“I’ll be right there” I said as I increased my speed.
We all reached the clearing at the same time. Joseph held her down, but didn’t hurt her. “Damn Klaus, she looks very young how old is she?”
I shifted back to human form. The shift caused my wound to bleed and I was filled with rage all over again. If she were a man, she would be torn to shreds right now.
“Do the questioning Joseph. I don’t think I can control myself” I mind linked him, while asking him to shift back out loud.
He shifted and tried to help her up. She thought he was going to hurt her, as she put up her arms to protect her face.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you, little girl. I was trying to help you get on your feet” he said gently.
She glared at him and got to her feet on her own. The hat that she was using to cover her hair with stayed on the ground when she got up revealing a golden, voluminous, very long curly hair. She was practically glowing with that hair, as I realized that she was probably hiding it for that exact reason. I took a good look at her underneath all that mud, dirt, and hostility. She was very tiny, she wouldn’t probably reach my shoulder. Her face had these big brown eyes that distracted me earlier. Her lips were full and pink. She was probably a very beautiful girl when she cleaned up. I cursed myself immediately. How could you look at her like this Klaus? I chastised myself. It doesn’t matter if she was beautiful or not. She is not Kate. She will never be.
“What is your name little girl?” asked joseph calmly
“Ella” she turned her head towards him and answered reluctantly
“How old are you Ella?”
“Seventeen”
He narrowed his eyes a little and mind linked me “Damn Klaus, she is not even 18 yet, don’t tell me you are planning on punishing her?”
“She tried to fucking kill me with a silver knife, what do you think” I mind linked back in fury.
“Do your parents know what you are up to at this time?” asked Joseph
“I have no one, I’m a servant at the pack house”
“Great! you wanna punish a little poor orphan girl who has probably been mistreated her entire life as a servant” thought Joseph miserably. I ignored him.
“Well, Ella don’t you know that you are forbidden from leaving the pack without your alpha’s permission?” he asked
“My alpha died this morning, I have no alpha” she answered with a challenge coloring her voice.
“Poor little orphan girl huh? She is anything but that apparently” I thought back at Joseph. It was his time to ignore me now.
He looked amused by her answer before saying “Then you must know that when the alpha is killed by another alpha, then the alpha who killed him becomes the new alpha of the pack”
“He’s not my alpha yet, I didn’t submit to him” she fires back at him. My anger rolls off me in waves. “Calm down Klaus, she is clueless to this politics crap” Joseph tried to reason with me.
“None the less, he is still your alpha with or without submission, you can’t leave the pack if he doesn’t allow it” answered joseph cautiously before adding “And if I were you right now, I’d watch what I am saying about the alpha, considering you just tried to kill him with your knife” and nodded in my direction.
I watched the blood drain from her face as she slowly turned to look at me. All that smirking and challenging was replaced by one thing only, pure fear. I felt a little of my anger slip away as I saw her fear of me mirrored in her big brown eyes. She was too shocked to say anything.
“Now you have nothing to say?” I ask with raised eyebrows.
She looked down to the ground and answered in a small voice “I didn’t know you were the alpha when I threw the knives at you”
“It doesn’t matter who I fucking was, you tried to kill a member of your own pack!” I shouted in rage and took a step towards her without thinking. She immediately took one step back, and looked up at me in fear.
“Whoa Klaus, don’t do something you are going to regret later. Let’s think things through first” warned Joseph in my mind.
I could smell her fear clearly now and that made me calm down a bit. She was fighting to not appear so frightened in her final moments. I could tell she was preparing herself to be killed, she was barely holding tears back.
How can someone so tiny, weak and scared, try to look so brave? It was beyond me. Joseph distracted me by saying “Look, she clearly didn’t know who you were when she attacked you. She is just a girl not even 18, please just let her go back to the pack house with a threat. I am sure it will make her think twice before stepping foot outside pack territory again”
“I can’t let her go without punishment Joseph. First she broke the rules by attempting to runaway after I forbid anyone from leaving. And most of all, she tried to kill her alpha and got me injured. What do you think that will say about me in front of her pack if I just let her go without punishment? I’ll look fucking weak. If she were a guy, the pack would have witnessed their first execution by their new alpha for sure”
“So punishing a little innocent girl means nothing to you? All that matters is saving face in front of the pack?” asked Joseph in anger.
If it was someone else speaking to me that way, they would have had my wrath to deal with, as you don’t speak to your alpha that way. But Joseph was so much more than just my beta. He was my mentor even before I became alpha. Back when he was my father’s beta. He was also my father in law. Kate’s father. I held so much respect and love for him. I always listened to his advice. But things changed a little after Kate was murdered along with my unborn child. Losing a mate made something die inside of me. I became more violent, vicious, and strict. Even Joseph couldn’t get to me sometimes. But I could see it in his eyes this time. He was determined to save this girl. I don’t know why. Actually, I think I did. She looked a little like Kate. While Kate had deep blue eyes like her father, she had the same color of Ella’s hair, golden. Kate’s hair was wavy more than curly, but the color was the exact same. She also had the same kind of attitude.
“Look Joseph, if it was just about running away, I might have considered forgiving her, but she stabbed an alpha. I can’t have people think they could do all sorts of things and I will just stand by without enforcing laws and punishments, regardless of her age” I tried to tell him.
“No one knows what happened to you. It’s just us your inner circle. None of us is going to think less of you if you showed someone who deserves some mercy, you know that”
“Umm…actually, I kind of alerted our back up at the Grey’s pack about the situation and they kind of alerted everyone else. Don’t look at me like that Joseph, I didn’t know she was a kid. My alpha was almost killed, we needed to capture her” said Marcel, one of my inner circle and a pretty strong soldier of mine.
“Well, now I definitely can’t let her go without punishment in public. I have to make an example out of her or everything I worked for will come tumbling down on me” I told Joseph making up my mind.
Joseph shook his head at me “I can’t believe you just said that. The Klaus I know would have never had the heart to hurt a girl”
I sighed in frustration and said in a deadly low voice “Joseph, take her back to the pack house and lock her up in a cell. She will receive her punishment first thing in the morning”
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply