Rejected Luna: Untamed Desire Of The Lycan Alpha-Chapter 408: Council Hearing

"She is not coming."

Killian looked at the panel in front of him. This was the third time they had invited Inez to come and go through the formalities, and he had refused it for the third time as well. He hated the council with a passion, and what he hated even more was these elders who believed that they ran the world just because they were sitting in high chairs.

He glanced at Seth, who was rubbing his forehead with a hint of tiredness. Of course, he was; he had told him that he should only speak when he was supposed to, but Killian just couldn’t keep his tone polite and his words to a bare minimum when he heard the elders call Inez a criminal.

"Alpha Sokolov—"

"She is not coming," Killian repeated, this time more assertively. His words echoed longer than they should, as though the chamber where he was sitting itself was resisting accepting his words.

One of the elders leaned forward, his fingers heavy with the many jewelled rings, tapping against the edge of the long, U-shaped table. He said in a heavy tone, "She cannot refuse a council summons, Alpha Sokolov. Not after what she has done."

"And what has she done?" Killian asked, his voice coming from within his chest, carrying a deep rumble. His beast stirred beneath his skin. He was pacing, snarling at the implication that was woven into the tone of the elder.

’What she has done’

. As if the truth of the Silver Dawn pack, what he and his pack saw in that old warehouse, the amorphous and the witch named Morga didn’t even exist. As if the report that he sent to them went down an abyss from which it could never be fetched. He knew that this was going to happen, and it was a good thing that he didn’t bring Inez with him, or else they would have executed her without even a trial.

He reached out to cup the back of his neck and pulled the small hair tightly. He was furious, angry and frustrated with how things were going at the moment, and yet there was nothing he could do. He pursed his lips and said, "Inez has done nothing. Not a single crime was committed by her. She is as innocent as you all—" A pause, before he continued, "In fact, she is more innocent than all of you, and I will not be dragging her like a criminal just to satisfy your thirst for blood." He added in a flat voice.

’Calm down,’ his beast commanded inside his head and yet Killian couldn’t do even that. At that very moment, he missed Inez and wished he could breathe deeply to experience her scent a little. Till now, he hadn’t truly appreciated how good she smelled. But now he did. He was seriously going through a withdrawal, and it was not good.

A murmur ripped through the panel—some feigned shock; others, however, were barely masking their satisfaction, as if Killian had just done what they had been waiting for him to do. They had expected him to show defiance. He wouldn’t be Killian Sokolov if he didn’t defy the order. He had always done this.

"You stand before us," another elder said angrily, his voice as sharp as broken glass. "And yet you defend a woman who is accused of murdering a luna."

Killian’s eyes flashed as his beast surged to the surface. "That’s where the focus lies," he said. "She is accused and not proven guilty. You all might have heard this, right? Innocent until proven guilty."

Across the chambers, Seth let out a low breath. His hand was still pressed on his forehead. Killian could feel the head of the council’s unease like a second heartbeat. Seth, just like Killian, knew that the panel had already come to a verdict, despite the report that had been presented in front of them. He also had a feeling that despite the fact that he was supposed to stay out of this hearing, he had to intervene lest the council building was burnt down just like the prison.

He sighed, wondering how this hearing ended up like this.

But then again—

When has truth ever stood a chance?

"The widowed Alpha demands justice," the elder on the far right spoke in a dignified sort of voice. His gaze slid towards Killian with mock sympathy, and he said to him, "And we have no choice but to serve it. Whether you cooperate with it or not."

Killian curled his hands into fists.

He knew that Remy was not going to accept the death of his mate easily. He didn’t care about the inconsistencies or the evidence that he had presented in front of him. He had only looked at Inez and saw a soft target that he could use to pour out all his grief and rage.

And when his grief alone was not enough, he even used the green bills.

Killian could smell it on the elders now. Not the smell of the monetary bills themselves but the reek of greed.

"How much did he pay you guys?" Killian asked quietly.

Silence slammed down at once.

Seth’s head snapped up, and he looked at Killian in shock. On the other side, the elders looked at Killian as if they had never seen anything like him before. Some of them were simply outraged, while others were busy hiding their guilt.

"This is one serious accusation. Especially after you have killed countless enforcers of the council—"

"Save it," Killian cut in. His voice dropped by several degrees, turning lethal and cold. "You want her dead because it’s a motherfucking convenient choice. Because Remy wants my mate to be dead to lay his vengeance on. And none of you care about who killed the luna, even when the evidence lies right under your noses. You only care about shutting down this noise because that way you can bury your heads back in the sand and ignore the truth that the witches are back and they are getting stronger with each passing day while you all SLEEP!"