“I’m innocent.”
“I’ve heard that a hundred times before.”
A hundred times was an exaggeration, but Dean sat back in his chair and pretended as if he meant every single word. Part of him did because he’d probably done enough interrogation in a lifetime to prove that it was almost at that count.
Almost, not quite.
The person he was interrogating, sitting on another chair and facing him, didn’t contest it, instead looking at him quite calmly. Had there been no special chains on this man’s hands and legs, Dean would have believed this was a regular chat between two grown men who had nothing better to do.
“Then I don’t know what to say anymore,” Sean said, his voice as calm as his posture. Dean tried to recall the Sean he remembered from childhood before they drifted apart—the jolly boy who could charm anyone with words and was pretty much crushed on by every female lion shifter in their land. The man certainly had the looks for it, and he had something else that Dean would always remember.
A sense of honor.
Where did that honor go?
The Sean sitting in front of him now didn’t look like he even wanted to use any charm, and he didn’t look like he held on to much of that honor anymore. In fact, he looked rather tired, and not just physically.
“You probably don’t know what to say because you’re guilty. How long have you wanted to replace my father? How long have you wanted this power?”
Sean shook his head. “You want to know the truth?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want that. I joined those lion shifters because I suspected something was at hand, and I knew they weren’t smart enough to organize it. And you know what I discovered?”
“What?”
“That an elder is involved.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. I just know it’s an elder because they call it an elder. I suspect it’s not uncle, because they insult him too much in secret. It’s someone else, and you just busted the whole thing up before I could find out.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Dean asked, tilting his head. “It could be my father, or me.”
That had Sean’s body stilling, tension filling his shoulders. But he visibly took a deep breath and met Dean’s eyes. “I know you.”
“What do you know about me?”
“That you have a high moral ground, and your hardness covers your loyalty for our kind. You would never do something like this, nor would you expose it and throw others under the bus just to protect yourself. Nor would your father. He is a lion!”
The words jolted Dean, but he didn’t let it show, instead leaning forward. “You don’t know me. I’ve changed.”
“No one can change that much.”
“Yes, they can. Especially if their sister had been tortured and murdered.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself, and he watched Sean’s expression turn stricken. The man sat back as if slapped, and he hung his head. Silence reigned between them as they remembered Dana in their own minds, the memories fading off now.
Guilt slid through him as he realized he hadn’t visited her grave in a while.
And he hadn’t brought her murderers to justice yet.
Before he could say more, Sean spoke. “Dean, I know nothing I can say will be believable at this point, but I just want to let you know one thing.”
“What?”
“Trust no one. The real ringleader is still out here, and it’s not me. And I have one request.”
“What?”
“Protect my parents.” Sean’s eyes met his. “The elders may have decided to burn me to death, but I’m going to shout through the flames that I’m innocent, and the real enemy is still out there. And they may take it out on my parents. Don’t let that happen. I’m not going to stop. I’d rather burn to death than be stopped from seeking justice.”
“Burning is too merciful for you.” If you were the real enemy, his mind supplied.
“Maybe.”
It disturbed Dean that he was starting to believe Sean, and it disturbed him even more that his fellow lion shifters would be burned just like that. But rules were rules, and this was how it was for those who betrayed their kind. They already admitted to their part in the ring, and they cried like banshees about Sean being the kingpin of everything.
So why did it still bother Dean?
The thought flitted in his mind, settling for a bit. The harsh knocks on the door, followed by it crashing open, sent those thoughts away as Cassidy came stumbling in.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” she cried out. “Why are you such an asshole?”
He raised a brow at her. But whatever sarcasm he was about to throw out disappeared when he saw the fear shining in her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“You actually allowed innocent prisoners to be burned?”
“Innocent prisoners?”
“Those fairies and the vampire you just saved!”
Dean shot up. “What?”
Cassidy stared, and he watched realization mix in with her fear. “You don’t know,” she whispered.
“Don’t know what?” he growled, impatience seeping in. He thought he had to shake her to get whatever nonsense she was talking about out of her, but she blurted out the next words in a rush.
“The elders have rounded up the fairies and vampire to be killed to uphold the lion pride. Indigo tried to stop it and used her magic.”
Dean’s blood ran cold at the word magic. Knowledge rushed in as he knew exactly how they were going to deal with it.
She wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Stay here with him,” he barked at Cassidy.
Then he was flying out of there as if his life depended on it. Or rather someone else’s.
*****
She was already on the ground by the time he got there, with torches surrounding her and a foot pressed on her shoulder. There were even more torches surrounding two cages, one of which contained the prisoners they let go. The vampire was there, trying to swipe his sharp nails at the bar spaces and hissing in Indigo’s direction.
Dean’s claws elongated as he stepped behind the shifter holding her down and clamped on his neck. He tossed the man aside and stood in front of Indigo, essentially protecting her from the torches and the men.
