The Alpha's Little Witch | Completed ✔️

Chapter 34

REECE 

I willed every muscle in my body to budge, to run away because this sight was too much to bear. 

But I couldn't. And neither could anyone else.

We all watched in silence as our Luna finished taking the blows against her back without even an ounce of emotion on her face. When the pack warrior put the whip down, he bowed his head as she stood up and took the towel from his hands to clear the excess blood.

I stepped forward to wipe them down for her, but Beta Conrad's mate was closer, and she took the towel and started dabbing at the lash wounds with tears rapidly streaming down her face. 

My lips curled into my mouth as the broken skin on her back was revealed and swiveled around to face the pack members standing behind me. 

In the time that Jaslynn was being whipped, the crowd had grown larger. News had traveled that their long-awaited Luna was being punished before they were even introduced to her.

But they all knew the rule: once you were on pack land, you were under pack law. 

Despite the horrifying ordeal they had just witnessed, I saw hope growing on several faces. The hope that the torment their Luna went through would be enough to convince their Alpha that it was time to advance from these 19th-century forms of punishments.

There was some brief shuffling as the pack warriors began moving Jaslynn to the chain swings. I turned my head slightly to observe Alrik, but he didn't lift his head from the whipping post even though Jaslynn had already been shifted.

I knew his eyes were trained on the vermillion blood pools that had filled the cracks in the concrete.

The blood his mate had shed in an attempt to pull his head out of his ass.

I shook my head in disappointment and traveled around the group to the swings where Jaslynn was being shackled, her arms in the air and her toes barely touching the platform. She didn't even look bothered by the cuffs around her wrists as her eyes raised and studied the dark faces surrounding her.

Her gaze landed on me, and she gave me a small, comforting smile as if to tell me everything was okay. It was funny how she was trying to make me feel better when she was the one with the bleeding back.

As the pack warriors fell back and flanked her sides, Alrik finally made his move and walked over to her, striding onto the platform so he could speak to her without anyone eavesdropping on their conversation.

I darted forward in time to hear him say, "–did you do this?"

Jaslynn tilted her head as she studied his face, "I can't spell it out for you every time, Alrik. I need you to figure this out. Until you do, I'm staying here."

"You're being absurd," he whispered harshly, furrowing his eyebrows at her, "I'm not going to stand here and deal with your drama. Come find me when you're ready to apologize for your foolishness."

I rolled my eyes at his ignorance while Jaslynn just chuckled humorlessly, "You just don't get it yet, Alrik. You just don't." 

He growled under his breath, and everyone stared at him worriedly as he stepped off the platform and stormed away, his hands clenched in tight fists. 

Once he was out of sight, there was a brief period of silence as no one knew what to do. I cleared my throat, ready to dismiss them when the large group started to disperse without any warning. 

To my surprise, they started to create a jumbled line in front of their Luna, and Jaslynn's eyes widened in shock at the sight as the bustling came to a stop.