My Alpha's Betrayal: Burning in the Flames of His Vengeance novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Elk Lodge

Elk Lodge was a long log hall with seven carved chairs on a platform and a hearth big enough to roast a deer.

Odessa carried me in on her back, because my legs would not hold.

She set me on a bench against the wall with Bryn beside me, and she tucked a blanket round my knees.

"Don't die," she said. "I have a lot planned."

"I'll try."

Seven Alphas sat in the chairs, three women and four men, from the seven packs of the valley.

The eldest had a white braid to her waist and a face.

She struck the floor with a staff, and the room went quiet.

"We are here for a blood crime," she said. "Dietrich Crane of Redcliff has brought the charge against Tobias Kincaid of Stonebrook. Let the accused answer."

Crane rose from his bench, smiling, with his advocate at his side.

"With respect," he said, "the accused will lie."

"He will speak first," the eldest said. "That is the old order."

Tobias stood.

He had shaved, and the bruise on his cheek was the color of old plums.

He walked to the middle of the floor and did not put his hands behind him.

"I am Tobias Kincaid, Alpha of Stonebrook," he said. "I burned Redcliff's hall and its lower row. I gave the order."

A murmur went through the lodge.

"I stood on the east lane, and I heard a dog bark behind a green door, and I said, burn it anyway."

He did not look away from the Alphas.

"My Beta told me the doors were clear. I did not check them. I should have kicked in that door with my own boots, and I did not, because I wanted a hole where their pack had been."

The eldest Alpha leaned forward.

"You will not blame your Beta?"

"I'll tell you what he told me," Tobias said. "The choice was mine."

He turned his head and found me on the bench.

"Their names are Marian, Dale, Ruth and Wes," he said. "Wes was nine. He had a dog named Biscuit."

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