chapter 13

The men started whispering loudly among themselves making the room very noisy.

The alpha stepped out and stood in front of the screen. The room immediately descended into pin drop silence.

He cleared his throat, his hands held behind his back.

"This happened less than a week ago. By the time the guards got there, a hundred acres of our pack's land had been made bare"

A picture appeared on the formerly black screen and he stepped aside to avoid blocking the picture

"Wow"

"What is that"

"How did that happen"

Trees had been uprooted, they were neither shrubs nor grasses.

It was as he had said.

It was bare.

The trees themselves had been pulled apart and broken into pieces.

It was worse than the aftermath of a hurricane .

"That was where they found her" the alpha said pointing at a small place in the picture.

it was enlarged and they saw in the picture that the place where she had been found was green. The few grasses and shrub that had been there were intact, untouched by whatever destroyed the forest.

Other pictures taken from different angles were displayed on the screen.

Any shred of pity the men had for the girl dissipated as soon as they saw the pictures.

They blamed her for it without having any concrete evidence. They were all judging based on the circumstances they had seen.

Fear indeed magnifies and creates an enemy where there is none.

"The girl sustained some injuries but her internal organs were fortunately not affected and she is currently in the hospital. However, her mental state is yet to be confirmed and until then, she can't be questioned though she is the only witness."

The alpha's tone carried a hint of displeasure. one which went unnoticed by everyone except Dian's father.

he wasn't sure whether the alpha was displeased with what happened to his daughter or he was like the rest of the men in their blaming and blind conclusions.

The men whispered amongst themselves. They believed that questioning her was unnecessary.

They had more than enough proof of her guilt.

They didn't know that they had only seen the circumstantial evidence and that it couldn't proof her guilt, it could only hint at it.

Her father was stoic.

He could not believe that she was the culprit.

It could've been anybody, anything.

Her pursuers might have been the ones who did that, it could've even been the gods, afterall nobody possessed as much power as any of the gods. It could even have been a natural disaster that his daughter just happened to get caught up in.

It all seemed like a ploy to make the victim the culprit to him.

The alpha took his seat watching the men in the room carefully. Most of their faces revealed their emotions though few remained impassive.

Some worried about the safety of the pack, others were worried about the safety of their businesses.

The room descended into silence as people organized their thoughts.

The beta stood and walked to the front of the screen where he could be seen by everyone.

"We've called you here today to inform you of the issue because you are among those most affected by this. A thorough investigation is ongoing and you'll be regularly updated on its findings. Another meeting will be held as soon as we find something new. Thanks for coming" he said and dismissed the men

The alpha watched with cold eyes as the men left one after the other until only him and his beta remained.

"Is it ready?" The alpha asked

The beta nodded and handed him a brown envelope.

...

I hadn't stopped thinking about what they meant. What could I possibly not know that would make me lose sleep if I knew?

I had fallen asleep while they were in my room even though I tried very hard to stay awake and when I had woken up, they were already gone.

The room was spotless and different from before.

It now had a huge sofa, enough toilet paper to last me a year, a lot of soap, towels, a water dispenser, fruits, cups and lastly...

A chained window.

The room housed all a person would ever need for daily living.

The chains were very intricate. It was impossible to tell where it began and where it ended. It seemed like the ends had been soldered together.

It was hard to not regret fleeing from the window when I had the chance.

I was sure I would go crazy if I stayed in the room for 24 hours. It was just a matter of time before my sanity decided to bolt. What did they expect me to do, all alone in a locked room?

It was not like I could sit down all day and sing kumbaya or something!.

They had not thought to give me a book or a knitting pin or better yet, a phone...

My wolf decided to discuss with me, taking me a way from the millions of things I was displeased with and she was a very welcome distraction.

That was until I heard what she had to say.

"You shouldn't have told those men anything about our mate" she chided

Why did she have to bring up Trey and worsen my already sour mood?

" What mate?, I don't remember having a mate" I replied through our link.

" If you said nothing we would have been fine "

She had ignored my statement and proceeded to put the blame of our predicament on me.

I sighed trying to hold back my anger. I knew she knew I was annoyed.

"Even if I hadn't met them, we'd still not be fine"

" Why are you being so cruel? What if they find him and kill him because of your information?" She asked

" Then I'll be very grateful that my knowledge was put to good use"

My patience with my wolf was thinning and so was hers with me. we were treading dangerous waters and I really wished we could talk about something else.

"What are you saying, these people almost killed our child"

She was raising her voice at me and I did not like that at all, I was frustrated enough as it was.

"What do you mean? I was there, I know how it felt, I was the one they were attacking and you were not the one running" I said. My annoyance was evident but I snuffed it out as best as I could. "It was all because of Trey anyway"

"Why are you blaming him for anything, it wasn't his fault you met those people"

She was closing her eyes to the obvious truth and it was feeding my annoyance.

"So are you saying I'm blaming an innocent person?" I asked.

" Not exactly" she replied

Her voice was barely a whisper..

"Then you should know it's his fault they wanted to kill my child"

" Is it his fault you got pregnant?" She asked

She was getting on my nerves in the exact way I hated.

"It's our fault, I know I'm partly responsible, but he is too"

" So why are you putting all the blame on him?"

I was very riled up and whatever I was going to say or do would be harsh. It seemed like she was manipulating my emotions to force me into agreeing that trey was not at fault.

"If he hadn't left, he'd have had to deal with it himself and I would not be involved. I don't even know how he knows those guys or how they know him but they are definitely not good people. Whatever their issues are, I want no part of it, for me and our baby"

I wasn't going to be blind to his faults like she was. He did not deserve to be my mate.

"You've always been very selfish and unreasonable, that's why he left"

I was shocked by that. I felt like I had been stabbed by a thousand needles. She had poked me where I was sore.

it hurt, especially since it was coming from her.

I completely ignored the wave of remorse she was projecting to me.

I laughed without any humor shutting out the pain I had been plunged into by her words.

"Is that why you've been quiet? you've been blaming me all this time haven't you?"

" It's not...."

" Save it" I said interrupting her.

" All this time I've been dealing with so much pain and that's what you've been thinking huh? Blaming it on me helped with the pain didn't it? You must've been able to rest easy knowing it was my fault, not yours and that the situation was out of your control. I was being selfish and unreasonable, I get that. I was supposed to be reasonable, calm and level headed when his flickering scent was starting to drive me crazy or be very selfless and offer myself to those creatures begging them not to hurt him. Is that it? "

I couldn't bear to talk to her any moment longer

"I didn't expect you to fully understand but I never expected you'd be the one to say this to me".

That being said, I shut her out of my head and shut all the doors she could use to communicate with me.

I took a deep breath.

I hate arguing with my wolf. I knew that she was being very insensitive yet I felt as though I was being unreasonable and overreacting. We used to understand each other perfectly and she had always been supportive.

Now, she was being insensitive.

I had wanted a perfect mate just like everybody else but all I got is pain, and a lot of it. I was tired of it all, surviving, fighting, being strong, being sad, being weak, being me.

I claimed to have cut all ties with him and said he wasn't my mate, but the truth is that I couldn't bring myself to hate him, no matter how hard I tried.

No matter how much I forced myself to come to the reality that he's gone, every time I close my eyes I remember how it felt being in his arms and I craved that feeling.

I took comfort from the child in my womb. I knew my child would be strong, resilient and brave. All the things his mother didn't know how to be.

I had to be strong for my child, for my family, for my friends and for myself.

A knock on the door caught my attention.

The person I wanted to see had finally presented himself.