She gave him a look, almost like she was asking if he knew where he stood in this matter.
"The internet connections have been destroyed somehow—maybe due to snow," Kaye shrugged, making it clear that he had done something.
"Well, sharing videos is still possible, isn’t it?" Lady Darcy folded her arms over her chest, making Emmet let out a laugh, which caused her to check her posture.
"I was just talking to the council—and there has been an issue. Since we haven’t taken care of the Gims, the snow is spreading to the packs now. So—I don’t think we can work until they provide us access to their packs and manually conduct a checkup on everyone’s phones," Emmet added, making Darcy’s jaw drop.
My mother had been sitting still, rubbing her palms anxiously and taking slow, steady breaths. She hadn’t moved a muscle or spoken a word. After some time, I thought she was a statue.
"You will let those monsters attack innocent people for her crazy story?" As Darcy slammed her hand on the table and yelled, Norman turned to her and slammed his hand down even harder, breaking the glass. Then, in the same aggressive tone—only more powerful—he responded:
"Short answer? Yes!"
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates