Ella’s POV
“Do you know the implications of what you just said?” Oscar Nelson asked, pinning dad with a hard gaze.
Dad nodded. “I just confessed to being in love with a wolf from the blood pack and having a child with her.”
Oscar Nelson sighed. “Is that why you have chosen to wander around all this while to be with your mate?”
Dad shook his head. “No, I left my mate years ago. I didn’t know I had a daughter until recently. I didn’t want to lose her when I found her. You can understand why I extended my home to them when they were in trouble even though I knew it might get me in trouble.”
“What is your story?” Oscar Nelson asked Caleb.
He bowed to his dad. “I was the one who told Elder Zeke about the resemblance of a girl I know to him and we were traveling together to find her when we ran into the wolves. He offered them his house when he found out that the rogues wanted to kill them.”
“Why would the rogues want to kill you?” Oscar Nelson asked Kevin.
“We had a fight five years ago and he has wanted to get rid of me ever since then.”.
Oscar Nelson nodded. “I know how vengeful the rogues could be.”
“Asides your daughter, why would you care about their fight with the rogues? You could have just taken your daughter from them to protect her.” Oscar Nelson frowned at Zeke.
“The rogues killed her mother five years ago. That was my mate, my lord. I found that as well and I felt the need to avenge her.” Dad explained. He pointed to Kevin. “He is my daughter’s mate. I won’t let him be killed by those bastards who got rid of my woman.”
Oscar Nelson nodded. “Fair enough. But how am I to know that you are not lying to me?”
Kevin sighed. “You know we aren’t. It’s not possible for us to come up with this story when we were kept apart. Moreover, your son wouldn’t betray you. If you still doubt our story, you can ask Luke how he got the information that we were staying at Zeke’s house. I’m sure it was a rogue who told him.”
Oscar Nelson turned to Luke. “Is that true, son? Did a rogue come here?”
Luke refused to say anything.
Oscar Nelson flew off his seat. “You’ve been colluding with rogues and you dared to accuse your brother of being in close relations with the blood moon pack? Who is plotting a conspiracy now?”
Luke gulped and shook his head. “It’s not like that, father. I’ve not been colluding with rogues. I never plotted with any rogue.” He threw Kevin a nasty look but the latter didn’t care and smirked at him.
“Can you prove it?” Oscar Nelson asked, leveling him with a hard glare.
Luke looked around the crowd and I wondered what he was looking for. He looked relieved and then pointed at some guards within the crowd.
“They can prove my words, father.” Luke said, desperation clogging his throat.
I almost laughed at the situation if I hadn’t been on trial as well. It was funny how the hunter had joined those who were being hunted as well. Who could have known that Luke would also try to prove his innocence before the end of the day?
“Come out. The two of you he pointed to.”
Luke pointed at one of the guards. “He came to tell me of the presence of the rogue in the pack.”
“Is it true?” Oscar Nelson asked the guard.
The guard nodded. “Yes. We were on patrol one day when the rogue walked in and said he would like to see the alpha and share an important message with him. We didn’t want to turn him away without knowing what the information was and brought him in. We took him to the prison and then I went to tell Master Luke.”
“Where is this rogue who caused all this trouble?”
Luke fidgeted in his seat. “I killed him. I didn’t want it to be known that a rogue was in the territory. Moreover, I was about to go and arrest them and didn’t want to risk him escaping out of prison, spying on our land and going back to his hometown. I knew that would be a problem if that happened.”
Oscar Nelson nodded. “I should have you all flogged for having a rogue in the territory despite knowing how despicable they are but you wouldn’t be punished since he is dead and no damage was done.”
Luke and the two soldiers heaved a sigh of relief. I wanted to know what would happen to us but he didn’t say anything. He stood up from his chair and asked the guards to send us back to prison and dad and Caleb were taken to the chamber they were locked up in.
“This isn’t fair.” I muttered under my breath as we were marched back to the prison. We shouldn’t have to go back there.
I wondered if the alpha was still mad because we were on his territory or because I was the daughter of an elder he knew and had no idea of. I wondered if he hated me for being the offspring of a union that should never have happened.
If he didn’t know how to judge because of the conflicting origin of my blood, he might as well let us all go.
Maybe he wanted to let me go because of Zeke but knew it would be unfair to the rest of the men I had been arrested with.
I sighed, agreeing silently with myself that the truth was indeed not helping in all situations. It had crippled him into wondering how to close the case. I had no doubt he was debating between punishing us and letting us go.
It must be really be a hard decision to make and I decided not to blame him as I was pushed into my lonely, cold cell once again.