Damon’s POV
The moment her lips met with mine, my anger dissolved into thin air. I held her waist and pulled her closer to my body as I searched her mouth with my tongue.
Having her so close made me realize just how much I’ve missed her. For days, I’d longed for her presence and I can’t help but hold her close now that she’s here.
“I missed you, D” She grinned after we separated. I pulled her closer and kissed her hair. Her expression changed and I wondered what I’d done wrong.
Ignoring her look, I asked, “Who brought you here?”
“Nobody” She simply replied, staring hard at the floor.
“Devante is right behind you. So I know this good for nothing boy, brought you here and so help me God if I don’t skin him alive when we get back to the pack”
“She wanted to see you badly and who was I to ignore the wants of my Luna. Tell him Lyla” he pushed Lyla a little bit more into me.
She ignored his words and continued looking at the ground intensely. I placed my hands under her chin and lifted her head up to stare into her eyes. Her eyes were filled with tears and that got me bothered.
“Are you okay?” I asked and she removed my hand from her chin and nodded.
“I’m fine. We’ll be on our way now” She suddenly announced.
She grabbed Devante by his hand and started pulling him away. That got me really mad that I pulled her back and separated their hands.
“Don’t you ever hold any man like that ever again, do you understand me?” She remained silent.
“Or what? What will you do?” She asked and suddenly started crying.
“You know I fucking hate these tears, what did I do again this time?” I asked angrily.
“You’re even angry at me” she replied while sobbing loudly.
“I’m not angry, Bunny” I pulled her closer to my body even though I was still angry and hugged her close. We can’t afford to have our drama here, not right here with everyone sitting inside, waiting for us.
“You sure do know how to make a lady cry, Damon” Atherus chipped in from right behind me. “Introduce her ” he asked.
“She’s my mate Atherus, it’ll be better if you don’t even think about it” I warned him.
“It’s my thoughts. I guess I have the right to do that so far” He replied. “Also, call me Uncle Atherus”
I lifted my hand and gave him the middle finger.
Atherus is my aunt’s son. Devante grew up with him so I’m not surprised if they’re both on the same level of womanizing. Since his father is the werewolf king, that made his unworthy ass a prince.
Even though he can be annoying at most times, he still cares so much about me and Devante. He’s a big uncle to us.
“Hi, I’m Lyla” she stretched her hand out to him for a handshake once she stopped crying.
“Hi beautiful, I’m Atherus, these boys’ uncle” he replied, taking her hand in his.
Once I saw that his hand was still holding hers after a second, I separated them.
“Now you’ve met her” I concluded.
“Don’t punish Devante, he only did what he did in your favor” He added while Devante was shaking his head.
“Maybe you should strap him to your back when leaving. Because I don’t see anything saving him from dying when we get back” I glared at the both of them as they both glared back.
“It’s time, Damon” Tunde announced as got closer to us.
“Thank you. I’ll soon be there” I said to Tunde. “Let’s go in Atherus” I turned to Devante and said, “Make sure Lyla gets back home safe, Devante”
“I want to go with you” Lyla pulled the sleeves on my shirt before I could walk away.
I couldn’t possibly risk it and let her hear all those horrible crimes they’ll compile against me. It’s too early for her to know that much.
“It’s not appropriate for you to be there. Go back to the pack, I’ll be back soon” I instructed but she refused.
“Don’t worry about her, Damon. I’ll make sure she’s safe. She and Devante will sit with me” Tunde implored.
At that point, with the look on everyone’s face, I knew I couldn’t say no to them all.
“Fine” I grumbled.
We got into the judgment room and found out it was only seven Alphas that were on the seat, unlike the last time. Alpha Xander as well was nowhere to be found.
The Weighing scale was on the table right in front of Alpha Nathaniel and the stones of sins were right beside it. Today is the final day and whatever comes out of this will definitely be negative.
“Shall we proceed, Alpha Damon?” I nodded, short of words this time. I looked into the little crowd sitting and saw Lyla staring at me with her big green eyes filled with tears.
“If without any opposition, I’ll proceed to read Alpha Damon’s crime from the start” The secretary was silent for a while, hoping I’ll say something today but I didn’t because of Lyla.
