Sold to the Alpha (Alma Venus Shifter Brides 1)

“Thank you, Miss Blecher,” Jonathan Redfur didn’t seem to be more satisfied than before.

All four survivors told roughly the same story, though one of the men wasn’t as relaxed and calm as Heidi. He did want some kind of revenge, although he had no idea who exactly was supposed to suffer. Max Blackmane, probably, for doing what he did to Sabine, turning her into a madwoman. Heavy words were spoken, and Councilor Willamar did his best to keep everything professional. Finally, after all four witnesses had made their testimonies, Willamar called Max to the stand. The entire hour he spoke and answered the councilors’ questions, Avelyn squeezed Rosanna’s tiny hand. He was doing a great job, and soon the councilors and the jury were listening to him with interest, asking pertinent questions here and there. Avelyn hoped with all her heart that these men and women were intelligent and righteous enough to put two and two together and come to the obvious conclusion: Sabine had been a ruthless, insane woman who had told her pack and Jason, her lover, the exact things that she knew would get their compassion. How else could she have convinced them?

Karl and Jocelyn were next, and they carefully told the same story as Max. Yes, he had turned Sabine before the war. Yes, her family had been murdered in an… unfortunate accident. Avelyn watched Karl’s impassive expression when he completely avoided the subject of her parents’ and brother’s deaths. He did it so well that the Council never even thought of digging deeper into the matter. They all knew terrible things had happened during the war, and there had been many innocent victims. Sabine’s family had just happened to be among them. Avelyn didn’t feel comfortable with that, but she had no other choice. She had to go along with this version of the story. After all, what good would it do if they all began to dig up the past?

Why had Max locked Sabine up in the dungeon?

“A barbaric choice for the world we live in…” Councilor Grimmr observed.

Because he still loved her. Max said it first when he was at the witness stand, and Karl and Jocelyn repeated it. It made sense. It still hadn’t been the right thing to do. Avelyn almost started hyperventilating thinking of the sentence her husband would get. They wouldn’t let him get away with it, would they? Not even after half a century, when the people to whom it might have mattered were long dead. Rosanna caressed the back of her hand.

“Avelyn, if you need some fresh air…”

“No. I’m fine. I’m fine.” She struggled to breathe evenly. The baby kicked and she winced, her hand flying to her ribs. It was a good reminder that everything would be sorted out somehow. It had to be.

The three Betas were next. Kevin, Ryan, and Matt answered the Council’s questions politely and clearly, reinforcing what their Alphas had just testified. So far, everything was going smoothly. Avelyn would have loved to see Heidi Blecher’s reaction to what the Blackmanes at the stand were saying, but it was impossible from that position. She did hope the girl understood what Sabine had done and just how much she had actually manipulated all of them, including Jason Woodtail and his foxes.

By the time Matt, Karl’s Beta, concluded his testimony, Avelyn couldn’t focus anymore. She was thirsty and in terrible need of fresh air. The baby kept kicking her, having woken up an hour ago. She was also a bit hungry. Max pressed the back of his hand to her forehead, then to her cheeks. She was very flushed, but no, she didn’t want Dr. Stevens. When Councilor Willamar finally announced they were taking a break and meeting in an hour, she released a long breath of relief.

“Come on, let’s get some lunch.” Max helped her up, and they all headed to the nearest restaurant.

***

After a quick lunch and a huge glass of fresh lemonade, Avelyn felt like a whole new person. She knew she would soon be called to the witness stand, and she thanked the heavens it would happen after the break. With Max and Jocelyn’s help, she went over what she had to say one last time. There were only two things she wasn’t comfortable with, because they weren’t exactly true: one, that she found Sabine in the dungeon when she went exploring out of boredom and curiosity, not because she was trying to find a way to run away, and two, that she was one hundred percent human, as she had always been. Well, they were both half true. She couldn’t possibly tell the Council she had once intended to run away from her responsibilities as a shifter-bride, since it was against the peace treaty. It was odd how she was just realizing this. After all, none of them was completely innocent.

When Counci

lor Willamar’s booming voice called her name, Avelyn’s heart jumped in her chest. She stood up and forced herself to walk to the stand. She suddenly felt out of place… Everyone’s eyes on her, the members of the Council and the jury waiting to hear what she had to say… The pressure was too much, and she felt like she didn’t know what to do with herself anymore, how to move, what to do with her hands… “Move naturally, just move naturally,” she kept repeating to herself. “The stand is right there, two more steps, move naturally.” She felt like an impostor. Yes, that was it. Now that she had identified the problem, she didn’t feel any better. She was going to lie. Not about everything, just about two small details. Except… they weren’t that small. In her mind, they had grown to impressive proportions. They were weighing on her soul, making her shoulders slump slightly and tiny cramps stab at her stomach. She sat down behind the witness stand and took a deep breath, forcing herself to keep her back straight.

“Mrs. Blackmane,” began Zachary Willamar, “can you tell us how you first met Sabine Miller, your husband’s ex-wife?”

