Fated to the Warrior Wolf (The Hunted Omegas #3)

42. Leigh

FORTY-TWO

Leigh

B rielle’s sharp intake of breath at the witness’s admission had me wishing I was closer so I could lean my shoulder into hers and give her my support. But she sat straight as an arrow, the perfect picture of a high alpha mate, unerring in her support of Kane as he went through what had to be one of the hardest moments of his life.

Frankly, I didn’t know how he was keeping his shit together. He was less than ten feet from the man who’d ordered his parents’ deaths. I’d have ripped his head off in that chalet they picked him up from and been done with it.

But that was one of the many reasons I wasn’t high alpha.

“Please tell us what you know, Rudi,” Reed asked the witness.

The man cleared his throat and adjusted the neck of his shirt, glancing nervously at his own Alpha, who was still enduring the silver burns to snatch at his restraints.

I could smell the fear rolling off the witness as much as the fury boiling off Varga. It made my wolf itchy, and I was working hard not to shift in my seat. She was on high alert because of Petal and was taking no threats lightly. Emotionally charged males a few feet away? Threat. Sweat beaded on my forehead from the effort.

“It is not in my nature to question my Alpha, but when I received Reed’s request on behalf of the high alpha, I took it very seriously. At first, I found nothing untoward. And I was prepared to stand here today and say that. However, the more I dug, the more I found issues with the pack’s accounts. Alpha Varga’s personal funds were being intermingled, which is not supposed to happen. Once I dug further, I realized why. He was trying to cover up a large outflow.”

He fumbled a little as he pulled out a thick stack of papers from the breast pocket of his coat, folded in half to fit inside the pocket. He smoothed them carefully twice before tentatively extending them toward Kane.

Kane nodded as he took the stack, quickly reading the evidence presented before passing it to Reed.

“This matches what our analysts found. One hundred million dollars, deposited into the account of the Drakenia guild.”

A strangled grunt came from Varga, but I didn’t spare him a glance.

This is it, this is where we get justice.

“Yes, that is correct. I’ve also spoken to his personal secretary, Alice, who was as dismayed as I that the Hungarian pack name has been besmirched by our own Alpha, and we hope that our full cooperation will prove to everyone that the entire pack was not embroiled in this disgraceful scheme. She was able to provide me with another piece of information. If you’ll flip to the last page, there…” Rudi gestured to the stack, and Reed quickly did as he suggested, his grim expression as he read telling.

“It’s an email from the personal account of Alpha Varga,” Reed said, casting Kane a questioning glance. Asking permission ?

“Read it aloud,” Kane ordered, shifting from foot to foot. It was the only tiny sign of agitation he’d allowed to slip through.

“‘We need it done before his son finds a mate, while the line is still weak. I’m willing to pay the rush fee to move to the top of the line. Just take care of the bastard.’ It’s addressed to Gallagher, the founder of the Drakenia Assassin’s Guild. Further down, it references your father by name.”

Chaos exploded in the crowd, and I leapt to my feet, turning so I could see the stage and the crowd. Dirge and Shay were up a second later, fanning out with me to keep an eye on things. A shoe went flying toward the stage, pegging Varga in the knee before bouncing away and landing with a thud.

But before people could descend into complete anarchy, Kane bellowed, “Enough! Sit down!” As quickly as the ruckus started, the gathered wolves went deathly still as his dominance squashed us all toward the earth.

My knees buckled at the command, and in between heartbeats, I was in the grass, next to a wide-eyed Shay.

Kane turned toward Rudi and shocked the shit out of me when he gave the weaker male a formal bow. “Rudolph of the Hungarian pack, you have my gratitude for your bravery in coming forward with the evidence we needed to solve my parents’ murder. You and your family are now under my protection, and no retaliation will be tolerated. Reed will see to it that you’re made comfortable and help you and Alice both find a new position within one of our other packs if you so choose.”

Rudi nodded, knees quaking as he looked out over the subdued crowd. “Thank you, High Alpha. We will accept a new posting.”

Kane nodded and waved for Reed to see the man off the stage. As they walked back into the woods, Kane turned somber eyes on us.

“You have heard it alongside me, and I, Kane, son of Kosta, son of Konstantin, high alpha of the nine great packs, find Alpha Varga guilty of murder and high treason, and sentence him to death in the manner of his choosing.”

I held my breath as he spun on his heel, stalking across to Varga and ripping the gag from his mouth.

“You spineless bastard!” Varga snarled, but Kane held up a hand, and I swear to the Goddess, I saw the power crackle between him and Varga, pinning the weaker alpha to the seat.

“Enough. You have your choice. Death by challenge against my second, or by injection. Choose wisely.”

I felt a little light-headed as I processed what he’d just said.

Challenge against his second means Gael. Please, no . I hadn’t let myself look at him, not once since we’d been sitting here, which was hard because he was right there next to Kane. But I couldn’t. I was angry, and disappointed, and… I couldn’t even name all the emotions. There were too many, and it was all one big, angry tangle in my stomach.

I’d swear that was the source of my constant nausea if I didn’t know better.

