Klaus’s POV
I looked at the wall clock in the old alpha’s office. It read 7:02 a.m. Great, less than half an hour to the submission ceremony and I have no idea what Ella’s punishment should be. One thing I was absolutely sure of, no execution. Had she been a guy I might have considered it, maybe. But, what is a fitting punishment for trying to break the rules and killing the alpha? What will send the right message to my new pack? I ran my hands through my hair for the hundredth time since I locked myself in the office. Where the hell was Joseph? He was supposed to lock her up in a cell and come straight to the office.
My father didn’t punish many people during his time as alpha. He was very fair and well loved by everyone. But when he did, he would either execute them or whip them in public. That’s it, public whipping. It was better than being dead or cutting off some limb. It will leave marks, but it will eventually heal. How many whips should I give her? How many whips do I have the heart to whip her? I sighed in anger. First punishment by me ever since I became alpha a year ago, and it had to be an innocent little girl.
A knock on my door interrupted my thoughts. “Come in” I said.
Joseph walked inside and shut the door behind him.
“Where the hell were you all this time?” I asked him annoyingly.
“I was leaving you to decide her punishment without interference by me. Since you know, you want to deliver a powerful message to your new pack through her. I didn’t feel like participating in that” he answered in a scolding tone.
I sighed “Joseph come on, you know me. I’m not going to dismember her or something, do you think I like the idea of punishing a girl? But I have to, everyone in the pack is speaking about her attempt to kill the alpha”
“So what have you decided on?”
“Public whipping after the submission ceremony”
A look of hurt crossed his face “How many?”
I sighed. “I don’t know, how much do you think she can take?”
“Well that depends on what kind of state you want her to end up in. On the verge of passing out? 50 lashes maybe. If you want her to bleed in front of them, I’d go with a 100 for sure” he said in an angry tone.
“Cut it out Joseph, I’m serious” I shout at him
“So am I, Klaus. This isn’t you and you know it. If Kate was still alive you would have never…”
I cut him off on the verge of exploding “Don’t. Just don’t go there”
“I have to go there. You think that just because she is gone, that she doesn’t know everything you are doing? You bet your ass she does. And I’ll tell you what she was going to tell you if she were here. You are better than this, you can be fair and still deliver the message that you need to the new pack, but not in severe punishment, in words” he says to me in a calming voice trying to shake sense into me.
He was right, she definitely would have said that in addition to a smack in the head for what I was about to do to that girl.
“Where were you all this time?” I tried to change the subject.
“I was talking to the other servants, asking them about Ella”
“Why were you asking them about her? We came here for a specific reason Joseph, you were supposed to get on that instead of asking about some girl” I seethed at him.
“Don’t you think it was weird that out of all the servants, she was the only one who tried to runaway? That after she was caught by you, she still tried to run? She is hiding something, I wanted to know what it was”
It’s true, I had the same feeling too. But, it wasn’t something I was really interested in.
“And?” I asked him expectantly
“At first, they didn’t know who I was talking about. They all said the same thing. She always kept to herself and didn’t have any friends, even before her father died about a year ago”
“How did he die?” I asked in mild curiosity
“No one knows. They told me she came with her father when she was still a new born. Apparently, her human mother died when she had her. So the father came to this pack and worked as a servant his whole life, so did Ella”
“Was being a servant at the Grey’s pack so bad, she had to runaway?” I asked Joseph.
“I don’t know, either that or there is something else she didn’t feel like mentioning”
“So let’s go ask her then. We need to get to the bottom of this and fix it. Cause I’m telling you, if she tries to run away again, I won’t be as merciful” I told him and walked out the door.
“Do you even know where you are going?” asked Joseph amusingly
I smiled “No, do you?“
He laughed under his breath “Ironically, Ella showed herself to the cell, she even opened her own cell door”
I had no idea why, but that brought a lump to my throat. What if that wasn’t the first time she was thrown into a cell? What if her old alpha used to punish her too? I’d be just as cruel as he was in her eyes. No, it can’t be. The servants didn’t say anything about that.
We reached her cell. Joseph opened the door. As I walked inside, I saw her jump to her feet quickly and clutch a silver knife identical to the ones she threw at me in the forest. She was shakily holding it in both hands and aiming its end at her own heart.