Chapter 69: ⁶⁹: justice

Kael’s POV

I drove my car through the gates of my house, and a guard immediately rushed forward to open my door. I stepped out, slipping my phone into my pocket before walking toward the main entrance. I didn’t waste any time greeting anyone. My mind was still occupied with everything that had happened today.

I turned right toward my study, my footsteps quickening as I entered the room.

"What did you find out?" I asked.

Ryan was already standing in front of my desk, a pen drive held between his fingers.

"It seems there was a fight between Miss Moonvel and her classmate, Maria Vale," he replied. "I have put the complete footage from that incident onto this pen drive. You can watch it yourself."

He placed the pen drive on my desk.

"Maria Vale?" I repeated, feeling a faint sense of familiarity at the name. "Is she someone we might know?"

I pulled out my chair and sat down, picking up the pen drive.

"She is Elder Vale’s granddaughter," Ryan answered.

"Elder Vale?" I murmured, a flicker of interest passing through me. "Interesting."

I inserted the pen drive into my laptop and opened the footage Ryan had provided.

The moment the video started playing, my expression darkened. There was no way Athena was the one who deserved to be suspended after seeing this.

The footage showed a crowd of students standing around the two girls. Most of them simply stood there, watching instead of interfering. Their cowardice irritated me almost as much as what was happening in front of them.

I couldn’t make out everything Athena and Maria were saying because of the noise from the surrounding students, but even that was enough to make my patience wear thin.

The more the video played, the more difficult it became for me to remain rational.

Nyx was no better.

He was practically raging inside my head, his anger rising with every passing second. He clearly didn’t want to accept that someone had dared to lay a hand on someone who belonged to us.

"How dare she?" Nyx growled.

I clenched my jaw. I didn’t want to agree with him. I had spent the entire evening reminding myself that Athena was nothing more than an arrangement. She wasn’t mine. I had no reason to care about what happened to her.

At least, that was what I had been telling myself.

Then the camera caught Maria’s smug expression. My hands curled into fists beneath the desk. I wanted to tear that smugness from her face.

I wanted to show her, in front of the entire pack, what happened when someone dared to lay their hands on my person.

The thought itself made me freeze for half a second. My person?.I pushed it aside immediately. No. That wasn’t what this was.

I was simply angry because someone had attacked a woman who was connected to me through our agreement. That was all.

The footage continued. Then I heard Athena’s choked scream as Maria kicked her in the back. Something inside me snapped. I slammed the laptop shut.

"Enough." The word came out through clenched teeth. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes, my hands tightening beneath the desk as I struggled to suppress both my own anger and Nyx’s.

Our instincts were screaming at us to forget every rule and regulation of the pack, find the person responsible, and make sure she could never hurt Athena again.

My breathing grew heavier. I hated this. I hated the way my body reacted whenever Athena was hurt.

I hated the fact that even after everything I had learned today, seeing her being attacked had made something primal inside me rise to the surface.

And most of all, I hated that I couldn’t simply switch it off. I had spent hours telling myself not to care about Athena anymore. But this was too much.

It hurt to force myself to ignore what I had just seen. For the first time since leaving her room, I allowed myself to admit the truth. I didn’t want to ignore it. I didn’t want to pretend I didn’t care.

I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down.

"This is clearly that other girl’s fault. Then why was Athena suspended for it?" I asked, looking at Ryan. I was genuinely curious how something this absurd had happened.

"Alpha, this isn’t the whole video," Ryan replied. "Miss Athena fought back later."

I raised my brows.

"Only after she fought back did the situation change. Their teacher stopped her, otherwise, from what I saw, she might have seriously injured Miss Vale."

I stared at him for a moment before reopening my laptop.

"So she actually fought back?"

"Yes, Alpha."

I skipped through the footage, deliberately avoiding the part where Athena had been the one getting hurt. I didn’t think I could sit through it again without losing my temper.

Then the scene changed. Athena was standing in front of Maria. And the next second, she fought back. My eyes widened slightly as I watched her move.

