"Stop."
A cold, hard voice sounded from the midst of the visitors. Even the Alpha, who didn't normally listen to others, halted and turned to glare at the source of the voice. "As a member of the Council's Okhrana, I command you to stop. I officially suspend you from your position and duties as Alpha of the Bloodmoon pack, until further investigation for unjust treatment of pack members has been carried out. The Council will decide your fate after the investigation. Zeta, ensure that he is tended to and secured in a holding cell until further notice."
Alina turned to Hikari, "Tend to your brother, or get someone to do it."
Korū miraculously managed to drag himself out of the arena, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. He growled at the Alpha as he passed, Hikari hurrying after him.
The Alpha raised his head, crimson liquid dripping from his jaws, a glint in his eyes.
"Uh, Alina, wait, this doesn't normally happen-" Kumori began.
"It might not, but there was still a chance that the Alpha might have killed Korū. Going that far just once is enough for the order that I just put down." Alina said. "Now, let's go see if Korū's still alive."
She headed in the direction Korū disappeared in. Her friends exchanged flabbergasted glances before tentatively leaving the arena.
"You went too far this time, Fukuya," the Luna murmured as she helped her mate up, throwing a cloak over him as he shifted back.
Kumori hung back for a bit, casting a worried glance at her Alpha before going after Alina.
"Why didn't you surrender?" Cayne demanded as Hikari bandaged Korū up.
"Why the heck would I surrender?"
"His pride and dignity doesn't let him surrender," Hikari cut in, glaring at her brother. "Which causes him to end up in this kinda situations."
"Often does something like this happen?" Linda asked.
"No. It normally ends with a few scratches, in less than five minutes." Korū let out a huff. "Oi, Alina, hear that? Now lift that suspension or I swear my pack is gonna go insane. No matter how much of a bitch he is, he can actually keep this pack in check. Hate to say this but we kinda need him, since our Betas are all the way across the world."
"No one deserve a bitch of an Alpha," Alina protested, glancing at Linda, who looked away, "We don't know for sure,' she replied in a somewhat apologetic tone.
Alina sighed. "Anyway, it's not that simple. The Council has been looking for a chance to investigate this pack for a long time, and trust me, there is a clause that says that uncalled for threatening of and uncalled for action to take a pack member's life is illegal." Alina looked at the confused faces around her.
"Ah yes, and while you're doing your 'investigation', my pack's gonna fall apart." Poison-green eyes narrowed. "This entire pack is larger and crazier than you think it is. Shady or not, he's not exactly a bad leader. Plus almost everyone in the pack has nearly taken each others lives one way or another."
"The thing is, while your pack isn't falling apart, other packs will be affected too. It's worse in the long run."
"My pack has not negatively affected any other pack in any way," Kumori said softly. "All we've done since the war over land was live in the mountains. That's the entire reason why we live here, anyway. We don't want conflict between us and other packs."
"Yeah, no negative impact, apart from maybe breaking somebody's wrist."
"And nose."
"I'm talking about your Alpha, and the power he holds while he is in this position. There's a reason why the Council's suspicions were raised in the first place." Alina answered, as everyone listened to the conversation.
"And what exactly is that reason?"
Alina cleared her throat and ducked her head, shifting on her feet. "Confidential. At least until we confirm something."
"You can't just suspend our Alpha from his duties without telling us why!" Korū screeched. "What the fuck."
"You know why, because he came close to killing a pack member." Alina said, slightly exasperated. "It's just that this gives us a chance to see if something else is going on."
"Then why didn't you investigate earlier? Isn't the Council like, all powerful or something?" Cayne asked, skeptical.
"We're not all powerful!" Alina was frustrated now. She just wanted to help. How did they not get it? Why can't they understand why she did what she did? "It's impossible to investigate anything or anyone with no apparent reason, and rumours are a pain in the ass!"
"Like I said, almost all of us here came close to killing a pack member," Korū snapped. "What are you gonna do about that?"
Alina rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure you almost killed people, especially when they suggested not throwing people in a cell for no reason."
"I'm sure no one has ever had insane moments."
"Look, if he deserves to be condemned, he will be. If he doesn't, the Council will definitely let it go."
"Brutality is part of our pack's nature," Hikari cut in. "Our Alphas have always been this way. Why are you only condemning us now?"
"It's only been a hundred and thirty-seven years since everything's been put together again. It's an awfully short time to build everything.
"Even now, we are still progressing, changing. It's not complacency or ignorance that caused this, we are still short on manpower, and everyone still needs to get used to living with other races in peace.
"Action would have been taken, anyway, if we even got a complaint or witness, but no. No one ever stepped up, ever. The Council is fair, but it's not invincible, and it's far from perfect. There's so many factors to consider for everything, we just couldn't- what matters is that we are trying, doing our best and we're actually making progress." Alina ended, her eyes pleading. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't stressed from just about everything. She looked around, meeting the eyes of each of her companions, stopping briefly at Linda's, and the latter stared back, realisation forming in her eyes as Alina looked away.
Korū, Hikari, and Kumori fixed her with narrowed green and crimson gazes. Korū growled, stood stiffly, and stalked out of the room.
"And one of our hosts just left us." Liam muttered. "Where the hell are we?"
"Come with me." Hikari led them to a couple of pretty well-furnished rooms. "Pair up. You guys will stay here." She turned to the guys. "You three either can share one room or one of you can stay with my brother."
"We'll share." Cole said.
"Thanks." Linda said, "Do you want to gather in a room to discuss what our next move is?"
"Not now. The pack is gonna be in utter chaos until the Betas come back." Kumori turned and walked out, only to stop and look back. "Try not to make things worse than they already are."
"Sensei," Hikari called, darting out to meet a red-haired man. "Help me find my brother, Kumori!"
Kumori nodded. "Seriously, don't leave the rooms if you can."
"You sound like you're blaming us, but you should have told your Alpha who the hell you were bringing into his territory." Cole said, getting elbowed by Cayne.
"Dude just leave it."
Kumori's eyes narrowed, and suddenly she looked exactly like her cousins, save for the red eyes, which honestly only made her look more evil. "I can fix the mistake I made in bringing you here."
"That's not the point. The communication you have with your Alpha is a piece of trash-" Liam leapt up to cover Cole's mouth. "Shut up. Don't provoke the host."
"Oh, I'm sorry, he doesn't care about a lowly ass like you. He wasn't even talking about you." She pointed at Cayne. "He's more worth acknowledging."
Cayne rubbed his temples. "God, how old is that grudge?"
"A few years. Not very old."
"That's very old."
"A few years isn't a long time." Korū opened the door. "None of you are crashing my room, right?"
"Nope." Linda helped to answer.
"What are we gonna do now?" Alina asked.
"Maybe start by keeping your nose out of Bloodmoon issues." Korū retreated, closing the door behind him.
That stung.