"I did nothing wrong. This is bullshit."

"How do you call kidnapping, doing nothing wrong," Keva snapped.

"I rescued you from the storm. If it wasn't for me, you would all be dead. I was looking out for and caring for you."

"By murdering Erato?!" Keva screamed. To hell with the clan chief! She rose up from her seat and had every intention of ripping Paley's arms off and beating him with them. Before she could take a step however, Javier grabbed her wrist from behind and Hysminai jumped up to block her path from the front. She glared pure death at Javier as she jerked her wrist free and she almost kicked Hysminai out of her way.

"Enough."

The word was said calmly, but the pure iron in the voice that said it was enough to still the entire chamber.

It had been almost three weeks since the werewolf pack had seen Yrsa kill the previous interim clan chief in that fight after she had been healed. The clan elders and council had then debated on who would be the new clan chief, and in doing so, left them completely in the dark as to what was happening with their new leader. Was it to be an election? A choosing? Neither, Keva or the other werewolves were allowed to know what exactly was going on, and honestly, they had to agree with the Berserker elders that it was of no concern of theirs. What was a concern of theirs, was getting justice for one of their own that had been murdered, and finding a way to enlist these people's help against the vampires.

They had finally been brought into the main lodge and sat down opposite to Paley, Erato's murderer and apparently his entire family. There were close to fifty people crammed in on his side of the lodge. Keva didn't know if they were all Berserkers, but after their fight in the woods, a five-on-five match might be too much for the broken pack to handle in a straight fight.

They were sitting in the long cabin of the clan. There was a roaring bon fire in the center of the lodge with the chief sitting on a throne at the head of the chamber. There were no lawyers in this court, only those who were involved with the incident, those who were not involved did not have a say, not even Huan Li was allowed to speak. Keva thought that it was an open and shut case of murder and justice being met out. Things had proved to not be that simple.

The chief sat above them all, wearing thick animal skins that were decorated with colorful beads and designs that could only be family emblems, or have some other meaning that they couldn't begin to interpret. The blonde hair on top of the chief's head was pulled back in long tight strips of woven leather, giving the impression of dread locks.

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Javier had wanted to greet Yrsa when they had walked in, but had stopped himself when he realized that she was the clan chief. Has she been newly elected, or chosen, or volunteered for the position. He had a lot of questions, but the trial, if you could call it that, had begun immediately and there were more pressing matters to attend to. How Yrsa found herself clan chief was a question for another time.

The chief's cool blue eyes gazed back and forth between the two groups, "What has been offered for the aid given to you and your pack, in being rescued from certain death from the storm?"

Javier jumped up, unable to stay silent, "Yrsa! This is ridiculous! We have to offer payment after my pack was kidnapped and Erato was murdered?!"

The chief stood up and swept her long hair behind her, "Javier, you have no voice in these matters. Either stay silent or I will have you removed."

Javier gaped open mouthed at the tall woman who had, in what seemed only a few days ago, murdered a man in ritual combat, and before that had killed a man in actual combat. He thought that they had gained at least some modicum of trust between the two of them, but Yrsa's distrust and hatred for wolves seemed to be working against them, Hysminai and Soter's presence in the lodge probably wasn't helping. He closed his mouth and sat down roughly, folding his arms across his broad chest and staring at the ground in front of him.

Keva broke the silence, "Chief Yrsa, we offered our company to Paley and did not take any food or water for several days, as payment for Paley's generous offer of aid when we could not provide or protect ourselves from the storm."

Yrsa's eyes swept over to Paley just in time to see the tall man's mouth open in shock and surprise at Keva's statement. "Is this true Paley, did they refuse food and water?"

Paley knew he was trapped. If he acknowledged that food was never offered than the 'guest right' case that he was arguing for would be destroyed. Unable to say anything, he nodded.

Yrsa turned her attention to the bonfire and spoke directly to it, not shifting her attention to either side, "Since a service was offered kindly, and repaid in kind, the matter of Keva and her companions being rescued is now closed." Keva seethed at what she was hearing, and was about to stand up again when Yrsa continued, "The matter of Erato's death, however, is not. Paley what do you have to say?"

Paley jerked his head up as if he'd been slapped, "I was only protecting myself and our people by killing the female of the group so that these dangerous monsters couldn't breed. I was protecting our people and our land."

Michelle replied, "If that's true, then what was that you said about making me some kind of wife for you, and training Soter and Hysminai to be hunting dogs or something like that?"

Paley looked over and smiled at Michelle sweetly, "you also said you would be very interested in an arrangement of that sort. You seemed very ok with the idea of you and I being together."

Michelle's lips curled in a sneer, "Only a dumbass like you would take what I said and did, while I was in chains, as anything other than me trying to escape."

"Does Hospitality and aid require chains, Paley?" Yrsa asked.

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