Adrianna narrowed her eyes. She realized that this was a power gathering of sorts. Every single one of them in front of her were the wives of pack chiefs, and she had to take on the authority as the luna of the pack. If she failed this time, then she would send the wrong signal to all of them. As for Keisha, she was an ex lover who still dreamed of being Dmitri's wife. "Well, you will never get there Keisha. Not until I am alive!"
Adrianna looked up straight at Keisha. The first thing she did was to tie her hair in a bun so that her slender neck was visible. The mark that Dmitri had left on her was still red and very visible. She did that on purpose for all to see her mark. She had noticed how Keisha had become angry when she saw that mark.
Keisha again became angry when she saw that mark.
Before she could say anything acerbic, Adrianna said aloud, "Yes, Kayla was involved in poisoning the supreme alpha and his Luna. She was taken to the guillotine and her limbs will be ripped apart. This will be a lesson to all those who are close that no matter what your closeness to the supreme alpha and his wife is, you will face death if we smell treachery.
"According to our information, there were two more women who were involved in poisoning us," said Adrianna looking straight at Keisha and Cora. "Once we find them, they will not be spared."
Both Cora and Keisha's faces paled.
Adrianna continued, "I believe that you had even begged Dmitri to mark you Keisha. Is that true?"
This was a secret and the way Adrianna casually spoke of it made it look as though Keisha had been desperate enough to be Dmitri's wife not out of love, but out of the fact that she had wanted to be the luna of the supreme alpha. Keisha became nervous when Adrianna exposed her secret to all of the women present.
Adrianna furthered, "Do you know that if the one you mark isn't your soulmate, the mark tends to disappear soon? So does this mean that you had asked him to mark you just to get to my position? Or does this mean that you wanted to climb his bed?"
"Adrianna!" shouted Keisha.
"Keisha!" Adrianna shouted back. "Lower your tone. I am the wife of your supreme alpha and you had better talk to me nicely. If I see you accusing me again, I will make sure that you are sentenced to death. Trust me, I will gladly be the one who rips your limbs apart. I hope you remember my powers from the last battle where we met… Or do you want me to remind you?"
"Adrianna, you cannot speak to Keisha like this!" retorted Cora. "She has been to more battles with Dmitri than you can even imagine! Her father has already given her to Dmitri unconditionally."
Adrianna wouldn't back down. She retorted, "Yes, I know that her father has given her to Dmitri. But I am sure everyone knows that she was the bastard child of her father and his fifth mistress. Even though her father has a mate, he has quite a few mistresses. It seems her father never found his soulmate."
All the women in the hall started looking at Keisha. No one had known that Keisha was an illegitimate child. The way her story had been projected, it had seemed as though it was a great sacrifice that had been done by her father. However, in reality, she was just one of the many off-springs he had - giving her to Dmitri was nothing for him. If she hadn't gone, he would have just given another of his daughters to Dmitri. But Keisha was intelligent. She knew that her life with Dmitri would be far better compared to what it would have been under her father's care.
When she arrived at Dmitri's place, the first thing she had done was to flatter Cora at all times. Once she was in Cora's good books, she started sending signals to Dmitri. She had been doing so well until Adrianna arrived and came in between them. Dmitri had even imprinted her!
Keisha regretted the day she met Adrianna. She should have killed her.
"Adrianna you are crossing your limits!" roared Keisha.
"No, you are crossing your limits! You are forgetting your place! With you talking back to me like this, should I assume that you are challenging the words of your luna?" Adrianna said in a low but menacing voice.
Then, Adrianna mocked her, "It seems that you are still hoping to climb into Dmitri's bed. Otherwise, why would you accuse me so foolishly?"
Keisha shrunk in her place, a cold shiver running down her spine.
Cora got up from her seat. She walked over to Adrianna and lifted her hand to slap her when someone caught it from behind. Cora turned to see who had the guts to grab her hand. To her utter surprise, it was Dmitri!
"Careful, Mother," he growled. All the women in the hall immediately stood up from their seats.
Cora retracted and left the place in a huff.
Adrianna got up and buried her face in Dmitri's chest. He circled her with his arms and kissed the crown of her head. "That's my luna," he said.