Beyond Fate

Punishment

( Mitchell pov)

I ran my hands over my face wiping away the droplets of water that were there looking at the tired male that was staring back at me. The attack on Alisha Clayton had happened yesterday and I had barely left her side since, the truth was I was terrified to leave her through fear someone would come back to hurt her. My nerves hadn't eased when Colton told me he had seen Nathan sneak out of her room last night when I’d left to check on Mina. I had scolded Colton for allowing it to happen and after that I wouldn’t leave her unless one of her family members were there with her.

Alisha’s condition had improved dramatically; she was no longer on life support and her body was healing, though it was unheard of for a wolf to heal so quickly without having a mate to help them through it. Dr Lynn was putting it down to her strong beta blood being at work.

Now I knew she was recovering I could turn my attention to the new problems at hand, unfortunately with me being focused on Alisha’s recovery it had allowed time for pack members to talk. Alisha’s attackers had been given time to relax believing there would be no repercussions for what they had done but I had given a pack wide link that a meeting would be held in the courtyard just outside the front of the pack house today. I had not given reasons why this meeting was being held but it seemed that the pack wasn’t just talking about what had happened to Alisha, they seemed to be under the impression I was to be announcing a new Luna. If such a ridiculous thing could be being talked about I had only just returned to this pack and yet the pack were already playing matchmaker.

I wasn’t a fool I knew where the rumours had stemmed from and now it was time to put everyone in their proper place. This pack had become unruly that much was for sure. If I didn’t gain control not only would I face challenges but the pack could disband and people would abandon it and seek to pledge to other packs just like the Clayton’s wanted to. I couldn’t let that happen, not when I’d already abandoned it for so many years already.

Going into my bedroom I headed straight to the wardrobe dropping the towel from my waist as I went. I'd barely gotten the door open when I heard his smug voice instantly causing me to roll my eyes.

“ Wow, put it away man I already told you you're not my type” Lucas chuckled from his usual spot in the dark corner of my room. I swear the guy preferred the shadows to the light. Ironic considering who he was.

“ I was wondering when you’d decide to make an appearance” I smiled, continuing to get dressed.

“ well I had hopped to make it back before you f****d up beyond repair but then I paid a visit to my new girlfriend in the ICU and realised that I arrived way too f*****g late” Lucas stood up pacing the room. I put my T-shirt over my head slumping back into my bed.

“ I know I screwed up man, I should have listened to you” I said, throwing my hands in the air.

“ Well the fact that your admitting it says a lot about what’s happened in my absence, I take it your father came to his senses and revealed his hand he played in everything” I looked up frowning at Lucas.

“ ok just give it a rest with the whole conspiracy act ok, my parents may have took their eye off the ball and not seen what was happening with the abuse but they wouldn’t willingly put her in danger” I reasoned I refused to believe that my father was that kind of person he would never endanger a pack member on purpose.

“ come on man wake up, there’s more to all this, they had access to a secret file that could have cleared her name from day one, her father gets booted from his position for digging, the new beta conveintely hands you a bullshit case file painting that girl as the villain in your mates death the second you touched down here and you don’t think it all sounds just a little too suspicious”. Lucas all but growled running a frustrated hand through his hair.

“ I’m going to put things right with Alisha Clayton but I won’t believe there’s something bigger going on in the pack” I shook my head not buying into his conspiracy theory. We both stood in silence for a moment before I spoke again.

“ Can you do something for me while I take care of things?” Lucas looked at me, the tiniest smirk crossing his face.

“ Does it involve ringing the scrawny neck of your new Beta?” Lucas’s smirk grew.

“ no but It does involve guarding your new girlfriend,” I grinned at him, though the words ‘girlfriend’ tasted bitter in my mouth.

“ Well why didn’t you just say so” Lucas threw his arms up chuckling.

“ I need you to stay with her till I’ve dealt with the pack, keep her safe, I don’t know who I can trust right now” Lucas nodded and headed towards the door without another word. I knew he’d keep his word and I was grateful my friend seemed to have impeccable timing as ever right when I needed him he’d appear. I got up off the bed, my beast more than ready for the fight I was sure would come from what was about to happen. Now was the time to show this pack exactly who was in charge.

( Third person pov )

Mindy sat at the counter in the kitchen pretending to work, ignoring everyone dreaming about how she would soon be AlphaMitchell’s Luna. The other omegas ran round her cleaning up before the pack meeting no one knew what the real reason was for it but word had been speeding indicating all sorts of possibilities. Mindy was certain after no one corrected her that Mitchell’s last minute meeting was to announce her as future Luna.

