Chapter 1My Alpha mate Cassian finally got what he wanted today.
He brought in a witch. Made her dig through my memories.
Right there in front of twenty thousand pack members. He wanted to see who I'd been covering for all these years.
The one who killed his sister.
When the memories played out, all twenty thousand of them went dead silent.
He just stood there. Face drained so white even his lips lost color.
Then he suddenly lunged at me, grabbed my hand. Shaking like crazy. Kept repeating the same thing over and over:
"I was wrong. I was wrong..."
I lay there looking at him. Suddenly felt like laughing.
Six years ago I told you—you'd REGRET IT.
---
"Lark, you don't deserve to live! Linnea treated you like a real sister. Is this how you repay her?!"
My Alpha mate Cassian's voice came down from the platform. Twenty thousand wolves in the arena—dead silent.
He stood right next to my bed, those eyes I'd been looking at for ten years now cold as ice.
I didn't answer.
The ventilator hissed in my ear, breathing for me. My body gave out a long time ago.
It all started six years ago when Cassian's sister, Linnea, died.
She committed suicide after being raped.
And I, as a witness, chose silence six years ago.
So these past six years, Cassian made me go through everything Linnea went through before she died. Over and over. He said it was fair. He said I deserved it.
Now he'd brought in a witch. To dig the memories out of my head in front of the entire wolf pack.
"Six years." Cassian stared at me. "Six years you've been protecting that animal! My parents are sitting over there. The entire pack is here. How long are you going to keep lying?!"
I said nothing. I stared at the ceiling, listening to the rhythm of the ventilator. One breath. Two. Three.
Someone in the stands threw something. An egg smashed into my forehead, liquid running down my face.
People in the crowd cursing. Calling me a traitor. Saying I deserved this. Saying I wasn't fit to lick Linnea's shoes. I'd heard it all for six years. Didn't feel anything anymore.
Cassian's parents sat in the first row.
Theron and Morwen, former Alpha and former Luna of the Nightshade Pack. They hadn't spoken to their son in six years. Because of me. Because Cassian insisted on bonding with me back then.
Now Morwen stood up, finger pointing at me, shaking all over.
"You—you—" She couldn't get the words out. Tears streaming down. Theron held her, face tight, looking twenty years older than six years ago.
Linnea wasn't their biological daughter. They brought her in from outside. But they raised her like their own, spoiled her like a princess.
And me. I was just an orphan, taken in by the pack. An omega who'd lost her wolf. Couldn't even heal myself.
"Begin," Cassian said.
The witch stepped forward. Her name was Circe. Young, face pale, clutching a glass bottle filled with silver-gray powder. She glanced at me. Something hiding in her eyes.
"Alpha," she kept her voice low, "her body can't take this. This spell—it drains life, not just memory. After the ritual, she might—"
"Begin!" Cassian said it again.
Circe took a deep breath. She knelt down and poured the powder from the bottle onto my forehead. Cold powder sliding down my skin. She started chanting, voice low.
I didn't struggle. I had no strength left to struggle.
The powder started heating up. Warm at first. Then hotter and hotter, like red-hot iron burning into my bones. My body started convulsing. Couldn't stop. Something was being yanked out of my head, yanked so hard my vision kept going black.
I bit down hard.
Cassian stood there watching. Didn't move. His face calm. So calm it was like looking at a stranger.
"If it hurts, scream." He said. "Linnea hurt a hundred times worse when she died."
I ignored him. I stared at the ceiling, at those lights swaying back and forth. The powder getting hotter and hotter. Whatever was in my head being yanked harder and harder. I started losing my vision. Everything turning white.
Screaming from the stands. Someone yelling to kill me. Someone yelling I deserved this.
Then the white light exploded.
The massive screen in the center of the arena lit up. The images yanked straight out of my head, projected there for twenty thousand wolves to see.
Chapter 2
The screen flashed.
Linnea's funeral.
Moon Goddess Temple filled with white lilies. Her photo in the center. The girl in the picture had a beautiful smile, but the black-and-white made it look especially harsh.
Cassian sat in the first row, back to me. He'd gotten thin. Shoulders slumped. All that Alpha presence gone. Like an empty shell.
I walked over. Put my hand on his shoulder.
He shoved me off.
I tried to say something. Words stuck in my throat. Couldn't get a single one out.
He suddenly turned around, grabbed my hair, dragged me toward the casket.
"It hurts—Cassian—"
I clawed at his wrist, legs kicking. His grip was brutal. Wouldn't let go.
He slammed me hard against the coffin. My forehead hit the wooden corner. Blood running down from my eyebrow.
"What gives you the right to be here? How dare you look at her?"
"The Council elders asked you. Why didn't you tell the truth? You saw everything that day! Security footage caught your back! Who the hell are you protecting?"
I looked at him, shaking all over. Couldn't say a word.
The stands exploded.
"Fake! She's faking! Playing the victim for who?"
"She should die!"
The screen shifted.
My Luna Ceremony with Cassian.
When the news got out back then, the whole pack lost it.
Linnea's friends chased Cassian down cursing him out. Said he had no conscience. Said he was making the person who killed his sister the pack's Luna.
