My Mate Killed Me For My Sister, I Became Luna Of His Enemy Chapter 16

My Mate Killed Me For My Sister, I Became Luna Of His Enemy Chapter 16 The Verdict

Silas’s POV

I stood before the council of elders. They glared at me.

I’d spent two days in the dungeon. The guards didn’t dare touch me. I was still, technically, their alpha after all. But I saw the way they looked at me.

They hated me. The entire pack hated me.

I didn’t blame them. I hated myself too. I’d made such a mess of things. I’d lost everything. And now I was going to lose my position too.

The judgment chamber was older than the pack itself.

The council room was a circular room of rough stone. Torches burned in iron brackets. Five raised stone seats formed a semi-circle. That’s where the Elders sat.

Below them, there was a single slab of granite. That was where the accused stood.

And today, the accused was me. defendant’s position.

I stood on it the stone, my eyes cast down at the ground.

The gallery was packed. Every wolf who could fit had crammed into the chamber. Everyone wanted to hear what would happen to me.

Bella stood at the front with Caleb. She was so calm and composed. Her chin was level, her gray eyes fixed on me with no emotion.

The five Elders took their seats. The head Elder was seventy-eight years old. He’d been judging pack disputes since before I was born. He’d presided over my father’s Alpha induction. He’d presided over mine.

Now he was going to take it all apart.

He cleared his throat.

“Alpha Silas of the Howling Moon Pack. You stand before this council accused of the following: Neglect of a matebond. Failure to protect and support your bonded mate. Complicity in unlawful extraction. Knowingly sending a pack member to a dangerous ritual without proper oversight. Financial mishandling. Allowing pack resources to be depleted through negligence. Failure of alpha duty.”

Each charge landed like a hammer blow. The crowd was silent.

“How do you plead?” he asked.

I could have argued. I could have asked for proof. I could have tried to defend myself. I hadn’t know that Madison had sent Bella to an extraction. I’d honestly thought it was a Rebirth Ritual.

But what was the point in arguing. I was guilty about everything else.

I looked at Bella. She watched me with those steady gray eyes. I thought about the dungeon. Her bloody face. The wine-stained dress. The question I answered with a lie.

“Guilty,” I said. “On all charges.”

The crowd exhaled. The head elder nodded, once.

The elders left the room. They went to deliberate about what my punishment should be. But I already knew what it was. Everyone did.

They were going to demand that I be stripped of my alpha title. I’d be cast out of the packhouse. They couldn’t exile me because our pack laws prohibited an alpha from exile, ex-alpha or otherwise.

But it didn’t matter. I’d be nothing. I’d be hated. I’d be spat on. I’d be lower than a wolfless man.

And I deserved it.

The council came back in five minutes later. I refused to look up at them. I braced myself for the words that would rip me of my title.

“The council had decided,” the head elder said. “The recommended sentence is permanent stripping of the alpha title. As well as magical suppression of your wolf.”

Magical suppression? I hadn’t seen that coming. They wanted to supress Baxter? That was basically a living death. My wolf, locked away inside me forever. I’d exist as a shell, a human without the half of me that made me whole.

My wolf pressed against me. He howled.

“I would like to propose an alternative.”

Bella stepped forward. All eyes fell on her.

“A proposal?” the head elder said.

“Yes,” she nodded. Her hands were folded in front of her. Her face was firm and steady. “I propose an Alpha Wolf Challenge.”

The crowd murmured.

An Alpha Challenge. It was the oldest challenge pack law.

It was a direct, physical contest between an alpha and a challenger. If the challenger won, he would assume the alpha role. If the alpha lost, he would be exiled.

It didn’t happen often. Because the alpha rarely lost.

“I know we cannot exile Silas because of our laws. However, if he agrees to the challenge, then he can be exiled. Correct? On account of the challenge?”

It was a loophole. A way for me to face exile if I lost. If I accepted the challenge, and lost, I’d exiled. Cast out as a rogue. Stripped of pack identity. Destined to survive alone in the wilderness.

“If Silas accepts and wins, then he keeps his alpha position. That’s the way the challenge has always worked. It will be no different this time. And if he loses, then he is exiled. Those are the rules of the challenge,” Bella said.

The council took a few minutes to process. I looked towards Caleb. He eyes were locked on mine. The council looked at him too.

I knew what they were thinking. I’d be crazy to accept. Caleb was clearly a superior alpha. I should just accept the punishment as originally served. At least then, I’d be able to stay in the pack.

Baxter pressed against me. He snarled.

Fury rose in me. That man had taken what was mine. Bella. And now I had a chance to take her back. If I fought and won, there was no way Bella would stay with him. It would be too shameful.

This was my chance. My chance to prove that even though I’d messed up, I was still a powerful alpha.

I could take him, I thought to myself. He’s strong, but every wolf can be beaten. Even the strongest alphas have a weakness.

And if I won, I could keep my title.

“Alpha Silas,” the head elder said. “We agree to this alternate proposal. Now the question is…do you?”

Baxter snapped his jaw. He was hungry to sink his teeth into Caleb’s wolf’s.

Caleb was underestimating me. They all were. I would fight. And I would win. Because I would be fighting for Bella. To redeem myself in her eyes.

And that was a source of power that was unmatched.

I lifted my head.

“I accept the challenge,” I said.