Under Investigation

“I hate hearing your wolf cry for mine.” A guttural growl fills the room as I’m met with a familiar, soothing scent. The tangy citrus mellowed by sandalwood and warmed by a smooth bourbon. My eyes stare at the corner he normally resides in. A blurry shadow is all I can recognize as I lean against my door, struggling to breathe. The warmth of his scent and weight of his stare as Nera whimpered in need of him.

“I wasn’t aware he could hear.” I grunt, the dizziness returns as I straighten to try and remove my shirt. Magnar inhales deeply before he releases a growl that rattles my mind.

“Mates work differently as I’m a council member.” His large calloused hand steadies me, tenderly he holds my hand, turning it to inspect my wrists. “What happened?” His voice is a low growl as his thumb brushes close to the injury. My lungs burn, I want nothing more than to lean into him, to hide from the pain and reality.

“An example had to be made. He’s nervous… his control’s slipping.” I weakly growl, closing my eyes as a wave of warmth runs through my system. The pain that filters through my mind has my eyes watering as the strength I barely held deplete. I can be weak here, no one will know.

“Pack link?” He asks he steadies me again, his hand easing my shirt over my head. The warmth of his hand makes my stomach roll pleasantly, the sparks tease my body the only way a mate can. I manage a nod as I give in and drop my head against his chest with a shaky sigh.

“Your skin is bright red.” He observes quietly, his chest rumbles with upset.

“Scald.” His chest vibrates beneath my head as he takes account of the wounds.

“A scald?” He snarls lowly and walks backwards towards the bathroom. “I need to get photographs Adira.” He murmurs quietly as he turns the light on in the bathroom. His eyes glow as they adjust to the light, I watch with interest as his wolf steps forward to see the wounds. “He’s dead.” The passion in his eyes makes me stare at him, his shoulders shake, the veins in his neck protrude in his rage.

“His reign is almost over.” I have to assure him just as much as myself. I let my eyes close, the nausea returned in full force. I feel sluggish, my heart weakened with poison.

“Not soon enough Adira.” He murmured, kissing my head gently. I can’t agree with you more. The water turns on in the tub, it’s quiet compared to his growls. My hands clutch the sink, Magnar shuffles around the room. My mind fills with pain as I wait, opening my eyes I stare in the mirror, stark red marks sweep over my shoulders, the lines disorganized and natural. Like water. Small blisters have already appeared, bubbled up by the boiling water.

“Can you face me Adira?” Magnar asks as he comes back into the bathroom. He stops the water in the tub before he stands in front of me. His eyes traveled the expanse of water damage to the front of my torso.

“When you’re done… Can you get the medical bag, it’s in my closet.” I mutter and lean against the counter, my body slowly succumbs to exhaustion.

“I’ll finish this quickly, do you know your heart rate?” I pause and follow his instructions for evidence, wincing when I have to lift my arms.

“No… I can’t think straight or focus on that.” Magnar nods his head as he has me face the mirror once more.

“I’ll check in a second, I’m going to take your bra off.” I nod with a heavy sigh.

“That’s fine.” I mutter, my brain slowly numbed to the pain and an unusual cold feeling creeps over my body. Why does this hurt so much? My straps fall off my shoulders and slowly drop off my arms. I can only focus on the counter as Magnar moves around.

“Easy Adira, I don’t want you falling, I need your eyes open baby.” He murmurs as he steadies me, easing me back to settle on the tub edge.

“I’m fine.” When did I close my eyes? The heavy fog in my head clutters my thoughts as he moves from the bathroom. The sound of his steps makes my mind hang onto something in the present, to keep me from passing out. I feel so sluggish.

“Far from it baby.” He snorted, a thud followed, making me jerk and squint my eyes, struggling to focus. “Let’s get your jeans off and get you in the tub.” Magnar murmurs as he snaps the button on my jeans open. With a bit of an effort the peel off of my skin, only slightly adhered to my body. “Easy baby.”

I grunt while I step into the tub, wobbling uncoordinated. “I feel woozy.” I admit, even to my own ears my voice slurs, delirious. Why do I sound so drunk?

“I’m going to fix that, give me your arm baby.” He kisses my forehead, the mild temperature water laps at my body as it settles. I open my eyes once more to stare at him as I offer him my arm. I watch interested as he starts an IV in my right arm, taping it to keep it still.

“I’m tired.” I offer with a sigh, my eyelids grow heavy again, he growls lowly upset.

“I know baby, but you gotta stay with me, keep those pretty green eyes open for me baby.” He murmurs and pats my cheek to focus me more.

“What… what are you doin?” I ask as I rest my cheek on my knees, my back lights up as he moves to grab a syringe.

“I’m flushing your wounds to get out the wolfsbane, your heart rate is already slow. I need to get the poison off of you. Hold still.” He murmurs and shifts behind me to turn on the sprayer of lukewarm water. I flinch away, hissing at the pain that I’m met with. My tender skin crawls beneath the sharp pelts of drops.