Growls came from the wolf shifters, indicating what kind of shifter the man he hurt was. Then the growls were followed by silence, and he could feel all eyes on him now.
“Is this how everything works now? We kill even the innocent ones?”
Some of the elders stood up from their stone seats in the field, their black cloaks billowing in the night. They were an intimidating bunch, but Dean didn’t let it faze him as fury slid in at their actions. He focused that fury on his father, who was eyeing him with quiet disapproval.
“You shouldn’t interrupt a ritual like this, boy.”
“Yes, I should, if the ritual is based on non-tangible evidence and at the mercy of innocent beings,” Dean said coolly. He could feel the tension in his own voice and forced himself to calm down. “While I understand burning the actual enemies who’ve admitted their crime is part of our ritual, it doesn’t include burning the others.”
“Those others will spread this, and our reputation will be ruined,” Dean’s father intoned just as coolly. “And this woman here used her magic in our territory. We both know that’s not allowed, and you have no grounds to contest that when it’s been done for centuries.”
Frustration slammed inside him, followed by dread. It was true. While he could still argue the saving of the witnesses, he could no longer contest the use of Indigo’s magic and the damage it had done. Magic could only be used here if it was authorized, such as in the creation of portals—a rule as sacred as time and everyone revered.
He would be crucified if he defied it, and she would still be killed.
There was a loophole to it, however—but again, the decision lay on the elders. Dean took a deep breath, the decision loud and clear inside him that his heart beat wildly with it. Indigo breathed harshly behind him, indicating she’d been pressed down particularly hard. His mouth flattened, and he stepped forward, making sure no reaction was on his face.
“I understand that, elder…elders,” he corrected. “And I have a proposition.”
“What is your proposition?” the panther elder asked.
“I would like to request their freedom through a fight.”
The silence that followed was even longer than the last one, and he waited it out. Xian, who had been in this exact situation before, stepped forward. He looked as tense as a string, and Dean knew the only reason he hadn’t tried to loudly object was because he couldn’t risk the safety of the crocodile shifters, too. But Cassidy searching for Dean had been help enough.
And now, Xian was extending more help in his own filtered way.
“I believe this is fair, elders. You’ve extended me the same kindness, and it has gone a long way to be mutually beneficial for us.”
His words were few, but obviously, they held importance in the short time he’d been staying here as none of the elders protested. In fact, they looked like they were contemplating it thoroughly, and Dean used that opportunity to move just a little bit so he could cover Indigo completely. She was still on the ground, and he had a feeling the only reason for that was because she didn’t want to make any unnecessary movement to aggravate anyone further.
The normal Indigo would have already stood up and ranted at them, throwing in her sarcasm in the mix. The thought that she was staying quiet for him only had his frustration rising and his impatience thinning.
“It’s not just one fight, son,” Dean’s father murmured, eyes steady on him.
“Yes,” Dean murmured back.
“Do you want us to state the rules?”
“Please do.”
Dean’s father’s lips thinned, but he stepped back, nodding his head towards Xian. Xian nodded back and turned to Dean, speaking with no particular emotion in his voice.
“You will have to fight a warrior from each shifter tribe. You don’t have to kill them, but you have to defeat them individually for you to be considered a victor. If you defeat them all, then you will be granted your request. If you do not defeat them all, you will be imprisoned for life in a cage with no chance of pardon.”
A soft gasp escaped Indigo’s lips, but he ignored it and willed her not to speak. She didn’t.
“I understand,” he replied to Xian.
“What is your actual request? Can you please state it for the elders?”
“I request for the release of Indigo once, as she only used her magic to fight for what she believed is right. She had no ill intention towards us. I also request for the release of these witnesses. They were prisoners of our betrayers and killing them would make us more or less the same as those betrayers. I would gladly ensure their safekeeping and monitoring once they’re free, and only should they spill secrets would I do something to punish them.”
“Is that all?”
“I would also like to request for these lion betrayers to be imprisoned for now until we get to the bottom of everything. There might be further evidence we missed out on, and we would like to find every loophole and close it before completely fulfilling the ritual.” He could see the doubt in the elders’ eyes, and he knew he would have had that same doubt before he spoke to Sean. Now, Sean’s words kept floating in his mind, nagging at him that they were still missing something. “I understand they already confessed, but a confession is different from concrete evidence. Should we not wait for that to keep our search for justice? To maintain the loyalty and pride that we have as a whole?”
He could tell that hit home, so he kept quiet after and waited it out some more. They murmured to each other, their voices too low for even him to hear or determine anything.
Then the murmurs stopped, and he knew a decision had been reached.
One of the elders stepped forward—the bear shifter.
He nodded.
“Very well. Your fight begins tomorrow morning, with one stipulation.”
“Yes?”
“The hag will fight with you.”