Chapter 58: 59: Crime and Punishment

ALEX

“NOOO,” I scream.”

~That fucking traitor.~

~I’ll kill him as soon as I have the chance.~

I know Ariel. She’ll do anything to save us all.

But I can’t let him have her. I can’t let him win.

I fight against the grip of one of the alphas who’s restraining me, but he’s inhumanly strong.

It’s Alpha Tom. I know him well. He’s been a friend for many years.

But right now, he’s been reduced to one of Xavier’s beasts.

“Ariel!” I call out, my voice breaking. The thought of losing her hurts even more than the thought of losing my kingdom.

I’d happily give it all up to have her by my side.

She ~needs~ to know that.

She needs to stop what she’s doing and run away to safety. But instead she’s walking straight into Xavier’s open arms.

The sounds of the growling, feral alphas drown out my screams.

She’s face-to-face with him.

His lips curl into a cruel smile.

To my horror, I see a smile stretch onto her face too.

~No…~

She reaches out to him, stretching her hand to his smug face.

She caresses his cheek.

~Ariel…~

~Why?~

But just then, with a shake of her wrist, something slips out of her sleeve.

It catches the moonlight as she gets a grasp on it.

I recognize it immediately.

The moonstone dagger.

And in a flash, she’s holding it against his throat.

ARIEL

When I press the dagger into his throat, Xavier’s eyes widen.

Not with fear so much as with surprise.

~Did he really expect me to willingly go along with his grand plan?~

~Fucking idiot.~

“Don’t do this, Ariel,” Xavier says to me in a clear, cool voice. “This is not how I would like my queen to behave.”

“I will ~never~ be your queen, Xavier.”

I press the blade harder against his skin, piercing it.

His mouth twitches, and I half expect him to shift on the spot.

But instead he raises his fist up and hits my arm hard.

The blade tumbles out of my grasp.

That’s when he starts laughing. Maniacally.

“What’s so funny?” I sneer.

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to fight me?”

“It seems like the only option I have left.”

“Did you forget that I’m the one who taught you how to fight?” he spits. “And even with all that training, you ~never~ won a sparring match against me.”

I swallow hard. ~He’s right.~

Every time I went up against Xavier, I ended up on my ass.

But this time it’s different.

It’s not training. It’s real life.

And the fate of the kingdom—and of everyone I love—depends on me winning.

“Are you scared?” I ask him in the most intimidating voice I can muster.

He only smiles in response.

He takes a step away from me and assumes a fighting stance.

“Are you?” he asks me.

~Hell yeah.~

“No,” I say, trying to hide my fear.

I turn my head for an instant. I need to see Alex’s face. In his eyes I can see that he believes in me, though I’m struggling to believe in myself.

When I move my eyes back to Xavier, his clenched fist is already flying at my face.

And just like that…

~It’s on.~

I lunge backward, dodging his punch.

As he advances toward me I send my knee up into his stomach. But his abs are as hard as steel.

Unfazed, he sends another punch into my throat.

I catch it with my hand and try to twist it, but in a second he’s free from my grasp.

He moves to the left and I mirror him. We’re circling each other. Everything and everyone around me becomes a blur.

All of my focus is on Xavier—on trying to read his movements as if he’s the only thing in the universe.

He’s starting to sweat.

I am too.

His smirk is still confident, but I can see a flicker of uneasiness in his eyes.

We can’t circle forever. One of us has to make another move. And I can’t wait for him to do it.

I swing at him with my right arm, and as he tries to dodge it, I grab the moonstone dagger off of the floor and thrust it at him.

It slices his chest, and blood starts to ooze out.

He pushes me off him with all his might and looks down at his injury.

“You want to fight dirty, Ariel?” he says. “I can do that too.”

He takes another step back and peels off his bloodied shirt.

In the last fight of my training, I got distracted by his washboard abs. But now they’re repulsive to me, covered in blood.

I keep my eyes locked on his, which are darker now.

And as I stare, my vision starts to redden.

~Oh Goddess.~

The monster inside me is coming to the surface.

But something is different this time.

I remember how Angel was able to control his monster, choosing to kill the Silver Soldier instead of me.

~I don’t have to let it consume me. I can control it.~

So I welcome the red rage—not as my enemy, but as my weapon.

And as I allow it to fill my body, I feel my strength increasing.

~It’s working.~

“You know, Xavier. You’re right,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Always,” he says, “but why this time?”

We start circling each other again.

“All this time, I thought that the Hunters made me weaker. But all that torture…all that trauma…it actually made me much, ~much~ stronger.”

I lunge again, faster than I thought possible, dagger in hand, and cut deep into his shoulder.

He reaches for it and I jump on top of him, wrestling him to the ground. He struggles, but I feel the strength of rage coursing through my veins.

With my free hand, I grip at his hair…

I used to dream about running my fingers through it when I was a teenager.

Now, I use it to pull his head back and drive it into the ground.

~Once...~

He grunts in pain.

~Twice...~

He screams louder now.

~Three times...~

“It’s working, Ariel!” I hear Alex shout. “Keep going!”

