Dawn of a Queen

Chapter 13: The Third Trial

~Zira P.O.V~

Knock, knock, knock.

I pounded my fist roughly against the mansion doors. After a few moments, I heard the shuffling of feet and the door opened.

"What do you want Zira?" he said while rubbing his eyes.

His eyes were drooping in exhaustion and I felt a tinge of guilt for waking him up, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"I'm sorry for bothering you right now Orion, but I need to call and emergency Council meeting." I replied.

"I don't really want to know what's going on, do I?" he muttered while rubbing his hand down his face.

I didn't respond. I just looked at him a stone hard expression etched on my face. He sighed.

"Alright, I'll assemble them. Meet us in the Council Chamber in 30 minutes."

I nodded and walked off the porch.

'This is not going to end well.' Said Rayne.

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"What is this all about?"

"What happened?"

"There better be a good explanation for this!"

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Where's Malik?"

"BE STILL EVERYONE!" yelled Lucien, the oldest member.

I took that as my que and opened the doors to the room. I could feel their eyes boring into me, but my cat and I were not afraid.

"What's she doing here?" asked Nolan.

"Why don't we let her explain so we can find out?" asked Orion, sounding a fraction annoyed.

"I have asked you all to meet here because we are facing imminent danger. As you have probably noticed, Malik is not here....and he never will be again." I said emotionlessly.

There were gasps all over the room. Even Orion was taken aback. I could feel the fury of the Council starting to build.

"You killed him?" Corbin seethed.

I nodded in acknowledgement and that's when they immediately broke out in howls, growls, and yelling, all of which was all directed toward me. I couldn't even decipher a single word through all the noise, but I could tell by their faces that they thought I had overstepped my boundaries. My friend seemed to express the same concern.

"SILENCE!" I roared using my lioness tone.

Their tirade was instantly cut short. I refused to be disrespected by those of lesser ranks.

"Just shut up and let me continue...Malik killed King Regis."

Gasps erupted throughout the room, but I continued.

"He was working for the Vampires and slowly poisoned the king. Alpha Rainier was merely his puppet. He was forced to find a new solution when his original plan was foiled six years ago." I exclaimed.

"He was one of our own! He should have been brought before us, and we would have decided his fate!" growled Nolan.

"He killed the king; I got his confession. That's all I needed to be his judge, jury, and executioner. I was within my boundaries."

Kael grunted in dissatisfaction, but none of them further questioned my decision because they knew I was right.

The silence that permeated the room was deafening and I knew that they felt guilty for not knowing this was going on right under their noses. As insufferable as I found many of them, Regis was a good king who was beloved by most werewolves, and he had befriended the Council even before his reign. He had never abused his power over them.