a/n:NOT EDITED.

Chapter 43 – Logan POV

Wolf and I sat, the unsettled conversation that needed to happen between him and I, lingering around us, the air stifling.

“This guy… he’s not going to lead us anywhere,” he muttered and I had to agree with him, Robert had made the effort to free himself, hiking down the Shasta Mountain where I placed him, but he had to know that he was being followed.

I nodded, “Even with our guys ‘chasing,’ him, and ‘losing’ his trail-” my cell buzzed before I could finish my thought. Leaning back, I answered, “Hello,” a heavy panting noise scratched from the other side, “Logan?” the person whispered.

“Yea, who’s this?”

“This is Ethan…” he seemed reluctant to say the rest, “Ethan?” that name not ringing a bell and the number when I pull the phone away again, not one I recall.

“Gavino, Gabriel’s brother,” he whispered, “I need help, I need you to help me and my mate – please,” he asked frantically, a pleading desperation in his tone.

.

.

.

Chelsea POV

Witness protection program.



After the incident with Rainy and Chris, on the beach with Brian Simeon, I decided that this process was just like the witness protection program, as in even criminals were offered a second chance if what they had to offer was on someone bigger than them selves.



Yet I saw one flaw that the people on the island didn’t truly have, and that was information on the larger target – and despite that, many thought they were entitled to being here. They were all under some warped impression that I was to protect them under any circumstance, put myself on the line while they rebelled in every sense. I moved around Gabriel’s office once Remy demonstrated what I needed done, leaving me to my own devices. The finished product in my hand I left the room going to the auditorium.



When dad was building this place up and developing over the years, he built a hotel type area as well as the individual homes, however he didn’t build a school.



I could see why, there wasn’t a need for something like that just yet.



Instead, the hotel served that purpose. The first floor to the left wing were transformed into a make shift school area. The hotel had a gym, pool area and library and an auditorium as well.



Seating nearly three hundred at a very low incline.



Now, I watched as everyone here filed in taking a seat speaking amongst themselves, grumbling – I inhaled holding it for a while before exhaling to calm myself. To ease the boiling in my stomach, and the endless ways I could make them suffer. But I wasn’t going to sink that low, I was going to give them what I realized they were missing.



Incentive.



The truth was these people most had been here for two years or more, while only the Ryans were new, yet still they didn’t have the type of facts that Remy had been searching. They didn’t have the files that my father – Jason – had filled out about all of these people.



As a part of the WPP, you couldn’t have any contact with your old life; you were constantly looking over your shoulder, the unease in your stomach never truly faded. I had lived that, yet even here I didn’t forget about that feeling. I still had the knots in my belly. These people, so many of them had lost that, and now I was going to put it back. The only people that had any sort of connection to the outside world were Lux, Leland and Marlon. Other than that, none of them knew what was happening. Many had come to believe that they were safe.



They weren’t.



I had heard it, the slip Connor made was minor when Gabriel arrived at their home, ‘finally gave him what he deserves,’ Connor thought.



Oh god, please don’t let this be about me, Lola shrank down in her seat next to her father, his arms across his chest in the middle first row, while Gabriel had seated the Ryans on the first row of the left side. I already had my laptop at the podium, I let the white backdrop down, the projector turned on but I kept the lights on.



“How is Anthony?” I asked Marlon directly, “Good Luna, he was sleeping, still a bit out, I tried to wake him, but-” I shook my head.



“It’s fine, you will be sure to pass tonight’s message along, I hope?” he nodded once. “Good,” my tone serious and just to hear those short exchanges the chatter quieted.



“Lets begin, I’m sure all of you are curious to learn just why I called this gathering so close to the last one outside of this very hotel?” I eyeballed certain people, I wasn’t going to look away, they were. When I heard a few ‘yes, Luna’s I continued.



“How many of you know now why I am on the island? In fact, how many do not know why? Raise your hands,” I gave a clear command at the end and watched as not a single person lifted their hands.



“How many of you are unaware of who I am?”



My eyes darted over the audience, “Exactly not a single person in this room currently, doesn’t know who I am, I’m the Queen of the Were. The Chosen One. Everyone knows’ that…” some people nodded, others gaped at me wide eyed.



“So my question is, if you know who I am, who do any of you think you are to question my judgment, go against my wishes?” the room was so quiet, you could hear the crickets from outside. “No one is going to speak? You all seem to have plenty to say behind my back, are you all cowardly and unable to say it to my face?” again I looked over the crowd.



“Mrs. Hellmann?” I called her out, “You went against my wishes, attempted to change both your daughter and husband on your own, and now look what happened? You murdered your own child.”



“So tell me, who you are to question, my authority,” I edged in my command tone, “please stand.”



