SWNOVELS Chapter 10
Nate
“Dad, call a hearing. We need to have a trial for the punishment of the beta of the pack,” I said as soon as I entered my father’s office.
Normally, my father would never have accepted behavior like me entering his office and abruptly giving instructions, but he must have sensed my agitation as he looked up from his papers to eye me. So he just asked, “Why?”
From the hard glint in his eyes, I knew that if I couldn’t reasonably explain walking into his office impolitely, he would make me regret it.
“For abusing his daughter right under our noses since she was 13.”
Immediately, he took a sharp breath from shock, and his brows furrowed as he stood up, asking anxiously, “What? Are you sure about this? Doug has been abusing Janice’s daughter?”
“Yes! Dad, I’m sure. Ginny probably won’t confirm it, but Thomas Quinn from the Supernatural Council would.”
“Alright, I’ll set up the council on your request and call all the pack members to the trial clearing. Take a few enforcers and meet me at the trial clearing with the suspect in thirty minutes.”
He turned to stare at me. “But Nathan, if you’ve got this wrong, it will count against you when the pack council wants to decide if you’re eligible to be Alpha of the pack or not.”
I froze for a minute, then nodded, “I’m sure, dad.”
I did as he said, and when we got to Ginny’s house, I was the one who knocked on the door.
It was about 4 in the afternoon, and I knew that Beta Doug was home since today was his day off.
“Who’s there?” He called out just before he opened the door.
When he opened the door and peered out, I tried to reconcile the image I’d once had of him as the pack beta to the pedophile and rapist I now knew him to be. But I couldn’t because Beta Doug just looked like a regular werewolf. If I didn’t eavesdrop on Thomas forcing Imogen to tell the truth, I would have refused to believe it if someone accused him of being a rapist.
He came out of the door, standing just an inch taller than me. Looking at his body ripped with muscles, I realized that whether as a 13-year-old or as the young adult she was now, Ginny had never stood a chance against him.
“What’s up, guys? What’s wrong? Wait...did Ginny do something wrong again? I swear that girl will hear it from me when...”
“You’re under arrest and on trial for the rape and abuse of Imogen, Beta Doug,” I said coldly.
Then I moved away to let the enforcers, three of them, grab Beta Doug and handcuff his hands because I knew that if I were to touch him, I’d just end up pummeling him to a bloody pulp.
* * *
When Ginny got on the witness stand and started exposing her secrets, my jaw hit the floor and stayed there as I heard what she had experienced all these years not just at the hands of Beta Doug but also at the hands of other members of the pack.
It took a lot of effort to compose myself as I watched Ginny leave the witness stand, heading straight to the audience seats at the very edge of our trial meeting place where Thomas was seated. Hesitant to see the two of them hold hands publicly, I turned to stare at the pack council, which was made of the oldest and most powerful members of the pack and my father.
The council spent about 10 minutes deliberating the best punishment for Beta Doug. During that time, I kept alternating between staring at Ginny where she sat beside Thomas with her hands in his, and at the pack council members where one of Beta Doug’s friends in the council seemed to be trying to argue for him.
My wolf wanted to growl and protest against Thomas holding Ginny’s hands and kissing them several times in public, but I had to remind my wolf and myself over and over that Thomas was just comforting her.
My father walked to the center of the trial clearing to give the council’s verdict. “The council has returned their verdict, but before I announce it, I would like to ask Beta Doug some questions. Could an enforcer assist Beta Doug to the witness stand?”
After Beta Doug was standing behind the witness stand, my father stood opposite him, stared him in the eyes and asked, “Did you know that just as Imogen’s mother was the pack’s sentinel, Imogen was to be trained to take her place?”
A gasp went around the crowd of pack members because the existence of sentinels was a rare occurrence. Few packs ever found their pack sentinel, but once they were found, they automatically outranked the pack beta and were third only to the Alpha and Luna in pack ranking since they were usually responsible for the pack’s internal security and connection.
The Alpha could lead the pack, and the Luna could care for the pack, but decades ago, there used to be powerful warriors in each pack who worked hard to maintain the peace within the pack, calm the restless and suppress rebellion within the pack. Because the concept of sentinels was fast fading, most werewolves had only ever heard about sentinels in history books. How could we have known that our pack once had a sentinel? And that her daughter, who should have taken her place, was the infamous pack slut.
If I had known Ginny’s mother was the former pack sentinel, I would have taken her as my mate, regardless of the sex videos.
