Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
“As the second step of this tribunal, I will provide evidence that our claim is, in fact, not false,” Kane said, stepping toward the front of the stage, holding the crowd’s attention in the palm of his hand.
“My investigation into my parents’ murder uncovered several things. One, no physical wounds were found. Two, poison was suspected, but no known poisons were found at the scene of either death nor in their blood work. Three, a Drakenia guild assassin made an attempt on my mate’s life shortly after our bonding ceremony. He was unsuccessful in his attempt.” He lifted a hand toward Brielle, who sat straight-backed in the front row.
“In his possession we found a myriad of substances. After lab analyses, those were identified to be not traditional poisons, but deadly combinations of prescription narcotics combined with strong plant-based sedatives.”
He paused, letting that information sink in before he continued.
“Upon a second round of blood tests being run, we confirmed that substances in that assassin’s possession were present in Mihaela’s bloodstream, in a high enough dosage to be deadly and to take my father with her to the afterlife through their mate bond.”
An unsettled murmur rose from the crowd, but Kane lifted both hands in a silencing gesture, and they settled down fairly quickly.
“We then discovered a vial in the room next to hers. It matched the style and size of the vials found in the assassin’s possession and contained trace amounts of the same drug combination, which was been confirmed by two independent labs.” At that point, he stopped and lifted the vial in question high over his head so that all could see it in its plastic laboratory bag.
“That still doesn’t prove that I had shit to do with it. Our packs have been allies for years, and your ignorance of that fact proves that you are too young and hotheaded to serve as high alpha.” Varga lunged forward in his restraints, unable to stop the howl of pain at the silver burning his wrists and ankles this time.
“Do you want me to muzzle him?” I asked Kane, keeping my voice flat even though I wanted to snarl.
“No, let’s let him incriminate himself so there are no doubts,” he murmured quietly enough that no one but I could hear him.
Ahh.
Interesting.
“I thought you might claim plausible deniability, which is why I call forward a witness to this tribunal, Rudi of the Hungarian pack.” He gestured toward the woods, and Reed stepped out with a wolf I’d never seen before at his side. Reed had his arm around the shoulders of the other male, who appeared to be shaking like a leaf.
This was the guy who was going to take out Varga? He was skinny as a twig, which I could tell even under the fleece-trimmed leather coat he wore. He had big, boxy glasses, a complexion that hadn’t seen sun in years, and by the scent of him, he was low in the pack ranking. Was he suicidal?
I cast a skeptical glance at Reed, but he shot me a grin and adjusted his cuff links as he strode past. So, he was nervous, but not about the guy’s credentials.
I guess we’ll see soon enough.
I let myself check on Leigh as the Hungarian wolf passed, and found her looking a little peaked as she watched. Was she sick again, or uncomfortable watching the proceedings? I wished we had our mental connection, so I could ask her. It would be handy in times like this, even if she was shutting me out, to get a feel of her emotions.
There was only so much you could hide with a mate bond, and I couldn’t wait.
Leigh was an enigma at times, and I was starting to realize that her talking was more of a shield than I’d known at first. She said a lot of words, but behind all those words, she kept a lot hidden. I wanted to know every inch of her, inside and out, so she had nothing left to hide from me.
“Thank you for being here, Rudi. I understand that this was a very brave and dangerous decision for you to go against your own Alpha to testify.”
“You sniveling, inbred traitor! I’ll see your family thrown into the streets for this! You’re a disgrace to the Hungarian pack-” Varga snatched violently at his restraints, eyes glowing and canines lengthening as he threatened his trembling pack mate. Kane gestured toward him with two fingers, and I strode forward to shove the rubber gag into his mouth.
“That’s about enough of that, I think,” I said, baring my own fangs at him. His wolf was too furious to be cowed, even though mine was certain we had the upper hand in dominance. There was a sort of sick satisfaction in fastening the leather straps behind his head as he fought uselessly. This was the man who’d killed my best friend’s parents, and I had no scrap of mercy in my heart for someone who took the coward’s way out.
He continued to thrash as I stepped back, satisfied he wasn’t spewing any more venom tonight.
That’s right, fucker. Bite it all you want; you’re not getting out of this.
I resumed my position at Kane’s shoulder and noted that he’d dropped a comforting hand on Rudi’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry about that, Rudi. Something about you being here seems to have triggered him. I’m guessing it’s because he won’t be pleased by what you have to say?” Kane asked, keeping his tone gentle and his dominance tightly under wraps for the weaker wolf.
Rudi nodded sharply, casting another terrified glance at his restrained Alpha. Reed walked past, handing Rudi a microphone.
“Can you please state your name, designation, and position?”
The microphone shook in his hand, but he straightened his shoulders before he spoke. “I’m Rudolph of the Hungarian pack. My designation in our pack is upsilon, and I have served for the last two hundred years as the pack’s accountant.”
I rocked back on my heels, suddenly realizing why this particular witness was so key. I could practically feel the smugness rolling off Reed from Kane’s other side.
“And why would an accountant be able to provide such a key testimony in the case of a murder?” Reed asked, damnably cool and collected even as he pulled the pin out of the grenade that would blow Varga’s case wide open.
“Because I have proof that he hired the Drakenia guild to murder the high alpha.”
FORTY-TWO
Leigh
Brielle’s sharp intake of breath at the witness’s admission had me wishing I was closer so I could lean my shoulder into hers and give her my support. But she sat straight as an arrow, the perfect picture of a high alpha mate, unerring in her support of Kane as he went through what had to be one of the hardest moments of his life.
Frankly, I didn’t know how he was keeping his shit together. He was less than ten feet from the man who’d ordered his parents’ deaths. I’d have ripped his head off in that chalet they picked him up from and been done with it.
But that was one of the many reasons I wasn’t high alpha.
“Please tell us what you know, Rudi,” Reed asked the witness.
The man cleared his throat and adjusted the neck of his shirt, glancing nervously at his own Alpha, who was still enduring the silver burns to snatch at his restraints.
I could smell the fear rolling off the witness as much as the fury boiling off Varga. It made my wolf itchy, and I was working hard not to shift in my seat. She was on high alert because of Petal and was taking no threats lightly. Emotionally charged males a few feet away? Threat. Sweat beaded on my forehead from the effort.
“It is not in my nature to question my Alpha, but when I received Reed’s request on behalf of the high alpha, I took it very seriously. At first, I found nothing untoward. And I was prepared to stand here today and say that. However, the more I dug, the more I found issues with the pack’s accounts. Alpha Varga’s personal funds were being intermingled, which is not supposed to happen. Once I dug further, I realized why. He was trying to cover up a large outflow.”
He fumbled a little as he pulled out a thick stack of papers from the breast pocket of his coat, folded in half to fit inside the pocket. He smoothed them carefully twice before tentatively extending them toward Kane.