Fated Forgiveness [Kindred of Arkadia 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) (17 page)

member.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” Lachlan began.

“Morning, Lachlan. Is your grandson ready to present his mate’s defense?” A deep voice came from the

screen with an older man with black-and-white-streaked hair. Rebecca looked around, eyes wide. Lachlan

placed a hand on her back in support. Kent could identify with how she felt. Looking around the room that

held Lachlan, Gabriel, and the presence of the shifter council, it was easy to feel small and unimportant.

“We’re ready, Ora,” Lachlan confirmed.

“Rebecca, starting in the upper, left-hand corner, the gentleman that just spoke is Ora Takumi. He is the

Whale Elder. Below him is Phillip Marah the Horse Elder. In the upper center slot is Olson Brock the

Badger Elder. Below him is Giles Andor the Eagle Elder, and finally in the upper right-hand corner is

Ramsey McGregor.” Lachlan introduced each Elder to the small Alpha Mother. She stepped forward and

stood squarely in front of the monitors.

“It’s nice to finally have faces to go along with names,” Rebecca said and unleashed her potent smile.

Kent turned his head to grin. He could visibly see each man relax. She really was too adorable to resist.

“Are you ready to start, Alpha Mother? Do you need to sit?” Ramsey asked. Kent saw Rebecca beam up

at the man.

“I’m ready, and no, I can stand. I’m doing much better now. I know that Bran keeps you updated on

how things are in town. I didn’t know I was a topic for discussion,” she said, turning to look at Bran who

had a blush creeping up his neck. Ramsey laughed.

“Bran sings your praises, Alpha Mother.”

“I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but we do have business to attend to,” Salsiby said, stepping

forward. Kent watched in fascination as each council member’s face shut down and became stoic. They

clearly did not like the man.

“By all means.” Ramsey bit off each word.

“We’d like to cite the case of
Davidson vs. Alcott
,” Rebecca began before Salsiby interrupted.

“That case, though similar, bears no resemblance to the one before us today.”

“I agree that they are not the same but…” Rebecca started.

“Good, then moving on,” Salsiby said. Rebecca’s head whipped around until she faced the monitors.

“If he interrupts me again can I shoot him? I’ll use little bullets.” Rebecca asked. Everyone got quiet.

Ramsey coughed to cover his laugh.

“I hate to disappoint you, Alpha Mother, but no,” Ora said kindly. His eyes hardened when he looked

up at Salsiby.

“If you interrupt her again, I will order you silent for the rest of the proceedings,” he said.

“You can’t do that. I am my client’s representation!” Salsiby protested.

“Then it’s in your client’s best interest that you not interrupt her again,” Ora said.

“Thank you.” Rebecca practically purred.

“Now, in the case of
Davidson vs. Alcott
, Helena Davidson left her Alpha. They were not mates and he

had become abusive and she feared for her life. In the case notes, I see that there was no physical evidence,

just Helena’s and the pack housekeeper’s testimonies about the sequence of events. It was enough to

remove her rogue status,” Rebecca recounted.

“We would also like this council to forgo physical evidence on the basis that any abuse these men

suffered at the hands of Alpha Devon have healed since leaving captivity, due to the accelerated healing rate

of shifters.” Rebecca stood up straight.

“We will concede that point,” Ora said.

“I have emailed you gentleman the three sworn statements of Sebastian Wakefield, Felix Kilpatrick and

Peyton Miller. Sebastian and Felix’s testimonies recount how they were sold to Alpha Devon because they

were hybrids. They describe in detail how they were caged and abused while waiting to be shipped to

vampires wanting their blood,” Rebecca said, holding up her printed copies.

“The statements of the men who are being charged can hardly be considered an objective testimony,”

Salsiby argued. Ora nodded.

“As much as I hate to agree with the man, he has a point.” Ora looked at Rebecca gravely.

“Do you have any further evidence, Alpha Mother?” Ramsey asked.

Rebecca looked around the room helplessly. She was about to speak when a knock sounded at the door.

