Page 186 of Unforgivable

"You don't have to be here," the stern voice of the 'replacement' jolts me from my misery for a moment.

I clench my jaw. I don't look at Rhet, afraid of those penetrating blue eyes. He would have been a great Gamma somewhere. Instead, he's acting as my Beta until his brother is alpha and selects someone else.

"Did she tell you to say that?" I ask, my voice unrecognizable to myself.

"Yes. I have no sympathy, Jax. This is your blood who did this to my female. It's your blindness that hurt my Luna."

"I am aware."

I glance at her. She looks like a queen. Her hair, nondescript brown, shines like jewels today. Bronze and gold and copper, glowing in the moonlight in tangled curls and braids down to her shoulders. Her eyes, so many different colors, gleam with a hardness that only leaders can truly master. Her shoulders are straight, her head held high. Dressed in brown leather pants favored by her males and an off-shoulder cream shirt, her skin shows both a healthy glow and the scars of a warrior. The only jewelry she wears is a simple wooden necklace filled with charms, the most shocking of which is a male canine. I don't know who it's from.

There is something otherworldly about her. A wildness, a danger. She is weaponless and barefoot, but no one would misinterpret the threat she poises.

She is magnificent. She is a Luna, the Luna of this pack. She was meant to be like a daughter to me. I may need a daughter because my son is going to be dead soon. I have no family left.

"Ted, you may begin," I say through numb lips.

My son fights the silver chains, howling madly, trying to slash at the common brown wolf who attacks him. The chains immobilize him. Helpless. He can't run. Can't defend himself against a weaker male. There is no mercy. A father, finally able to seek his justice for his daughter. It's what's right. It's what's owed.

Teeth dig in, yanking and pulling at vulnerable human flesh. No fur to protect my son from tooth and claw. Daan keeps trying to shift, the mad wolf inside of him fighting to the bitter end. Garbled sounds of pain and fury echo in the meadow. Blood is seeping from wounds, spraying out when canines dig in too deep. Daan's throat is untouched. Ted is taking his time, drawing out the pain, the suffering. He wants Daan to have his throat so that he can plead and beg for mercy.

He won't find any.

It is an hour, then more. My limbs are stiff. The Luna is leaning on her big male as he rubs her hip gently. Her eyes don't leave the scene of my son's death. She is crying but makes no sound.

The new alphason is standing next to her, face hard, emotionless. I would think he was stoically impassive to the violence if not for his hand entwined tightly with the Luna's.

I have no one to lean on. I just keep telling myself that it will end soon. My son will be gone, but his torture will end.

I wasn't there that night when Lyri Song was nearly killed. I will stay for this. I will watch.

When Ted finally tears Daan's throat out, I let loose a sob. I can't help it. Just before it happens, as the canines of the small brown wolf close on his throat, Daan looks at Lyri.

'Sorry,' he mouths. His eyes close. His face goes slack. His body falls.

My son is dead.

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