Ayesha *

I never wanted him to die.

But my opinion didn't matter. No one's did.

As soon as he had done it I knew he would get punished. My brothers would find out sooner or later. They always did.

I had tried to delay the time between the actual event and the discovery of it.
I managed to keep it secret for four months.
But then one day, when I came home from school my seven brothers had been waiting for me in the hall.

I understood that rumours must've spread. People talked, and then it was just a matter of time before the news reached the Alpha.

Robin had wanted to call an execution-ceremony almost immediately, but I had asked him to move it forward a couple of days.
And as the kind big brother he was, he had agreed to it. But on one condition.

That I would be the bait.

I had to agree to it.

So I was pretty nervous when I stood outside of Caleb's house.

When I had been there before I was a little girl there to play with my only and best friend. This wasn't the case this time. This was different.

I didn't have a plan. That was literally the first thing I should've figured out as soon as the ceremony had been delayed.
Luckily, my brothers had one. And their plans never failed.

I would lead him to the pack's place of execution.

Not more simple than that.

Yet, I was still nervous.

I had avoided Caleb ever since he had done that thing.

It would be weird if I showed up now, for no particular reason. Therefore, Victor and Frederick had prepared a fake story for me as to why I had to visit.

I sighed deeply as I knocked on the old door, as I had done so many times before.

I heard steps from the hallway and then Caleb appeared in the door. "Ayesha," he greeted me, a little surprised over my appearance. "What are you doing here?"

As he stood there in front of me with a big smile on his lips I froze, became paralyzed.
I forgot what I was meant to say and just stood there.

"Do you want to come in?" Caleb then asked me, but instead of answering him, I took a steady grip of his arm, pressing my nails into his skin.

"Follow me."

❂ ❂ ❂

I was used to being bait.

Even though I wasn't one of them I got to be a part of the process sometimes. This was the way. Who doesn't love the sweet, innocent little girl who turns out to only be a bribe, lure them to their death? Robin said as an explanation every time I tried to fight against his will.

I had stopped thinking, stopped thinking about how it must feel for the boys, how shocked they must be when death came.

It was better that way.

When I attended my earliest execution-ceremonies, I had looked away just as Victor, my second oldest brother, chopped off the victim's head.

This time though, was different. More emotional. This was my best friend. Or yeah, ex-best friend. I had to remind myself of that.

I didn't say a thing as I led him through the endless tunnels that led to the execution-cave.

He has no idea.

The execution-cave was the place that I had despised so hard as a lonely child trying to impress my seven older brothers by looking straight into the victim's eyes.
I had tried to calm the boys down, give them a nice last view before death came. So that they wouldn't feel so alone.

It was only the boys who got executed. At least this way. Whenever a girl committed a crime there were other rules. Another way to execute them. Besides, girls often didn't have the courage to do something that was against the pack's law.

The boys—especially the younger ones—always tried to impress the girls by doing all kinds of stuff that was against the rules.

Although I wanted to sometimes, I never put my concentration on anything else aside from the helpless person lying on the stone in front of me.
Through the years I had looked into many numerous eyes, including all of Caleb's three older brothers who all had committed some serious crimes.

He suspects nothing.

When we reached the darker parts of the building Caleb started to look around, understanding, if only a tiny bit.

For now he looked desperately at me, as if he needed to know—say—something. Accuse me.

My brothers Jack and Emanuel appeared, as planned, out from the shadows. They took a steady grip of Caleb's arms, forcing him to follow them.

Caleb turned around, searched for my look. When he caught it tears were flowing down his eyes.

How could you do this?

It had never occurred to me until now what this meant. That I would lose him.

I followed the three guys from my spot.

They walked through the dark halls on their way up to the homemade stage. It was nothing fancy, just a wooden deck.

My brothers stopped as Caleb was standing on his rightful spot. The traitor's spot.

My oldest brother and Alpha Robin started to explain the crime. "Caleb Voltaire, you are here today because of the crime you committed four months ago. A crime that made you a traitor in the eyes of the rest of your pack..."

I looked into the crowd where a certain woman catched my eyes. Melissa Voltaire, also known as Caleb's mother. Rivers of tears flowed down her green eyes as she listened to what crime her only living son would get executed for.

I smiled at her, a smile of genuine sympathy. She answered me with her own, but it quickly disappeared as soon as she heard what crime Caleb had committed.

"You will get executed because of the rape you did against our sister, the princess, Ayesha Hayes."

Melissa gave me an angry look. A look of disappointment. I didn't know if she was disappointed in me or Caleb. Both options seemed very reasonable.

Jack and Emanuel dragged Caleb with them up to the corner where the execution would be while crying and screaming from the crowd outvoted Caleb's attempt to say something.

He looked at me, completely terrified. "Ayesha!" he called after me. Now he was being pushed forward, with his hands bound in iron chains. He looked at me with a pleading look. He was in pain. I knew what iron did to a werewolf, and there was no pleasant experience. "Please tell them to stop."

But I didn't. It was already too late.

He had already committed the crime.

And for that he needed to be punished.
It doesn't matter if your friends pleads for you. You're still doomed, still bound to your crime and punishment. Once you've been charged, there is no going back.

Emanuel kept his hands on Caleb's, making it impossible for him to escape. Jack dragged the big ax into view so that everyone could see it.

Usually Victor was the one doing the cutting. But Robin wanted Jack to experience it once. Jack was only one year older than me, and therefore he had been to the least execution-ceremonies, except me of course. Robin wanted his experience to grow.

Caleb's head was forced down on the cold stone.
Caleb looked at me, with tears in his eyes.

How could you do this?

I felt awful where I now stood beside the rest of my brothers, looking into Caleb's eyes.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to so badly. But I couldn't show Caleb or the rest of the pack that this was hard for me. I needed to act strong. Independent.

Caleb tried to fight Emanuel one last time, trying to get the strong man to lose his grip on his hands. But Emanuel wasn't moved. I had never seen anyone who could make Emanuel move when he didn't want to.

Right beneath Caleb a basket was placed by a scared errand boy. A basket only meant to contain one thing: his head.

Jack prepared to finish the task. But first he needed permission from Robin.
He looked in Robin's direction, and when Robin nodded Jack raised the ax. He swung it down, and in that very final moment before the job was done, I turned away.

Then the cut came.