Rejecting, Your Broken Promises
Chapter 120

King Sebastian’s POV

Royal Night pack

It has been two weeks since I last saw Peyton at the bridal shop, and I am excited to see her today. It is Jasper’s trial today that I am most excited about, as I know that we will all be glad when this is over and done with, at least I know that I will. His plans to take my daughter, which got this whole terrible incident to happen, still angers me. His sentence being carried out will help to get me closure over this whole situation. It never should have happened. As much as I did to protect all three of my children, I took their safety as my priority in life, just like DeAnna’s safety. Nothing was more important than my family to me. This happening to my daughter, is an affront to me personally as she was my baby girl, and I couldn’t protect her as I should have. I have accepted the blame as all being on me, as DeAnna never wanted her to be away from us like that. I thought that I was doing the best for us all and that it would only be for a few months, just to get all the evidence together, and then it would be done. I hate that everything that she had to go through is laying squarely on my shoulders.

Peyton was going to be here today, and I am sure that Percy will be with her. I am glad that she has him as her mate. I know that she is very concerned for Cassidy, as we will actually get all three of their trials completed today. Jasper’s, Stephanie’s, and Cassidy’s will all be held, and the whole council will be here to preside over them. Since we had gotten two members of the Council for several days, they were having to catch up now, and they were going to be here at the Royal Knight pack to get all three of the trials done, and then they would be almost caught back up with their work now. I already know that my daughter was going to speak to the Council as a character witness for her and try to help her as much as she could to beat the charges against her. My daughter is a very caring person, and I know that she felt Cassidy deserved another chance at having a good life, as she had been put through too much by Jasper. Yes, her actions were wrong, but I don’t fully know what she had been experiencing from her mate marking another while he was still bonded to Cassidy. I have heard that actually marking another she-wolf as a chosen mate, while still bonded to your mate could kill a she-wolf. It had been documented and proven as being a matter of fact. I cannot imagine what those she-wolfs had gone through when it happened to them.

It does make it more reasonable that she could have been driven mad with the pain of it, but I will let the Council make that call. I do not have any part of the vote on this, as there is a reason that it is a 5 person Council, I am not needed. I know that both girls’ families would be coming today, and would be here for the whole trial for both Jasper and Cassidy. I am sure that both families expect to get justice for their daughters. The Council is already here, and I just got told that my daughter has arrived as well. I am sure that Cassidy would be with her, and that Peyton will be ready to go to her defense when it comes down to it. I am already in the hall where the trial will be held. Jasper will get to speak for himself and try to defend his actions. He really has no defense, and I am pretty sure that will be clear to all present when we get started. I start heading up to my seat because no matter if I am judging or making a decision in this. My seat is surprisingly the highest one in the room with the 5 chairs in front of me for the Council to sit at while working at the Royal Knight pack. I am wondering where Council Member Phillips is at. The other four members of the council are already sitting in their assigned number chair, from left to right as you face them, so her chair is right in front of mine, and dead center of the men around her.

Everyone else is there, but her, and that is actually very odd. She likes to get here early and make sure all of the charges that she had noted against the person defending themselves was accurate and detailed. She made sure that the videos were ready to be played, and worked to make sure we were ready to go when court started. Both Teresa, and Anthony, were known as the “sticklers” of the group, knowing the laws very well, and putting as many charges on the accused perpetrator as they could. I head up to go to my chair when Anthony calls out to me and said, “You are with us today, Sebastian. Teresa will be undertaking another function today, so we need you to be the 5th vote, but don’t worry, that is only in case of a tie. So, as long as there are already three guilty verdicts, it will never come down to you to vote at all. Since you are the King, you are the only other person qualified to hear and vote on the issues. You will not have to worry about it coming down to you on Jasper though, that had already been decided already as he has no defense, and Teresa’s vote has been recorded and noted already. He will get a chance to defend himself against the charges, but with the wall of evidence against him, it won’t matter. The Goddess herself would have to want to save him, and she won’t. He broke the mate bond that she gave him and then hurt his mate by marking his chosen mate in his effort to get a higher-ranked mate. That goes against the Goddess’ wishes, and she will not be supportive of him doing that, not once, but twice.” Anthony told me.

