Judgment

Bambi

I could barely hear my own thoughts over the murmurs of the crowd.

~“Why haven’t they made it official yet?”~

~“Where was the mating ceremony?”~

~“I don’t even think she wants to be here.”~

~“She thinks she’s too good for this pack.”~

~“She’s no fucking Luna.”~

I covered my ears and closed my eyes, trying to block them out.

But I knew they were right.

I wasn’t their Luna, not really.

When I’d first come to this place, all I’d wanted was to go home. Ekon’s pack was cold and strange, and I’d felt isolated and alone.

But over the past few months, I’ve grown to love this pack.

I’d grown to love its Alpha.

And I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

This was my home now, and I could already feel it being ripped away.

“I’d like to request a short recess to discuss this matter with my client,” Leonardo said, rushing over to me and pulling me to my feet.

“Granted,” the king said, nodding. “This is quite the development.”

Leonardo led me to a small empty room behind the Council bench and closed the door.

“We’re so fucking fucked,” he said as soon as we were out of earshot of the court.

I just shook my head in defeat. “We won’t even get to a point where we can talk about Matthias. This was over before it began.”

“I’ll think of something. I always think of something,” Leonardo said, pacing the room.

I clasped my hands and started to pray. “Dear Goddess, please—”

“Are you ~praying~? Fuck the Goddess! If you think she’s gonna help you, then maybe you should’ve asked that bitch for representation instead of me!”

My jaw dropped open. “Alpha Leonardo, please! Don’t say things like that! It’s blasphemy.”

Leonardo just rolled his eyes. “Didn’t realize you were the religious type. Then, by all means, pray the fuck away because we don’t have any other—”

Leonardo suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and it looked like a light had just gone on inside his head.

“Wait, that’s it! You just gave me the perfect idea!” he shouted.

“Um, I did?” I asked, confused.

“Come on, let’s go. I got this,” he said confidently, pulling me back into the courtroom.

“Your Majesty, our recess is over. Let’s continue if the court is ready,” Leonardo said curtly.

Both the king and the prosecution looked perplexed by the abruptness of our recess.

“Uh, very well, court is in session,” the king said, banging his gavel against the podium.

Leonardo launched straight into a soliloquy.

“Your Majesty, the Royal Council, under your reign and the sovereignty of your forefathers, you all swear to follow the laws of the Moon Goddess, is that correct?”

“Of course,” the king said, furrowing his eyebrows. “The laws of the Moon Goddess take precedence above the laws of man. The royal family have always been devout followers of the Goddess.”

Leonardo smiled, and the prosecutor puckered his lips like he’d just tasted something bitter.

“According to the Goddess’ laws, a female becomes a Luna the moment the Alpha recognizes her as his mate, through their shared spiritual connection. It’s an instantaneous, unbreakable bond.”

Now that he was in position, Leonardo went in for the kill.

“Alpha Ekon’s pack laws and the customs of his family may dictate that a mate only becomes a Luna after a proper mating ceremony, but all packs of Royal Council members are united under the common law of the Royal Pack. Under the light of the Goddess, Bambi is indeed a Luna.”

The murmurs of the crowd grew even louder than when the prosecutor had questioned my position as Luna, and this time, I smiled. Leo was a master of words.

I glanced over at Ekon, and as the corners of his lips twitched, it ~almost~ seemed like a smile was fighting its way onto his face as well.

“Order!” The king slammed his gavel down. “Alpha Leonardo, you are correct on this matter. The court should never have questioned Luna Bambi’s title. It was, after all, granted by the Goddess herself. The charges of theft are dismissed.”

I beamed at Ela, Victoria, and Holly as they hugged each other in excitement.

“Don’t get too cocky. We’re just getting started,” Leonardo whispered to me.

He was right. That was only the first charge of many, and the real victory would come when we exposed Matthias.

“Your Majesty, the prosecution would like to call Bambi Jedrek to the stand,” the prosecutor said, shooting daggers at Leonardo.

“~Luna~ Bambi Jedrek,” the king said, reproachfully.

“Ah, yes, my mistake,” he said sourly.

Leonardo gave me a reassuring nod, and I took a seat next to the podium.

The prosecutor licked his lips as he tapped the table in front of me. “Luna Bambi, why did you collaborate with your friends to practice dark magic? What was your intent?”

“Objection, leading!” Leonardo roared.

“Fine, I’ll reword. Did you practice dark magic with your friends in your secret pack house hideaway?”

“No, never!” I said indignantly.

“Why then did you need ~The Great Book of Witches~? Why did you check out every restricted spell book in the pack house library, including books on necromancy?”

The truth was we didn’t know when we’d get another look at the restricted materials, so we just grabbed everything, not really looking too closely, but I knew that explanation wouldn’t fly with the court.

“I wasn’t using them for spells. They were for research,” I replied. “I was trying to find the witch who stole my mate’s sight. The witch named Devina.”

