Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 197

Chapter 197

A brief pause.

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“Am I wrong?”

Councilor Voss didn’t answer.

He simply watched her for a moment longer before speaking.

“What is it that you want?”

Kaelani held the room for a moment.

“What I wanted the day I stood before you in the Chamber of Elders,” she said. “What I asked for then.”

“To live my life on my own terms.”

Her fingers remained loosely folded on the desk.

“In peace.”

Her attention stayed on him–unmoved.

“No trackers following me. No operatives stationed outside my home.

His expression didn’t shift. “You’re a fugitive.”

“For what crime?” she shot back. “For existing? For being a hybrid?”

A flicker of something unreadable crossed his eyes.

“You pose a threat,” he said, his tone even. “You’ve just demonstrated as much.”

His gaze moved briefly to the computer, then back to her.

“You breached a secured Council facility. Entered my office without detection, and accessed a classified system without triggering a single safeguard.”

His eyes held hers now.

“What else are you capable of?”

Kaelani leaned forward slightly, her fingers moving across the keyboard again.

“Alright…” she said, almost under her breath. “Wasn’t planning to go there just yet–but since we’re here…”

She tapped a key.

The screen shifted.

Names filled the display.

Pack after pack.

“North Ridge,” she began. “Seventeen formal complaints filed in the last year, all submitted by lower–ranking Lycans.”

Another tap.

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“Black Hollow–twenty–three.”

Another.

“Iron Vale–nine.”

Her eyes flicked briefly to him before returning to the screen.

“Pinecrest—twelve. Ashen Run–eighteen.”

She looked back at him.

“I can keep going.”

Her fingers stilled on the keyboard.

“Complaints of bullying. Hazing. Mental abuse. Physical abuse.”

“Sexual abuse.”

Her voice didn’t rise.

“Sexual exploitation. Forced breeding.”

She let the words land.

“Most of these are still marked as ‘pending investigation.‘ Others have been closed without a single note of follow -up.”

She leaned back, her full attention settling on him.

“You sit in a very powerful position, Councilor Voss, and yet you’ve allowed this to go on under your authority without consequence.”

She didn’t blink.

..and I’m the threat?”

Councilor Voss didn’t react immediately.

When he did, it wasn’t defensive.

It was practiced.

“Many of those complaints don’t hold up under scrutiny,” he said. “False claims. Misinterpretations. Lower- ranked females becoming… attached to their Alphas or heirs. When those feelings aren’t returned, they look for other ways to force attention. To damage reputations.”

Kaelani rolled her eyes.

“Oh, come on,” she said. “How often was that actually the case?”

Voss didn’t hesitate.

“More often than you’d think,” he replied. “You’d be surprised what some are willing to do to climb the social ladder.”

His tone remained steady. Controlled.

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Shatert

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“We follow protocol. When a complaint is filed, we contact the Alpha of the pack. Conduct interviews. Give them the opportunity to resolve the matter internally before Council intervention.”

Kaelani shook her head slowly.

“You know what the irony of all this is?”

She turned the screen toward him.

“I was in your system for years.”

Her fingers tapped lightly against the desk.

“I filed five separate complaints… seven years ago.”

She angled the monitor just enough for him to see.

“And would you look at that…”

Her gaze lifted to meet his.

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