Maisie

Twelve minutes.

That was how long it took. I counted every agonizing second while hundreds of Ashbourne’s elite watched me with condemnation, whispering about how I was a disgrace not just to the pack, but to my father, who had been well known for his honesty before he died.

Tears stung my eyes but I refused to let it fall. I didn’t look for the Lycans. I didn’t want to see if they believed me. I didn’t want to see the disdain on their faces. Or anyone else’s.

I knew my best friends would never do this to me. But where were they?

When the guards returned, Reid Calloway carried a small wooden trunk I didn’t recognize. His face which had held awe for me barely an hour ago was now etched with disgust.

"Well?" Alpha Dante demanded impatiently.

"We found this hidden under her bed, Alpha," Reid said, setting the trunk down with a heavy thud.

My stomach fell as he lifted the lid, and a wave of silence hit the hall.

Jewelry spilled across the marble. Priceless stones and trinkets of pure gold and—Luna Kaida stepped forward, snatching the ruby ring Alpha Dante had gifted her for their anniversary two months ago off the top of the trunk. Alpha Dante’s watch followed, and one by one, esteemed guests of the pack recognized stolen items of theirs in the trunk.

"That isn’t mine!" I cried, voice cracking with panic. "Someone planted those! I swear I have never seen that trunk in my life—"

"What is that?" Lana stepped forward, frowning as she reached into the trunk and pulled out four identical vials filled with thick, blackened liquid.

Without warning, she uncorked the first one. A foul, acrid stench filled the air, making me sick from just a whiff of it. Several guests recoiled. Goddess, what on earth is that?

Lana’s eyes suddenly bulged and she dropped the vials. They shattered on the marble, the black liquid spreading like oil. She clutched her throat, skin draining of color as she staggered back, choking.

"Wolfsbane," she rasped.

The word exploded through the hall. People scrambled away from the spreading poison. Elara Braxton screamed, "Someone get the physician!" as Lana crumpled, gasping for air.

I couldn’t breathe. This wasn’t happening. I didn’t understand how any of this was happening. My hands shook violently as I stared at the broken glass and the black liquid inching towards my shoes.

It was the first time in my life I’d ever seen wolfsbane.

Luna Kaida crossed the distance in two furious strides and struck me so hard, black spots blotched my vision.

"You ungrateful little wench," she spat, voice trembling with rage. "After everything we’ve done for you—taking you in when no one else would, feeding you, clothing you, tolerating your presence in our home, and you repay us by stealing from this pack and plotting with rogues to murder us all?"

Tears spilled down my cheeks. "I swear I didn’t do this—"

She grabbed my chin, forcing up my face so everyone could witness the face of a thief and a traitor. "Wolfsbane is illegal in Ashbourne and only rogue territories grow enough to use them to weaken and slaughter us. Tell me how else a worthless maid like you could’ve gotten your hands on such a concentrated dose like that, unless you’ve been conspiring with them."

I shook my head. "I don’t know how that trunk got into my room—"

"Enough!" Luna Kaida shrieked, her fingers digging painfully into my cheek. "You have been seething with resentment ever since my son rejected you and chose Lana instead. Everyone has seen how you desperately throw yourself at him, whoring around, trying to destroy their engagement. Is this your revenge? Did you plan to murder your future Alpha and Luna so you could watch us all die in agony while the rogues swept in to finish the job?"

I was sobbing uncontrollably now, chest heaving with shock and terror. "I would never do something like this! Lana must’ve have—"

Beta Braxton strode forward, face reddened with rage. "Even now she tries to push the blame on my daughter who is currently fighting for her life!" He shot a hard look at Alpha Dante. "None of this would’ve happened if you had just banished her like you should’ve when she raised her hand to her future Luna. If this filth remains in the pack after tonight, our alliance is over."

Luna Kaida released me with a shove and I stumbled. The entire hall looked to Alpha Dante, awaiting his decision.

His eyes were ice-cold as they fixed on me and his voice rolled out in the hall, carrying the full weight of his title and aura. "Maisie Adams, you are charged with theft of pack and dignitary property, conspiracy with rogues, possession of illegal substances with the intent to harm the pack, and malicious attempts to destabilize and destroy the pack from within. By my authority as Alpha of the Night Shade Pack, and in accordance with pack law, I hereby banish you from the Night Shade Pack. Your membership is revoked immediately, as well as whatever benefits attached to it."

