Chapter 133

#Chapter 133 – The Alpha of the Pack “Well well well,” Rafe says, his face twitching, as Victor and his family approach the fire pit, Victor limping slightly. “Look who finally showed up.”

The rest of the family are already gathered. Bridgette sits in a camping chair next to Rafe, her hands folded anxiously in her lap. Even Henry has been carried down in his chair so that he sits at the head of the fire pit circle, acting the patriarch. Marissa stands next to him.

Victor sneers at his father, slightly, resenting him for pretending an authority he doesn’t have. This is still Victor’s pack, after all. Then, as he takes his place in the circle, Evelyn standing to his left and his boys to his right, Victor turns his sneer on his brother.

“Hello Rafe,” Victor says, putting his hands cooly in his pockets. “You look terrible.”

Evelyn can’t help but keep her mouth from twitching in humor at the comment. It’s true, though – Rafe’s face is pale and jerking, his body wracked by shudders from a night spent in the cold, ravaged by wolfsbane.

“Oh, Rafe,” she coos, sarcasm adding bite to her words. “You look like you could use a little rest, perhaps a long restful vacation. Far away from here, maybe in hell. Would you like me to arrange that for you?”

Rafe glares at her, his lips pulling back from his teeth in a growl. “That’s enough from you, you cheat,”

he sneers.

Evelyn huffs a laugh in his face. “Are you serious? You’re the one who –“

“Enough.” Henry’s voice slices through the crowd. Marissa stands nervously next to him, a hand on his shoulder. She looks between her two boys and then holds Evelyn’s gaze. Evelyn gives her a small nod.

“This trial did not go smoothly,” Henry continues, his voice serious. “As both parties in the trial have been accused of…misconduct,” Henry glares at his sons here, “I, the only unbiased party, will act as judge and jury to decide the winner.”

Evelyn bites her lip at this, unable to help the thought that Marissa, too, is an unbiased party. But she keeps the thought to herself, knowing it won’t be helpful in this moment.

“As the elder son,” Henry says, turning his gaze to Victor, “we will hear Victor’s side first.”

Victor nods before beginning. “It’s simple,” he says with a shrug. “Rafe did not participate in the trial until the last moments, when I was isolated. I executed his final Beta – the eleventh, illegal Beta –

moments before I was trapped in a snare of Rafe’s own making.”

Victor glares at his brother here, who returns his gaze impassively. “Then Rafe had himself delivered by helicopter to deliver the final blow, which was deflected by Evelyn at the last moment.”

Victor shrugs, crossing his arms over his chest. “I took out eleven men, all of them Betas. If Rafe secretly called in a proxy to take his place on the field, so be it. But I took them all out and was, myself, never incapacitated on the field.”

Victor finishes and silence reigns around the fire pit. Then, Rafe’s laugh rings out around the fire, a harsh, forced thing.

“A likely story,” he says, the words huffing along with the tail end of his laughter. “To make up for the fact that his girlfriend had to come and save him at the last minute. I had a knife to his throat and would have been victorious if she had not come,” he glares at Evelyn again, “and hit me in the head with a stick.”

Evelyn glares at him. “Such a tough Alpha,” she bites out, “if you can be taken out with a stick.”

“Enough,” Henry says, glaring at Evelyn. Unhappy, she shuts her mouth and clenches her teeth.

“Regarding the rest of his claim,” Rafe says, raising a trembling hand to dismiss it. “It’s ridiculous.

There was no eleventh Beta. I was on the field the entire time. Our forces took each other out and then I lead him on a chase through the woods to the snare which I had set earlier in the night. It was all a part of my plan.”

Victor glares at his brother, shaking his head slowly at his lie.

“As for the helicopter,” Rafe continues, looking at his father, “it did indeed come, but to deliver medical aid which I had previously arranged for the Betas. Not to deliver me.”

Rafe scoffs performatively. “Honestly,” he says with disgust in his voice, “these are the claims of a sore loser, nothing more. Victor was the one with an extra agent on the field,” he turns to glare at Evelyn again. “Not me.”

Henry turns his attention back to Victor, who stands impassively around the circle. “Your counter claim?”

Victor just shrugs and looks down at his two children, who stand bright-eyed at his side. “My children gave their own testimony last night. Their claims, I believe, add credence to my statement.”

The boys nod eagerly. “We’re sorry we disobeyed mama and went into the woods,” Alvin says, apology in his voice.