The room rumbled with hushed murmurs, but the proceedings didn’t stop.

“So, you were secretly searching for a known associate of the Rogues, without your mate’s knowledge? That’s certainly suspicious,” the prosecutor said, addressing the Council.

“Let’s not forget that some members of this Council have also been connected to ~known associates~ of the Rogues,” I said sharply.

That got a rise out of everybody, especially Alpha Hades, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“Luna Bambi, remember, you are the one on trial here,” King Dmitri warned.

“Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” I said in a sweet tone.

Leonardo looked at me like I’d just punctured my own lifeboat. I knew it was ballsy and probably a stupid thing to say, but it was still true.

“I only wished to illustrate that most of you here have a connection to the Great War and the battles of the past. We’ve all lost someone. I myself lost my parents. My mate lost his sight. My search for Devina was an attempt to right some of the atrocities of the war. In fact, my entire investigation was centered on that goal.”

I saw several of the alphas nodding, and Leonardo silently mouthed, “nice save.”

I held back Devina’s parentage, hoping I wouldn’t have to use it here.

The prosecutor leaned in close to me.

“Luna Bambi, your research was far more disturbing than just dark magic. You had detailed information on grisly rogue attacks, both past and extremely recent. Photos of corpses. Obsessive diagrams of murder. In particular, you and your friends seemed fixated on the Northern Pack massacre.”

He was trying to make me look bad, and it was working, judging by the expression on the queen’s face. She was appalled, and I couldn’t blame her. None of it sounded good.

“Luna Bambi, given the way you collected these materials in secret, constructed a timeline, and gathered a group of followers, it appears you were planning something. Can you enlighten the court to your group’s true purpose?”

“Objection!” Leonardo shouted. “He’s making assumptions.”

“Overruled,” the king responded. “I’d like to hear her answer.”

Now he was making me sound like some crazy cult leader. I was beginning to get flustered.

“I was…I was trying to prove the existence of someone,” I stuttered.

“Who?” the king asked. “Why should a girl like you be delving into dark witches and death?”

“Because I’m trying to prevent those things!” I raised my voice and instantly regretted it.

The king would not appreciate being spoken to that way.

“Trying to prevent what, exactly?” the prosecutor pushed. “Some made-up threat?”

“Matthias!” I said, standing up. “He’s alive, and he’s a very real threat, and if we continue ignoring that, then we’ll all end up like the Northern Pack!”

The courtroom suddenly broke out into a borderline riot. Spectators were standing up and shouting, the Council members were arguing amongst themselves, and the king looked like he was about to shoot lava from the top of his head.

“That’s an outrageous accusation!” the queen yelled. “You’re using dangerous propaganda to incite instability within the pack.”

“This is fucking treason!” the king roared.

I’d been backed into a corner and had suddenly lost all credibility.

Ekon was on his feet, but he steadied himself against the table. All the noise and turmoil was throwing off his senses.

Leonardo ran into the middle of the room and held up his hands, yelling at the top of his lungs.

“EVERYONE, QUIET!”

The room settled down for a moment, and Leonardo seized his opportunity.

“Your Majesty, I know this looks bad, but we have proof that Matthias has returned,” Leonardo said, passing him the envelope with the birth certificate. “Alpha Rudolph’s dying breath was Matthias’ name. Luna Bambi took it upon herself to protect the realm, and by doing so, she uncovered a web of darkness that led back to the man we previously thought dead at the hands of Alpha Ekon.”

“Not you too, Leonardo. He did die! I was there. ~You~ were there for fuck’s sake. The wolfsbane from Ekon’s claws strangled him from within, and he was thrown to his death.” King Dmitri seethed.

Leonardo looked at me with urgency. This was the moment.

I looked at Ekon with sadness in my eyes. He couldn’t even see what was coming.

“Your Majesty, Matthias was never poisoned because he was immune to wolfsbane. It’s a trait passed down through witches to their children. Matthias’ mother was a witch, and so was his sister, Devina, born from that same mother.”

“How can you possibly know they were siblings? How can you possibly know any of this?” he asked, enraged.

“Because those two siblings had another sibling. If you open that envelope, you’ll understand why I was so secretive, why I’ve kept this from my mate,” I said, wishing it hadn’t come to this.

He opened the envelope and read the document aloud.

“It’s a birth certificate for…Matthias. His mother was…holy shit.”

The king looked at Ekon, who was still completely unaware of the oncoming hurricane.

“Matthias’ mother was Rosette Vivian Cabot,” the king said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Every single person in this pack knew that name—the name of their Alpha’s mother.

I turned to Ekon, who was looking right at me, his wolf on the surface. He didn’t look ferocious though. It was a different kind of intense emotion.

He was ~devastated~.

Gutted by my uninhibited betrayal.

Maybe I’d won the trial, but it had come at the cost of my mate.