My ears began ringing. Benefits. My scholarship. Protection. No one would take me into their pack. And without being claimed by a territory, I wouldn’t last a week out there before the rogues found and killed me.

I started forward but was wrenched back by guards and forced to my knees. "Please—"

"Dad," Cole rasped. His cheeks were still flushed by alcohol, but his eyes wild-eyed. "Don’t do this. You can’t banish her. She’s my mate—"

"Your rejected mate," Dante snarled, the raw power in his voice causing Cole’s shoulders to curve inwards. If I hadn’t been kneeling, I might have fallen. "You made that public. Pack law is absolute and she has broken them. You cannot have it both ways—" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Cole’s eyes flared gold. "Then I claim her now. Publicly—"

Alpha Dante was instantly in Cole’s face, peering down at him with eyes fiery and dark like the devil’s. His voice lowered, so that only a select few could hear. "Finish that sentence and you will face my wrath."

Cole cowered, his eyes lowering instantly.

Alpha Dante’s gaze returned to me. "Throw her out."

"No—" I choked out but guards seized my arms, their grips bruising. I struggled uselessly, panic clawing up my throat.

"Well then," a calm, faintly amused voice cut through the chaos from the back of the hall and the guards paused.

Everyone paused.

It was the stifling heaviness in the air. An aura far greater than Aloha Dante’s crackling tension in the atmosphere.

Prince Soren Black strolled forward unhurriedly, hands in his pockets, the silver crescent earring in his left ear catching the light. The crowd parted for him like water and he halted in front of me, expression mild.

"Since you’re throwing her out, I assume you’ll have no problem if I take her with me."

Silence. It was so stifling, I nearly choked on it.

I must’ve been hallucinating.

Alpha Dante stiffened. "Your Highness, the girl is a thief and a traitor who conspires with rogues. She is far beneath you and you cannot possibly—"

"I can and I do," Soren interrupted smoothly, and his violet eyes met mine. His expression remained unreadable. "She’s banished. No pack. No claim to you or yours, correct?"

Alpha Dante’s jaw tightened. He couldn’t argue without contradicting his own ruling.

A lethal growl rumbled in the hall and Cole stepped forward, squaring off against Soren and the Lycans who had now drifted around him. Cole’s eyes were a burning gold and his canines were stretching."You’re not taking her anywhere. She is mine."

Soren’s perfect brow arched. "She stopped being yours the moment you chose," he nodded towards Lana whose wheezing had reduced significantly since Soren started speaking. "that one over her. So, I highly suggest you run along and play house with your pretty fiancée, boy. The adults are speaking."

Cole’s face twisted with mad rage.

And then, he did the unthinkable.

He lunged at the Lycan Prince. Or maybe he was really lunging for me.

Either way, he never made it.

Soren didn’t move a single inch, but Jericho...

Jericho moved like lightning. The bulky Lycan backhanded across the face with a force that was both casual and terrifying at once. "You overstep. Know your place."

The crack echoed in the hall. Cole flew sideways, slammed into the far wall and crumpled unconscious to the marble, blood trickling down his temple.

"Cole!" Luna Kaida gasped. Alpha Dante was visibly shaking with rage, but Cole had acted out of line. No one laid hands on a Lycan. Much less a Prince.

So he lowered his head and said, "I apologize for my son’s misconduct. As an act of good faith, you may take the girl as a gift from us."

Mercer snorted, but said nothing.

Soren merely glanced back at where the guards held me and his voice was a low growl that rumbled the earth under my feet. "Unhand her."

The guards tore away from me like I was on fire.

Soren cocked his head at me. "Go get your things, Adams."

Relief crashed through me so violently I nearly collapsed. Tears and sweat poured down my face in ugly, shaking sobs of pure gratitude. I didn’t know why he was doing this, and I didn’t care. He was saving my life and that was all that mattered.

I took one shaky step towards him. "M-my thing..." Hiccup. "...aren’t packed."

His violet eyes tracked the tears rolling down my cheeks. He extended his hand to me for the second time tonight, though, for a completely different reason. "Then we’ll buy you new things."

I took another step. And my fingers closed around his.

And as the Lycans formed a protective wall of four around me, I did not look back.