She wasn’t as dumb as the rest of the pack females she thought to herself. While the other females had been getting drunk and trying to dance with the new alpha at the ceremony after party she’d taken the pup to bed knowing he’d come to check on his little girl. She had been surprised that he’d been pretty intoxicated when he’d come upstairs and as she’d suspected the brat didn’t want to see him.

The alphas child adored the reject mutt she wouldn’t recover her loss quickly which had left alpha Mitchell all alone licking his wounds, the pup seemed to be his achilles heel and Mindy knew all she had to be was a shoulder to cry on, before she knew it he’d had her pinned against the wall ravaging her, he was quite a specimen even for an alpha she bit her lip remembering his hard body pressed against hers. she smiled to herself thinking about how soon she’d have him every night like that and in the day she’d rule by his side.

Everyone in the house already knew she was to be the future Luna; those who believed her already feared her; those that didn’t would find life very hard once she was crowned. Lost in her thoughts she didn’t hear someone come into the kitchen.

The other omegas noticed alpha Mitchell straight away but Mindy was in her own little world he reached for her and she gasped as he grabbed her by the throat harshly shoving her against the wall Mindy screamed knowing this was not a repeat of the last time he’d had her like this.

“ who the f**k do you think you are to disobey a direct order from your alpha” he hissed in her face angrily.

“W....W....ww.... n...n....n” Mindy stumbled over her words as fear gripped her.

“ SPEAK!!! “ he shouted, irritated by the omegas stuttering she hadn’t been lost for words when she’d disrespected him and his entire family.

“Are you a princess, a queen, an empress perhaps, because there’s no way you can be an omega, an omega wouldn’t be stupid enough to disobey a direct order from the alpha after striking his pup” he growled gripping her throat harder.

Mindy couldn’t comprehend what was happening as the other omegas looked on as the alpha had Mindy pinned to the wall by the throat not believing what their ears were hearing. surely Mindy wouldn’t do such a thing to alpha Mitchell’s pup, they all loved Mina she was the packs heart after her mother’s death Mindy had told everyone she and alpha Mitchel were lovers, she was to be marked why would she have been so stupid.

Mindy’s face was red, tears streaming down her face grasping at Mitchell’s hand as he looked at her with murderous intent. His voice warily calm as he spoke.

“ let me clear a few things up for you.... you were a f**k. not even a good one at that and you will be made an example of to anyone else in this pack that thinks they can lay a hand on my pup” his tone was more terrifying than when he’d been shouting. Everyone in the room trembled at the force of his power.

“ the rest of you report to the courtyard immediately...GO!” He shouted the last part over his shoulder to the other omegas.

They all scurried away quickly no one mentioned how the meeting had been changed to the courtyard leaving Mitchell still with Mindy pinned to the wall sobbing.

He let go allowing her to fall to the floor coughing and choking only to then grab her by the scruff dragging her out of the room through the house towards the courtyard.

Alpha Mitchell stopped at the pack house door dragging a helpless crying Mindy behind him. Waiting for the entire pack to reach the courtyard. At the last moment Alpha Mitchell had called a pack meeting, everyone was to attend no exceptions, everyone was confused but there were whispers one of the females in the pack house was to be crowned his Luna.

More confusion erupted as eight men were lead to the centre of the court yard, even more whispers erupted from the crowd. The older pack members knew why the pack was summoned to the courtyard where lashes were given, though it had been some years since they had seen it done. Alpha felix was a good pack leader but his punishments were usually mild and something wasn’t right.

Those men were being strapped to the poles in the centre of the courtyard, Alpha Mitchel dragged the whimpering omega Mindy down the steps of the pack house throwing her on the ground by the other men he looked at each one of the men seeming displeased. He had already been through the pack members working the harvest and had a clear mind about who Alisha’s attackers were but there were only eight men being bound to the poles.

He knew immediately that some were escaping justice.

“ why are there only eight males here?” He boomed not speaking to anyone in particular before his beta stepped forward.

“ sir these were the instigators I thought...” he didn’t get to finish alpha Mitchell roared at him in response reprimanding his beta in front of the crowd.

“ I gave you simple instructions to bring me the men on the list I gave you to the courtyard for punishment, so tell me what is it you miss understood?” Nathan was dumbfounded alpha Mitchell wasn’t taking any s**t and he wasn’t going to be laid back like his father, he looked out into the crowd seeing one of the ring leaders who’d had a hand in alisha’s beating he remembered the scent of her blood on him he was also the one who’d tried to challenge him.Darren.