“I didn’t know that you would need me. I am fine with helping out as long as it won’t cause a conflict, I am just fine with sitting in on this panel. Hopefully, it won’t come down to my vote, and I don’t mind going last if my vote is actually needed” I told them, and they nodded respectfully to me. They were the Council, but I was the King, and I could pass down judgments as well. I usually only did it for lesser matters, but I didn’t want anyone to say that I sentenced Jasper to death unfairly. I want this to go off without a hitch, and with everything to be above board. I watched as people started filing into the room now that we were all seated and in place, and I see that Teresa is with Cassidy and four other women. I see that Peyton is sitting on the same row with them as well, and I am sure that they will be witnesses who will be testifying. I see Alpha Cameron who had just come in with some of the Omegas from the Dark Savage pack. I know that they were here as character witnesses for Cassidy too if it comes down to it.

I see the parents of both girls sitting up front, sitting together quietly. They were on the row across from Peyton and Teresa, and I could see them looking at Cassidy as she is now sitting in one of the chairs on the side of the room, facing the defendant’s table. I couldn’t tell exactly what they were thinking just yet, but I imagine that it was difficult for them to be here and have to relive losing their daughter’s all over again. I know that this day will be exceptionally hard for them as I remember the day that I was told by Alpha James that my own daughter had been killed. It was the worst day of my life, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. As parents, we want to love and protect our children. We want what is best for them, and hearing the words that your child, your baby, is dead. Just hearing those words spoken out loud, breaks something inside you. It makes your world tilt on its axis and brings you to a place where nothing will be right, or the same, ever again.

I watch as more people come in and start filling the room. I see DeAnna, Gabi, Sloan, Von, and Amanda, all sitting together in a row with Percy and Dawson on either end. Dawson and Sloan on one end, and Gabi and Percy on the other, with the boys on the ends of the row. Percy is right behind Peyton, and that makes me smile that they are so protective of their women that they won’t let anyone get past them to even get near them. The row behind them are all warriors from both Ever Green and B***d Rose and I appreciate them sitting directly behind Peyton and Teresa, as I know that they will protect that row as well. In the center of that row is Jerry, who is the new Co-Beta for Ever Green, and his new mate from Dark Savage, Aubrey. She seems worried about Cassidy, and I am sure that she would be a character witness as well. There are other people pouring into the hall as well, and I have never seen it as full as it is today. Clearly, there are several people who are interested in one or all three of the trials that are about to take place. I see Alpha James and his new mate enter and go to take their seats as well, with his Beta, Arthur Mitchell, with him. I know it would be hard for them both, but I am sure that one or both would testify against Jasper if needed.

Cassidy is sitting in the chair nearest Peyton and Teresa, and the door to the back room opens to the side of where we are sitting, and we see Stephanie and Jasper being led into the room in handcuffs. They both really look worse for wear, and I already know what is going to happen when Jasper walks over and takes the middle chair, and Stephanie takes the last one left. I see exactly when she notices that Cassidy is not handcuffed. “Why doesn’t that b***h have handcuffs on? She actually killed people, I just took money. Clearly, she is a much bigger threat than I am” Stephanie called out to the room.

I am glad for my years passing judgment so I am very good at keeping my face blank. I really wanted to look at her with my mouth open, because I am amazed at her comment. She was technically correct, but she also just admitted that she was guilty of what she is being charged with. I am really working on keeping my face blank, as I already know that someone in the seated area was going to say something about it. Sure enough, I see Gabi stand up and say, “You really are an i***t, Stephanie. You just admitted to everyone here, AND to the Werewolf Council, that you knowingly stole from Ever Green. I am really glad that you aren’t smarter as I think we can just bypass the whole trial now, thank you.”

“I didn’t say that I stole it, I said that I took it,” Stephanie said to try to clarify.

“Exactly, you took something that didn’t belong to you, you know this place records everything that happens in here, right?” Gabi fired back, but she was sitting down now. I know that she didn’t want to make the Council mad by being disrespectful, but I could tell that Stephanie’s comment made her mad. I could also tell that the other men sitting on either side of me, thought that it was funny too, but they also were keeping their faces blank. We already had her on video, and in her own words admitting to it. It is already a forgone conclusion on her part, her trial is just a formality. But we cannot let everyone present know that we already have all the evidence, and information, that we need on her case. They will all see it soon enough. She will get a defender, but they have also seen the evidence, and there is nothing that she can do to beat this charge. She admitted that she signed the sheets, each week, for OVER a year, and got paid while bullying people into doing her work for free. Stephanie is still glaring at Gabi. As if Gabi was the problem when Stephanie was the one who actually did something wrong. That was just going to be jail time, but she threatened to kill my daughter, even knowing that she was my daughter and the incoming Luna to Ever Green. Stephanie won’t be going to jail, she will be getting the death penalty for that.

The session started a short time later, with Stephanie’s case going up first. We all sat with stony faces as she got up and tried to seductively walk to her new seat at the defendant’s table. She gave the members of the Werewolf Council a smile, as she gracefully sat down in her seat. She sat there with that practiced smile on her face, but I knew her for who she was. The other men did too, and she was wasting her time even trying to flirt with them. Her lawyer was not smiling, and he already knew what was going to happen as well. She signed the sheets, she lied repeatedly about doing the work, and that death threat was something that could not be glossed over. I had just not watched the video, so I didn’t know if people would need to testify that they were there and heard her say it, or not. I intently watched the video of her in the hospital at Dark Savage. I was there when it happened, and I know that after she get dressed and was escorted out, exactly what she would be saying. I was looking directly at her sitting at the defendant’s table, trying to look innocent when she clearly told Peyton that she was going to “kill her if it was the last thing that she did.” It was clear as a bell on the audio because she wasn’t quiet about her threat. Her voice rang out loud and distinct through the room, and a number of gasps were heard.

I could hear a loud growl and I already knew it was Percy. I glanced back at him, and I saw Peyton reach back from the row in front of him to give him her hand to help him calm down. I couldn’t blame him, if someone had threatened DeAnna the same way, I would have killed them for it. That was unacceptable and I was impressed by how he managed to stay in his seat. Anyone hearing their mate being threatened like that would of course be upset.

“Ms. Turner, do you have any defense for your actions?” Leader Miller asked her.

“Yes, I do. I didn’t know that it was wrong of me to ask my friends and co-workers to pick up doing a few jobs for me. No one told me that it was wrong for me to do that. Secondly, I was just joking around with Peyton when I said that. I was just upset at losing my boyfriend of many years to her. I loved him, and he left me and broke my heart, he had promised to make me his Luna. I thought that we would be together forever,” Stephanie told us. She is a pretty good actress though, she managed to call up tears and start crying right there at the end, but we all knew that she was lying about it.

“Ms. Turner, what grade was the highest grade that you graduated from? The fourth Council member asked.

“I graduated with my class as a senior in high school, why?” Stephanie answered with a frown.

“You have been working as an Omega at Ever Green for over three years now, correct?” the fifth Council member asked.

“Yes,” Stephanie answered.

“How long had you been “delegating” your assigned work duties to your co-workers?” the second Council member asked her.

“A little over a year, at the time that I left” Stephanie answered him.

“So, you WERE doing your job, yourself, then suddenly you stopped doing it?” the fourth Council member asked.

“Yes,” Stephanie said in a low tone.

“Ms. Turner, are you aware that there is a whole paragraph on the paperwork that you signed each week that includes the fact that you voluntarily signed the paperwork? A paragraph that states “I have checked and affirm that I worked the hours noted above at the Ever Green pack.” This particular sentence is right above the signature line, Ms. Turner. To clarify with you, you have had numerous opportunities to read this paperwork, it has not changed in over 10 years. You had previously been doing the job until you got a better opportunity of getting out of work, by trying to get someone on the hook to be willing to claim you, as a mate, correct? You bullied and threatened your eight co-workers to pick up your slack, and still collected your undeserved paycheck? And did this for over a year? So, your actual defense is that you weren’t aware that it was wrong to get paid for work that you didn’t actually do? Is that it? Or was it more that you could not read and or understand that your signature was guaranteeing that YOU, Ms. Turner, had worked the hours, and completed the assigned task?” The second Council member asked her.

“Or is it that you liked making others do your work, and you getting to reap all the benefits of still getting paid, and not having to do anything to earn it?” Leader Miller asked Stephanie.