Vindicator

Chapter 27

Karma walked over to Russell, parking herself in front of him. Due to the sudden shift of the grass before him, he noticed a change in the presence he was bowing to. Stealing a glance up at the divine entity before him, he was startled to realize it was his daughter.

"Wh—Y-You're the Moon Goddess?!" He asked in disbelief, sitting up to a kneeling position.

Karma gave him an amused look. "You thought you were the first Alpha in history to not only have twins, but to have a daughter, for no reason?" She asked, deciding to toy with the man a bit. While not wanting to outright claim to be the Goddess, she thought it could be fun to have him believing she was.

"B-but..." he stuttered, although he had nothing more to say.

"Of course the daughter of an Alpha would be special. Why you thought you should feel cursed, instead of blessed, is beyond me! You should have celebrated your children, not shunned one and abused the other. You picked a relatively ironic name for me, though, don't you think?" She said with a laugh.

His face turned beet red, and he bowed down once again. "Please forgive me, Goddess! Had I known, I'd—"

"What? If you thought your daughter was the Moon Goddess you'd have paraded her around like a trophy and treated her like an actual daughter ought to be? No, it's better to show the world your true colours...In fact, I'm a bit vindictive, I have to say. You've just given me a wonderful idea" she said with a wicked grin.

Karma was pleased to see that her father was literally trembling with fear. She could smell the distinct scent coming off of him in waves. "He's pathetic when he's not bullying people weaker than him" she thought, utterly repulsed by the fact that this man helped to give her life.

"Don't worry, though. I don't want to torture you in any way other than righting your wrongs" she began, deciding to explain her idea. "In fact, I will give you a choice. You can remain in limbo for the remainder of eternity, where you will relive the pain of losing your mate over, and over, and over...Or, you can grovel before your mate, and beg for her forgiveness. You will accept whatever decision or punishment she declares. You will then swear your allegiance to the King and Queen, and reclaim the Red Moon pack; however, you will immediately hand the Alpha status of the pack to your son. The only thing you may do before transferring leadership is admitting to your lies against myself and your mate, and your crimes against the destined mate bond. You will make sure to announce this to every pack member, as well as any and every individual you've ever spread your lies to."

Russell sat up again and stared at her with wide eyes. "You will spare my life?" he asked in barely a whisper.

"If you can show to me that you are worthy of continuing that life" she replied, narrowing her eyes at him. "And you will not be able to use Hunter as an excuse to go astray again. I will see to it that he behaves, or your connection with him will be severed" she vowed.

"Thank you" Russell said tearfully, bowing again. "You are truly magnanimous, my Goddess."

She chuckled at this, shaking her head. She wasn't buying his crocodile tears. "And how would you respond if I was not the Moon Goddess?"

Russell looked up at her yet again, frowning. "Are you not?"

"Humour me, and answer it as a hypothetical question" she replied.

"...As long as you could spare my life, there would be no difference" He admitted cautiously.

Karma scoffed, shaking her head once more, although this time in disgust. Part of her had wondered if his wolf going insane, and going rogue, had truly turned him into the monster she encountered. She knew he was a selfish, wicked man for how he reacted to her birth; but, for her mother's sake, she was hoping that facing death would wake him up. Unfortunately, this just confirmed he was only playing along to continue living so that he could avoid the worse of the two punishments. Disappointed, but unsurprised, she sighed.

"Very well. The truth is that I am the one to decide your fate, and I have been blessed by the Moon Goddess. I am not she, but I do have the power to do all that I have promised. So, you shall abide by my will or you shall die and be returned to the mercy of the Moon Goddess" she said with a shrug. "She's not your biggest fan, by the way" she added with a wink.

Russell frowned, clearly angry at having been tricked, but he remained quiet. A nod of his head indicated he understood.

"Excellent" Karma chirped, clapping her hands together. "Then let's return, shall we?"

The words had barely left her mouth before the two found themselves back at the scene of their battle. Karma was lying on the ground in wolf form, in a pool of her own blood. She appeared to be horribly wounded; however, Alessia's body was completely unharmed.

"Alessia?!" She called out through mindlink to her wolf. Although disoriented from the sudden shift back to reality, her primary thought was of her best friend and wolf.

"I am here. What just happened?" The wolf asked, sounding a bit dazed.

Using their bond, Karma was able to share her experience with Alessia without using words. Alessia immediately understood, but came to a realization that Karma hadn't in her excitement to be reunited with her wolf.

Instantly, Alessia was on her feet, hackles raised and fangs bared; she was waiting for the inevitable attack from Hunter. Instead, she found the big, auburn wolf lying on his belly on the ground, looking as dazed as Alessia had sounded just a moment ago.

"Oh" Alessia said.

Karma laughed. "I appreciate the reaction, but I'm glad it was unwarranted" she said.

Alessia was about to give a snarky retort when they heard a sob, and Christina's voice calling out. "Karma? Baby, are you really alive? You're okay?!"

Alessia looked over towards the voice and found Christina making her way towards them through the trees. Alessia ceded control to Karma, who immediately shifted back to her human form as Christina let out a strangled cry and ran to her daughter. She embraced her tightly and burst into tears.

Karma hugged her back tightly, feeling guilty for upsetting her. After a moment, though, she realized...Her mother should have been back at the pack palace. How did she get here?

"Mom...I'm sorry, I know I probably scared you. I'm okay. I just need to know how you got here, and did you check on Theo? What's going on right now?" She asked as gently as she could.

Christina pulled back and gave her an angry but half-hearted smack to her arm. "'Probably scared'?! You made it sound like you were dying! And then stopped answering! And then I find you in a puddle of blood! And your brother...Oh god, my poor boy" she wailed, crying even louder.

Karma sighed and pulled her back in for a hug, realizing now was not the time to question the distraught she-wolf. As she was resting her chin on her mother's shoulder, though, she found herself staring into the glowing red eyes of a very large auburn-coloured wolf.