Darren had been standing in the crowd sitting pretty smirking away thinking he’d escaped a beating and was planning to finish the job with that omega b***h but when Mitchell’s eyes landed on him his blood ran cold.

“ Do I need to find a Beta capable of following orders or are you going man up?” Mitchell glared at Nathan; he knew full well why the other men hadn’t been brought forward. Nathan was protecting them. Mitchell now knew Darren was Nathan’s female’s cousin ; he'd been testing his Beta to see the depths of his loyalty.

Mitchell had the answer that he needed about where his Beta’s true loyalties lay, with his female. Though he was surprised Nathan had disobeyed a direct order so publicly.

It was silent as the two men stared at each other. It was a tense moment everyone knew if Nathan didn’t obey it would be a challenge to the alpha the two men would fight although submission was what was normal these days in a fight the alpha looked ready to kill.

Nathan held Mitchell’s gaze for a moment he wanted to be a good Beta but Kelly had gone crazy that her family would face a lashing for beating in her words the ‘rejected mutt’ almost to death her argument had been that she was still alive but Nathan had been stunned when he’d seen alisha's battered body he knew any longer and she’d be dead for sure, his heart had broken. he’d gone back to the hospital after Mitchell had left to check on her again. Seeing that her beautiful body had been so broken he cried as he held her hand telling her how sorry he was. Then Kelly had mind linked him about the lashings he wanted to please her but he knew he couldn’t go against the alpha.

Mitchell’s gaze was murderous he was ready to fight he’d known there was a chance he’d face challenges today though he hadn’t wanted to start with his new beta but he stood firm unmoving he’d let his pack manipulate him already he needed to show he was not his father and he would not tolerate such behaviour towards a pack member.

Nathan turned to the warriors at the front of the crowd and nodded his head towards the two men that were a part of Kelly’s family.

There were a few cry’s as they moved through the crowd bringing the other two men forward strapping them to posts. Darren looked terrified as they chained his hands, his father’s expression remained indifferent like this wasn’t his first lashing. he’d been certain in the omega deserving of her fate he was only sorry she wasn’t dead.

After seeing the failure in his Beta, Mitchell mind linked several warriors himself ordering them to collect the following wolves that were working at the harvest. More cries and screams rang out as people were removed from the crowd, some young some old but all had been witness to the brutality of Alisha’s treatment the other day and not one had tried to stop it therefore in Mitchell’s eyes they were all guilty.

The people pulled from the crowd were gathered towards the front in a small group looking around in fear, although they knew their punishment would not be as server as a lashing they would not escape justice. When everyone was in place Alpha Mitchell began to speak.

“ There is a reason you have all been brought here today some of you seem to think that you have the right to run around dealing your own version of justice to certain pack members you deem fit for it..... well you are wrong, a group of men that beat a female how ever deserving they think she is of it is not justice nor acceptable it is cowardice and it will not be tolerated from this moment on. any abuse, any beatings given within my pack will be dealt with as such” alpha Mitchell gestures towards the men now strapped to the posts.

“ you are a pack and you work as one, you live as one and you die as one, if you wish to act like wild beasts feel free to leave the territory and become a rouge.... if you are part of this pack you will respect the order” no one spoke the crowd was deathly silent.

“ these men before you stand here guilty to the attempted murder of a pack member, 30 lashes and immediate banishment” gasps rang out through the crowd it was unheard of to receive lashes these days but to receive 30 was brutal and to then be banished but alpha Mitchell had a point to make. He would not go easy on his pack any more.

“That's per male in case you're thinking of bending the rules again Beta” Alpha Mitchell glared in Nathan’s direction using his title showing he meant business alpha Mitchel then turned and nodded to the wolf behind the males holding the whip. It was laced with silver and dipped in wolfsbane; it would drain the wolf completely so the men wouldn’t heal straight away, the silver was to scar the skin serving as a reminder for what they’d done.

women from the crowd screamed and cried for their males on the poles.

Kelly shouted insults to Nathan for allowing it to happen. The male pulled back his whip and began carrying out the punishment. Some of the males stood by and took it, some of the younger ones cried and begged, others started out tough but were screaming before ten lashes, either way they were all unconscious by the end once their sentence were carried out the males were removed to be taken to the hospital to have their wounds dressed before they would be banished from the pack.

Alpha Mitchel was unmoving the entire time. When the punishments were served the crowd waited for him to dismiss them. They were learning fast, he thought to himself. However he didn’t dismiss them, instead he turned to the small crowd of wolves that he had earlier removed from the main crowd.