And if I let myself look at him, I’d remember all the kind things he’d done for me and Petal. I wasn’t ready yet. I needed to stay strong and not accept less than what I deserved. What Petal deserved. I had to let go of that weak woman who took shit from men because I felt like I was unworthy as a half human.

But with him in danger… I looked.

And Goddess damn it all, he was gorgeous. He stood tall and proud, arms crossed and biceps popping in his enforcer uniform. The formfitting black shirt emphasized every line of his stacked muscles, and the heavy black cargos couldn’t hide his powerful thighs.

But it was more than just muscles. His eyes were sharp, his aura powerful, and even though I knew it was a stretch at this distance, I swore I could get a tiny hit of his scent. That little twinge of musk and ylang-ylang that nobody else but me could smell as his mate made me want to leap onto the stage and climb him like a tree.

We’re not doing that shit. He can be hot as hell and stay over there, and you can shut the fuck up, ovaries.

My ovaries were definitely not going to shut up. But I’d ignore the traitorous organs and stick to my guns.

Even still, seeing him standing tall and proud settled something inside me, something primal and deeply buried. He was fine. And Varga might have been a threat when he was throwing around an unseemly amount of money to pay off a magical assassin, but one-on-one, I believed Gael could wipe the floor with him.

I twisted my ring around my finger and forced myself to look back at Varga. He was grumbling as he twisted in his restraints, as if he was trying unsuccessfully to spew more venom at Kane, but the words couldn’t quite make it out.

“Failure to choose defaults to wolfsbane. Is that what you want?”

Varga’s eyes glowed, and he thrashed harder before finally going limp against the rough seat back. “No. I choose the challenge.”

“So let it be,” Kane said, turning his back on the other wolf. His eyes glowed, I noticed, for the first time during the trial, evidence of how loose his grip was on his wolf now that the decision had been made.

“It’s going to be okay,” Shay whispered, gripping my fingers and making me stop twisting the ring. “Dirge says Gael’s a really good fighter, just as good as him. Though he didn’t want to admit that until I pressed.”

“You knew he might have to fight?”

She nodded, giving me an apologetic look. “Dirge told me this morning it was one or the other. I figured Varga was cowardly enough to take the injection, though. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just didn’t want you to worry if it wasn’t going to happen anyway. You’ve had enough happen in the last few days. You didn’t need this too.”

I bit my bottom lip and nodded, looking away. I wasn’t mad—she was right that I would have just stressed about it, and I’d had my fill of that. And then some. “He’s going to be fine.”

“Yes, he is,” she agreed, squeezing my fingers and leaning in closer so our shoulders touched.

“Anyone who does not want to witness the execution should leave now. It will begin as soon as the stage is cleared,” Kane announced, stepping off to the side of the stage as several members of Pack Caelestis swarmed around, clearing extra chairs and the microphone.

“Do you want to go? Oli and I can go with you. Dirge and Bri have to stay, but you don’t have to watch if you don’t want to. With everything that’s happened?—”

“No, I’m staying. I can’t— I can’t just leave. He’s still my mate.” The words felt right, even though I surprised myself by saying them.

“Well, then, make some room on that grass,” Brielle said, squeezing in next to me and dragging Olivia down with us. “Because we’re sitting with you.” I caught Dirge smirking as he stood guard over us, but he wisely didn’t comment as we formed a semicircle on the grass.

“How’s Kane holding up?” I asked Bri, desperate for a distraction from the sounds of metal chair legs scraping wood and what would happen when it stopped.

“It’s tough, but he’s tougher,” she said with a grimace. “I’m doing my best to soothe him through the bond, but his wolf wants to be the one to challenge Varga. It’s killing him to have to follow tribunal procedures.”

I grunted agreement, understanding perfectly. Humans didn’t like getting their hands dirty, for the most part. But the wolves inside us didn’t see things that way. It was kill or be killed. Survival of the pack. Varga was a danger to everything Kane held dear, and his wolf wanted to wipe it off the face of the earth.

My own alpha instincts agreed.

The noise stopped, and everyone in the crowd seemed to hold their breath as the last person stepped off the stage.

Only Gael stood at the center, and he’d stripped off his shirt as the stage was being cleared. He seemed to glow under the lights, or maybe my wolf just saw him that way. She preened at the sight of him, but my human side was filled with worry. Even though I was sure he would win, I still didn’t want to watch him get hurt in the process. Varga had an axe to grind, and Gael was going to get the brunt of that.

I clutched Shay’s hand, Bri grabbed my other, and Olivia dropped a hand on my shoulder as we all waited in silence for the challenge to begin.

Sergei stood next to Varga strapped in the chair, and I closed my eyes briefly when Gael signaled with two fingers for Sergei to release him.

When I opened them, I wasn’t prepared for the gut punch that was Gael, staring straight into my soul. The distance between us vanished, the stage, the crowd, my best friends… all of them faded to nothing. I was so tangled up in him, I was never going to get free.

I felt like I should say something, acknowledge him in some way before the challenge started. We didn’t have the mate bond yet, but…

Stay safe. I mouthed the words.

He nodded, every muscle in his body tight with intensity, and then turned all that laser focus on Varga. I fought the urge to close my eyes again as the last restraint slipped free.