“I saw what happened, Penny. I…felt what happened that night. You murdered her!”
“D-daddy, no, no, you don’t understand.” Penny wept, clawing after her father desperately as he backed away from her.
She was feeling the weight of her father’s resignation. For someone of normal stature, it would be too much to bear. For someone as pathetic as Penny was, however, it was positively devastating.
The girl couldn’t function without someone giving her some kind of validation. This was her rock bottom.
“No, no, Penny, I don’t!” exclaimed John. “Please help me…help understand why you’d throw your life away like this for a few moments of satisfaction!”
“I-” she looked at her father and then, Harlyn, who was completely dismissive. “Alpha Wade, I…I didn’t mean to hurt anyone! I just-I didn’t think that killing a useless human would matter to anyone!”
I laughed. “Useless?”
“Yes!” Growled Penny. “Useless!”
When it came to me, the girl completely seemed to forget herself or at least those around her. She really hated me that much. There was no question about it.
“You do realize that you’re practically on trial here,” I said to her. “You forget that quickly, that you’re surrounded by those who can easily decide whether you live or die?”
Penny’s eyes widened as if she finally realized the gravity of the situation. It was only after that moment that dad finally stepped forward and inserted himself into the conversation.
“I have to agree with Valene on this point, Penny,” he said. “And to add, it doesn’t bloody how useful or useless Valene was to your or anyone surrounding. What mattered was her usefulness to her family. No one else. But since we are talking about importance, I shouldn’t have to remind you that Valene was an integral part of my guard. She proved herself to be useful on far more than one occasion. More important than all of that, however….” Dad looked at me, a meaningful stare in his eye. “You took someone who meant the world to me.”
“And me,” said Harlyn.
Penny shot a stare at Harlyn, tears dangling from her eyes. “Ha-Harlyn, I-you always seemed so agitated by her-like you hated her. I…I thought that I was doing you a favor.”
“It wasn’t hate, Penny, it was envy,” Harlyn rolled her eyes. I could tell that it wasn’t easy to confess. “And even if it was, do you really think I’d get you and someone as moronic as your aunt to carry out something so important as assassination?”
“Aunt…aunt Agnes! Where is she? She put this whole thing in motion! I just-”
“Decided to go along with it?” The Delta said with frustration clear in his voice. “Did you even think about how this would affect us? How this would reflect on me?”
Penny’s dropped. She began fiddling with her hands. Sniffling through tears, she asked, “So…what…what’s going to happen next?”
John Minken looked at dad, concern clear in his expression. Regardless of what Penny had done, she was still his daughter and he still loved her. I understood that, and almost felt sympathy for the girl. Almost.
“Your aunt will receive corporal punishment,” Dad said without hesitation as she is the mastermind behind it all. “We will discuss your punishment at a later date, but you will not be free to roam Shadow Veil freely. You are no longer trustworthy, and as of now, imprisonment will be your indefinite punishment until further notice.
“And what will be done about her?” John asked, looking at Harlyn. “Taking justice into her own hands. For attempted murder? Surely, we have laws set in place for your daughter as well, Alastair.”
“We do.” Dad spoke with power, but I could tell that he was upset by the decision that he had to come to. He faced Harlyn. “Harlyn Wade, you have a committed a crime against a high-ranking pack member. For that, you will be sentenced to imprisonment until a time set for punishment is determined.”
Harlyn was visibly hurt, but something was telling me that it wasn’t about this sentencing. She had already come to terms with what would potentially happen after what she had done. No, it was more than that.
Talon’s rejection was still fresh. I had never experienced such a thing but I knew that it must be painful.
“Take her away.” Dad said to Toran.
With a curt nod, the Beta stood in front of Harlyn, a sympathetic smile on his face as he mouthed that he was sorry for what he had to do.
“It’s okay,” said Harlyn, a tear falling down the length of her cheek. “It has to happen.”
Toran sighed and took Harlyn out of the hospital room. “I’ll walk with you,” I quickly offered, and followed them out of the room.
“You know you don’t have to do this,” Harlyn remarked.
“I’m not doing anything,” I replied nonchalantly.
“Sure, you’re not,” Harlyn smirked.
We continued walking and suddenly I felt the need to tell her, “I’m not going to let you go through this alone, Harly.”
Again, we weren’t on the best of terms, and despite the progress, I still didn’t fully trust Harlyn. It wasn’t going to come easily and I still felt that resentment, but I couldn’t fight the protective feeling I felt for her either.
She chuckled, dropping her head to the floor. “Of course you won’t.”
“Valene?”
Ares approached with an almost bewildered gaze. “Hey.”
“Is everything okay? Delta's daughter…what happened?”
“She did,” I replied, nudging my head in Harlyn’s direction.
Ares appeared intrigued by this. “The bad little sister takes one for the team, I see. Impressive-”
“Ares, no, it’s not,” I cut him off. “This is bad.”
“We should get going,” Toran said.
Ares’s expression turned sullen suddenly. “I am sorry for your loss.”
Harlyn gave him a curious and silent stare, then her eyes widened slightly and she realized that he knew.
“Thank you,” she replied in a hushed voice.
“How is the border looking?” asked Toran.
“There’s a commotion, but it isn’t nothing that can’t be handled.”
I could tell that something else was bothering him, something that he wasn’t prepared to talk about. Not just yet, at least.
“Ares?” I watched him.
“There is something else, but…only speculation. I’d like to talk to your father and the others about it first.”
“Is it something that I should know about?”
“Not as of yet,” he said. I didn’t like the way that he worded that.
“Is it…about my mother?”
He paused.
“Ares?”
That wasn’t bloody good.
“If it was something that I thought you should know about, I would have told you, mimar. And after I speak with your father, I will fill you in anyway. So, be patient.” he touched the side of my face, pushed a ringlet of hair behind my ear and gently caressed my lobe. “Trust me.”
Immediately I felt a calm wash over me. “Okay. I’m worried about her, Ares,” I confessed. Even with all this going on, I couldn’t help the disturbance in the back of my mind telling me that something was going on. “Please don’t be long with this information.”
He took a step toward me, and kissed my forehead. “I won’t, mimar, I swear it.” Then he headed off.
“I’ll take her to lock-up and then I’ll be back,” announced Toran.
“Take your time. We will need to go to the meeting hall for this anyway.”
The meeting hall?
Ares saw my concern, and smiled. “Everything’s fine,” he said and then walked away.
“Trust him, Vale,” said the man who was the closest that ever was to an uncle. “Even if things aren’t alright. He won’t stop until they are. None of us will.”
“Yeah,” I reluctantly said. “Let’s go.”