Banishment As The Punishment

••• Arabella’s POV ••• The day of the trial arrived quickly. I dressed elegantly; my form-fitting black dress perfectly accentuated my curves. “Arra, are you ready?” Max appeared in the walk-in wardrobe, and a hint of surprise flickered in his gorgeous dark eyes as he took in my appearance. “I’m ready,” I smiled at him and took his hand to leave our bedroom. “Ari…” Max’s mother entered the pack’s main house just as we walked into the living room. “Hi, Mom.” I let Max’s hand go to brush cheeks with her. “You look beautiful, Ari.” She smiled and smoothed out my hair. “Thank you,” I said with another smile. “Here, I brought this for you.” She handed me a velvet box. I took the box from her and was surprised to see a necklace with a beautiful pink stone pendant. “This necklace belonged to Max’s grandmother,” Max’s mom explained. “She had a close relationship with the Bright Witches, and one of them gave her this necklace to protect the wearer.” I was both amazed and touched that she had given me such an important piece of family jewelry. “Let me help you with it, Arra,” Max said before I could say no. He picked the necklace from the box and placed it around my neck, helping the clasp. “Mom, thank you for giving me the necklace,” I hugged Max’s mom. She smiled and said, “You are my daughter-in-law. This is supposed to be given to you, and you will, in turn, pass it down to your daughter or daughter-in-law.” I smiled awkwardly when I heard her words. “It’s time to go,” Max said, and I was thankful to him for saying that. “Bye, Mom,” I said to his mom. “Good luck, Ari. We believe in you,” she said as she waved her hand. I fiddled with the pendant during the drive. “Max…” I turned to look at him. “Is it okay for me to receive this?” It didn't feel right for me to accept this. This was supposed to be given to Max’s fated mate while I was only a contractual mate. “You are my mate,” he said firmly, and after he had confessed a few times, I knew there was nothing I could say to refute him. Nearing the court, I quickly hid the pendant inside my clothes in order for Lina not to notice since Max had pointed out Lina had a dark witch energy. Getting out of the car, I was instantly surrounded by reporters, but Max protected me, and his bodyguards, who had been following us, quickly blocked them and ushered us toward the courtroom. Once we were inside the trial room, Lina, Abigail, and Shawn had already arrived, and Mom, Dad, and Uncle Nate were there too. Mom had a faint smile but still had a powerful aura, while Dad looked calm yet kind of… stern. “Mom, Dad, I’ll handle this. You don't have to interfere. I’ve got this under control,” I mindlinked them. “And Max has been supporting me. He trusts me unconditionally,” I quickly added before Dad could say Max was useless for not being able to protect me. “We believe in you too, Ari,” Mom responded, and I heard Dad snort. The Elders sitting in the middle all looked unhappy when they saw how I dressed. “Don't mind them, Arra. You look beautiful,” Max mindlinked when he noticed those Elders scowling at me. I smiled gratefully at him before taking my place at my designated seat. Once the committee members arrived, one stood up and began to read out the charges Lina had brought against me. Lina didn't bother to conceal the smug look on her face, while Abigail was more subtle as she pretended to still be weak and pitiful. Abigail was the first to testify, so she went to the podium and pretended to be fearful. “That day, I only wanted to apologize to Princess Arabella, but I didn't know she wouldn't accept my apology and hurt me and try to kill my baby instead,” she began her ‘testimony’. “Please tell us what transpired that day,” one of the committee members said. “When I entered Princess Arabella’s office, I tried apologizing, but she got angry. She choked me and slammed me against the wall…” she recounted the events of that day in my office, describing the violence and abuse she claimed to have suffered at my hand and how it traumatized her. I scoffed when I heard her exaggerating all the details. “Pretentious slut…” Iris growled in my mind. I agreed with her and added, “Hyperboling everything. Does she think everyone will believe her?” “Only stupid people like Shawn,” Iris grumbled, and I just laughed it off. Shawn was really stupid to choose an Omega over an Alpha Princess who could help him be the next Alpha King. But then it was lucky for me as now I got an even better he-wolf as my husband. Shawn was sweet and romantic when we were together. We were really the perfect couple, but then it was all just an act, no? Just looked at how he became ruthless with Abigail now. Max, on the other hand, was a different kind of sweet. Although he was domineering and known to be cold and ruthless, he was good to me. After she finished testifying, Lina went to the podium and gave them a small USB Drive to be played as evidence against me. The video, as we had expected, was the surveillance video from my office, and it showed everyone everything Abigail had said. Once the video had finished playing, there were murmurs among the crowd, but they were quickly subdued by the committee members so as not to disrupt the trial. “Arra…” I heard Max’s through the mindlink. I couldn't help but smile when I heard the concern in his voice. “I’m fine, Max. We’ll crush them with our evidence.” “Elders,” Lina addressed the werewolf committee members with respect. “As you can see from the video, Princess Arabella had indeed tried to kill my daughter and her baby.” “Lina, where did you get this video from?” The werewolf committee ignored her statement and asked instead to make sure the video was authentic. “I got it from one of the staff working at Princess Arabella’s company, who is not happy with what she did,” Lina answered, then continued to accuse me. I sneered when I heard her say those words. I had made a guess that she must have bought the video from someone, maybe a spy in my company. But who was it… I caught Shawn’s eyes and glared at him as I suddenly remembered our time together. There was one time when we were still together, and Shawn referred one of his friends to work in my company. I nearly forgot about that person since he didn't particularly stand out among his colleagues. Maybe it was Shawn who asked his friend to give the surveillance video to Lina… Did he really love Abigail, then? Or did he help just because everyone knew Abigail was his mate, and as an Alpha, he needed to protect his mate? Or maybe he just wanted to take revenge on me because I had hindered him from running for the Alpha King title. No matter what his reason was, he had nothing to do with me anymore, and since he wanted to work with others to bring me down, he should’ve realized I would retaliate against him, too. “Princess Arabella’s actions were an attack on the Red Moon Pack’s lineage, a betrayal of the royal pack!” she claimed. “And we demand a banishment as her punishment!” Once she finished her words, we could all feel heavy, intimidating auras coming from the audience, making everyone feel like the air had been sucked out of the room. I didn't need to see who those auras belonged to. I knew those auras like the back of my hand - Mom’s, Dad’s, and Max’s. It was funny to see how confident and arrogant Lina was to ask my parents to banish me. The werewolf committee cleared their throats awkwardly and said to Lina, “We have seen and heard the testimony and evidence from your side, but a fair trial couldn't solely rely on one side’s testimony. We believe in evidence from both parties.” Lina and Shawn shared a knowing, troubled look. They must have realized the trial wasn't proceeding as they had anticipated and hadn't prepared for this to happen. I sneered inwardly. Did they not think who my parents were? All the werewolves in this world respected my parents so much due to their excellent and fair leadership. They were, after all, the best royal couple in the werewolf history. Did they think the werewolf committee would not give me, my parents’ beloved daughter, a chance to defend myself? “Princess Arabella, you can now speak about your defense,” the werewolf committee told me. I stood up, went to the podium, looked at everyone present, smiled, and calmly said, “I admit I did what was captured on the surveillance video…” The murmurs among the crowd sounded again, and they began discussing how I had admitted to wanting to kill Abigail and her baby. “But…” I still spoke calmly, and they quieted down to hear my defense. “But I didn't use too much force and had no intention to kill Abigail or her baby.” “Do you have evidence for your claim?” one of the Elders asked. I smiled and said, “I do have evidence…”