“As for you, who stood by and did nothing but watch as those ex pack members brutalised that young woman, you will all spend two weeks in the isolation cabins” screams and cries sounded out within the crowd children cried for their parents, mates did the same for their partner they would now be separated from for the next fourteen days.

Isolation away from the pack was no joke especially for wolves with mates. Wolves weren't like humans who could go for long periods of time alone, a wolf alone for long periods of time could go insane without their pack. That was why most rouge wolves ended up so violent and ruthless as a species they needed to be part of a group.

“ for anyone that thinks my actions are too harsh, I wish to expose a crime against one Alisha clayton” the crowd murmured with disapproving looks no one in the pack liked hearing of the female.

“ I don’t just mean to the crime of attempted murder on Alisha Clayton, this crime I speak of accrued three years ago on the day of the attacks against my mate Rose Smith”

“ I have here the witness statements from my mate Rose, that statement will be made accessible to any pack members that wish to see it, that it clearly states in my mates own words that Alisha Clayton did her duty and protected her future Luna from the rouge attack. Alisha Clayton saved the life of my mate rose and also our pup Mina, Alisha herself was almost killed during the attack but upheld her duty to protect her Luna, the hate and abuse miss Clayton has suffered the last few years has been unjustified and will no longer be tolerated” Mitchell took the file in his hand waving it in the air for everyone to see.

“ Should any of you wish to take any more disgusting actions against a pack member that should have been hailed a hero for the past three years, the punishments will be severe” after Mitchell spoke he nodded to the small crowd who now looked like they were going to be violently sick. They were all led away by warriors towards the isolation cabins on the outskirts of the pack, their loved ones cried as they were led away.

Nathan stood unmoving just as the others, of course he knew the rumours about Alisha had been lies he had aided most of them. He hadn’t meant for anything so awful to happen to Alisha; he had underestimated how well thought of Rose was amongst the pack or the influence alpha Felix had on Alisha’s safety; he may be an aging man now but his reputation had kept her safe. The guilt of the harm he alone had caused her was beginning to overwhelm him. He had just wanted her back.

“ one other thing, I feel deeply ashamed that it even should need to be addressed, but it was brought to my attention that a rumour seems to have spread about my personal life, in particular the recent revelation that I was taking a new Luna... to which even I had no knowledge of.” People began to speak within the crowd again, many eyes going to the young woman still lay on the ground where alpha Mitchell had put her.

“ I know many of you have questions so let me take this opportunity to set the record straight I have and will always have only one true mate I am aware that I have no male heir when the time comes a female will be chosen to bare that heir but make no mistake she will not be my mate and she will not be my Luna.... NO one will ever fill the spot of our beloved heart” eyes darted to the still sobbing Mindy on the ground just in front of him.

“ that is all that shall be said on the matter” Mitchell waited before he spoke again his mind conflicted but he now knew he had no choice given the severity of the situation.

“ The other more disturbing matter brought to my attention is the assault that took place not just on a pack member but also on our pack's alpha pup, my daughter Mina” gasps sounded out through the entire pack.

“ let me make myself perfectly clear, any assault against my family will be met with swift justice” Mitchell stalked towards Mindy she turned to him on her hands and knees ready to beg for her life but it was too late, Mitchell’s claws extended slicing clean across her throat her eyes remained in the stunned expression as she fell to the floor dead.

“ Now leave, take the lessons of today as a warning” the crowd silently dispersed. No one dared say anything, not even Nathan spoke, he just walked away silently to arrange people to have Mindy’s body removed. Mitchell stayed rooted to the ground seeing the body of the young omega at his feet, her blonde hair now soaked in the blood pooling from the open gash on her throat.

After a few minutes Mitchell finally turned back towards the house seeing his parents for the first time they seemed shocked too but they never said a word they knew it had needed to be done an omega that disobeyed an alphas direct orders and assaulted the alphas pup was a dangerous wolf to have in the pack.

The truth was Mitchell hadn’t intended to kill her when he’d first dragged her out the house she was to be lashed with the rest but when Nathan had also disobeyed his direct order in favour of protecting his female’s family he knew he’d needed to make an example of her it was better to rule by fear than nothing at all.

It hadn’t been what he’d wanted his parents knew that but the simple fact remained the pack didn’t take him as a serious leader yet, he’d abandoned the pack for years, he had no connections with any of them anymore and his beta undermined him at every turn alpha Mitchell hoped that in time he could gain their admiration and respect but for now fear would do.

As he reached the stairs before receiving a mind link from Colton.

Alpha, it’s Alisha she’s awake.