“I knew, but...” Beta Doug’s expression was defiant, but I could see the veins in his neck straining under the power of the truth serum given to all trial participants to ensure they told the absolute truth during trials.
Seeing that he had to tell the truth, and everyone was looking at him with scorned eyes, Beta Doug seemed to think his next words would justify his actions, but they only made me feel like throttling him to death.
“Do you really think Janice was just a powerful sentinel who stumbled into your pack? If that’s what you think, then you’re wrong. Janice is a fae-shapeshifter hybrid! She has never been a werewolf. The only reason she could integrate the pack back then was because of her fae magic. Imogen, that girl, is not even a full werewolf, and she doesn’t have any of her mother’s magic either. She’s just a mutt and can’t even shift. Are you really going to banish me because of a mere mutt who can’t do anything for the pack?”
As Beta Doug continued saying things he shouldn’t, I found it really hard to calm my wolf and stop myself from getting to the witness stand where he stood and beating him up badly.
My father interrupted him, “I know what Janice was and who she was and your daughter may not be a full werewolf, but she’s not a mutt either.”
“She told you what she was? Of course she did. I always knew there was more to your relationship with Janice. After all, you gave her the sentinel position as soon as she arrived at the pack. I had to fight for my Beta position. You and Janice must have been sleeping together. She’s such a scheming whore that…”
I looked cautiously at my father as his face reddened, his jaws clenched, and his eyes bulged in anger as Beta Doug spoke ill about Ginny’s mother, making me wonder if he hadn’t truly cheated on my mother with Ginny’s mother.
Before Beta Doug could say more, a crisp sound rang out as my father slapped Beta Doug’s face.
Then, through gritted teeth, he said, “I was the one who invited Janice to the pack after she retired from the Supernatural Council. She and I were never together. The pack was falling apart. You couldn’t stop the rebellion caused by the former beta and neither could I. It was Janice who stepped in and made everything okay again, so don’t you dare make silly insinuations to ruin her name. Especially not an animal like you who dared to rape his own daughter.”
Beta Doug’s face turned to the side from the force of my father’s slap and he spat out some blood. He was obviously enraged by my father’s slap as he turned to glare at my father, initiating a stare-down. After a stare down of about three minutes, however, he broke the stare and looked away, bowing his head in a submissive pose to his Alpha.
My father walked back to the center of the trial clearing again.
“On that note, Beta Doug, for assaulting the daughter of the former sentinel of the Paxon pack who was under my protection, your punishment is a death duel.”
Pausing briefly just to let that sink in, my father looked Beta Doug in the eyes. “And I will be the one to duel with you.”
“No, that’s not right! The punishment doesn’t fit the crime! I only slept with her! I didn’t kill anyone! Only murder is punishable by death!” Beta Doug tried to argue.
“Sorry Beta Doug, you’ve forgotten that you’re a werewolf now and not a human anymore. Your punishment is a duel. If you’re strong enough to win, you don’t have to die, but if you aren’t, I have every right to kill you.”
Then, my father sighed wearily, “Janice died protecting this pack and many other packs from the northern rogues’ alliance. Before she went to that battle, she made me promise that I would take care of her daughter. I have indeed failed her, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t try to make it up to her.”
* * *
“Dad, let me fight him, please. She’s my mate.” I insisted.
“You’re not the Alpha, son. I am, and she is a member of my pack and the daughter of my late pack sentinel. I have more right to fight for her than a mate who rejected her because he could never look beneath the surface.” My father said without even looking at me.
“But, dad...” I protested, clenching my jaw at my father’s obvious reprimand of how I treated Ginny.
“Stop! She’s Janice’s daughter and I’m fighting for her no matter what! Do you know how terrible I feel knowing that Janice’s daughter has been suffering abuse all this while? Even if this is the last thing I do before I hand the pack over to you, I’m going to do it.” My dad said in a firm tone that told me there was nothing I could do to convince him.
“Besides, do you really think you can fight with the Beta of the pack so easily? Are you sure you’re not the one who is going to get killed? Don’t forget that while the position of Alpha of the pack is a hereditary position with some council intervention, the position of the beta of the pack is won through battle. You’re not ready to fight someone of Beta Doug’s caliber. So go there, sit, watch and learn from this death duel.”
Watching my father walk away, I dejectedly joined the pack warriors to prepare the dueling arena for the upcoming intense death duel between our pack Alpha and his Beta.