“You’ll have our cooperation and we will keep our wolves under control for the trial, Mr. Chairman,” Charles said evenly. “His punishment is ours by right. Her mate’s family was wiped out in the attack.”
“IF he is found guilty, then we will consider your request,” Erik said. “Now relax and try to enjoy the flight.” He got up and moved back to where the Council enforcers sat. One would stay with him as a bodyguard, and he detailed each of the other three to shadow one of the Adirondack Pack leaders.
The trial would be tonight, and the truth would finally come out.
Chairman Erik walked into the Alpha’s conference room at the Bitterroot Pack House and sat at the head of the table. To his left were the two North American Council members, Craig Forrest and Royce Waterman. Together, the three would be the judges and jury of tonight’s trials. He left the Adirondack Pack members downstairs, they would be witnesses only. On his right, the Chief Enforcer for the Council, Mark Trestman, sat with two Alphas of adjoining territories, Colin Friendt and Randall Wright. “The Alpha and Pack leadership have been secured, sir. All have been placed in the Pack prison, with our men and men from the Cascade and Rockies Packs as guards.”
“Good,” Erik responded. The two Alphas would be important, as the penalty for what they suspected they had done could be significant. “Colin, Randall, thank you for coming and for providing security. As you have no doubt been told, no Pack member thirty years of age or older can be trusted until cleared.”
“We understand, Mr. Chairman, and will do anything required,” Alpha Colin said. “Justice will be done.”
“This justice is going to be brutal and public,” Erik said. “The extinction of the Arrowhead Pack is the largest criminal act in five centuries. I hope you brought a lot of men with you, because we will need them for crowd control.”
“Our men are at your service,” Randall said. “We have already placed them under the command of your Chief Enforcer, except the men who are our personal guards.”
Erik looked at his watch. “We will eat dinner and begin the trials promptly at seven PM in the auditorium. The proceedings and sentences will be recorded, and copies sent to every Pack as mandatory viewing. This NEVER will happen again. Generations from now, this night will still be echoing through our people.” He stood and looked over to his Chief Enforcer. “Mark, we start with the Alpha. Trials will be held in reverse rank order. All Pack members over the age of thirty will be interrogated, any found to have participated in the raid will be immediately bound and silvered. Clear?”
“It shall be as you have ordered, Mr. Chairman.”
“Let’s eat then.”
At seven precisely, Chairman Erik gaveled the proceedings to order. The hall was packed, every adult member of the Pack and many other witnesses were present. The two cameras started recording as he motioned the crowd to sit. “The trial of members of the Bitterroot Pack for the attack on the Arrowhead Pack will now come to order. I am Werewolf Council Chair Erik Gruber. To my right is North American Council Member Craig Forrest, on my left is American Council Member Royce Waterman.” He let his dominance out; the two Council members could fight it, but no wolf below the rank of Alpha could help but submit. An entire room full of werewolves would have rolled on their bellies and exposed their necks if in wolf form, instead they lowered their eyes and bowed their heads. “THERE WILL BE NO DISRUPTIONS TO THE PROCEEDINGS,” his voice thundered. “No one is to speak unless addressed by the Court, and no one is to get out of their seats unless called or the proceedings are placed on break.” He pulled his dominance back. “Bring in Alpha Todd Blackstone.”
The doors in the back opened, and two rather large men started to drag a shackled and defiant Alpha Todd forward. The silver chains around his ankles kept him from walking, and his wrists were bound behind his back. The two didn’t care, they pulled him down the aisle past the chairs filled with his Pack members and enemies.
He was glaring at both as he stood in front of the table.
Chairman Erik had a strategy for this, based on the Adirondack Pack’s desires for justice. Instead of starting with the Arrowhead Pack, he charged him with Reckless Exposure to Human Authorities, a charge punishable by death. “Alpha Blackstone, how do you plead?”
“Fuck you.” He grunted as one of his guards delivered a vicious kidney shot that dropped him to his knees.
“Guilty or not guilty,” he repeated.
“Not Guilty,” he said as he caught his breath.
“Very well. Mr. Pike, the floor is yours.”
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman.” The prosecutor was a tall man, not thin but clearly not a warrior. “Law enforcement in Minnesota has an All Points Bulletin out for a 2015 Ford Expedition, Montana plates ZBB-087. This vehicle is registered to a shell company for Alpha Blackstone’s pack.”
“Why are they looking for it,” Councilman Waterman said.
“Two nights ago, two men entered the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. As they walked towards their target, they were identified by a human victim as the two who had attacked and nearly killed her in the woods. Law enforcement responded, and both were killed in a shootout.” He clicked a button, and the projector screens around the room showed a copy of the news article. He clicked again and the photos of the two dead men were put up, and gasps of shock went through the room. Both were of the Pack, one a Beta. “The Council and the nearest Pack, the Oxbow Lake Pack, have been working tirelessly to divert police attention from leads that can lead back to this Pack. The vehicle has been driven to South Dakota and set on fire already. The police did not get a clear photo of the driver, and our assets in the FBI are helping to ensure they never get one.”
“And how does this relate to Alpha Blackstone?”
“It was the vehicle he was driving, Councilman Waterman.”
“I see. Anything else?”
“Yes sir. In the first attack on the human, the two men were accompanied by a huge, black colored wolf or wolf hybrid. Alpha Blackstone’s wolf is solid black.”
“Alpha Blackstone, what do you say in response?”
He jerked his head up. “If my men weren’t such idiots it never would have happened,” he said.
“I see.” The three of them conferred. “Alpha Blackstone, you have shifted inside a populated city and engaged in criminal acts against a human, acts which could lead to the exposure of our kind. You have been found guilty. The sentence is forfeiture of your Alpha rank and twenty years confinement.”
“YOU CAN’T DO THIS,” he screamed as his guards forced him to the ground. “I’M AN ALPHA BY BLOOD AND THIS PACK IS MINE,” he continued as one of the guards placed his knee between his shoulder blades, pinning him down.
“We can, and we will, Todd Blackstone. We live by laws that are in place to protect our kind, and we all will suffer if men like you reveal us in your reckless acts.” Kneeling in front of him, the Chairman placed his hands on each side of his head and focused his wolf on what had to be done. The Alpha bond was stripped from him, and every Pack member in the room screamed as if he had been killed. They looked up, confused, their wolves panicking as they no longer had a leader. “It is done. Return him to his cell, we will return to him after we have dealt with the others.”