The Debate

Silver:

“Your first lesson is to always address the alpha as either Alpha Damon, my lord, or your majesty,” one of the scowling council men said to me. How helpful he was for telling me right after I had figured it out myself. “I don't care where you're from, but as long as you are in our territory, the alpha king remains your leader and you must address him as such.” 

My lips were pursed, not doing much to conceal my anger as I glared at him. Couldn't any of them have told me straight up before whipping me first? What kind of barbaric people had I found myself around? 

“Won't you answer your superior?” another councilman said with pure disdain directed at me. 

“I have heard,” I said sharply. 

The whip hit my bag again, and because the wounds the previous ones had caused were still fresh on my skin, this one hurt a hundred times worse.

“Fuck!” I groaned, rolling all over the hard floor again and wounding myself in the process. I hated them all. Their faces were unperturbed. They enjoyed seeing me like this. 

Now I wanted to be a werewolf hunter. Once I got out of this place, I would hunt them all down and dash their heads hard against the ground, for doing these things to me.

“What were you just told?” the first councilman who had told me the ways to address their alpha screamed at me. 

“You didn't fucking add that the rest of you were supposed to be revered as well!” I screamed back, wishing I could do more than that. My hands which were still tied were bringing me extremely great discomfort and adding to my frustration.

I wondered how I looked. My sensitive skin was probably puckered all over. My back would surely have blisters all around it. That was the least of my worries. When I found my way home I could nurse my wounds. 

I silenced the voice that reminded me of what would happen when I got home. The entire hypnosis thing and the reason I had escaped. Well, wherever I would find myself that was safer than here, I would hone my skills and return for revenge.

“Hold it,” the alpha ordered, lifting his hand in a fist. I turned and saw the guard holding the whip up in the air, ready to strike me with it. 

The man I had just screamed back at suddenly stood up and faced me. 

“You little whore,” he muttered, coming at me with his palm open and ready to slap me. 

“Rogu,” Alpha Damon said to him. “Sit down.” 

Rogu hesitated for a while, pouting angrily at me and showing me from his face alone how much he wanted to tear me to shreds. 

“I won't repeat myself,” Alpha Damon said, his voice more impatient this time. 

He was reluctant to leave me and return to his seat, even though the aloha had just instructed him to.

“My lord, she needs to be punished severely. She does not know her manners. If she was one of our own, you would have had her locked up or worse,” he complained. 

“There you have it,” the alpha said, flicking his finger. “She isn't one of our own, so there is no way she could have known our rules. Not that I am excusing her, but we shall not bombard her with everything all at once. Gwyddion tells me her people are all mannerless in her clan, so a little defiance is to be expected.” 

What? 

“Not mannerless per se, my lord,” Gwyddion the druid explained. “More like free-spirited. Everyone has equal rights there and no one is under obligation to worship anyone no matter the rank.” 

Alpha Damon rolled his eyes. 

“You see, mannerless,” he repeated. “I also hear they have a woman for a leader.”

The five councilmen all gasped in shock and I swear I heard the guard behind me gasp as well. 

“Atrocious!” 

“That is unheard of. No wonder she is so shameless.”

“What happened to the wise men in the clan?” 

“Abomination!”

Although I was in pain, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. Considering their expressions, anyone would assume they had just heard a blasphemy, but no. They were disgusted a woman was the leader of my clan. 

The alpha seemed to know a lot about my clan on his own. I doubted Gwyddion could have told him all of this within the three minutes it had taken them to convene here. 

“Then we shall have to apply more pressure,” Rogu said, finally sitting down, but his steely gaze still didn't leave mine. “And she must be secluded for the meantime. Some women in the pack have formed a movement, a fem-ini-st movement, he said, dragging each syllable like it was alien to him. "If they come in contact with her, it might put the wrong idea in their heads.”

I knew men like Rogu back in my clan. They had been extremely pissed off and surprised when we elected the first female leader and then the second and the next after her. It had annoyed them further when the women performed wonderfully, so they could not complain. However, they rarely spoke out like these men did, whose voices were literally dripping with misogyny. 

“She cannot be taught,” the second council member said, shaking his head and looking distraught at me. “She dares to look at our faces when we speak. She has no respect. No submission!” 

So I wasn't supposed to look at their faces? I scoffed. I widened my eyes and stared deeply into his eyes with a smile on my face, and he withdrew into himself. I should have known it. He was just afraid of women looking at him. Coward. 

“Why are we even still discussing this?” the oldest of the council members spoke up. “She should be put to death immediately. Tonight. Then tomorrow we should go back to discussing the things that truly matter.” 