“You committed blasphemy against the goddess by refusing to take the oath of allegiance and destroying your pack’s altar, do you deny this allegation?” He asked
I smirked, “Not at all. It was worth it” I growled proudly.
Nathaniel picked a stone, the heaviest of them all, and placed it on the weighing scale. That part got dragged down a little.
“You took your father’s partner and had sex with her. Do you deny this accusation?”
Before I could reply, Nathaniel had picked up another stone and placed it on the weighing scale. I couldn’t look back into the crowd to see what Lyla’s reaction will be but do I care, nope.
“It was based on a mutual agreement. She wanted to fuck me to get me out of her system. Like I mentioned before, they ain’t mated”
Nathaniel glared at me before he replaced the stone with a smaller one.
“You strangled Alpha Jade, a neighboring Alpha, and almost killed him, do you agree to this?”
“He raped ten years old for goodness sake. Do you expect me to let him go? Why am I even repeating this process again?” I barked. I was getting angrier and angrier
“Calm down Damon. It’s just a procedure” Nathaniel intervened.
No stone was placed this time around.
“You attacked Alpha Xander while he was performing his inspection work in your Pack”
“He lied about having uranium and he wanted to sell it to you all”
“He didn’t lie about it. He actually has uranium and he’s too selfish to tell anyone the location”
No stone was placed as well.
Opening his book to the next page, the man continued his reading, “You attacked your father and chained him down while he was interrogating a criminal who had sneaked into your pack, is this true Alpha Damon?”
“I’ll rather not give my reasons” I replied.
“You don’t have a choice, Alpha”
I looked back at Lyla. “He tried hurting my mate”
Murmuring started as soon as those words left my mouth. Lyla’s eyes went wide as she remembered what had happened. She was biting her lower lip hard just to stop herself from crying.
*Don’t you dare let those tears drop, okay Bunny?* I said, knowing she’ll hear my thoughts as my eyes stared into hers. She nodded slightly.
Good!
“You have a mate”
“Yeah, even the cursed child has a mate” I replied Nathaniel.
“Let’s proceed” He snapped his finger at his secretary who was still in a daze.
“Yes Elder” he bowed. “You massacred a large number of people including your father, his partner, a neighboring pack’s Beta, and some warriors. Is this true?”
“Yes. I did that and it pisses me off that I can’t even remember doing it but it gladdens my heart that I fucking did it” Nathaniel glanced at me with horror. He couldn’t believe what he just heard.
One by one, he started placing stones on the scale. One for each person I killed that day.
“Add four more. There were ten warriors. Also, add my father too because I know he’s lying about his death and that he’s very much alive because he made contact with everyone and paid you all to get this issue to this level. So do me that huge favor because I’ll be fucking his life up to when he next we meet” I smirked.
Loudly, he dropped the five stones on the scale, and at that point, I knew the judgement would be death.
“I think you should remove those stones, Nathaniel” A voice interrupted the proceeding and when I turned, it was my aunt, the werewolf Queen who walked in.
“I got you, baby” She whispered to me before walking in front of the crowd.
“He doesn’t deserve any of these. His father is a monster, an animal who not only punishes his son at every opportunity but as well derives Joy in molesting, assaulting his own son. He chained him up even before he could know his alphabet”
“Marybelle,” I called her to stop her from talking.
“No Damon. Not this time” She faced Nathaniel back and continued, “Damon here,” she said pointing to me. “Doesn’t speak much right? That’s because his father taped his mouth for three good years because he won’t stop asking for a friend. The darkness was his friend and silence, his companion. His mother got beaten up right in front of him anytime she tried standing up for her child”
“MARYBELLE! STOP TALKING RIGHT THIS INSTANCE” I commanded the queen who also happens to be my aunt.
“Your order can’t work on me Damon, I felt it but no it’s not powerful enough to make me stop talking” she screamed.
I crumbled into the floor of the box that I was as different memories came right into my head. At some point, I thought I stopped breathing for a long time but when I finally looked back up, everyone was staring at me. My aunt had stopped talking and Nathaniel was saying something.
By the time I got my hearing back, Devante had run out of the courtroom and before I could talk, Atherus was right after him.
“It’s over Damon, you’re free” Nathaniel announced with a pitiful look on his face, making me wonder what my aunt has actually told them all.
Hell no! I’m not!