“Thank you,” Katrina murmured as she accepted the glass of water from Renard. As promised, he’d taken her to his home and helped her put her things in his spare bedroom in the house. She now sat on the couch of his modestly furnished living room, more than relieved to be in safety. In HIS safety. She didn’t know why she suddenly began to enjoy his presence but then it just came naturally.
She then asked him a question.
“Those men… they seemed to be so scared of you… Like did they know you before…?”
He shrugged. “Those are just homeless wolves who keep causing trouble whenever they can. They are scared of me of course, because they know that one word I give out to the Alpha and they will all be executed. Alpha Damian doesn’t have as much patience as I do with them.”
“I can’t stop thanking you for what you did for me tonight, Renard. I owe you my life. You were pretty amazing back there with the way you handled them,” and indeed he was. He looked so powerful in her eyes as those men cowered before him. Indeed she’d always underestimated the power of this mighty beta.
“You’re very powerful, Renard.”
He shrugged again, “I take care of the provinces, I have men who scout the terrain daily and then I report to the alpha. I’m nothing but a servant.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility, even for someone who’s “just” a servant.”
“Not really, my duties entails more of controlling men than doing the work.”
“The beta does have a lot of wealth and power to control.”
“It’s less of that for me and more of service to the alpha. My parents and Damian’s were very close before they died. Before then, Damian and I were close like brothers, but after his experience with prince Ronan, he cut off many ties, including the one he had with me. He found it hard to trust people. Now between the both of us, it’s just master and servant.”
Katrina realized something then; she’s known Renard for long, even from the time she knew Damian, but she never really focused on Renard, she always underestimated him and discarded him as nothing, until now.
Honestly, I never knew all these things about you, it’s like I’m just meeting you for the first time.
“Pleasure to meet you, milady.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” she blushed.
He got up from the couch then, remembering that he had other duties to take care of.
“I have to go now. There is something important I have to report to alpha Damian. I’ll be coming to visit you regularly to check up on you… take care of yourself, Katrina.”
“There’s supplies in the fridge, and some money on the kitchen cabinet. In case you need to buy anything..”
“Thank you Renard, you’ve been so kind to me, I promise I won’t ever forget this.”
**********
***The next day***
Leah Trembled as she was being taken in chains to the silver court. She’d been summoned this morning and she already knew what it was for. Her heart feared what awaited her in there, but then she already knew that this was inevitable. As she approached the court being led by the guards, she Prayed a silent prayer in her heart.
*Mama, Papa. I’ll be coming to join you soon. Please make room for me in the afterlife, give me a nice big seat in the middle of both of you so we can be together and catch up on the many lost years of being apart.*
The doors to the court opened and there the alpha was on his seat waiting for her. As soon as she’d entered, she was brought to her knees right in the middle with her head bowed.
Upon her entering, the alpha left his seat and went to address her where she was.
“Omega Leah, you are a servant in the silver pack house and according to the recent investigations, your blood sample was found to be an exact match on the second tranquilizer that was found in the scene where the queen was kidnapped.”
Leah’s head remained bowed. She said nothing in response to this but the alpha continued.
“Do you swear to speak the truth and nothing but the truth in this court where you stand?”
“I do, sire.”
He proceeded with the questioning.
“Where you with her on the night that she was kidnapped?”
Still with her head bowed, she answered, “Yes sire.”
“Where you the one who led her out of the pack house on a false promise to take her elsewhere?”
“Yes sire.”
“Where you the one who took her to the border where she was kidnapped by those goons?”
“Yes sire.”
“Where you working in hand with the perpetrators?”
“Yes, and no sire.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“One of the men who had kidnapped the queen was my uncle… my distant uncle. We’ve only known each other through phone calls and I never knew of the true motive behind his profession until he asked me to bring the queen to the border.”
“That’s not an excuse! You must have known his intentions when he told you that. You must have known that he intended to take her away!”
“Yes I did know,” she confessed… “but then I later realized that I was making a mistake… After I met the queen, after I discovered how much of a good heart she has, I realized that she never deserved any of what I did to her…. I never meant to cause her any hami, it was a mistake and I hope that I will be forgiven for my crimes.”
“Your mistake nearly let us to lose her… your mistake nearly led the queen to lose her virtue as she was almost raped by one of those men! Your mistake nearly cost us our queen. You are a silver woof Leah, according to the past judgments that had always been carried out in this court, you should know that justice always prevails over mercy. You betrayed us, and for that I have no other option as the alpha of the silver pack but to sentence you to death, omega Leah. You will be executed by first light.”
He then directed his guards to take a crying Leah out of the silver court.