Bonus Chapter 3

Murmurings began once more to fill the hall of justice as everyone became puzzled by the new development. I turn slightly to Reagan, just as lost as everyone else. But he doesn't seem surprised at what is going on. And he even relaxed further into his chair with a confident smirk playing at the corner of his lips. He notices my stare and turns to meet my gaze with a c****d eyebrow.

My gaze drifts between him and Bella before settling back on him. "Do you know what's going on?" But before he could answer, I feel someone take the seat beside me with a sigh.

"Hey, Princess." Danny smiles at me while shifting in his seat to a more comfortable position. I divert my attention to him and furrow my eyebrows at him in question. "You seem stressed." He joked with amusement dancing in his eyes even though he had a serious expression on. "Loosen up, will you." He pats my shoulder before facing back front.

Of course, I'm stressed because of the possibility that Janet might go free. And how the hell am I supposed to loosen up when they just interrupted her final proceedings in the name of 'new evidence,' that may either put her in more deep shit or get her a 'get out of jail free card!'

"What is..."

"Shhh. The show's about to start." Danny shushes me, pointing towards the councils, and at the same time, I feel Reagan intertwine both our fingers together and rest them on his lap. I gaze at him to see him smile in reassurance before also staring to the front.

I exhale and decide to relax my shoulders a bit and 'watch the show,' as Danny had put it. Adrian in the front is already setting the two laptops in front of the council members while Bella waits by the side. Janet is just as confused as everyone else and stares at her attorney for help. And when she finds him useless, she turns to stare at her parents behind us. Her mother is sitting beside Janet's father today, and they both look nervous about the outcome of all this. I see her father give her a nod of reassurance before she faces back front but not before her eyes meet mine and send a small glare.

I look to the council and see their eyes fixed on the laptop screens in interest as if watching a clip. But using my enhanced hearing, I could pick no sound up, meaning the video they were watching had none.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Bella began with a poised posture while the council members' attention remains fixed on the laptop screens. "Charlotte Tremblay is a human female whose mutilated body was found almost a decade ago in the woods." Gasps fill the hall with more murmurings at Bella's narration. Charlotte was the name of the girl Janet had brutally murdered in the woods but denied the accusation. And now, I can hear her gulp when Bella spoke.

"Her murder was brushed off as a wild animal attack, and the case closed because of the several claw marks on her body. An anonymous witness claimed to have seen our dear Janet Alphonso commit the heinous crime, but she has repeatedly denied such allegations against her. Our council members here are watching a CCTV recording that tells us the true tale of that night. You see, on the 26th of March 2012, Charlotte was seen leaving her house at 10:15 p.m. for her usual night jogging by the woods. And at 10:37, a hotel's security camera by these woods picked up Janet going for a 'late night walk' in the said woods. By 11:13, said camera recorded her leaving the woods but covered in the blood of God knows who." Bella shrugged, but everyone already knew where this was going with their whisperings getting louder.

Bella sighed with a sad look, "The next day, poor Charlotte was found in an unrecognizable state with her head torn from her body."

By now, everyone's judgemental stare was directed at Janet, who looked deathly pale and frozen to her spot. The council members had already finished watching the clip on the laptop and were now glaring at her also with furrowed eyebrows and disappointed looks. The council consisted of five Lycan men, with the head council being one of them, and a female Lycan. The head council sat at the middle with the female Lycan beside him, and the rest followed.

"My Lords," Janet's attorney cleared his throat and stood to his feet while buttoning his suit with his hands slightly shaking. "I request that this footage should be disregarded as it cannot be true since my client is innocent of these charges. It is probably made up just to incriminate an innocent..."

"Are you saying your possible future queen has all the time in the world to create fake videos for fun and walk into a proceeding with it for her amusement?" The only female council member threw the question at the attorney, leaving him tongue-tied for a few seconds.

"N...no, my Lord." He regains his composure while fixing his tie - a sign of his nervousness. "But just as she had said, the incident happened nearly a decade ago. So how could she have stumbled across a recording so long ago? Most CCTV's store only months of recordings."

"As I said, it was a hotel." Bella pins her stern gaze on the attorney. "I was intrigued by this case and decided to have it checked out myself. And luckily for us, their security cameras outside are motion detectors only, taking up less storage. They also store their recordings indefinitely, and I was lucky to have found this particular one. It wasn't easy finding it as it was a long time ago. But after hours of searching, we did. We can contact them for more information if you like."

"That won't be necessary, Your Highness." The head council finally spoke after being silent for a while. By now, I'm smiling in satisfaction at the turn of events and couldn't hide it. My respect for Bella has just increased, and I can't express my joy as she uncovers the truth to everyone. And now I understood why Reagan was so smug earlier. He knew this was going to happen. He probably already had this all planned out secretly with Bella and Danny and was only waiting for it all to unfold and surprise me.

"You could have told me, you know. I wouldn't have been so worried if I knew this was gonna happen." I whisper into Reagan's ear beside me with my eyes slightly narrowing at him.

He only grinned mischievously, "I told you not to worry now, didn't I?"

I roll my eyes at him before staring back front at Bella, who stood regally like a Queen would, confident and relaxed. In the few months I've been here, we've grown a bit closer but not too much as she had been extra busy with her new duties. Sometimes, we have coffee together in the garden with Her Majesty, The Queen.

"Miss. Janet," The head council pinned her with her gaze. "Would you like to tell this honorable court what really happened that night and why you were seen walking out of the woods with your hands tainted in blood?"

Everyone's gaze lands on Janet now, and she notices this. Her mouth opens, but no words come out for a few seconds. "I...I..." She stutters before closing her mouth back at her lame attempt to defend herself.

Her attorney immediately stands up once more, "My Lords, my client here is probably shocked by this new false allegation against her and needs time to process the information. Besides, you were about to already bestow her punishment to her before the proceeding was rudely interrupted..."

"And are you suggesting we turn a blind eye to this new evidence brought to us and let a possible cold-blooded murderer walk free?" A council member shut him down immediately.

"Do you know the severity of murdering an innocent and defenseless human and in such a manner?" Another spoke up. "If the hunters or their government get a whiff of this, they would never let it go."

"And let's not forget she might have been lying to our faces right from the start with fake tears." The female council spoke this time.

"You are absolutely right, councilwoman Josephine. We can't believe anything she had said before to be true."

"Aren't we all just jumping to conclusions now? If she was guilty, why hadn't she just admitted to her crime when she admitted to kidnapping the Prince's mate? I say she's innocent."

"I go with councilman Julius on this one."

I watch on as the council becomes divided with the different opinions being given, and the audiences aren't even better. Everyone had been divided into two groups, some who believed Janet to be innocent and others who think something to be fishy about her. Her parents behind us are turning restless, with Janet's mother wringing her fingers and her father massaging his temple.

"This is a mess," I state the obvious, staring around and watching the chaos erupt. They had all forgotten their manners and that a Prince was here.

"Just exactly what we need it to be," Reagan smirks in content beside me, relaxing further into his chair.

"You owe me big time for this one," Bella muttered while taking a seat comfortably beside Reagan.

"Silence!" The head council's booming voice fills the hall with his powerful aura spreading about and forcing everyone beneath him to submit. But it didn't affect me. I could feel it, but it did nothing to me.

And immediately, the chattering died down, with everyone keeping quiet. You even could hear a pin drop with the silence that ensued. The Head council then sighed before standing to his feet.

"It is obvious we need to consider investigating further into this case before having the final proceedings and decide Miss. Janet's fate. This court is adjourned till the next proceeding, which is in a few minutes." He declared, and the other council members stood up with him and slowly descended.

