Chapter 151
Faith’s Pov
I was heading toward the main living area in the packhouse, needing to talk to the Beta about
patrol schedules, when I heard it.
“Oh look, the banished one’s mate,” one girl sneered.
I paused instantly. Banished mate. That meant Kimberly. Who now happens to be the one person
around the pack that I trust with my kids.
I pushed the door open. Four women were standing over Kimberly, who was huddled on the couch,
her face pale and her eyes red–rimmed.
“Honestly, Kimberly,” another girl, Jenna, said with a falsely sweet voice, leaning down close to her
face, “you must be the dumbest wolf in this pack. Didn’t you get the memo? He’s gone. He’s never
coming back. You’re just trash now, mate–less trash.”
Kimberly flinched as if she’d been slapped, pulling her knees up to her chest.
That was it. The anger I was feeling lately had me stomping there as fast as I could. I didn’t remember walking across the room, but suddenly I was there, standing between Kimberly and the
four bullies. The air thickened around me, the Luna command came naturally, freezing them in
place.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” I asked, my voice low and dangerous.
Jenna tried to recover quickly, plastering on a fake smile. “Luna, we were just joking around.
Kimberly knows we love her, right?”
I fixed my gaze on her. “You think abusing a pack member is a joke? You think taunting her about losing her mate, about being humiliated, is funny?” I didn’t raise my voice, but the sheer force of my control made them tremble. “I didn’t hear a joke. I heard pure cruelty.”
My eyes swept over all four of them, holding their gaze until they dropped their heads.
“Let me make this perfectly clear,” I enunciated every word slowly, letting my Luna authority press down on them like physical weight. “I do not, and I will not, tolerate abuse of any kind here. Not in
my pack. Not ever again.”
I thought of the years I spent being tormented, the countless times I was made to feel small and worthless. I won’t let that filth touch anyone else.
“If I hear a single word about any of you bullying Kimberly, or anyone else, I will not banish you. I will
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Chapter 151
reassign you to omega duty for the rest of your lives. Get out of my sight. Now.”
They scattered like frightened rabbits, tripping over themselves to escape the room.
+25 Points
When the door slammed shut, silence fell. I slowly turned to face Kimberly. Her shoulders were shaking, and she looked up at me with wide, tear–filled eyes.
“Faith,” she whispered, her voice tight. “I… I am so sorry.”
I tilted my head, confused. “Sorry for what?”
“For everything,” she choked out. “For being one of them. For laughing when others hurt you years ago. I was awful. And today, you were the one who defended me. I don’t deserve it.”
I sat down next to her on the couch.
“You’re right,” I said simply. “You were part of the problem. But right now, you are being hurt, and
nobody should have to go through that.”
She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “Why? After what I did to you?”
“I defended you because I was abused worse than you ever were,” I told her, the memory tightening in my chest.
I leaned in, meeting her gaze seriously. “But here is what you need to understand, Kimberly. They can only bully you when you let them. You sat there and waited for me, or someone else, to be your
savior. That stops now.”
Her face went blank with shock.
“You shouldn’t have to wait for me to defend you,” I insisted. “You are a strong woman. You need to defend yourself. You need to look those morons in the eye and make them back down. If you don’t stand up for yourself, they will never stop, no matter how many times I chase them away.”
I stood up, feeling the need to put my words into action. “I have things to do. Next time I walk in here, I expect to see you standing, telling them to kiss your butt. Understand?”
She nodded slowly, a small flicker of fire finally returning to her eyes. “I understand, Luna.”
I left the Packhouse and headed for the dungeons.
After she was taken back from the hospital, I made it clear that while she was confined, there was to be no hard torture. It wouldn’t serve any purpose. I needed her alive, sane, and ready to face the consequences of her actions.
Being there was I terrible memory of where I lost my child but I took a deep breath and did what I
needed to do.
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I reached Alice’s cell. She was sitting down leaning against the cold stone wall, reading a book.
I stood there for a moment, gripping the bars, unsure what to say. Usually, I went in with a wall of cold anger but today I felt nothing for her.
Alice looked up. She didn’t look scared or manipulative. She looked tired.
“Hello, Faith,” she said softly.
“Faith, I know you won’t believe me, and you don’t have to. But being here has made me realize how truly wrong I was. I was a horrible person. I am a bad person.”
My skepticism flared immediately. This was a classic manipulation technique.
“Save the drama, Alice,” I warned her, my voice turning hard. “Don’t try to play the repentance card
to get yourself released.”
To my absolute shock, Alice let out a genuine laugh. It wasn’t a mocking laugh, it was a sound of
acceptance.
“Release? Faith, please,” she shook her head, still smiling faintly. “I deserve everything coming to me. After what I did to you, after the life I stole from you, I know I deserve this cage.”
“Then why are you laughing?” I asked, completely thrown.
“Because for the first time in a very long time, I am telling the absolute truth, and it feels strange,”
she admitted.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I didn’t have time for her soul searching. I had a specific
reason for being here.
“I’m not here for your confession, Alice,” I stated, my heart feeling heavy. “I’m here because it’s time Isabella knows the truth. She needs to know her life has been a lie. And I want it to come from
you,”
Alice looked utterly dejected, the laughter gone, replaced by sadness. She nodded slowly.
“I know that telling her the truth will not bring back the years I took away from her and from you, the years I took from being with her real mother,” Alice whispered, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “But at least… at least Isabella will know. And maybe, just maybe, you can finally be mother and daughter. The way it was always supposed to be. She deserves that.”
I turned to leave because I fulfilled the sole purpose of my visit but I still had one last thing to say.
“I want you to know something. I don’t hate you.”
She looked up at me, surprised. “How can you say that?”
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“Because instead of abusing my daughter, like how I was abused by your mother, you loved her. You truly loved Isabella. That is something I will always respect.”
I took a deep breath.
“But respect doesn’t mean I forgive you,” I clarified sharply. “It means I will let you live. Because it would be unfair for me to tell my baby when she grows up that I killed the woman who raised her until she was five years old. I will not do that to her.”
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