Chapter 3

On the day of Vivian's reinstatement hearing, Black Pine's Beta, Marcus Cole, sent me an address.

He said my acting Luna file needed to be signed for in person.

I arrived at the central assembly hall to find the entrance packed with media and pack members.

On the public agenda, my name was listed under "Witness to the Accident Settlement."

I turned to leave.

A staff member stopped me.

"Ms. Ward, the Alpha has already approved the agenda."

I saw the document in the host's hands.

Elena Ward publicly confirms: the full-moon trial incident eight years ago resulted from a medication accident and was unrelated to Vivian Hale.

He had even scripted my silence for me in advance.

Inside the hall, Vivian stood in a white gown, weeping for the cameras.

She said she had carried the blame for eight years and had finally lived to see the pack welcome her back.

Adrian stood behind her.

His voice dropped to a murmur. "Don't be afraid."

She had taken the stabilizer Adrian prepared for her himself.

My wolfsbane suppressant, meanwhile, was slowly wearing off in the crush of the crowd.

A familiar burning ache pulsed up from deep in my bones.

Adrian saw me. Something flickered in his eyes, and he immediately started toward me.

But Vivian spoke first.

"Elena, do you still refuse to forgive me?"

Every camera swung toward me in an instant.

The host pressed the reconciliation statement into my hands.

I looked at Adrian.

He avoided my eyes.

"It's just a formality.

"She finally made it back. The past can't be allowed to destroy her all over again."

I asked him.

"Then what did my ruined wolf count for?"

He fell silent.

I suddenly remembered the security backup I had finished watching the night before.

Eight years ago, before the full moon trial, my personal stabilizer went missing.

It was medicine the doctor had formulated specifically for my body.

I searched the prep room frantically.

Vivian walked over holding a bottle of backup medicine.

She smiled and said, "Use this for now, or you'll miss the Luna trial."

I hesitated.

But when Adrian rushed in, he gave the bottle only a cursory glance.

Then he spoke.

"Vivian means well. Finish the trial first."

I drank that bottle.

Then I walked onto the training grounds under the full moon.

The moment my first shift began, the wolfsbane burned through my blood like fire.

My wolf let out one last scream inside my mind.

Then the entire world went utterly quiet.

I fell from the high platform.

Black blood poured from my nose and ears.

I gripped Adrian's hand and told him something was wrong with the medicine.

His hand clamped down hard around mine.

He had seen Vivian standing in the corner.

She was clutching my original bottle of stabilizer.

She spoke through her tears.

"I just wanted to see what was different about your medicine. I didn't know there was wolfsbane mixed into the backup."

Adrian had seen it all.

He also knew exactly who had handed me the backup medicine.

But he still turned and shielded Vivian.

Then he spoke.

"Keep this quiet for now."

The physician overseeing the trial wanted to notify the Inter-Pack Council.

Adrian stopped him with an Alpha command.

"She didn't do it on purpose. Permanent banishment would ruin a young woman's life."

Now, he was pushing the reconciliation statement toward me again.

I didn't take the pen.

In front of every member and every camera, I tore the statement in half.

The assembly hall went dead silent.

Vivian froze beneath the camera lenses.

Tears fell one by one.

Adrian finally panicked.

He grabbed my wrist and dropped his voice.

"Elena, don't make a scene here.

"You're the sensible one. It's just a signature. You won't actually lose anything.

"Afterward, you can take it all out on me.

"Help her just this once, and from now on I'll do whatever you say."

I asked him.

"Is that what you thought eight years ago too?

"Because I'm sensible, it should be my turn to be sacrificed every single time."

His eyes reddened at once.

But his fingers didn't loosen.

Right then, Vivian's nails turned to claws. In her flailing, she shattered a glass on the table.

The hall's sensors detected a forced shift, and the wolfsbane containment system activated automatically.

But the aging mist valve ruptured under the pressure.

A trace dose of wolfsbane meant to subdue an out-of-control werewolf spread rapidly through the hall.

It felt as if my silent wolf were being ripped open from the inside.

Searing pain shot through my whole body.

I braced myself against the long table, black blood running from the corner of my mouth.

Adrian saw it.

His hand, reaching toward me, stopped in midair.

Then he took a step in my direction.

In the same second, Vivian's glass-cut hand began to shift, black threads of blood crawling up her wrist.

She cried out.

"Adrian, my hand!

"The reinstatement ceremony is tomorrow. Nothing can happen to me."

Adrian's steps stopped.