Chapter 21
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Lockbourne Territory
The Roma soldiers looked at each other lost, Alex had simply walked away dumping the entire mess on them and they stood looking at each other totally lost.
The girl was quite as a mouse, perhaps just glad that she was alive one of them looked at her, her face was miserable understandably...and her eyes closed and silent tears streaking out of the corner of her eyes. For a moment he felt for her.
Her mate was the man who was about to kill her, put a bullet in the back of her head. Definitely not the stuff of romance.
What do they do? The clock was ticking and they were neck deep in Lockbourne territory.
Luckily their commander had the same thought and barked out orders.
"Retreat" he said and then looked at the girl and contemplated for a moment "take her" he ordered his men.
Two of them jumped in to action and grabbed her and pulled her up. She offered no resistance. Her head hung low she meekly complied. Smart girl, the commander thought. Drawing attention to herself at this point would not be wise.
As they moved out of the house towards the helicopters some of the soldiers waiting directed them to a helicopter.
"Alex?" The commander asked.
The soldier pointed to another helicopter. The commander nodded and directed his men to take the girl to a different chopper than the one Alex was sitting in.
They were going to take the girl and dump her in Colorado and then he would wash his hands of this goddamn mess! Let Alex handle this shit!
The World Council
Silence.
The entire chamber was in shocking silence at the events that transpired. Everyone recoiled at the gruesome sight of the headless wolf lying in the room, the erstwhile leader of the said council.
Everyone looked at Roma, expecting her to do something.
Roma put her hand out and Sebastian quickly took the gun away from her hand. A move to show the others she meant no harm.
"You heard" Roma said shakily.
"You heard what he said" She repeated a little firmly.
"What he did to my family" She said looking at all of them "and none of you in this so called council did anything to stop it or try to figure out what was happening, happy in their ignorance while he was killing one family member after another."
"This council is useless. Has done nothing for Roma. Why should Roma be part of such a union which brings the Roma family nothing but pain?"
She paused and added "We are done with this council and no longer recognize its authority."
Everyone looked at her, took the sight in, blood splattered over the side of her face and clothes. Sebastian quietly handed her a small towel, with which she wiped her face and threw it on the floor.
She said what she had to say and did what she had set out to do. She was done here.
She turned to walk out and took a few steps towards the door.
"Roma wait!" Australia said panicked.
Roma spun around.
"I know what happened to you and your family was unfair. There is no denying that but you should believe us when we say this that we had no part in what Lockbourne was up to." Australia pleaded.
Roma just shrugged. It did not make a difference to her.
"This council" Australia said looking at its members "despite all the faults you believe it has, has functioned as a peace keeping force for a millennia. Gave order to otherwise warring factions of wolves. Without a powerful deterrence we will fall back in to chaos, without our co-operation we will have petty fights escalating in to full-fledged wars.
"Why do I care?" Roma asked coldly.
"Because it is in everybody's interest" Australia pleaded.
"Well, you can have your merry council, just keep me out of it." Roma said callously.
"But you and I both know without Roma and her support this council is meaningless" Everyone looked at Ivan the Russian alpha, he spoke for the first time.
"You control three continents and you will have most impact on what happens. Your wolves will be the most impacted. Do you not want peace for them Roma?" he asked.
Roma looked at him and tried to read him. This guy was by far the most dangerous alpha in the room...they called his crazy Ivan for a reason.
"I can take care of my wolves alpha" Roma said and added "..and you take care of yours, we should not have a problem."
He sighed tiredly "If only it was that simple Roma and you know it. If only our world was in black and white."
"What do you want?" She finally asked, she was in no mood of plying games.
"We want" He said looking at the other alphas "this council to exist in its current form and we see your genuine grievance with it and I think I can propose a way that works for everybody."
Everyone looked at him curiously, what was his play?
"I table the motion to immediately elect the chair of the council and I hereby nominate Roma." He dropped the bombshell in absolute calmness.
Roma's jaw dropped open. Of all the things in the world, this she did not expect.
"I...what? No!" She stuttered caught totally off guard. She looked at Sebastian lost and he looked back at her equally lost.