“Enough,” the alpha growled and the men all fell silent. I wish I had that power over them as well. 

“I brought you here to discuss what needs to be done to the girl, so do not veer off topic.”

“Dogon already said we should have the girl killed. Or do you not want her killed for personal reasons?” Rogu asked and I caught the innuendo in his words. 

The silence in the room was tense, my eyes alternated between the alpha and Rogu who were having a stare-down. 

“What exactly are you suggesting, Rogu?” he asked, his voice unbelievably low like he was setting a trap.

Rogu shrugged. 

“I'm only saying perhaps you want to keep her alive because the druid who is known to have been false in the past said she was your mate and that could be clouding your judgment.” 

Tension. 

“It appears you no longer know your place, Rogu. I have given you liberty, which you have abused, the alpha said. “Get out.” 

Rogu did a double take. 

“But my lord, I was only saying…”

“If I repeat myself, Rogu, not only will you be permanently removed from my council but I will have your head on a platter before sunrise.” 

If I was correct, which I surely was, the alpha was the youngest in the room. The councilmen looked to be in their forties and fifties, except Rogu who leaned toward late thirties. The alpha looked to be in his late twenties, yet he was the alpha and did not even try to act like he gave them any form of respect. For people who were so hell-bent on taking women's will, they sure didn't protest when a younger man commanded. 

Rogu frowned, looked around, and left, but not before kicking me on his way out and passing it off as a misstep. 

That bastard. 

“I ask again,” Alpha Damon asked after Rogu had left. “What shall we do about the girl?” 

“Uh. I think she should be thrown in jail in the meantime.” Dogon, who had been so insistent on my death a moment ago suggested. I looked up at him suspiciously. 

“Yes, Dogon is absolutely right. She should be thrown in jail or anywhere your majesty chooses until more is known about her or her mission here,” the second said a little too eagerly. 

“Yes, yes, perfectly said,” the last one agreed, looking uneasy.

They were all afraid of being sent out of the council. 

The alpha smirked, tapping his finger high had a golden ring on it against the hardwood table. 

“It's settled then. You are all dismissed.” 

They all left a little too quickly. 

“You may leave too,” he said to the guard and I breathed a sigh of relief. “I believe we've taught her one lesson today. Perhaps tomorrow we shall teach her another. Take good care of that whip and maybe, add some more thorns to it.” 

I gaped at him, but no words could come out of my mouth. The only people left in the room were myself, the alpha, and the druid, Gwyddion. 

“Now that they are all gone, you may ask the moon goddess if this is all some kind of sick joke,” he spat. 

Gwyddion looked offended. 

“I do not speak freely to the moon goddess especially not with a request like that.”

Aloha Damon sighed. 

“So what am I supposed to do with her? Announce to the entire kingdom we have suffered to bring together that the moon goddess who should be on our side has made a human my mate? Do you know that could potentially destroy the entire pack?” 

I had no idea what they were talking about but I kept listening, not like I had a choice anyway. 

“It is not my place to answer that. The moon goddess works in mysterious ways. Everything she does happens for a reason,” Gwyddion said with admiration in his features. 

I rolled my eyes when I remembered the gone councilmen. So they were okay with having a goddess who was female but were so against a woman being a leader in another clan. These people were so delusional. 

“I'm sorry, are we boring you?” the aloha asked and I had to squint my eyes for a second. He was addressing me. 

“May I speak, your honor, your grace, your holiness,” I said, bending over in an exaggerated way I almost fell on my face. 

The alpha didn't look amused at my obvious mockery of his position, something I knew he took very seriously.

“You may speak,” he permitted. 

I cleared my throat. 

“It's quite difficult to speak when one is half-naked and tired up, don't you think?” 

Now that the whip was gone, I felt talkative. I saw the alpha’s jaw clench and I knew that if I kept this up, the while would be back in no time. 

“Do not abuse your privileges, Silver,” he said my name like it was poison that killed when one said it. “I'm not known to be a kind man.” 

I breathed in. He was just trying to intimidate me, but it wouldn't work. 

“You don't want me as a mate and I definitely don't want you either. Why don't we just call this a day and move on with our lives?” I asked. 

“Because it is the only reason you're still alive in the first place. If not for this stupid inconvenience, you should have been torn to death by lions half an hour ago. We are still talking about this because I need to get to the bottom of it before I properly dispose of you.” 

I froze, bile rising in my stomach. The memory of how I had almost died returned fresh to my memory and I swallowed.