The room turned to see Daniel and David pop their heads in.

“We have it, Alpha Mother,” he said, beaming. Kent felt a spark of hope flare.

“These are closed-door proceedings, they aren’t even shifters. They have no say here,” Salsiby objected.

He motioned to one of the wolves, who stalked toward Daniel and David. They quickly moved to the far

corner. Gabriel stepped forward, and Kent felt waves of power wash away from the prince. The wolf

stopped in his tracks and turned slowly to stare at the prince in horror. Each wave seemed to weigh the wolf

down more and more until he was on his knees. Kent could feel every muscle in his body screaming at him

to get away from this powerful being. His lion was struggling to move away. Only the knowledge that this

terrible power wasn’t directed at him kept his feet still. When he looked up he could see every other shifter

in the room was tense, everyone except Rebecca, who smirked at the wolf.

“I am mated to Ashby Fairfax, who is bonded with Sebastian Wakefield, which very much makes this

my business. Come forward Daniel, David, they won’t hurt you.” Gabriel held out his hand.

“What did you do to him?” Ora asked, sounding curious.

“I merely showed him that to me, he is nothing more than a pup.” Gabriel shrugged as Daniel and David

moved to stand on either side of Rebecca.

“The Alpha Mother was not affected,” Ramsey stated.

“Rebecca has a nearly pure aura or what you would call a soul. I have only seen it once before. She

does not fear me simply because she knows I would never hurt her. She has the absolute faith that we lose

as children. In her heart she would never betray me, so she believes—and accurately—that I would never

betray her.” Gabriel took a step to stand next to Aleks behind Rebecca.

Sebastian edged closer to Kent. Kent took his hand and gripped it tightly. Liam came up on their right

and wrapped an arm around them both. Kent had never been so happy to have powerful friends.

David and Daniel held open their small laptop in front of Rebecca. Kent saw her eyes moving quickly

and a smile broke out on her face.

“I am emailing new evidence to you now, gentlemen,” she said, her hands moving over the keys.

“I demand a copy,” Salsiby said, and provided his email address. After just a few minutes, the whale

shifter spoke.

“I understand what I am reading, but not how it pertains to this case,” he admitted.

“Gentlemen, before you are the tax records for the twelve men that Alpha Devon has deemed rogue

going back five years. Eleven hybrids and Peyton Miller. Does anything stand out to you?” She asked.

“None of the twelve have filed taxes in the past two years,” Ramsey said, his eyebrows rising. Rebecca

nodded triumphantly.

“These twelve men are all educated, and up until two years ago had budding careers. But within the past

two years nothing was filed, no income earned, no paper trail for them at all,” Rebecca said. Kent saw the

light go off in Ramsey’s eyes.

“It definitely supports the claim that they were held in cages against their will,” Ramsey said.

“It proves nothing. Alpha Devon provides for his pack in much the same way Liam Lewenhart provides

for his pride. I bet there aren’t many tax records for his pride members, either,” Salsiby said. Kent felt his

heart sink as he watched the excited look fade from Rebecca’s face.

“I’m afraid he is right, Rebecca. Without an unbiased testimony similar to the
Davidson vs. Alcott
case,

we will have to side with Alpha Devon and these men will have to return to his pack and face punishment,”

Ora spoke sadly.

“This is impossible! How do you prove a negative? How can you prove a loss of freedom? Of course

his own pack would testify in his favor. How else could eleven men disappear and be held against their will

for so long?” Rebecca protested.

“I am truly sorry, Alpha Mother,” Ora said.

“No! You can’t take him from us!” Liam shouted.

“Please don’t send us back, they’ll kill us!” Felix yelled.

“It’s not right, I never asked to be sold!” Sebastian shouted.

“Unfortunately, we have to follow the law. Gentlemen.” Ora nodded to the wolves in the room.