She wasn’t hesitant anymore. The same girl who had been struggling to even stand moments ago had suddenly become fierce and almost unrecognizable. Her kick sent Maria stumbling backward, and something inside me stirred at the sight.

It was almost as if I were watching someone supressed finally stand up after being pushed too far.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of my lips when Athena landed another punch.

"She looks so fierce," Nyx commented.

Of course.

How could he possibly let an opportunity to admire her pass?

"Don’t you agree?"

"Yes," I answered absentmindedly, my attention still fixed on the screen.

Only after I said it did I realize what I had admitted.

Nyx practically purred inside my head.

"Kael."

I ignored him.

"Do you think her wolf has taken over?" His voice had changed, becoming lower and more intrigued.

My expression shifted as I looked at the screen more closely. Athena’s movements were different. Her posture, her expression, even the way she attacked that girl it all felt different from the Athena I had seen before.

My eyes narrowed. Could this really be her wolf? The thought alone made something inside me stir.

"Yeah," I murmured.

My gaze followed every movement on the screen. This was the first time we had ever seen Athena like this. The first time we had seen the other side of her.

"She is the fierce one," Nyx continued, sounding increasingly fascinated. "She looks almost feral. Completely opposite to Athena’s sweet and innocent side."

I didn’t answer immediately. There was something captivating about the difference.

Athena usually carried herself with a certain softness, even when she was being stubborn or provoking me. But the woman on the screen looked like she would tear through anyone who dared to stand in her way.

Nyx’s amusement returned. "She is perfect for me, don’t you think?"

I frowned. "Don’t get carried away."

"I’m only saying what we’re both thinking." He retroted.

My eyes remained fixed on the screen. There was something about that fierce side of Athena that had caught my attention far more than I wanted to admit.

"Yeah," I replied, my eyes not leaving the screen for even a second. "The way she carries herself is completely badass. And knowing what an emotional fool you are, she would probably keep you on a leash and make you do whatever she wanted."

"Oh, I would gladly wear any leash for her!" Nyx replied without hesitation.

The video abruptly stopped as the teacher entered the classroom.

I shook my head. "Yeah. That’s exactly why I call you an emotional fool."

I closed the laptop and turned my attention back to Ryan.

"She wasn’t the one who started the fight. She only fought back to defend herself. Then why was she punished for it?" I asked, my voice growing colder. "Didn’t the principal watch the footage before making his decision?"

Ryan shook his head. "It doesn’t seem so, Alpha. From what I’ve gathered, Principal Whitmore made the decision based on the fact that Maria Vale belongs to the Vale family while Athena is just an insignificant Omega."

"What?"

My expression hardened instantly. I wasn’t angry merely because this involved Athena. What made my blood boil was that this was completely against the rules and values of both my Empire and Dreven Academy.

Dreven Academy had always been one of the most respected institutions in the Empire. I had personally entrusted Principal Whitmore with its administration because of his reputation for fairness and discipline.

Under his guidance, the Academy had flourished. And now I was learning that the same man might have ignored its most basic principles simply because one student belonged to an influential family.

That was unacceptable. I leaned back in my chair, my fingers tapping against the desk as I tried to process it.

"Even if he showed partiality and punished Athena when she shouldn’t have been punished, he still punished Maria, didn’t he?" I asked, hoping there was at least some reasonable explanation. "What was her punishment?"

I wanted to know that Maria had at least received a harsher consequence for initiating the fight.

If she had, perhaps I could overlook Principal Whitmore’s questionable judgment this once.

But if he had allowed Maria to walk away without any punishment at all, then this was no longer simply a mistake. It was blatant favoritism.

Ryan’s expression became slightly uncomfortable. "Maria Vale wasn’t punished in the slightest, Alpha."

My hand stopped tapping against the desk. For a moment, I simply stared at him. Not even a warning? Not even a detention? Nothing?

My disappointment deepened into anger.

"This is too much." If the Academy’s principal could disregard its rules so easily, then I had a much bigger problem on my hands than one student being suspended.

This wasn’t just about Athena anymore.

It was about the kind of justice being served under my name.