"No." My enhanced hearing picks up the whisper, and I realize, immediately, who it was from. Janet looked like a ghost as she stared wide-eyed in horror into nothing. She knew she was screwed right now with that recording. And other proofs might be found as a thorough investigation will be made because of the severity of the case. We have stricter rules to obey as beasts, and one of them - never to cause harm to a defenseless, innocent human without valid reasons. If a beast breaks this law, werewolf hunters are even free to do whatever they like to him or her without the interference of anyone, not even the King. And Janet, in her stupidity, had broken that law. Let's not forget that now, with the seed of doubt planted, she would also be suspected to be an accomplice to the rogues. Then there's lying to the council, which is also a crime on its own. So yeah. She was overly screwed, more than Jack Brigham. I doubt even her father can pull her out of this one.

"No, no, no." She keeps whispering. The female guard assigned to her reaches for Janet, and her eyes turn frantic as dread washes over her face. She spins to stare at her parents behind us but instead, her eyes clash with mine, and she instantly notices the smug, satisfied smirk on my face. Something flashes in her eyes then, and a look of pure hatred takes over her face. She seems mad, and a bit crazy also. It's as if she transformed into a whole new person.

"This is all your fault!" She screeches at me, gaining everyone's attention.

"Janet. What are you doing?" Her father's stern voice behind me holds warning, but she ignores him either way. I'm not even phased by her outburst but only keep my smug smirk on. And this seems to irritate her further.

"Everything was perfect between Reagan and me before you came into our lives." At least this time she says his full name. But it still doesn't stop the slow burn in my chest at her possessive words.

The female guard tries to tug her away, but she pulls back with her eyes still fixed on me. I can feel Reagan's hand tightening his grip in my fingers as he hadn't let me go ever since. But I don't break eye contact with Janet.

"No!" She suddenly shrieked once more. "If I won't have him, no one will." And with that, she lunged for me over her dock with her hands still cuffed and aiming for my neck. It was unexpected, and I'm slow to react, but Reagan is a step ahead and pulls me out of the chair to his side, putting his arms around me and shielding me.

I hear the sound of wood breaking with gasps echoing around the hall and a loud thud. The sickening sound of bone cracking fills my ear, and I turn to find Janet amid broken chairs on the floor with her neck bent to the side at an odd angle. She must have been unable to break her fall because of her cuffed wrist.

"Are you alright?" Reagan questions with his whole attention fixed on me only as he brushes my hair to the side to inspect me. I nod reassuringly, noticing the worried look on his face before turning back to Janet. She doesn't seem like she's getting up soon, and I can see blood slowly pooling around her.

"Hurry, uncuff her!" Someone finally orders, probably being the first to recover from the shock. The female guard brings out a set of keys and takes off Janet's cuff, but she still remains immobile on the floor. The spell on the handcuffs was meant to restrict her Lycan's abilities, so for her quick healing to kick in, they needed to take it off. But I think we're a bit too late.

I see Adrian move forward to check her pulse before shaking his head and backing away. The wail of a woman echoes around the silent hall, and it took a lot of effort to stop Janet's mother from reaching her daughter's corpse. Her father is rigid to his spot in shock with his eyes fixed on her body only. I feel a hint of remorse at their misery but not for her death. Does that make me heartless?

"Let's get you home, my love." Reagan's grip on me doesn't loosen as he tries to lead me out. He doesn't seem to care that a friend, or whatever Janet had been to him, that he had known for more than three decades, was lying dead on the floor. He only just wanted me home, safe, and sound. Was that normal?

My eyes remain on Janet's lifeless body one last time as I'm pulled out. The last scene of the hall I see is of Janet's corpse being surrounded with no one allowed to move too close by the royal guards, her mother screaming her lunges out while clutching her chest and tears streaming down her face, and her father still frozen to his spot.

I bury my face into Reagan's chest and breath in his scent as we step out and get flocked by guards immediately, leading us safely to our awaiting vehicle. The sense of peace that clothed me drove me deep into sleep.