Two wolves grabbed a struggling Felix and two moved to grab Sebastian. Lachlan and Bran fought to

hold back Liam and Aleks as they stood between the wolves and Sebastian. Kent turned over Rebecca’s

words in his mind and an idea began to form. He dropped Sebastian’s hand and picked up the folder from

the desk. Sebastian stared at him with pain in his eyes. Kent turned his back so that he could read the

contents of the folder without the distraction of his mate’s pain shining in his eyes.

“No! Kent, grab him!” Liam yelled. Kent ignored the room for a second more, before turning back to

the chaos.

“Alpha Liam, if you continue this course of action you will be found guilty of obstructing council

justice and executed!” Ora yelled.

“I don’t care! Give him back! Give him back to me!” Liam pleaded. Kent took a deep breath and

pushed down the panicked emotions coming from both his mates. Placing his fingers to his lips, he released

an ear shattering whistle. Every shifter in the room stopped what they were doing to cover their ears. The

quietness which followed was deafening.

“Council, I have multiple unbiased testimonies I would like to submit for review,” he said, stepping

forward, the knot from his stomach trying to claw its way up his throat.

“You are?” Ora asked.

“Kent Fieldings. I am Liam Lewenhart and Sebastian Wakefield’s mate,” he said.

“What unbiased testimonies could you possibly have?” Salsiby sneered.

“The ones that you provided,” Kent said coolly. Ramsey’s eyebrows lifted. Each council member sifted

through the papers in front of them.

“Which ones are you referring to?” Olson asked, his gravelly voice gruff. It was clear why he wasn’t the

main speaker.

“The testimonies of Marcia Earnheart, Anne Rafferty, and Milo Lagrange,” Kent said.

“Mr. Fieldings, I don’t understand. These are the testimonies used to prove that Alpha Devon was

innocent of holding the eleven men captive,” Phillip said, his voice rolling out in a smooth cadence

“Each of the three in their own way said almost the exact same thing,” Kent said. “Marcia’s testimony

says ‘I don’t know of any hybrids living on pack lands.’ Anne’s testimony is ‘There are no hybrids here.’

And finally, we have Milo’s testimony, which states ‘There are only wolves on pack lands, there aren’t any

hybrids’.”

“Oh my God!” Rebecca whispered.

“There before you are three sworn testimonies from Alpha Devon’s own pack members that there have

never been any hybrids in their pack or on pack lands. Yet the tax records that Alpha Mother Rebecca has

provided show that none of these men have any sort of a financial trail to support themselves in two years.

If they were truly living off of Alpha Devon and in his pack, wouldn’t they have known about them?” Kent

asked, looking up into the faces of the council. A slow smile spread on Ramsey’s face.

“Interesting, very interesting.” The wolf Elder smirked.

“It proves nothing. I can go back and get clarification,” Salsiby started.

“And coach those pack members on what to say? I don’t think so. I think in the rush to ensure his

innocence to the Sentinels in his kidnapping charges, Alpha Devon overlooked the fact that he could claim

that these men had gone rogue. If he had, maybe the statements taken from his pack may have been

different. Either he is guilty of kidnapping and holding eleven men against their will, or he revokes the

claim that they are rogue and must return to his pack,” Ramsey concluded staring Salsiby down.

The small man looked from council member to council member.

“What will it be, Salsiby?” Ora demanded.

“Alpha Devon is innocent.”

“Then I motion that Sebastian Wakefield and Felix Kilpatrick are cleared of their rogue status and are

free.” Ramsey looked around.

“Agreed,” the other council members said smiling.

“Thank you, Elder. However, I would like to request that the rogue status be lifted from all twelve men,

the eleven hybrids and Peyton Miller, so that they can finally be free to restart their lives, no matter where

they are,” Kent asked, and held his breath. Ora stared at him for a long moment before nodding.

“I believe that to be fair. Congratulations on your mating Liam, I look forward to seeing you in council

meetings. Though, you may want to bring your mate with you.” He grinned and his screen went dark.

“Congratulations gentlemen. I will submit the paperwork today.” Olson nodded before he too signed

off. The last one to end his session was Ramsey McGregor.

“Too bad, Salsiby, you almost had that one. It’s really too bad that the wolf packs statements were so