Chapter 2- Convicted Without Trial

Trixie's POV

“Hey! Over here! There’s one left in the crash!”

The shouting felt like a punch to my ears as I opened my eyes, but the world was just a spinning vortex of black and orange.

My head banged with a rhythm so violent I thought my skull might actually crack open.

Coughing through a cloud of smoke, I dragged my body forward, scraping my knees and hands as I struggled to crawl out of the wreckage of the car.

The second I tumbled out onto the grass and collapsed, the nightmare hit me.

There was chaos. People were screaming everywhere, the air was filled with smoke and ash.

Fire was eating into the night, but it wasn’t just the car that was burning. Houses were on fire, not just any houses, our pack’s houses.

The people who had pulled me away from the carriage were crowding over me, “Are you okay? Hey, look at me, can you hear me?”

I couldn't answer. I didn't care about the scrapes on my arms or the way my body felt like it had been run over by a semi-truck. I pushed them away, stumbling to my feet, holding my throbbing head with both hands, I walked like a zombie toward the biggest blaze.

Out house.

The roof was already half gone and through the roar of the flames, I could hear Mom screaming, a sound that made my stomach drop. Dad and a group of pack men were sprinting back and forth with buckets of water, desperately trying to stop the escalating fire, but it was like trying to spit out an entire forest fire.

Suddenly, a hard shove slammed into my back and I hit the dirt, my hands scraping against the gravel. A sharp, ringing pain instantly flared up in my ears that made me dizzy.

“This is all your fault!” a voice shrieked from above me.

My body ached, every muscle protesting as I forced myself to look up. Yasmine was standing over me with her perfect face ruined, covered in soot, and her eyes were wild and tear-stained.

“Look at what you caused!” She yelled, pointing a trembling finger at the ruins of our pack.

I shook my head, “I—what? I didn't do anything! We were in a crash, Yasmine, a wolf—”

Before I could finish, Yasmine lunged forward, grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me up to my feet. The sharp pain in my scalp made me gasp.

“That little stunt you pulled at the game!” She hissed right into my face. “The official's kid! They followed us back, Trixie! The Northern pack retaliated!”

My heart stopped. “No... it couldn't have—”

Yasmine shoved me back down to the ground with everything she had. “It did!” She screamed, her voice cracking as a fresh wave of tears tracked through the dirt on her cheeks.

“So many lives are gone because of you! Look around! They burned everything because you couldn't just let me have the win!”

How could that be true? How could a stupid hockey prank lead to this?

Tears filled my eyes as I sat in the dirt, shaking my head violently as I backed away from her on my hands and knees.

“No, no... you don't know what you're talking about, Yasmine.”

But looking at the burning houses and hearing the distant, agonized cries of our pack, the guilt started to wrap around my throat.

The smoke finally began to clear by dawn.

I sat as far away as possible, curled up against the base of a water tank, burying my face in my knees to avoid looking at anyone. Especially them.

But you can only hide for so long.

Eventually, the pack doctor waved them off, and I forced my aching feet to drag me over to where my parents stood. Dad was leaning against a rescue truck, his shirt torn, showing a nasty, blistering burn that stretched all the way up his forearm. Mom was hovering over him, her fingers trembling as she touched the edge of the wound.

Seeing the damage, something in my chest fractured completely as fresh tears spilled over my cheeks, and I choked out the only words I had left. “I'm sorry.”

Mom snapped her head around. Her eyes weren't full of the usual disappointment, this time, they were blazing with anger.

“You're sorry Trixie?” she echoed, “Does apologizing fix the ruins? Look around you! Does your sorry rebuild the council houses?”

“I didn't know!” I cried, my hands shaking as I reached out, though I didn't dare touch her.

“It was just a harmless joke because she was being mean on the ice, I swear I didn't know!”

“A prank?” Mom took a step toward me, “You humiliated the Northern Alpha's child on a regional stage! You broke protocol, made us a target, and brought a war to our doorstep for a cheap laugh! Do you have any idea what the cost of your selfishness is?”

I swallowed hard, looking desperately at Dad for help. He was always the quiet one, but he just stood there, staring at the ground, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles in his cheek were jumping.

“Dad…” I whispered.

“Enough, Trixie,” he snapped, making me flinch. He finally looked up at me, “I am so deeply disappointed in you.”

The words hit me like a blow to the chest, catching me completely off guard. Dad had never spoken to me like that. Never.

My breath caught in my throat, a weight settling over my lungs as the true scope of the damage finally sank in. It wasn't just a burnt house. I had destroyed our safety and I had ruined my family.

I was the weak omega who had brought down the entire pack because I wanted a single moment in the spotlight. I felt utterly sick to the stomach.

Mom turned her back on me, facing Dad again, completely shutting me out of the unit. “We can't stay here,” she said, her voice dropping, “The territory is compromised. We're going to have to scatter the remaining pack members to the southern safehouses for a while. It’s the only way to keep them alive.”

“We'll pack what's left in the storage sheds and move by tonight,” Dad muttered, rubbing his face with his uninjured hand.

I stood there, tears pouring freely down my face, feeling like a ghost watching a family that didn't belong to me anymore. “Where…” I swallowed the lump in my throat, “Where are we going?”

Mom didn't even look at me. “There is no we, Trixie,” she said, “Your father and Yasmine and I are heading to the main council grounds to answer for this. You've done quite enough.”

“You can't just leave me here,” I whispered, “I have to go with you.”

Mom finally cut her eyes toward me, “Oh, you are coming,” she said, “Do not think for a second you are staying behind to avoid the consequences. You are going to stand before the council and look the Alpha in the eye, because your father and I refuse to carry the weight of your stupidity alone.”

So, I went.

The ride to the main council grounds was the longest, most suffocating experience of my life. The interior of the replacement pack car was dead silent. Nobody played music and nobody even cleared their throat.

But the looks were even worse. Every few minutes, I’d catch Yasmine’s eyes and beside her, Mom kept turning slightly in the passenger seat, throwing heavy stares into the back row that made me want to shrink until I disappeared into the floorboards.

Even Dad’s eyes were fixed strictly on the road ahead as if looking at me might cause him to lose control again.

I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the window, watching the trees blur past.

Beneath the overwhelming guilt, a tiny, agonizing question started to ding at the back of my mind, growing louder with every mile we traveled.

What exactly did I do that was this wrong?

Yeah, it was a reckless prank. Sure, I tripped her stick, made her slide into a goalpost, and embarrassed her in front of a stadium full of wolves.

It was a bratty, spiteful move because I wanted to humble Yasmine and get a little glory for once. But to burn an entire pack down?

It didn't make any sense.