The Rejected Alpha's Vengeance

[HAWI]

"I've been watching the man, and I don't trust Asmodeus," Mbali said, making Elodie look at her like she had gone insane. The elder had been one of the few people that are trusted by the house of Sicario.

He was literally part of the inner circle and there wasn't a thing on the face of the earth that could prove that he had betrayed the pack or even the house he had sworn to serve.

However, Elodie also knew that Mbali had been around so many people because of the fact that she didn't trust anyone, so it was natural for Mbali.

But was this it?

Was Mbali just being suspicious because the amount of people she trusted couldn't even fit in one hand?

"Why?" Elodie asked curiously. She had wanted to defend Asmodeus, but even she had seen how so many people shifted gears over the years. Almost everyone they had trusted had proven to be someone else.

"He's a little too invested in this. Why does he suddenly want to find justice for Hawi when he never bothered over the years? If he is an elder like you all say, then he should have been able to read the room and see for himself that the Sicario girl had been innocent.

"He should have stopped the trial and even if he couldn't have been able to, he would have helped the alpha have some sight. Banishing a daughter in power is a dangerous thing for any family.

"And yet Asmodeus knew that Hawi was so powerful and still watched her get banished. He should have chipped in, and before you say that emotions were high on that day, elders of any council are chosen to be the critical thinkers when the leader is compromised or is in pain.

"They are never supposed to be swayed and yet he had been swayed. That just doesn't make any sense. I'm just saying I don't trust him is all.

"Besides, I never trusted you until Hawi introduced you as her best friend who could have died if you had betrayed her thanks to your bond. Come along, let's go find something fun to do in this lonely pack," Mbali said.

Elodie just stared at Asmodeus for the second time. She couldn't still understand why Mbali was that suspicious, but the reasoning Mbali had given really did make more sense.

The elders should have even been able to keep the pack in balance. Even if the alpha had really been the one who killed her mother, the elders would have demanded a proper trial, not one that was forced and controlled by emotions.

Maybe Mbali was right, or maybe she was wrong. Whichever it was, they would eventually find out anyway. After all, Hawi would figure for them or Malika would, right?

"Well damn. That's quite intense, but hey, let's go mingle with the wolves so they don't think we want to kill them," Elodie said and Mbali chuckled as if she hadn't heard the warrior well.

Surely her sister's mate wasn't suggesting that they go and interact with the wolves who had been skeptical around them the entire time?

"The wolves? Which ones? Greyson wolves? Or the thoughtless ones who didn't use their brains on time and cost a little girl her entire family?

"The same ones who are now preparing to subject her to the same fate and string her along through memories in the hope that she will somehow prove to them she is innocent when she has been the entire time? I hope not," Mbali said earnestly.

She was not over the fact that it had been so easy for the Sicario wolves to turn their back on a woman who had proven to them more than once that family was important.

From the things Mbali had learned about Awuor Hawi before she was banished. She knew that the girl had been everything any family would want in a daughter. She was never power-hungry and always did what was wanted.

She was powerful and yet so humble, that you would think she was just a common girl and not the alpha of the pack. She never was one for status and yet they had ditched her to support the one person who betrayed her and fucked everything up.

Maybe Mbali was overreacting, but then life wasn't going to be easy for all of them now that they were here in the goddamned pack, or was it?

"Let's go do something else then before you kill them," Elodie teased and some of the twelve heard them, and they instantly stepped back, as if to prove to Mbali that these people were just normal wolves who didn't have a way out of the mess the alphas had put them in.

If they were fucked up, they could easily blame Jeremiah Warner, their chosen alpha, right?

"Awesome, I have an idea. How about we go seek out Hair? They didn't tell us what happened on their date and I need to know if they fucked. I gotta count and keep a list," Mbali said, making Elodie choke on air.

The longer she hung around the Jabali sisters, the more she was certain her understanding of life would keep changing. Those sisters were crazy all the time, and right now, Mbali was just proving it to her again.

"You… Why would you even mention that?" Elodie asked and Mbali stared at her like she had gone bonkers.

"To make sure that I have something on them when Amina comes for me," Mbali said and this time, it was Elodie's turn to stare at the woman. Surely she couldn't be talking about the same woman who had been introduced into her room in Greyson and left her flowers, right?

"Who's Amina?" Hawi and Ruru asked at the same time to suddenly point out that even Mbali herself shrieked.

"Goodness gracious you two souls. What the fuck?' Mbali asked as she continued to spell a lot of profanities while the trio just watched her as she struggled to get a hold of herself while her hands stiffened.

Malika who was watching in the distance saw it and came to hug her sister, making her shut up instantly. Of course, to their friends it was just Mbali being Mbali, but then Malika had long realized that her sister's mate's appearance was messing with her income.

It was dangerous and could probably make Jabali Lihle a liability to the team. Bur Malika wasn't going to let that happen.

"They didn't fuck," Malika said as if to answer Mbali's question and change the subject. But then they all noticed and still chose to go with the flow. Whatever it was, they would know if they needed to. At least that much they knew of each other.

"That's a bummer… I was hoping to blackmail them with it," Mbali said, letting them know of her plans and they just stared at her with their tongues out as if to tell her that she wouldn't ever have an anthem.

But then weren't they thinking on overdrive at the moment? They were always together, always knew more than was possible of each other and even then they hadn't tried to use the sensitive information against each other.

Maybe this was a new formula for them.

"No changing the subject. Who is Amina?" Hawi asked as she held Mbali by the arm and walked along the hallways while their friends followed closely. Ruru was curious too.

"She's just a girl," Mbali said, making Hawi laugh at her.

"You, Jabali Lihle, talking about a girl and going 'just a girl?' There has never been anyone who occupied your mind more than your missions and tv there is space for Amina suddenly. Come on, tell us, we won't laugh," Hawi said but Mbali didn't trust her.

She down they would tease her till kingdom come. On one hand Mbali wasn't sure if the thing with Amina was even a thing that they needed to pay attention to if it was just the shadow warlocks screwing it with her.

On the other hand, she could sense the tension in the air and the surroundings. The tension that came with the trial in the afternoon. A lot was expected and yet they didn't know what to expect.

One thing was certain though. They were expecting anyone to side with them. She was starting herself in all the ways she could think of because she was scared of thinking of her family.

She could have gone to the dungeons to torture Jer, but the man was the cruel reminder of the fate that she had landed in. The reality had so many blank spaces, three of which could never be filled no matter what she did and how many times she prayed to the deities.

"She just popped up. And brought me flowers in the night. And stayed with me while I slept. She is creepy and a stalker. If I wasn't feeling like shit that night, I wouldn't have let her stay.

"Now my sister thinks I'm mated to her and she is special. That is all bullshit, because if you love someone you look them in the eyes and tell them, right?

"After all, the fact that this Amina girl suddenly popped up while we were in Greyson dealing with the chaos there, could only mean that the Russel brothers sent her. Who's to tell whether they had come to distract me and keep me on mission?

"I'm telling you, that woman doesn't exist and is just a psycho," Mbali said even though she couldn't believe her own words.

"Then why is your heart beating a little too excitedly each time you talk of her?" Hawi asked mischievously.