Execution

SHANE’S POV

My chest felt hollow as the guards dragged me away. I felt like a pawn in a messed-up game, always meant to be removed.

I kept my head lowered, trying not to break as the crowd around us made way for the guards to lead me away.

This was it, I thought. I was really going to die.

“STOP!!!” Nina’s voice suddenly rang through the crowds.

I looked up immediately to find her standing in front of the guards defiantly with Abigail on her arm.

What was she doing?

“Please you can’t take him away, he did nothing wrong!” she cried out.

The head warrior scoffed in annoyance, shoving her out of the way with a force that sent her to the ground.

“Don’t you dare touch them!” I barked. Abigail began to cry from the fall while Nina stumbled up, dusting her clothes.

The warrior turned to me with a cold smirk on his face. “And what are you going to do if I do?” he asked, stepping closer to where Nina stood with a lustful look on his face.

“What are you doing?” I struggled against my bonds. “Leave her alone!”

The warrior seemed to take my words as a challenge. He raised his hand to Nina, who glared at him defiantly.

“Aarlon stop!” Another warrior interrupted him, regardless, he pushed Nina. Aarlon turned to me with a satisfied smile on his face.

“On a second thought, you are right, I shouldn’t soil my hands with the disgusting blood of these Omegas.”

I glanced back at Nina, relieved they were all right. “Nina… take care of Abigail,” I whispered, trying to seem calm as the warriors resumed dragging me away. “I will be fine, I promise you.”

Nina nodded, tears sliding down her cheeks as she hugged Abigail tighter.

I continued to watch them until their figures faded from view.

The warriors dragged me even faster to the Alpha’s palace. My feet stumbled over stones, my throat burned from anger and thirst while dread settled in my stomach.

When we arrived, they dragged me past the gated mansion and into the halls, finally throwing me down on the tiled floor.

I raised my head quickly to find myself in a large room, surrounded by older-looking men(the pack elders) who threw me looks of disapproval. In the middle of the room, a throne stood, as golden and majestic as I expected.

I was in the Alpha’s court, I realized, gulping down in fear.

My body was soaked in sweat, my legs bleeding from the journey and yet, all I could feel was dread.

I did not want to die.

Then the doors flew open and he entered.

Alpha Cassian Talon, my executioner.

The entire room went quiet, everyone bowing as he walked to his throne.

Even in my despair, I noticed him. He was even more handsome than the rumors whispered, with his thick, wavy black hair, his broad shoulders adorned with the finest silk, piercing green eyes that seemed all knowing, and his tanned skin that seemed to glow even in the dim light of the courtroom.

I stayed upright, watching him in unveiled disgust until he sat down, his green eyes narrowing slightly at my refusal to bow. I held his gaze, refusing to let him see me broken, even as terror clawed at my insides.

“So you are the Omega that was concealing his magic?” he asked, his voice deeper than I’d imagined.

“Yes, but I was only trying to save my sist—”

“Bring in the witness, I want to hear his account first,” Alpha Cassian cut me off, his attention on the guards.

Within a minute, the guards returned with Don Simon behind them.

As soon as my eyes landed on his smug face, I knew that I was as good as gone.

“Introduce yourself,” Alpha Cassian asked him.

Don Simon bowed. “I am Simon, owner of the farm this Omega has been working for five years now.”

“So if he had been working with you all these years, how come you never noticed his magic until now?” Cassian raised a brow.

Suddenly, Don Simon fell to his knees, bowing repeatedly before Cassian. “This wicked boy had me fooled. I gave him a job when no one else in the pack would and even allowed him to bring his sister to work with me, and how did he repay me? By cursing my lands and poisoning my crops with sorcery.”

My head snapped to Don Simon’s weeping face in shock.

What was he saying?

“I never did such a thing!” I fired back immediately and the warrior beside me struck me hard in the cheek, making me fall to the ground again.

“You are not to speak unless the Alpha instructs you to,” he warned me.

Don Simon wept even harder. “You see Alpha, this is how this Omega has been disrespecting me. His sister dared to talk back to me and so I punished her. When he found out that I punished his sister, he got angry and tried to attack me with his powers. That was when I realized that he had been a magic user, I reported him immediately.”

I scoffed in disbelief, shaking my head.

Why did they even bother to bring me here if their minds were already made up about me?

Why didn’t the warriors just finish me off in the middle of the street?

“That is okay,” Cassian nodded, signalling to the guards to take Don Simon out.

Simon wiped his tear-filled face. “Please Alpha, make sure you give this Omega the harshest of punishments, grant me justice wise Alpha,” he continued to wail as the guards led him out of the court.

The elders' faces darkened. If I thought that they hated me before, they definitely felt something stronger for me now. They whispered among themselves, exchanging looks and glaring down at me.

It was over.

I didn’t bother to raise my head, I just waited for the Alpha to announce my execution date.

“Shane Lockwell,” Alpha Cassian called out and I slowly looked up at him, bracing myself.

“You were born in this pack twenty years ago, you lost your parents at fifteen and since then you have been tending to your sisters, is that right?”

I nodded, feeling tears warm my eyes at the thought of Nina and Abigail. “Yes Alpha, please whatever you decide, even if I am to be burnt at the stake, just don’t let my sisters suffer for my mistake. They are innocent.”

A small smile appeared at the corner of his lips as he stood up.

“So what I understand is that you have managed to live for two decades in this pack without getting caught as a magic user?” Alpha Cassian walked closer to me, his green eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“Yes…” I replied slowly, unsure of what he was driving at. “I never used my magic before.”

“From the report I got, your sister was about to die and your magic healed her without a trace,” He continued, his eyes sweeping down my body quickly.

He leaned closer to me, his breath hot against my ear. “You used your magic for the first time and managed to save a life, isn't that too convenient?"

I stayed silent, unsure of what he wanted me to say.

“Your magic is powerful enough to save your sister’s life and yet subtle enough to avoid detection in the pack,” Alpha Cassian seemed like he was considering something.

He stayed silent while the elders murmured in annoyance. Wherever he was going with this, they didn’t like it—and I wasn’t sure what that meant for me.

After what felt like forever, he spoke.

“He deserves to die.”