Then I just waited, “You are a child… we would be fools to put ourselves in the hand of a child-”



I placed the first picture on the projector, and watched as the blood drained from her face.



She was safe on this island, however her family, the people she thought she would leave and they would be perfectly safe, were dead. Jason had the pictures to prove it and now, she was seeing it.

Her mother gone.

Father gone.

Sister gone.

“The war that’s coming, is with the people that had that,” I pointed to the screen, “done to your family, they are the ones I want to remove from authority. I don’t have time to sit and baby sit you like you’re some child. That. Is. A. Waste. Of. My. Time.” Her children around her, tears in their eyes, the room still deathly silent, while minds raced wondering about their family.



The people they left behind.



I turned to Lola, for a minute, finding the next clip that I needed, “Who here is not aware of areas where they aren’t supposed to go?” I waited. Nothing. Oh God… Lola sank down lower.



“So everyone here knows that certain areas’ of the island is off limits? That’s what I’m getting with the silence? Am I wrong?” oh god… no…



Lola bit her lip avoiding my eyes, her heart racing, “Lola, you were aware you went somewhere that you were told specifically not to go?”



She looked up her eyes meeting mine, tears there and Leland sat saying nothing, just watching this happen, angry with his daughter, “I know I wasn’t supposed to be there,” she whispered.



“But you decided to go there anyways?”



“Yes,” again her voice shaky.



“Why?”



“We – Anthony and I – we wanted to-” before she could finished I answered her.



“You were doing something you shouldn’t have been doing, and since you knew it was wrong, and something that your parents wouldn’t approve of you had to do it behind their backs. Where could you go to do something behind their backs? A place they told you not to go? A rule was set, not to trespass onto that beach? Right?”



“Yes.”



"You were born on this island?” I asked her again, so many children and teens here, were actually born here, they didn’t know what life as like for our kind in some place.



“Yes Luna,” she added her voice wavering. “Okay,” I replied turning the video on.



“For those of you that were also born here, you’ve been sheltered, living the good life here and not understanding, grasping just what life is like outside of this island. Grant you hear stories from newcomers about the treatment that others get but I think there is this gap, this blindfold over your eyes preventing you from placing yourself in the shoe of others,” no one said anything, “this video was taken by Jason, he was given a recording of a young girl receiving her punishment from a pack in Denver…”



I turned the video on, watching the audience, especially those that were Lola’s age, everyone here that wanted to defy me, but hadn’t been off this island for nearly forty years. A girl, no older than Lola herself, in the middle of a circle while the Alpha beat her senseless with a whip, until she was on the ground rolling, flailing her limbs – shrieks of agony, “Next time, be where you’re expected to be,” the Alpha said clearly, not one person helping her.



I turned the video off, “Do you all see that? This is what the Elders are currently letting happen… That is what I want to stop. You think that if I leave here that I’m going to leave you all here to enjoy being free, going around with no authority? No… I’m going to drop each and every single one of you in the worst pack so that you see just how good you’ve had it. So you know that I was here to change what you just witnessed. You all see it and think it’s not happening to me, so it doesn’t matter to me or to my children. If what it takes for all of you to realize it does concern you, is for it to actually be your children, I can make that happen.”



“I’ve been here for nearly two months and how many times have any of you approached me about my plans, each of you are waiting for me to come to you,” I scoffed.



Opening the next file I put a picture belonging to every single person here that they had left back home, there were three categories, deceased, alive and missing. Crying, whispering words of comfort from those they came to the gathering with, loved ones they had no information on – now they did.



I left it on the screen for five straight minutes, saying nothing, eyeing each and everyone single one of them, it was cruel to do it this way but I had hit my limit. What Connor did tonight mixed in with finding Lola, and Kayla, was all too much.



“You all seem to think that I’m here for you, I told all of you once, and this is the final time, everyone I care about is on this island… I have no reason to fight, not really and the longer I’m here policing adults like you’re all children, the longer your loved ones out there are suffering. You think it bothers me? No it doesn’t. I’m going to fight, but how long they suffer is on all of you!” I pointed out to the audience. Sick of this already.



“The longer I take to prepare, to get where I need to be to overcome this battle, the more of your loved ones that either go missing or die. How many more pictures do you all want to see under the deceased section before you all get your head out of the sand here and start to get your self together?” I demanded to know, my voice lifting as I thought about it all. Nothing, they hadn’t made a single effort since I had gotten here.



Day after day, Gabriel and I were supervising.



I was exhausted just with monitoring their thoughts. Looking for the one person that would try to blitz us. Granted we wouldn’t let our guard down that far when they all got with the program, but they needed to get with the program.



“I shouldn’t have to be giving out punishments to you people, or your children.”



I started to make my last point as Gabriel stood over to the side with a big old smirk on his face. Shooting them would’ve been easier, no long speech, he thought cheekily.



