Chapter 1

That evening, blood soaked into the white marble floor.

Everywhere I looked, there was nothing but a sickening wash of red.

The news that the Alpha and Luna had been murdered by their adopted daughter sent shockwaves through the entire Moonlight Pack.

The fury of the people reached a fever pitch. Everyone was screaming for me to be burned at the stake.

But in the face of a thousand punishments, I never said a single word.

The case dragged on for over a year with no progress.

Owen, desperate for the truth, crossed the Enchanted Forest to the witch clans of Roaring Valley and obtained a potion that could force a person to reveal their memories.

"This potion corrodes the brain. Three doses is all it takes to dredge up every memory you have."

"Once it's pulled out everything, you'll be dead."

"Salia, you can still tell me the truth. This is your chance."

Owen stared down at me, his gaze cold.

Those eyes that once held nothing but warmth and gentle laughter now held only hatred.

I looked up at the gray sky and shook my head in silence.

Some things aren't left unsaid because I don't want to speak. I simply can't.

Hundreds of eyes burned into me, every one of them blazing with rage. The crowd chanted in unison: "Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!"

The mob surged forward, nearly breaking through the barricades.

The guard pretending to hold them back took the opportunity to slam his baton against one of my open wounds.

My legs, broken and reset so many times they could barely hold me, buckled. I dropped to my knees on the stone.

I lowered my head and endured the insults pouring in from every direction.

Some said I was an assassin planted by the Silver Star Pack, that I'd been embedded beside the Alpha and Luna for years just to kill them.

Others claimed I wanted to seize the mineral wealth of Moonlight Pack for myself, and that was why I'd murdered them.

"I saw her with my own eyes, sneaking back from Silver Star territory in the middle of the night. What else could she have been doing but passing along information?"

"I always thought it was suspicious, the way she was creeping around with some kind of document. Now it all makes sense."

"This ungrateful animal deserves to be cut in half."

The shouting grew more vicious.

Someone pried my mouth open and forced the potion down my throat.

The liquid hit my bloodstream and took effect almost instantly. A searing, corrosive pain tore through my brain.

I couldn't hold myself up any longer. I collapsed to the ground.

When I managed to lift my head again, Owen was standing over me.

His tall shadow fell across my wasted body.

His voice was ice, but beneath it, a tremor he couldn't quite hide.

"Why?"

"Why did you kill my parents? They treated you like their own..."

I closed my eyes.

A single tear rolled down my ravaged cheek, stinging every crack and wound it crossed.

Alpha Elbert and Luna truly were the kindest people I'd ever known.

They cared for every member of the pack. Under their leadership, no one in Moonlight Pack went hungry or cold.

They even treated me, an orphan, as if I were their own child.

Those years in Owen's home were the happiest of my life.

What they gave me, I would never forget.

And it was precisely because of that debt that when I killed them, I made it quick.

One clean strike each.

I didn't let them suffer.

While I lay there lost in memory, the potion had already begun extracting the first fragment. A flash of white light, and the sealed memories materialized before the crowd.