Ditched Cheating Alpha, I Led My Daughter to Life's Peak novel Chapter 107

It's the old man from the nursing home.

I look at Onai. He stares at the man in front of us. I can't believe it. It only gets worse when he openly admits what he did. He tried to help other packs get to me.

"Why?" Aiden asks. Straight to the point like always.

The old man rubs his neck, as if stretching the aching muscle out. It's probably from the rough handling of the guards or just his stress. I'm not sure. Maybe he's just tired. "Having been an advisor myself once upon a time, if anyone would care to remember that." He glares at the counsel. "I've seen my fair share of bad decisions. Bad lunas, bad alphas, and worst of all..."

He looks at me. "Bad choices of lunas making good alphas into bad ones. No offense, but your species wasn't meant to merge with ours. Humans are just too... fragile," he says gently. "Your life span is too short. Your capabilities too limited. And your offspring, when you're mated with the alpha of your choice, will most likely bear no imprint bond. Why? Because it is impure in the eyes of Lady Luna. And if that's the case, it'll forever curse the bloodline to never have another divinely chosen luna. I asked myself if it was worth it, and my answer then was no."

"Why didn't you just try to kill her yourself, then?" Carson asks. "It would've saved you a lot of trouble. And us, because we caught you anyway."

The old man doesn't hesitate to answer. "To just kill her would've been a waste in my eyes. Her greatest use would've been to become-"

"-a martyr," I finish. Everyone looks surprised, but I'm not. It's what most books, movies, and TV shows turn women into. The loving wife, the damsel in distress, the side ponytail mom from anime. It's the greatest, most stereotypical way to hurt a man, to put him into action, or to piss on his pride-take away the one thing he should've been able to protect.

In the old man's eyes, like so many other women, I'm see as more useful dead than alive to him.

He nods after a while, surprised I spoke. "Exactly. If another pack killed you, you could've been a catalyst for us to finally join the war and end it while we were still strong. The longer it goes on without our interference, the weaker we get. Everyone knows that, but still we're doing nothing. I figured... why would our pack be given such a weak luna if you weren't meant to be easy to kill? I thought it was a message."

An eerie silence takes over the room. I don't think anyone knows what to say to that. I sure don't.

"One last question," Axel says. "... Did you not think you'd get caught?"

A lot of people nod, looking at Mr. Reynolds for the answer.

He shakes his head. "I did. I just thought she'd be gone by then."

His words send a chill down my spine.

"But surely you had some kind of backup plan?" Suzie says, and I don't know why she thinks she has the right to speak. "What, Bloodmoon wouldn't take you in after all you did for them?"

He shakes his head again. "Not after what I did. No, I thought my chances were better here."