CHAPTER 4: THE JUDGEMENT
1131 Words
ARIA’S POV
The rogues had left, but Alpha Darius wolf was still killing anything in its way, including pack members. The Warriors tried to restrain him, shouting his name, but he couldn’t hear them.
Grief had shattered his mind.
“Sedatives!” my dad yelled. “Now!
It took all of them to bring him down. When he finally collapsed, he was tied up and taken into the pack house
“Bodies lay everywhere.”
My best friend was gone. The luna was dead and half of our warriors had fallen.
Hours later, while the pack mourns and prepares to bury the dead.
I worked beside my father in silence, helping the injured, as the daughter of a pack doctor, I was a bit skilled in medicine.
Then some warrior rushed and looked around in search of something or perhaps someone,
“Seize her.” The beta voice was laced with fury.
Hands grabbed me roughly from behind.
My father moved instantly. “Get away from her!”
He didn’t shout often, when he did, it meant fear had already taken root.
Warriors flooded the place. I barely had time to breathe before I was dragged forward. My feet scraped against the floor.
“She’s a traitor! Someone yelled.
“A spy!”
Those words struck hard. I tried to defend myself, to say something, but I didn’t know what to say or why they thought I was a spy.
My father fought them; I saw him hit the ground under the weight of too many bodies. His face turned red as they pinned him down.
“Aria!” he shouted.
That was the last thing I heard before they pulled me away.
The pack buried its dead that day. I watch from chains. Wolves cried openly. Howl tore through the sky as bodies were lowered into the earth. Ezra among them. The Luna and warriors I had grown up with.
Mooncrest looked hollow.
The alpha never appeared. They said he had locked himself inside since Luna’s death, and he no longer spoke.
By sunset, a new order was announced.
The alpha heir had taken command. Not because he was ready but the pack was desperate.
They threw me into the holding cells beneath the training ground. It was dark and cold.
Days passed, and no one came,it was as if I had been forgotten.
Then my father came. He knelt in front of my chains, hands shaking as he worked the locks.
“I will get you out,” he whispered. “You run. Don’t look back.”
My throat felt dry
“I didn’t do anything, “I said.
“I know.”
The door creaked.
A voice thundered through the room.
“Traitors breed traitors.”
Alpha Dauris. My father turned.
“Please,” he said. “She’s innocent.”
There was no answer, only rage.
My father shouted; Aria run.
I moved, but when I got to the door, I turned back, and I saw the alpha paws in my father’s chest.
I screamed his name as everything happened too fast.
When I hit the ground, my voice was gone.
Cold water burned my skin. I woke up choking, dragged upright by my hair.
They dragged me through the hall, through the open space where the pack gathered. I was forced to my knees. Chains bit into my wrist and ankles. Eyes followed me, they were full of judgment and hatred.
The new alpha stepped forward, voice calm and cold.
“Aria Jareth stands accused of conspiring with rogues,” he announced. “Of leading them into our pack.
Gasps spread through from the crowd.
Evidence was presented against me. Broken words twisted into lies.
Someone testified they saw me near the boundary. Another swore I met with my lover in the forest.
Each lies stacked neatly on the next. I searched their faces for mercy but found none.
Then the former alpha spoke. Rage and grief burned in his eyes.
“I regret allowing her mother into this pack, “he said, voice shaking with fury.
“She arrived pregnant. Unclaimed and Dirty.”
The crowd murmured.
“She was a curse, " he continued. “And this one, she’s worse. Darkness followed her after birth.
My mind tilted
“What?” I whispered.
“You are not his,” he spat. “You never were”
I struggled to breathe.
Judgement had been passed; the crowd stoned me in anger.
I curled inward, protecting what little of me remained. My battered body was roughly dragged back into the dungeon.
Inside I let the tears I had held fall freely. My father had died protecting me, even when I wasn’t his. It would have been me not him, if I die now, then his sacrifice would mean nothing.
I heard footsteps return. Liora, the new Luna of the pack.
She smiled.
“You really thought you mattered?” She said softly. “I planned everything.”
My heart cracked.
After the mating ceremony, I was looking for ways to get rid of you, then the attack happened. I thought, why not make you responsible for the misery that befalls us all?
She leaned closer. “You don’t get to die yet.”
She turned away and the door was slammed shut.
Darkness closed in. I pressed my forehead to the stone.
Then the dungeon door opened without a sound.
Unknown men masked in black, their faces covered. There were three in numbers; they rushed towards me and tried to take off my shirt. I fought as hard as I could. The bearded one slapped me on the cheek and hit me until I couldn’t move. I was limp.
Then he tried to take off my shorts again, but this time, I had no fight left in me.
A growl was heard behind us, I couldn’t see who it was. My face was swollen and covered in blood.
They were screaming and then silence.
Then he walked close to me and kicked my stomach. Calling me a w***e.
At that moment, I knew it was Alpha Kaius; hatred radiated off him.
You are a worthless piece of trash and I would enjoy breaking you, he said.
You would beg for me to grant you death.
Tears finally came, the night was endlessly silent. “If there is mercy left in this world,” I whispered to the darkness, “Let me die.”
I close my eyes. And wished more than I had ever wished for anything.
To join them.
I woke up to the sound of footsteps echoing above. The door creaked open, and light spilt into the darkness.
I didn’t lift my head. I didn’t care, because whatever came next, couldn’t hurt more than living.
- Writer
