Page 55 of His Bullied Fated Mate

She shook her head. “I swear I didn't mean to. I just wanted them to leave me alone.”

I frowned. It was clear that they still hadn't moved past their bullying ways.

I don't know how long we were there, but long enough for the other three to disappear. I knew they would head straight for the Council, and I should head there. If we went anywhere else, it would seem like I was trying to cover it up.

We arrived there, and I held her hand tightly as we went inside. Thalia was at the entrance waiting for us. She tried to offer a soft smile, but it didn't reach her eyes, which told me the other had already been here.

“I was just about to go look for you.”

“No need, Thalia.”

She walked past her and headed for the room they were always in. They were waiting, and I could feel the room was tense. I ground my teeth together as the Council glared at all of us, but their eyes remained on Janella. I understood having to protect their pack members, but Janella hadn't been in the wrong.

Kelly spoke. “We had two very angry members just here informing us that Janella.” They all looked at her again. “Just used dark magic against another member.”

“That's not true,” I snapped. “That isn't the full story, and it wasn't dark magic.”

Laura raised an eyebrow at us. “Did she throw another member across the street into a light post? Not only hurting a member but damaging city property?”

I frowned. “Yes.”

“Sounds like you don't have her magic under control then.”

“She is just getting into her magic.”

“She threw Dustin across the street, and now he’s in the infirmary. I think that gives us cause to step in.”

Dean narrowed his eyes on Janella. Jasmine tapped her fingers on the table. “She needs to be arrested and monitored for the time being. What if she hurts other innocent people?”

Janella shook her head. “I didn’t mean to. I... I didn’t even know I could do that.”

“You knew that you had magic, and you were warned to be careful, and you weren’t,” Kelly said, shaking his head at her.

“I have been!” she said, looking desperate now. “I have been careful.”

“She didn't hurt anyone innocent, and she didn't do it on purpose,” I snapped.

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is we have an injured member of the pack, and she could hurt others.”

“She was using self-defense! She didn't attack them because she's dangerous. Magic is connected to emotion, and if she felt she was trapped, she had no knowledge of what could happen.”

“Which is just telling us she’s a danger.”

“I’m telling you she’s new to everything, and to give her a break. You want me to help figure out how to save the pack. Then you can't lock up the person; I need to do that.”

“Do we need a death on our hands for you to be concerned about your pack? Have you suddenly put her above everyone else?”

“She is a member of our pack!” I snarled back. “Just because she doesn’t shift doesn’t make her less. I am protecting my pack. I will not stand for bullying, and that's exactly what happened tonight. If you can't see that, you are all part of the problem.”

I sighed. “Dustin is going to heal up just fine, and maybe he will think twice about being a monumental asshole to people.” Janella didn't even have to tell me what happened for me to know how it went down. Those three were dicks, and I could imagine what went down.

“And you’re just going to say it wipes the problem clean. She attacked a member, but because she was defending herself, she’s fine? What stops her from using that excuse again?”

Because I knew her, Janella wasn’t the type to attack people. Even that dream I had wasn’t hers. The Janella I knew was caring about people. Sure, she had a smart mouth, but that was as far as the cruelty went.

“Because that’s not who she is as a person.”

Jasmine shook her head. “You need to think about what type of magic she possesses, Riley. If she possesses dark magic…”