The Full Moon Effect

Chapter 4: Repercussions

Kill me if you must,

but I shall not bow to a King

who wears a crown

studded with the jewels

of every life he has ended.

**********

In an instant, everyone in the clearing was on edge, claws extended and muscles tense. Like me, most of my pack were confused, split down the middle of loyalties. I jumped to my feet as Leyton roared in fury, swinging his free fist as Jones.

"Traitor!" He screamed at me as Jones let go of Leyton's wrist to defend himself.

"No," my father said stepping up beside me, effectively stilling Alpha Leyton. "Betrayal is when an Alpha demands his pack member to mate with someone of his own choosing. A traitor is someone who breaks trust and crosses boundaries that were never his to invade. The only traitor here, Alpha, is you."

Alpha Leyton chuckled, his dark eyes turning to my fathers. "You speak of trust as if you didn't break mine. You speak of loyalty as if you know what the word means!"

"I am loyal to the full moon and justice. And you only know one," my father growled, his own eyes darkening.

"We had hoped to do this civilly," a woman's voice came from outside the crowd still gathered around us, and the sea of tense pack members parted for a woman in a dressy suit. "But I've come to learn to expect the unexpected when it comes to working with werewolves."

Alpha Frazier, the third party Alpha needed to witness the turn of events father and I had been planning for many months now, walked behind her. He was handsome with his salt and pepper hair. His kind eyes assessed our situation quickly as he escorted our pack Advocate Cervantes to us. Jones backed up to my side, and between him and my father and our two new guests, we had Alpha Leyton circled.

"Leyton Robinson," Cervantes continued. "Due to your blatant disregard for the Pack Guidelines stated in section one amendment three, your title of Alpha has been renounced effectively immediately."

His voice formed a low snarl. "How dare you! The pack does what its Alpha demands! Choices are to be made only by the Alpha!"

"Wrong again," Father said. "Choices are made everyday by the pack, starting with the least of them. Packs are not monarchies of slaves, they are families of freedom. And you have stripped us of all freedom, choice, and good conscious."

"From now on," I spoke up. "Your merciless killing can be committed by your own hand. Not by the ones you claim to love." Not by the one you said you considered your own daughter, I thought.

I only had the split second of notice gave by his muscles tightening to formulate a plan. My hand went in his chest at the same time another hand gripped the former alpha's shoulder and took him to the ground. Alpha Jones and I looked up at each other, surprised as we braced one hand on the ground and pinned Leyton to the ground with the other. Jones's claws pierced into the flesh on Leyton's shoulder while my fingers ran hot with the blood trying to make its way into his heart. I applied pressure to his heart and Leyton's eyes drew to mine as I began to pull away.

"You don't deserve mercy. But we're not like you," I said retreating to my father's side.

Leyton tried to sit up on his own but could only get as far up as his forearms. Castor broke through the surrounding people, his eyes wide in horror and I took a step toward him but my father's hand wrapped around my elbow. Castor helped Leyton up, betrayal evident on his face when his eyes met mine. My heart clenched as he led Leyton through a break in the crowds.