“We’ll use her as the scapegoat,” Ronan had said on the recording. “Just like we used the rogues to take care of Elise when she got too close.”
“The Gamma couple was just a casualty,” Candice had asked. “Their deaths were effective. How else would we make Selena into the pack’s punching bag. The pack never questioned it.”
My parents. My vision blurs as the past crashes through me like a tidal wave, each memory sharper than a blade.
My stomach had turned to stone. All those years believing it was a rogue attack. All those years of guilt and grief.
I sink into Rylan’s embrace, his arms forming a fortress around my breaking world. “I will get justice for us all. Do you trust me?”
“Yes, I trust you Ry.”
LET ME KILL THEM.
No. We give justice a chance.My wolf’s voice is quiet. Not angry.Just… hollow.
Now, standing in the chamber, I keep my face neutral despite the rage building inside me.
Elder Miriam rises from her seat. “This truth rite will reconvene. The evidence presented yesterday requires further...“
“Before we continue,” Rylan interrupts, stepping forward, “I must inform the council that this trial extends beyond the manipulation of mate bonds.”
The chamber stills. “Explain yourself, Enforcer,” Elder Darius commands.
Rylan’s voice carries effortlessly through the space. “This is not just about the betrayal of Selena or deceiving this council. This is about treason against our pack and actions that directly led to deaths among our own.”
Murmurs erupt. Elder Miriam raises her hand for silence. “These are serious accusations. Do you have evidence to support them?”
“I do.”
Rylan removes a small device from his pocket, and my heart hammers against my ribs. This is it.
“What is this?” Ronan snarls. “More manipulations? Look this is all just a… misunderstanding. As long as I apologize to my mate and she accepts. This has nothing to do with you.”
ARROGANT FOOL.Calm yourself, we have to give justice a chance.
Rylan ignores him, placing the device on the ceremonial table. “The truth, in their own words.”
He presses play, and suddenly Ronan’s and Candice’s voices fill the chamber, cold, calculated, damning. Their plan unfolds in horrifying detail: weakening me, framing me, using me to distract from their own dealings with rogues.
When they mention Elise, Rylan’s mate, the Luna in training, killed in the rogue attack, and my parents, the Gamma pair lost in that same attack, the air itself seems to freeze.
“This is fabricated!” Ronan shouts, lunging forward, only to be restrained by two warriors. “He’s trying to steal my mate!”
“The bond was real. The herbs just made it easier for you to betray me with her… without being caught.”
Candice’s face contorts with rage. “You can’t believe this! It’s obviously doctored!”
Elder Darius’s expression darkens. “The truth rite will reveal what is real. Resume the ceremony.”
Four attendants move forward, reactivating the silver circle from yesterday. The dust ignites with that familiar cold blue light, rising to enclose us.
See? I push the thought toward my wolf. Justice will prevail.
“Candice,” Elder Miriam intones, “you will submit to the truth rite first.”
Candice trembles as the magic envelops her. The silver light pulses, then expands, projecting shadowy images into the air above our heads, her memories, forced into visibility.
I watch, unblinking, as the visions take shape: Candice meeting with hooded figures at the territory borders, exchanging packets of herbs for money, whispering information about patrol schedules. Theimages shift to her slipping powder into my food, into my tea, laughing with Ronan afterward.
