Norman:
"No!" Helanie shook her head and stood up, slamming her hands on the desk. "I refuse such punishment."
I couldn’t believe they were using it against her. But at this point, I had figured out that the only way these alphas could get punished is if we somehow make them confess.
"But why? So that you can keep using those pheromones?" Vonston yelled at her, but that was all we could tolerate. We had wasted our time here.
"That is enough. We gave you time and trust, but you proved you cannot do justice. We will be taking her back—she is our stepsister, and we get to decide where she lives," I added as I threw the papers away. It was about time I lost my composure.
My brothers got up to go stand beside Helanie. She looked so timid but had the courage to stand up for herself.
They didn’t let me do the talking either. And sadly, Darius had come in strong, accusing her.
"I’m sorry, but that’s not how it works. If you remember the rules, only an alpha can decide if a pack member can leave the pack and live as a rogue. By leaving the pack and living with you, it would make Helanie a rogue, and only Alpha Diaz gets to make that choice. So Alpha Diaz, what do you suggest for your pack member?" Vonston turned to the evil man, who looked so happy with the victory.
"I will follow the rules. When a she-wolf commits adultery, we get her married to the man she slept with. In this case, since the others were drugged by her pheromones, I’ve decided to get her married to Kaidon. But if he disagrees, then there’s a man whose two mates died and has kids—he needs a wife to help raise them. I’d ask you to request Helanie to marry him and take care of his children," it was as if Diaz wasn’t speaking—he was shooting fire arrows straight at my body.
I wanted to grab him and kill him, but that would be too rash of a decision. Helanie wouldn’t get justice that way.
And we would be outnumbered.
"Marrying a teenager to an old man? Why is it her responsibility to take care of that man’s children?" Maximus yelled, Kaye stepping forward to support his reasoning.
"Fine, then she’ll get married to Kaidon—don’t you want to fix what you did wrong?" Alpha Diaz was so clever. He turned to Kaidon, who stared at Helanie. He was targeting the right person. Kaidon was too emotional and guilty and probably wanted to fix things.
"I’ll marry her." His mother wasn’t the only one who let out a sigh and threw her head back—we were exhausted with him as well.
"Okay, that’s fine. I think Helanie’s marriage will be a good idea for now," Emmet spoke up, and the hall went silent. He hadn’t said a word in a while, so when he did speak up, everyone listened.
I saw Helanie stare at him with teary eyes.
It’s not like we had a choice. If Helanie didn’t come to court to get married at the full moon, the warriors would arrest her, and a war would break out. We would fight for her without caring what we’d lose in the process. But in the end, we might lose Helanie, because we’d be outnumbered. Even though Sage, Rudy, and Penn were on Helanie’s side, their pack would be too scared to go against the council and so many other packs.
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