Chapter 13
1006 Words
Chapter Thirteen – The Weight of Judgment
Christa’s P.O.V.
Sleep never came.
Every time I closed my eyes, I heard it.
One shot.
Short.
Clean.
Final.
I had ordered executions before.
Rogue wolves.
Murderers.
Traitors.
Enemies who had crossed into DeL Sol with blood already staining their hands.
Harlan hadn’t been any of those things.
He’d been careless.
Fearful.
Loyal.
And now…
He was dead.
I slipped quietly from our bed, careful not to wake Carlos.
The Alpha House was silent.
Most of the lights had been extinguished hours ago.
Only the moon spilled through the long windows, painting silver across polished floors that had carried generations of Riveras before me.
I wandered without direction.
Or maybe…
I knew exactly where I was going.
The west courtyard.
The cold night air met me as I stepped outside.
Ricardo and Ramiro were waiting.
Neither of them spoke.
They didn’t have to.
The job was done.
Ramiro reached into his coat and held out a small leather pouch.
Inside rested Harlan’s Alpha pendant.
The wolf insignia glinted beneath the moonlight.
I stared at it for a long moment before taking it into my hand.
It felt heavier than it should have.
“His wife?” I asked quietly.
Ricardo answered first.
“She’ll receive his full salary for the rest of her life.”
Ramiro nodded.
“The house is paid for.”
“The children?”
“They’ll never want for anything.”
I closed my fingers around the pendant.
“And they will never know shame because of what happened tonight.”
Both twins nodded.
“As you command.”
I finally looked at them.
“You carried out my sentence.”
Neither man flinched.
Ricardo spoke softly.
“We carried out our Alpha’s judgment.”
There was a difference.
A difference only the three of us understood.
I dismissed them with a nod.
They disappeared into the darkness together, just as they had a thousand times before.
For a long while…
I stood alone.
The moon hung high above DeL Sol.
Once, I had believed moonlight washed away blood.
Enrique used to tell me that.
“Morning doesn’t care what happened in the dark.”
He was wrong.
Morning remembered everything.
So did I.
⸻
The Alpha Library smelled of old paper and cedar.
I hadn’t realized I’d walked there until I pushed open the door.
Rows of ancient books surrounded me.
Histories.
Wars.
Treaties.
Prophecies.
The story of every Alpha who had come before us.
I sat in the chair Carlos had occupied years ago when he first began teaching me what it meant to lead.
I was twenty-four.
Stubborn.
Impatient.
Convinced strength alone made an Alpha.
Carlos had smiled every time I argued with him.
He’d always known I’d understand eventually.
The library door creaked open.
“I wondered where you went.”
Carlos.
He crossed the room without waiting for an invitation and sat beside me.
His eyes fell to my hand.
The leather pouch.
He didn’t ask where it came from.
He already knew.
For several minutes, we sat in silence.
Finally, he spoke.
“Are you carrying Harlan’s burden…”
He looked at me.
“…or your own?”
I let out a slow breath.
“I ordered his death.”
“You ordered judgment.”
“I signed his family’s life into grief.”
Carlos pulled me into his lap , he brushed my hair away to expose my neck and shoulder i relaxed into him he traced along his mark on my shoulder tenderly and contincontinued to speak.
“So did I.”
I looked at him.
He met my eyes without hesitation.
“I could have stopped you.”
“But I didn’t.”
Silence settled between us again.
“I keep asking myself if I crossed a line tonight.”
Carlos didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he asked the question I wasn’t prepared for.
“Why did you sentence him?”
“Because he endangered Anna.”
“That’s the answer you gave your family.”
His voice remained gentle.
“I’m asking my wife.”
I closed my eyes.
The truth hurt.
“Because I am afraid.”
The words barely escaped my lips.
“I’m afraid if I showed mercy…”
“…someone else would decide my daughter’s life was a story worth repeating.”
Carlos nodded slowly.
“I know.”
“I sounded like him tonight.”
He frowned.
“Who?”
“My father.”
The words echoed through the library.
“I heard Enrique in my own voice.”
Carlos reached over and took my hand.
His thumb rested against my knuckles.
“Enrique ruled through fear.”
I swallowed.
“So did I.”
“No.”
His answer came instantly.
“You feared for your family.”
“He wanted others to fear him.”
I looked away.
“It doesn’t feel different.”
Carlos gently squeezed my hand.
“Every Alpha remembers the first life they sentence.”
His eyes drifted to the pouch in my palm.
“The dangerous ones…”
He paused.
“…are the ones who stop remembering.”
Tears blurred my vision.
I blinked them away before they could fall.
A sharp knock interrupted the silence.
Neither of us answered.
Maria entered anyway.
That alone told me something was wrong.
She held three sealed envelopes in one hand.
Her face was pale.
“They’ve arrived.”
Carlos stood.
“The Council?”
Maria nodded.
“They weren’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow.”
“They changed their plans.”
She laid the envelopes on the table.
“Every Alpha.”
“Every Luna.”
“They’re all here.”
Outside the library windows, headlights climbed the mountain road one after another.
Black SUVs.
Silver Peak.
Shadow Veil.
Crimson Ridge.
Blue Moon.
Iron Fang.
The Council of Alphas had come to DeL Sol.
And somehow…
I knew they weren’t here because of strange magic anymore.
They were here because of my daughter.
“f**k”
- Writer