I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I continue bashing Xavier’s head into the stone floor until he falls unconscious in my hands.

~I did it.~

~I beat Xavier.~

~Finally.~

~When it mattered most.~

Exhausted, I look up and see Alex running toward me.

Behind him, there are several alphas looking confused and distressed. Their eyes have returned to their normal color.

When Xavier lost consciousness, he must have lost control of the alphas.

~Thank Goddess.~

In an instant, Alex is next to me.

I fall into his arms, gasping for air, as the red in my own eyes starts to fade too.

ALEX

I’ve wasted no time arranging Xavier’s trial.

It’s the morning after my father’s funeral, and we’re all filing into the courtroom.

With Ariel on one side of me and Dom on the other, I watch as the members of my council take their seats.

Everybody looks exhausted.

It took a long night of investigating to figure out how Xavier pulled off his big stunt.

He poisoned the Royal Chalice with dormant wolfsbane, which he was able to activate through mind-link.

No wonder the Hunters needed a wolf on their side. A human mind could never have taken control of so many powerful wolves at once.

And Xavier would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for Ariel.

~She’s saved all of our asses...~

~Again.~

I bang down the gavel, and General Dave leads the prisoner in.

I peer over at Xavier, his head still bruised and bloodied, glad that I finally get to be the one wearing the smug smile.

And for once, he looks scared.

He knows that his number is up. In a matter of minutes, his corpse will be lying on the courtroom floor.

“Let’s begin,” I say. “Xavier, you are guilty of all the worst crimes in the book, and you even got creative and wrote some new ones. I recommend the death sentence.”

I pause to let my words sink in. “It’s just a shame I can only give it to you once. Would you like to say anything before my beta carries out your punishment?”

“All I want to say,” Xavier begins, his voice cracking, “is that I’d rather die than live in a kingdom ruled by a weak piece of shit like you.”

I nod and let out a chuckle. “Okay, then. Your wish is my command. Everyone in favor say ~aye~.”

I hear a loud echo of ~ayes~, but as I am about to bang my gavel again, I feel Ariel’s hand on my arm.

“Wait,” she says softly in my ear.

“Why?”

“He can’t die today.” She pierces me with her sunflower eyes.

“What?” I ask, my head starting to spin.

By the look on her face, I know that she is serious.

And I can’t help feeling betrayed that after everything Xavier’s done, she’s ~still~ willing to defend him.

ARIEL

Alex’s expression reads equal parts confusion and anger.

But I need to defend my point.

“We should not kill him,” I say louder this time so that the whole council can hear.

I see Xavier’s eyes lighting up, making me regret everything that I’m saying.

Still, I carry on.

“Yesterday proved that the Hunters are capable of more dangerous things than ever before. They’ve clearly gained much more knowledge and resources than they had when I was in captivity.”

I take a deep breath.

“If we kill Xavier, our only lead on the Hunters is gone. He knows more about them than any of us do.”

I turn back to Alex and drop my voice again—this time to a barely audible whisper.

“And at the end of the day, he’s still my sister’s mate. Think of the pain Natalia will go through if their mating bond is broken. You know that feeling better than anyone.”

I see the wheels turning in his head.

“Please,” I beg him.

He raises his arm, and when he bangs the gavel down, I flinch.

“Life in prison,” he says to the stunned crowd.

Then he gets up and, without looking at me, storms out of the courtroom.

I chase after him into the hallway.

“Alex wait!”

But he keeps speed-walking away from me.

“Please!”

He stops in his tracks and turns around so fast that I run into him.

I put my hand on his chest, steadying myself. “W-why are you so upset?”

“Don’t play dumb, Ariel.”

“I…just…tell me please.”

He heaves a loud, frustrated sigh. “No matter how hard I try to get rid of this fucking guy, you want to keep him around. You just can’t seem to let go of him.”

I press my face into his shirt.

“Alex…”

I don’t know what to say to him first.

I have so many thoughts fighting to spill out all at once.

Finally, I manage to find my words.

“Xavier is my destined mate…”

Alex hangs his head.

~Those were clearly the wrong words to start with…~

“Just listen,” I say.

I move away from him and start to pace.

“I’m haunted by the fact that Fate destined me to be with someone so evil. It makes me doubt the nature of my own soul.”

~I think I have his attention now.~

“Ever since I escaped from the Hunters, I have been fighting all this darkness inside of me. I’ve kept hoping and praying that the darkness will go away someday. But now I understand that it never will.”

I stop pacing and look into his soft, brown eyes. “It’s a part of me. But just because it’s a part of me doesn’t mean that the darkness has to win.”

I reach for Alex’s hand, holding it tightly in mine.

“There’s also a light inside of me. You saw it first and then you made me see it too.”

I press my other hand onto his cheek.

“Fuck Fate,” I say. “I choose the light. I choose you.”

My hand is shaking now as Alex pulls me closer to him.

“I’m ready to get mated,” I say. “If you’ll still have me.”

He leans in close to me, and the warmth of his lips against mine is the only answer I need.