Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(72)

Less than an hour later, they’d arrived at a building located near the center of tiny Haven Falls. Katherine realized quickly that it was a pseudo city hall of sorts and where the meeting would be taking place.

She’d then been led to a back room in the building where a large table served as the space’s center piece. Nearly a dozen other people – all alphas, Katherine immediately noticed – were already seated around said table.

Katherine recognized a few of the alphas from their semi-regular appearance in her gym class. She also easily spotted the lone female alpha she knew to be the leader of Agnes’ pack. She was tall – pushing six feet – with long red hair and an attractive smattering of freckles across her nose.

Unfortunately, Katherine saw them as well – Priscilla and Mrs. Wright. They stood behind one of the men sitting at the table, wearing matching smug smiles. Another non-alpha, a slightly plump woman with her arms crossed over her ample breasts, glowered at her from behind a different man.

If Katherine hadn’t been feeling apprehensive before they’d arrived at the meeting, her nerves had certainly kicked in then. She was positively vexed that Bastian had refused to tell her what was going on.

Some of her anger fled, however, when he immediately offered her what she knew had to have been his chair at the mahogany table. She was the only non-alpha offered a seat. The other females in the room – barring the redhead, of course – were made to stand slightly behind their respective alphas.

Any good will she may have felt toward Bastian disappeared, however, as soon as Cain had stalked into the room, announcing the beginning of the meeting and addressing Katherine personally. Despite the smile stretched across the man’s face – nearly all of his teeth were showing – she already knew by the presence of Priscilla and Mrs. Wright that she was in some sort of trouble. And judging by the firm grip Bastian had on her chair from where he stood beside her, he knew it too.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t deemed it necessary to inform her what exactly it was she was in trouble for before dragging her here. Jerk.

It was then that Katherine first noticed the bruises on Bastian’s knuckles. Though they looked as if they were already half-healed, the light blue and yellow splotches still stood out starkly against the white of Bastian’s fingers as they held tightly to the rungs of her chair.

The sight of the fading bruises caused Katherine’s stomach to churn and the anxiety brewing there to turn into outright trepidation.

It occurred to her that maybe Bastian didn’t tell her what the impromptu meeting was about and why he was so insistent that she come along because she wasn’t the only one in some sort of trouble.

What had Bastian done?

The sound of Cain’s voice as he once again began to talk jerked Katherine out of her increasingly distressing thoughts. “Friends, I’m afraid I’ve called you here today because a rather… disconcerting matter has been brought to by attention. One of us – an alpha – has been accused of assaulting a young werewolf not a member of his pack.”

Katherine knew, of course, even before she could feel the curious eyes wander over her form and fixate on the space above her right shoulder – the space where Bastian loomed over her – exactly who it was being accused.

“As we all know,” the head alpha continued, “this is a serious breach of conduct. Before allowing the injured party to seek retribution, however, it is imperative that I – that we – hear exactly what took place – both sides of the story, if you will. Briggs, as it was you who made the accusation in name of your son, why don’t you take the floor?”

Without further ado, Cain sat in his seat at the head of the table and the man that he addressed, behind whom the glaring woman Katherine didn’t recognize stood, pushed himself out of his chair.

“With all due respect, Head Alpha, the story that you’ve alluded to is quite simple. Prince,” the man spit of Bastian’s last name like it was a curse, “unjustly attacked my son.”

Murmurs broke out amongst the alphas, many of whom were sending doubtful looks Briggs’s way. The female alpha, however, was the only one who stood and challenged the man directly. “I know your son, Briggs. I find it hard to believe that if Bastian, indeed, did attack Rip, that it was completely unprovoked.”

Katherine had already suspected it was Rip whom Bastian had went after, of course, but hearing her suspicions confirmed did nothing to relieve the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Briggs’s lips curled, like he found the very presence of the red-haired woman distasteful. All the same, he addressed her scarcely veiled accusation. “Rip is a remarkable and exceptionally charismatic young man and I don’t appreciate what you’re implying, Atkins. Nevertheless, I, too, was skeptical and questioned my son when he insisted that the attack was unprovoked. After all, I’ve never known Bastian to be particularly aggressive.”

Katherine fought the near hysterical laughter that threatened to bubble up her throat. Not aggressive? Did this Briggs person not know Bastian at all?

“But that was before it was brought to my attention that a girl was at the center of all this trouble.”

The urge she had to laugh immediately dissipated.

“These two women here – Juliana and Priscilla Wright, wife and daughter of Vance Wright – will corroborate my story. This little girl,” the man actually had the nerve to point at her from his place across the table, “has been infatuated my son ever since she’s been brought to Haven Falls. When Rip rejected her advances, what he thought was a harmless crush turned dangerous – more along the lines of an obsession, really. When he rejected her again yesterday, she got angry and got her alpha involved. We all know that Bastian has a weak spot for the girl – and she used that weakness against him, spinning lies, and causing him to attack my son!”