008 Thirty Whips

Lilith’s POV

Of course, it was Hannah.

“Dominic, are you okay?!” Hannah threw herself to the half-conscious wolf on the ground with a suspected concussion, her voice genuinely worried as if she really cared.

Maybe she did, because she didn’t think of the possibility that the simple mission she gave him could fail when it was merely to bully a runt.

Dominic rubbed his head against her palm. She did know how to play a heart, I’ll give her that. Hannah didn’t come to be the best trainer of the year just by being a beta’s daughter. She was a strong fighter herself, but she also knew how to earn gratitude and loyalty.

There was a reason why Orion would abandon our past for such a woman.

“Did you know that assaulting a fellow pack member is a crime?” Hannah stood up, walking toward me with restrained pain and anger in her voice, as if she were just a responsible leader, disappointed at my behavior.

This was her M.O. Always putting her pray at fault and then watching them suffer as if it had nothing to do with her. Just like when she dumped me in the snow, she said I was “too spoiled,” and it was unreasonable of me to decline her command when she knew Lycoris couldn’t jump over that mountain gap. So I was left there to die, and when I survived and revealed what she did, it was still me who was “slandering her”.

“Then you shouldn’t have assaulted me,” I answered, as calm as her voice was.

“I, assaulted, you?” Hannah curved her lips as if amused.

Her smile was genuine because she thought she caught me lying.

Hannah opened her arms and turned around a circle, as if showing her innocence, “No offense, but do you really think you can remain intact if I did?”

Everyone laughed. The two guards. Her two friends. Even Dominic.

“You failed to catch me because Dominic appeared,” I waited till they all had their laugh to continue my story, “You were ambushing me by the side of Central Ave.”

“Bullshit!” Hannah raised her voice, “What a ridiculous lie?! I was in my dorm when I saw you bullying Dominic. Lila and Anna can testify to that!” Then she turned to the two guards with a righteous tone: “Arrest her. Ten whips for assault, to teach her a lesson.”

How just, and upright, and fair of her. To give the minimum punishment, for a crime she framed me with.

She said exactly what I thought she would say -- to use her two friends as witnesses to clear her name.

“I have one more thing to say--” I remained where I am, raising both of my hands for the two guards, “I--”

“What’s going on here?”

I pulled my words to a halt when I heard Orion’s grumpy question. Everyone turned to look at him. I did, too.

He shot me a swift, inconspicuous glare.

“She attacked Dominic,” Hannah walked up, her chest held up high and her voice modest, “I sentenced her 10 whips as the minimum punishment requires.”

She looked up at Orion, waiting for his judgment as if she had just handled a minor pack issue with all but justice in her mind.

I opened my mouth, but my tongue wouldn’t work. For a split moment, I was hoping that Orion would ask me if Hannah was telling the truth. Just asking would be nice. Just, not taking her side against me without even hesitation.

“Lilith, apologize,” Orion commanded, a wave of force hitting my mind.

He was using his Gamma Aura on me!

The Alpha believed in power, not bloodline. So even Orion, his own son, was only a gamma right now. No one without real achievement in the pack could get a beta rank no matter who their father was.

But the Gamma’s aura was enough to command no-ranks like me, which was most of the pack members.

“Do you not even care whether she was telling the truth...Gamma?!” I bit my teeth to fight his Gamma aura, squeezing my words out one by one. It would be painful if he was a beta or the Alpha, but now, his aura was only powerful enough to make it harder for me to master my muscles.

“There is no point--!” Orion raised his voice, anger spouting out of his eyes at my defiance.

“Dominic offered me a ride! That’s what happened!” I cut him off in anger, “I refuse Gamma Hannah’s unfair judgment!”

I was angry. Not at Orion. I was mad at myself that I was still not looking at the truth that he was no longer my Orion. Time after time after time!

“Do you know what the punishment is for lying to a higher rank?” With a laughter, Hannah stepped up between Orion and me, as if defending him against a disobedient criminal.

“That’s thirty whips,” Orion said coldly, his eyes nailed on me with only frost in them.

I stared at Orion, knowing my eyes were turning red but I couldn’t help it.