"Roma, you complain of this council not doing anything. Well here is your chance, I heard you are a woman of action, here is your chance to do good not only for the people of Roma but for the werewolves across the globe." Russia said.
"Listen I have a country to run, this is not a responsibility I can afford to take." She pleaded. She was panicking now.
"Everybody here has enormous responsibilities Roma" Russia said calmly. "There is no denying that, are you saying you are unwilling to take the opportunity to work with all of us to restore peace? Have we not shed enough blood? How many more families need to die Roma?" He asked her.
The bastard had cornered her in to a tight spot.
"I second the motion" Africa said gleefully. He just saw this was an opportunity too good to loose. With Roma on the chair they would be unstoppable.
"I third" Australia said " I agree with alpha Ivan."
"I agree" Asia responded immediately, was there any other option really?
"Four out of six votes Roma." Ivan said smiling "You have the majority votes."
He stood up and bowed his head and the other alphas followed "Welcome Roma, to the chair of the world council."
She stood there her mouth flopping like a fish, her head was spinning and she had to get out of here before she lost her mind. She turned back and blindly rushed out.
Sebastian followed on her heels and as she stepped out of the council chamber, outside the enforcers stood there and looked at her in shock, they knew what happened inside the chamber and now they were staring at their new leader.
She looked at them lost and escaped, with Sebastian on her tail.
As she rushed in to the convoy, Sebastian followed behind and they were soon on their way.
After moments of silence Evelyn looked at Sebastian .
"What the fuck just happened there Sebastian ?" She asked panicking.
"I have no fucking clue!" he said equally cluelessly.
"Fuck!" she said frustrated.
"It is not such a bad thing Roma" Sebastian said cautiously. He knew she would blow her fuse.
She did not disappoint.
"Bad thing!" She roared "I wanted to get out of the damn council not chair the damn thing!" she spat "FUCK!" she cursed again. When would she get a fucking break?!?
"We need to get out of this mess...and need to do it ASAP!" She said. Africa and Asia were supposed to back her not corner her! Bastards! She would have their hides.
"How?" he asked and added. "We can't withdraw without looking like the bad guys, we will lose any and all moral ground and the other alphas will make our living life hell. Ivan screwed us over. We just got away with killing the North American alpha in the fucking council chamber. Do you think the American wolves will take this lying down? Fuck! We need them to get America off our back." He said.
"I don't want this." She said firmly. This was the last thing on the planet she needed right now, one more mess thrust on to her.
"I don't see a choice...at least for now" He paused and added "Being the head of the council gives you a lot of power Roma and lot of protection, we can use this...later when things cool down you can withdraw but now...you don't have a choice." He loved the idea of Roma chairing the council, what he needed to understand was why did Ivan give it away?
"Asia and Africa I want those bastards roasted on coals for this, they were supposed to back me up!" She spat frustrated.
"From their point of view they were" Sebastian said in deep thought. He needed to think on the whole council thing. This opened up possibilities that he never thought about.
"Fuck!" she cursed again this time her voice resigned. She knew she was trapped.
They came back to the safe house and got in, she without a word rushed in to the bath. She looked at herself in the mirror, stared at this stranger she had become.
The events of the night came crashing down on her. She had killed someone. Deliberately killed! There were traces of blood on her face and neck and her dress was bloodied on one side.
She stripped naked, disposing her dress and furiously tried to wash the blood off her, bruising her own skin.
She let out a sob, that welled out from deep in her stomach.
She moved away from the mirror, unable to look at herself anymore. She curled in to the corner of the bathtub and cried out loud gut-wrenching sobs.
She cried for the loss of her innocence.
She cried for what she was forced to do.
She cried for the woman she had been once...a long time ago, one with a simple and idealistic outlook, that woman who no longer existed.
She cried out of the loneliness she felt and the burden she had to carry every single day, which now only grew. The burden which would surely break her one day.
Sebastian stood near the door of the bedroom, he could hear her sobs all the way from the other side. But there was nothing he could do, some daemons she needed to bear alone.
He quietly closed the bedroom door and stood guard outside.
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