Silence.
Clearly they didn’t know how much I could rile Dastien.
“That’s what I thought. Before you decide willy-nilly to kill off what could be a couple of our greatest leaders, think about who is manipulating you into this. About why we’re here. Don’t be a bunch of fuckin’ morons.”
I wanted to high-five Dono, but that wouldn’t make our case look any better. I didn’t dare blink. My heart was beating so fast that I couldn’t feel my limbs. I was on the verge of passing out, but I stayed on my feet.
As Donovan continued to speak, I thought for a second that everything would be fine. We’d get through it after all.
Then Imogene stepped in front of the dais to speak, her back to us. I glanced at Dastien.
Did you know she’d be speaking?
I wasn’t sure. Since she’s part of the reason we’re here, I knew there was a good chance.
Thanks for sharing the info.
As usual, Imogene looked like she’d stepped out of the pages of a magazine. Her hair flowed down her back in perfectly curled waves. Her white silk blouse didn’t have a hint of a wrinkle on it. I always wished I looked as nice as that, but never managed to drum up the effort to make it happen.
“I always thought I’d end up with Dastien,” Imogene said, and I gritted my teeth. It was going to take some major self-control not to attack her. “We’d talked about it for years, so I was surprised when I found out that he’d bitten Tessa. I mean, why her? Why choose her instead of me, when we’d been so close for so long?”
She actually had a tear rolling down her cheek. I glanced around and saw that some of the alphas were nodding. Everyone had assumed that her and Dastien would be mated by now.
They were eating out of the palm of her conniving little hand. This so wasn’t good.
“And then it hit me.” Imogene spun to face me. “She’s part witch. She had to have done something to enspell Dastien. I mean, right? It was the only answer. So, I went digging in her locker.”
I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid. I’d defended her. I’d accepted her apology. I’d even told the pack we shouldn’t kick her out, and all along she’d been gearing up for this?
Anger swelled inside me and until my skin felt too tight and itchy.
Dastien’s hand squeezed mine. Don’t. You can’t lose your cool now. We still have to get through Luciana’s speech.
Okay. Okay. I’m trying. But shit. Did you know about this?
No. The word rang in my head was more growl than voice.
“When she caught me and I asked about the spell, well, she tried to rip my throat out. Needless to say, I almost didn’t survive. Keep that in mind. She’s powerful. Really powerful. And that’s dangerous.”
I swallowed down the anger. That bitch was going down.
“I propose that she be separated from the pack for a period of time while we find out why one of our greatest alphas bit her. He risked his life by breaking the rules. No Were would ever do that unless they weren’t in their right mind. Only time apart can help us assess the state of Dastien, our next true leader.” No one cheered or clapped, but Imogene went back to her place and sat down with her head held high, like she’d won the day.
It was official. I fucking hated that bitch.
Mr. Dawson stood back up. “At this point, we’re going to pause for a moment while the Coven is escorted to the Tribunal grounds. They’ve been allowed three minutes to speak and have agreed to leave us as soon as they’re done. I’d like to remind all the alphas deciding today and the pack members watching to take what they say with a grain of salt. This is the coven that nearly killed Donovan’s Meredith.”
I cracked my knuckles as we waited for Luciana to make her appearance. I had some things to say about Imogene. Maybe I should even draw charges up on her. She’d tried to kill me, too. Or was everyone just going to forget about that part?
The crowd cleared a path and three guys dressed all in black led the coven’s representatives toward the firepit. Luciana walked at the front of a group of five, and all of them were dressed in white. Her hands weren’t glowing today, but the way she carried herself—head high, shoulders back—told me that she felt confident. That arrogance of hers always rubbed me the wrong way.
Who was I kidding? Everything about her rubbed me the wrong way.
“Luciana. As stated, you’ve got your time. Sophia Hoel is responsible for your behavior. Anything goes wrong and it’s on your head.” He said the last to Sophia, who stepped down to stand beside Luciana.