“But not that sorry,” Ian adds earnestly. “Because we went in to see if Uncle Rafe was cheating, and he was,” he glares at Rafe here. “He wasn’t there, we swear it – we checked everyone. He had eleven people on his team, and he was not one of them. And that’s when we came back to tell you that.”

Evelyn smirks to see Rafe pale at the twins’ testimony. Clearly, he didn’t know the boys had been in the woods.

“But we didn’t do anything to interfere with the trial,” Alvin adds, eager. “You can ask anyone, ask any of the Betas, we didn’t do anything.”

Ian nods in confirmation.

Rafe spins to glare at Bridgette, hissing. “You knew this?”

Her eyes go wide and she twists her hands in her lap, uncomfortable. “Um…yes?”

“And you didn’t tell me?” His whisper now is full of rage.

“I’m sorry –“ she says, tears leaping to her eyes, “I didn’t know you wanted to know – and you came back to late and needed medical attention –“

Rafe growls at her but Henry interrupts.

“That’s enough,” he says, watching closely as Rafe growls at Bridgette. Then Henry turns his attention to the boys. “You should not have interfered. But, I will interrogate the Betas, as you say, to determine whether you truly were bystanders.”

The boys nod, worried, but their father looks down at them confidently and gives them a nod. They smile up at him, knowing he is proud.

“None of this,” Rafe says, “changes the fact that Victor did not win. He did not take me out at the end of the trial, but instead had his own illegal participant on the field.” Rafe snarls at Evelyn. “This calls, if anything, for a rematch.”

Evelyn meets his glare, opening her mouth to counter his statement, when suddenly, Marissa steps forward.

“If I may,” she says, her voice quiet but full of command.

Surprised by her sudden intervention, everyone falls silent, turning their attention to her.

In his entire life, Victor does not remember his mother ever participating in pack matters. She has always been important, of course, as his father’s Luna – always been Henry’s best supporter, working behind the scenes to ensure that the pack ran smoothly. But never, ever, has Victor heard her raise her own opinion like this.

Henry frowns at Marissa, unhappy, but he does not silence her. She has always had a right to speak;

but she, as a dutiful Luna, has never taken advantage of the right.

“I believe,” she says carefully, “that according to pack rules and traditions, Victor did not have an extra player on the field, as Rafe claims.”

Marissa carefully folds her hands and looks at Rafe as she speaks. “Every good Alpha knows that he has the authority in the pack, responsible for the wellbeing and safety of all of its members. But what some Alphas forget, and Lunas never do, is that the Luna is his equal in every way.”

Here, Marissa shifts her gaze to Victor and Evelyn. “By tradition and express written right, the Luna is considered the other half of the Alpha. In essence, they are one.”

Realizing suddenly what she means, Evelyn’s eyes go wide. Victor and Rafe understand a moment later.

“If Evelyn was on the field last night,” Marissa says, “she was there as an extension of Victor.” Marissa shrugs. “If Bridgette was not also there, it is merely because you chose not to have her attend.”

“But she’s –“ Rafe sputters, “she’s not even his luna – she’s barely a proxy – Amelia was his recognized Luna, and she has been gone only a couple of weeks –“

“Marissa has a point,” Henry interrupts, “but so does Rafe.” He turns a hard glare on Victor. “She will not be counted as an extra on the field, Victor, but only if she is truly your Luna.” He folds his hands in his lap, waiting.

Victor smiles, turning his head to look down at Evelyn, who looks up at him with wide eyes. Gently, he raises a hand to cup her cheek in his palm.

It is the simplest decision he has ever made. “Of course. She is my Luna.”

Evelyn stares at him barely a moment before giving the tiniest nod of her chin. Her eyes and her heart are full as she repeats his declaration. “I am his Luna.”

There is a small stir in the air when Evelyn says the words, a pulse which ripples through the clearing and raises the hair on everyone’s arms – on Marissa’s, Henry’s, Bridgette’s, Rafe’s, even the Betas who stand around as witnesses to this claim. Only Ian and Alvin seem unsurprised, unmoved.

Of course, they have long known.

Blinking, a little unnerved, Henry waits a moment and then clears his throat. “Then it is done. Victor, my son, you have won. The pack is yours.”

Victor smiles down at his Luna, who returns the expression with everything in her heart. “Ours,” he says. “The pack is ours.”