The ceremony convoy got blocked on the road. A bunch of masked wolves rushed out smashing cars, eyes full of hate. Facing their own Alpha, they weren't scared at all.
Lucky no one got seriously hurt. The ceremony went on.
Cassian said he believed me. I believed him. Looking back now, pathetically stupid.
Hardly anyone came to the ceremony. The Beta, the Gamma, a few warriors—all dragged there by force.
On screen, my tears fell on the mating ring.
I looked up at Cassian. He smiled at me. Smiled so gently. No elder to officiate, just the two of us exchanging vows.
Back then I thought the Moon Goddess's blessing was enough.
Screen shifted again.
Alpha residence basement. Shackles locked on my wrists.
Cassian sat nearby. The gentleness in his eyes gone. Only cold indifference left.
"What is it you can't say?"
I closed my eyes. Tears kept falling.
"Won't talk? Then I'll show you what pain is."
He pulled out a vial of wolfsbane extract. Poured it directly onto my arm.
I screamed. The whole room filled with my screaming. The burning poison searing through my skin. Pain so white-hot my vision went blank.
I didn't know if I passed out from pain or fear. Just felt him pour it on my right hand as well..
I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out.
The image froze on screen—my body convulsing, burn marks spreading up my arm.
The stands erupted.
"Good! She deserves it!"
"That's what traitors get!"
Someone threw a bottle. It smashed near my bed, glass shards scattering everywhere.
I lay there listening. Six years of this. I was used to it. Let them curse. Didn't hurt anymore.
Maybe dying would be easier. End it all.
I bit down on my tongue. Blood flooded my mouth, metallic and thick.
"She's biting her tongue!" Circe yelled.
Cassian rushed over, grabbed my throat, forced my mouth open.
"You'd rather die than not protect him?"
His eyes bloodshot. Teeth grinding.
Circe ran over, cast a spell to seal the wound on my tongue.
I lay there unable to move. At their mercy.
Chapter 3
I looked up at Cassian. Corner of my mouth twitched. Didn't manage a smile. But that expression killed whatever warmth was left in his eyes.
The stands exploded again.
"What's with that attitude? How dare she look at the Alpha like that?"
"Bitch! Die!"
The screen started shifting again.
Wolf Academy.
I had my backpack on, holding textbooks, walking toward the gate with Cassian. Just got to the building entrance when someone shouted from behind.
"Cassian! Lark! Wait up!"
Linnea shut her locker, swung her bag over her shoulder, ran over and looped her arm through mine.
I pulled a soda from my pocket and tossed it to her.
"Thanks Lark!" She caught it, looked at the label. "Cherry flavor! How'd you know I was craving this?"
She twisted off the cap, tipped her head back and chugged.
Someone in the stands started crying. Morwen was crying.
"Linnea... my Linnea..." She curled into Theron's arms, voice completely hoarse. "Why didn't you say... why didn't you tell us who it was..."
Theron held her. No expression on his face at all. Just stared at me, dark and cold.
On screen the three of us walked down the after-school path, heading toward the woods.
That was our little spot.
Behind the school, that patch of forest with a stream running through it. We'd set up a tent there. Weekends we'd bring snacks and grill stuff.
The stands suddenly went quiet.
That was where Linnea died.
When they investigated back then, pack enforcers sent countless people to search those woods. Found nothing. No evidence at all.
After that the place got abandoned.
Cassian stared at the screen. Suddenly started crying.
"It's all my fault! If I hadn't taken her there that day—"
He stopped mid-sentence. Turned to look at me.
"Linnea liked you so much. This is how you treated her? Is your heart made of stone?"
He slammed his fist into the bed rail. The metal bars shook and rang. His tears hit the back of my hand, so hot I flinched.
The mate bond was still there. I could feel his pain.
"I... I tried my best, Cassian."
My voice so small I could barely hear myself.
"Tried your best?" He stood up, looming over me. "You covered for a criminal! You helped him escape justice! That's trying your best?"
I closed my eyes.
All I could see in my head was that girl. Long hair. Always smiling. When she smiled her eyes curved like two crescents.
"Alpha Cassian—" Circe spoke up from the side, then swallowed her words.
Cassian turned to look at her. His stare so cold she shrank back.
"Speak."
"She's resisting." Circe kept her voice low. "Deliberately avoiding that part of the memory."
Cassian laughed. That laugh made your spine go cold.
"Good. Very good."
"Then increase the intensity. Use whatever you want. Dark magic, I don't care. Let's see how long she can hold out."
Circe glanced at me. Finally did as she was told.
The powder on my forehead started burning again, hotter than before. So hot my scalp went numb, my limbs went numb, like being thrown into fire.
I bit down hard. Didn't make a sound.
My consciousness started drifting. I knew I couldn't hold out much longer.
"Who the hell are you protecting?" Cassian shouted, voice cracking, mixed with a wolf's growl.
I looked at him through my tears, all blurry. Like I could see that boy from years ago again. In the sunlight, smiling at me. Smiling brighter than anyone.
"I... I can't say." I heard myself speak, voice barely audible. "You'll regret it."
Cassian's face got darker. He stood by the bed, staring down at me.
"Regret? Linnea went through hell. What you're feeling right now? Doesn't even come close."
I closed my eyes. Just let it end already.