“I thought I had gotten my message across but I haven’t, your Alpha said that no one fights unless they challenge the other person and then it would be held and regulated. One of you have ignored that,” I tapped a few keys that Remy showed me and soon the screen was a video feed for Kieran’s room. “Oh god…”



“My baby… how – I – when – is - what did you do?” Mrs. Ryan stood frantically heading to the door.



“Sit down!” I commanded, her eyes widened but under my order she fought unsuccessfully shouting, “Who – my baby!”



“Quiet.” I said coldly.



“I’m disgusted by all of you,” I looked over them, “you are all here because you were on the run, no one here is better than another person. And instead of showing each other the kindness my father has shown all of you, giving you a safe place to be, to live and raise your children, you condemned that boy when he was already hurting. Everyone was told that he doesn’t like to be touched, that he shouldn’t be touched, yet one idiotic girl goes and decides that she was going to touch him, she gets hurt like she was told she would, and you place blame on Kieran? Why? Was it his stupidity that caused Taryn’s injury-”



Nothing. Sniffling, sobbing and racing hearts.



“Some how you all think that I’m here to play… that I’m all bark, no bite.”



I turned my eyes to Connor, “Connor who did this?”



He gritted his jaw, grabbing the ends of the armrests, fighting the command, “I did it. He – deserved – it!”



I snorted, nodding my head.



“Come here,” I demanded. My face blank, I put a chair in the middle of the stage, as Connor fought the command uselessly, “sit down.”



Mrs. Ryan was crying, while her husband tried to comfort her, Tera looked down at her lap, while Dominic, he stared blankly at the video feed of Kieran, “why?” Mrs. Ryan questioned her son. But Connor looked on defiantly, “answer her!”



He shot me a dirty look from the corner of his eyes, “He attacked my mate, I was leaving the beach and going to the house, I saw him touching that girl – his mate – after he attacked mine, he’s holding her hand, letting someone touch him when he nearly killed mine-” he spat angrily. “We weren’t even on the Elders Radar until he was taken and then he comes back and we have to go on the run!”



“Oh Connor-” Mrs. Ryan cried, her hand over her mouth looking sadly between Connor and the video of Kieran’s room behind him.



“You all here seem to be under some misguided impression of just how powerful I currently am… none of you believe that I’ll do more than give out silly chores…” I said walking behind Connor. Lifting my hands I place them on either side of his head, my finger nails digging into his head, I took his wolf away. Trapped the extra energy, as Taryn, I could only guess released a howl of pain at her wolfs’ mate dying. Struggling against me Connor tried to escape, his strength weakening as he lost his wolf. Until he had no fight left, but I took it one step further. Tuning out everyone completely, I pulled memory after memory from his mind, until the only thing I had left was what he did to Kieran and this moment.



I yanked my hands away from his head panting, going over to the side as everyone looked on in confusion, “You all think that you have something on me, that if I kick you off the island you’ll be able to give away our location to the Elders,” I said nonchalantly watching their eyes go from Connor to me. He was staring around the room in total and utter confusion.



“Don’t try me,” I told them turning to Connor.

“Who are they?” I pointed to his mother and father and all we got back was a blank face, “I – I don’t know – who – who they are,” he said his eyes wide.

“When’s your birthday?”

He looked down thinking if over, “I – I’m not sure.”

“Guess.”

He shrugged, “May? No… January?” he asked more than he told me.

“Oh… those are hard… how about some easy ones… who are you?”

Connor opened his mouth to say, his name but he only leaned forward closing his mouth after each time he tried, “I – I don’t know…” his eyes welled.

“Turn around, who is in that video?”

“Kieran.” He said quickly.

“How did he end up there?”

“I hit him, he hurt my mate…” he answered.

“What’s your mates name?” I asked pointedly, once again his mouth opened only to be closed when he looked out helplessly at the audience.

“Break the fingers on your left hand. Bend them back until they snap!” I gave the order, his eyes widened, he began crying, hands shaking as he fought to break the command, but he couldn’t. Each crack heard around the room, as he cried out in pain, but still followed the command until they were broken.

“I don’t even need to make him break his own bones, I can do that without lifting a finger. See how easy it would be to just wipe your memories and send you back to the Elders? I don’t have time to police you all. This is your first warning. Everything after this warning is wiping all your memories. Then, I drop you on the Elders doorstep.”

“Does everyone understand?” I call over Connor crying, cradling his hand. Using a gift I hadn't used in a while, I broke his wrist, ankle and tibia without so much as touching him. As he threw himself to the ground, I looked out at the audience a smirk on my face. Walking off stage – my laptop in my arms – I went right to Gabriel, leaving everyone in the auditorium.

__________________________

So... yeah... thoughts?

© 2015 new_season All Rights Reserved