Page 80 of Forced Alpha Bride
A leadership challenge.
Winnie squeezes my hand, looking up at me. I nod to her, knowing that we expected this to happen.
If all goes well, then the villain should be playing right into our hands.
“This is the truth!” someone yells from the crowd. “Yesterday, I was prepared to wait, but now that my brothers are in the ground, my heart demands vengeance. It’s time to wipe out Valentine Creek for good.”
Cheers sound through the crowd, and Regina turns to look at me, a cold smile on her face. Her eyes are bright, almost hungry, and I wonder what horrible fate she’s cooked up for me.
“Is this really the place?” Winnie asks. “We are discussing war over the open graves of the fallen warriors. We shouldn’t be talking about this now.”
“This is exactly the place!” Regina shouts, controlling her voice with great difficulty. “They would not have died if we had a strong alpha, one who had listened to the voices of his elders and taken rightful action against our sworn enemy.”
Not for the first time, I wonder what happened between Valentine Creek and Gryphon Eyrie to start the feud in the first place.
We’ll probably never know. What a stupid waste of life this has been.
“Rightful action?” I echo. “All I did was follow the law and request investigations be made before we risked ourselves—and innocent lives—in an attack.”
“And look what that has wrought!” Regina gestures to the graves, her anger spiraling out of control. “The deaths of some of our best warriors! I brought evidence to you, and you would not accept it. Your request for an unnecessary investigation led to this—you must admit it before the whole pack.”
I glare at Regina, hating her with a fierce and unrelenting focus. There are very few truly bad people in the world, and I’m utterly sure at this point that she is pure, self-serving evil.
She doesn’t care who gets hurt, so long as she gets her way.
“I admit I followed pack law,” I say. “I was within my rights to investigate.”
“I disagree!” Mitchell yells, directly challenging me. “You were presented with evidence you did not pursue. This is an act of treason.”
“No!” Winnie shouts. “I contest this! Damon was following pack law—”
“A vote on it,” Regina declares, almost smug. “May the elders and council now decide. Did Damon act outside the law?”
She wants the leadership challenge. I wonder which lackey she has set up to fight against me.
Unsurprisingly, the elders all vote with Regina, while Winnie and my counselors vote against. When the decision comes down to Isla, she sides with the elders, and I know I’m fucked.
“The pack has spoken,” Regina says, trying to hide her smile. “You are now formally charged with treason, Damon Mackay.”
“Then bring it on, Regina!” I roar, stepping towards her. “Obviously, you weren’t paying attention the last time I was in the ring. I demolished every single challenger, one after the other. Let’s see who you have to throw at me this time. Because I guarantee you, none of your warriors can defeat me.”
“It’s gone far beyond that, I’m afraid,” Mitchell says. His tone is so full of malice, I glance at him in alarm, expecting him to come at me.
“Guards, step forward,” Regina announces, finally letting her mask slip. Her grin is an expression of cruel, twisted glee, and her eyes burn with excitement like a mad dog tearing into an innocent bunny.
I’m no bunny, bitch. Whatever you’re planning, I promise you I’ll find a way out of it. Then I’m coming for your throat!
The elders’ personal guards step out of the crowd, and the civilians hurry to get out of their way. My counselors try to surround me, but I tell them to stand down.
“Yes, Damon,” Regina says icily. “Keep your mongrels out of the way. We wouldn’t want anyone else to get hurt, would we?”
“No,” I state, glaring at her. “Whatever you’re going to do, go ahead and do it. But you might want to send the civilians away.”
“We can’t do that,” Mitchell protests. “We need the first families gathered for this.”
My anxiety increases sharply as I look over at Winnie. Her eyes are wide and frightened as she shakes her head, clearly not understanding what Mitchell means. She tries to hold on to my arm to stay by my side, but I push her towards Krista as the guards surround me.
“Take the traitor to the courtyard,” Regina orders. “We will assemble there to try him for his crimes.”