“How… how are you… holding up?” I murmur, the crawling under my skin settles after a short period of time. Magnar grunts as he continues to spray water over my back, the stark heat slowly starts to ease.

“I’ve had easier cases to work.” He growls, his fingertips brush over a wound with a deep frown. “This will take time to heal.” He murmurs lowly.

“It always does.” I offer quietly, closing my eyes as I struggle against the sluggish weight in my mind.

“How often does this occur?” Magnar asks a growl lurks in the depths of his voice.

“Weekly, it depends if someone has offended him or not. If not, I’m the example to be made.”

“How are you taking this?” He asks, the sprayer is moved from my skin as the tub is emptied. I watch lazily as he sprays down the tub, ridding it of the poison mixture. It all hurts.

“I never figured that the council would actually look into the pack.” I sigh as I think of my mother, the only one to have given me love. “It’s hard to believe this nightmare could be over soon.” I gave up hope of a new dawn for the pack, gave up the dream that this darkness would end.

“Who tried to contact the council?” My childhood flashes before my eyes, a flash of pain has me growling as he flushes the cuts with betadine.

“My mother.” I whisper, my throat closing for a different reason.

“Where is she? Why haven’t we seen her?” I can hear the frown in his voice. It takes me moments to come up with an explanation, to muster the courage.

“Roberto killed her in a fit of rage.” I release a pain filled breath, my back no numb to the pain in my heart. “I was eight when he realized what she was doing. He threw us in the hold for weeks, brutalizing us until her body couldn’t handle the pain anymore.” He deserves more than death, he deserves to burn in the deepest depths of hell. Mother prayed every night he’d change, that someone would change him. Or just for someone to open their eyes to the destruction.

“Was she his-”

“Yes, she was his mate. They were together four three years, Roberto had a hard time with his fertility.” Yet another reason for his rage on the pack.

“I’ll talk with the council, see if we can recover those requests; anything will be of aid in this case.” I can only nod as I stare at the reddish brown water that rinses down the drain.

“What brought you two here anyway?” I ask softly, my body confused with the lessening effects of wolfsbane. How long will I be down? With multiple hours of the poison in my system, I can only imagine the length of the effects.

“We had been doing routine pack evaluations. Blood Lust Pack kept being mentioned. We had to start an investigation under heavy suspicion of wrongdoing.” His hot breath drifts over my ear, a smirk appearing in his voice. “Our wolves knew something was off, though mine was keen on mounting his mate… still is.” He teases, making my lip quirk up amused by his words.

“What are we looking at? For a trial?” I ask, needing a distraction from the discomfort that grows in my back.

“It’ll start with an investigation of power within the pack. Once wrong has been proven, of any party, character trials will start. It’ll start with warrior’s and work backwards in rank. Depending on the offenses brought to light, the individual will face a punishment and likely relocation if death is not granted.” Magnar explains simply. I feel a cooler stream of water rinse over my back. Goddess does that not feel good.

“How will the council keep from intimidation?”

“The accused will be in another room, behind a partition. They won’t be able to speak but they will be able to hear.” Magnar speaks once the tub is rinsed clean he fills it with cool water.

“Who’s able to speak at the character trials?” He sighs as he continues to rinse my back and front, cooling the blisters that have stopped growing. Thankfully.

“The unaccused members of the pack family won’t be able to speak for their accused family.” I nod slowly and sigh, the cool water feels so much better, the tiredness still hangs in my head a painful reminder.

“I need you to promise me something.” It’s a lane change, but right now, my feeble mental space can’t help it. I need the security.

“That is?” He asks quietly.

“Promise that if I am put to death-”

“Don’t fin-”

“If I am put to death, promise you’ll give this pack what they deserve, a new beginning.” I finish and meet his stare in a steady gaze, unable to let this be in vain.

He snarls in upset, his eyes flash angrily. “I won’t allow you to be put to death. You will lead this pack into a new era.” He growls and I turn slightly to stare at him.

“This pack needs an Alpha they can have faith to not betray them. I can’t be that, ever. I don’t see myself as Alpha, you are my Alpha and I am your Luna. I refuse to not give this pack the chance of thriving to be happy.” My eyes burn with emotion, unable to look away from him.

“Don’t talk of death, I’m your Alpha now, you need to have faith in my ability to protect you.” He growls, enraged with the idea of my death.

“Everyone is afraid of Roberto, I know I will have people speak on my behalf to put me to death. I need to know, should I die. You lead this pack to where it needs to be.” He stares at me, a low growl rumbles from his chest in upset.

“This pack is destined to find happiness and peace. You will be here to witness that change, to see the evolution.” He says, his voice deep with emotion. With luck, we’ll both see that change. To bear witness to the new dawn, new era.