“Here we go…” thought Avelyn. Then she began to talk. She had no way of knowing it, but her voice was steady and her words were well-measured. The story made sense, there was not a single glitch in it, and the people in the council, the jury, and the audience listened to her as if they were entranced. Again, she didn’t know it, but the way she looked and held herself helped a lot. Her red hair was tied up in a loose, yet stylish bun, a couple of stray curls falling out of it to frame her heart-shaped face. Her sea-blue eyes moved from one councilor to another, the tiny wrinkle on her forehead when she furrowed her brows in concentration showing how serious she was, and how eager to answer their questions as clearly as possible. The elegant dress she was wearing under the classy business jacket fit her perfectly, and the way she involuntarily rested her hands on her baby bump from time to time, made everyone look at her in awe, especially the humans in the courtroom. She was the image of the ideal shifter-bride, the beautiful, intelligent woman who had embraced her destiny and managed to make the best of it. Watching her and noticing the impression she was making on everyone in the room, Max smiled to himself. If only they knew what a handful his wife could be…

“Did Sabine Miller bite you, Mrs. Blackmane?” asked Councilor Arthur Harington.

“No. She never bit me.”

“What exactly happened the night she escaped?”

Avelyn looked him in the eyes and told him what she had practiced just half an hour before, and what Max, Karl, and Jocelyn had already mentioned. “I helped her escape. At the time, I had no idea what she had done to get herself locked up, and she had convinced me not to tell anyone that I knew about her. I thought I was helping a friend. She had me convinced that what had happened years ago between her and my husband had mostly been a misunderstanding. When I suggested we should simply talk to my husband because I was sure he would understand and allow her to start a new life, she refused and came up with an escape plan.”

“Didn’t it all sound… I don’t know, strange?” The question came from Councilor Redfur.

“I… yes, I thought it sounded strange.”

“Do you know what makes me just a bit uncomfortable with your story, Mrs. Blackmane?” continued Redfur. “The fact that you believed Sabine, empathized with her even, but never once questioned your husband. How can a woman who finds another woman locked up in a man’s dungeon still trust that man? Live with him… feel comfortable with the idea of being his wife?…”

Avelyn raised an eyebrow, showing mild confusion. Of course, she wasn’t confused in the least, but she had to play her role right. “I’m afraid I don’t understand the question. I am a shifter-bride. I was raised to become a shifter-bride and obey my husband, whoever he may be. I’m sure you know Alma Venus Boarding School is one of the best schools in the world, and the shifter-brides who are raised and educated there are incredibly expensive exactly because they are so well prepared. Yes, I did empathize with Sabine and believed with all my heart that she deserved to be free, but at the same time, I was sure my husband had had his reasons to isolate her from the clan. In fact, I spent an entire month torn between the two, between the friendship I had formed with Sabine and the love I felt for my husband. Eventually, I tried to choose some sort of middle ground. I decided to help Sabine escape, then tell my husband about it. I didn’t want to lie to him, and I was ready to suffer the consequences of my actions. I know it was stupid of me, but I trusted her completely.”

“How were you not afraid that Maxwell Blackmane would do to you what he had done to Sabine? Didn’t you even consider the possibility that you might end up taking her place in that luxurious cell?”

Avelyn allowed a moment of silence to pass before she spoke. “I am a shifter-bride. He is my husband. I have always loved him just the way he is, and whatever action he deemed appropriate to take, I was ready to accept it because I knew it would be the right one.” She didn’t take her eyes away from Redfur’s dumbfounded face, although she would have loved to see Max’s reactions. Or Jocelyn’s. Oh yes, Jocelyn’s reaction would have been priceless. However, she was aware that neither of them would let anything show on their faces, so it would have been useless to look at them, anyway. She held Jonathan Redfur’s gaze instead.

“I have no more questions,” he finally said.

Before the next question came, Avelyn had a brief second to feel disgusted by how easily the Council had accepted her explanation. It made sense, of course. They all believed that was exactly what a shifter-bride should be like: modest, obedient, blind to her husband’s flaws, horrible decisions, or despicable attitude. She stole a quick glance at Max, thinking how lucky she was he had proved to be not only decent, but loving and appreciative. Yes, they had met in the circumstances imposed by the outraging clauses of the peace treaty concerning shifter-brides, and Max had bought her against her will, but once she had become his, he had treated her with respect and done everything in his power to win her love. She hoped all shifter-brides in the world were as lucky as she was, but unfortunately, she knew she was one of the rare exceptions.

It took one simple, well-thought-out sentence to convince them Sabine had invented the part where she had bitten her and Avelyn didn’t turn into a werewolf on the next full moon for whatever mysterious reason, then she was free to go back to her seat. It was pretty obvious she was in her last months of pregnancy, so they only needed a confirmation for confirmation’s sake. They wouldn’t have guessed in a million years that a cure for the werewolf venom existed and actually worked. In fact, Avelyn would have had to work harder at convincing them about the truth than about the untruth. It was funny and a bit ridiculous how sometimes a lie was more believable and easily accepted than the real fact.