Aimee rushed towards him, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked up at him. "Ethan, Kasia...she's a monster! She shifted in the middle of our spar and attacked me!" Her words were hurried and desperate. Brian began tending to Aimee's arm.
Ethan's gaze flickered between Aimee and the disheveled state of the gym, disbelief etched onto his features. He knew Kasia's capabilities, her strength, and her character, but he couldn't fathom her losing control like this without cause. She hadn't been taking the pills for over a week now. His instincts told him there was more to this story.
"Enough!" he barked, silencing the murmurs of the gathered crowd. His voice reverberated through the room, commanding attention. "Janet, tell me what happened."
Janet's voice trembled slightly as she began to recount the events. "Aimee challenged Kasia to a spar. Kasia defeated her fair and square, but Aimee refused to accept it. Then something changed in Kasia. She wasn't herself anymore. Aimee took advantage of her when Lana and I tried to stop her," she finished, visibly shaken.
"No, you're lying! I did no such thing," Aimee snapped heatedly, interrupting Janet's account. "Tell them, Miraya." But Miraya only shook her head, refusing to get involved as she stepped back from Aimee.
Other pack members began chiming in with their versions of the story, some confirming Janet's account while others added their own twists. Ethan felt a deep rumbling within him that he hadn't felt in years-the low growl of his wolf. They were normally in sync on all decisions, but the fact that he hadn't reprimanded Aimee physically was causing his primal side to assert itself.
"Janet, continue," Ethan demanded.
"It was like something just snapped inside her after she drank some water. She halfway shifted and struck Aimee before running away. Kasia had control of the situation. She wouldn't just lose her mind like that," Janet said.
"Whatever the reason," Aimee interjected defensively, "she's unstable, Ethan. This isn't the first time she has lost her mind and attacked me. She's not safe for our pack."
Ethan's eyes narrowed, his anger threatening to boil over. He gripped Aimee's wrists and pulled her hands off him. "You have forgotten your place, Aimee. It is Alpha."
His response caused Aimee to pale and back away from him. Ethan continues, "I want the truth, Aimee. What did you do to Kasia?"
"Nothing!" Aimee insisted, her voice breaking as she tried to maintain her composure. "She just... went crazy! I swear!"
As Ethan stared into her tearful eyes, he could see the flicker of deceit hidden within their depths. He knew there was more to this incident than met the eye, and that Aimee held the key to unlocking the truth.
"I have to agree with Janet," Deanna added. "Kasia seemed just fine before the Omega brought her the water."
Brian went over to the dropped water bottle. He sniffed at the bottle and frowned. Brian knew the smell. It smelled like one of the pills, but how would anyone have gotten it from his office? "Alpha, her water was laced."
"Deanna, bring the omega who gave Kasia the water bottle," Ethan instructed, his voice cold and unyielding. Deanna nodded as she left the gym to track down the omega.
"Where did she go?" Ethan asked.
"She ran off into the forest," Janet answered. Ethan began walking to leave the gym when Aimee caught him by the wrist.
"You can't be serious about going after her. Let her go. She is a rogue! She is a danger to all of us!" Aimee stated.
Ethan's patience snapped. In one swift motion, he grabbed Aimee's wrist, twisting it mercilessly until she cried out in pain. "You know the rules, Aimee! You think I am an idiot! You think I don't know that you had something to do with this and you harmed a pack member?" he snarled, his eyes darkening with fury.
"She's not a pack member! She's just a stupid rogue!" Aimee exclaimed, snatching her wrist free. "She is not fit to be a pack member, let alone our Luna."
"Who are you to decide who should be my Luna?" Ethan snarled.
"I have the right to decide, and so does everyone else here. You have an insane junkie amongst us that you have involved in our pack's business," Aimee continued, causing hushed murmurs in the gym. "That's right. The female that our Alpha is courting is a damn junkie."
Janet began to approach Aimee, but Ethan shot Janet a glare. She stopped in her tracks, as Ethan did not want Janet to intervene. 'Why?' she thought. 'Why was he allowing her to continue to go on this smear campaign?'
"You have forgotten your place, Aimee. Perhaps a visit back to your father's pack will refresh your memory," Ethan growled.
"No! You're not going to bully me into silence. I am not going to sit here to allow some junkie to fool you into believing that she was fit to be Luna," Aimee responded.
"And you think you should be Luna?" Ethan asked.
"Of course I am. I come from a prestigious family. I know what it takes to be Luna. Why would you have been sleeping with me if you thought that wasn't true?" Aimee responded. "I don't know what she did to you, but the Ethan I know would not be courting a drug addict. How could any of us follow a Luna, let alone an Alpha, that would allow such behavior? What would they do to help her get her next fix?"
Ethan began laughing, which caused the gym to become silent as it was not a laugh of joy. "Every time I believe that you can't be even more stupid, you find some way to surprise me."
"I don't think this is a laughing matter, Alpha. Is this true?" one of the pack members said.
"The Hunters created the pills that you used against Kasia. Kasia had been experimented on, and we collected those pills when we rescued her," Ethan explained.
Aimee paled and began stammering. "I didn't know. How would I have known that?"
"That's your problem. You never think which is why you will never be my Luna and goddess save whoever is fated to you. Throw her in the dungeon for three days, so she can think about her actions," Ethan responded before leaving the gym.