chapter 1

JADE pov

“Shut up!

Don't you dare speak when I’m talking!”

The sharp smack of my stepmother Sarah’s palm echoed through the cold stone room, sending a sting across my cheek. I remained pinned to the floor, my knees digging into the rough ground while two guards gripped my arms like iron vise grips.

Wiping the heat from my face, I lifted my chin and locked eyes with her. “I won’t keep quiet. I didn’t do it.”

Sarah’s lips twisted into a venomous smirk. “You wretched bastard. I told your father to slaughter you the moment your useless mother breathed her last, but he insisted on keeping you alive. I doubt he’ll make the same mistake twice.” She snapped her head toward the guards. “Drag her to the council. The Alpha is waiting.”

Before I could brace myself, the guards yanked me upward and hauled me forward. My knees scraped violently against the sharp gravel, leaving a trail of blood in the dirt.

“Stop! Let me go!” I thrashed against their hold, but their grip remained unyielding.

They dragged me into the heart of the council grounds. A massive crowd had gathered—a sea of hostile faces. Some pack members wept into their hands, others bared their teeth in fury, and a terrifying roar began to build from the crowd: *"Burn her! Burn her!"*

Just beyond the gathering, thick black smoke billowed into the sky. Guards rushed frantically back and forth, tossing pails of water onto the charred, smoldering ruins of what used to be part of our territory.

At the center of it all sat my father, Alpha Vincenzo.

He leaned forward on his carved throne, thick muscles coiled with rage. His dark beard framed a face carved from stone, his pitch-black eyes fixed entirely on me.

The guards shoved me down at the base of his throne. I slammed against the dirt, barely managing to throw my trembling hands out to keep my face from hitting the ground.

Alpha Vincenzo raised a single hand.

Instant silence fell over the clearing. Slowly lowering his arm, his lip curled with pure disgust. “Do you have any idea of the gravity of your offense? Do you know how many lives you have taken today?” His massive fist slammed onto the wooden armrest with a sound like thunder. “*How dare you?*”

I kept my gaze glued to the dirt, hot tears carving tracks through the grime on my cheeks. “You know me, Father... All these years, I’ve been loyal. I’ve cared for everyone. I have no reason to burn the pack house down! I love our people... I would never hurt them!”

I forced myself to look up, my voice cracking beneath the weight of bruises, sweat, and agony. “Please, Father... believe me. I’ve been set up! She hates me. Ask Angela—I was with Angela all afternoon. Ask her!”

Alpha Vincenzo leaned back, his gaze cold. “Fine. I will judge fairly, and I will hear the witness. But mark my words: if the witness testifies against you, your punishment is death.”

A breath of hope fluttered in my chest. I wiped the tears from my eyes and nodded eagerly. Angela wouldn't lie. She was Sarah’s eldest daughter, moving into our home after my mother died, but despite her mother's hatred, Angela and I had grown up as best friends. We shared everything.

The crowd parted as Angela stepped forward. Her skin was ghastly pale, her left hand cradling her right arm, which dripped with fresh, slick blood. She halted before the Alpha’s throne, trembling.

“Tell them the truth, Angela!” I pleaded, leaning forward as far as my restraints allowed. “Tell them!”

For a fleeting second, Angela’s eyes flicked to mine—hollow and unreadable—before she turned back to the crowd.

“We were upstairs in my room today,” Angela began, her voice trembling just enough to sound fragile. “We were about to head down for lunch. I was a few steps ahead, running down the stairs, when... when she suddenly shoved me from behind. That’s how my arm was injured.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“I fell to the bottom,” Angela continued, a tear slipping down her cheek. “She stood over me and confessed that she had always been jealous of me—jealous that Father loved me more. She tried to finish me off, but I managed to scramble into the washroom and lock the door. She screamed from the hallway that she couldn't risk me exposing her... and then she set the house ablaze to burn me alive.”

The world tilted on its axis. My heart froze inside my chest. *What was she saying?*

Of all the people in the world, Angela was the last person I ever expected to turn on me. The betrayal sliced deeper than any blade.

“No! No!” I shrieked, panic clawing at my throat as fresh tears blurred my vision. “Angela, tell them the truth! That’s a lie! I would never hurt you! Please, Angela... I’m going to die! Don’t do this to me!”

Angela stared straight ahead, completely unbothered by my pleas.

Alpha Vincenzo rose slowly from his throne, towering over the clearing like a shadow of doom. “Jade Scott. You have been found guilty of attempted murder, the murder of pack members killed in the fire, and high treason against your pack.”

He drew himself to his full height, his voice echoing across the silent territory. “I, Alpha Vincenzo Scott, Alpha of the Crestwood Pack, sentence you to death. But you are an abomination—your blood will not foul this sacred ground.” He let out a gut-wrenching roar. “Take her to the Forest of Rogues and execute her!”

“No! I didn't do it!” I screamed, but my voice was swallowed by the roaring crowd. The very people I had loved, the people I had considered family, were now cheering for my blood.

The guards dragged me away without an ounce of mercy. My desperate cries faded into the tree line as they hauled me deep into the thick, suffocating woods.

Night had fallen completely by the time they threw me onto the damp earth. The forest was pitch-black, swallowed by a heavy, eerie silence.

One of the guards stepped forward, his sword unsheathing with a cold metallic ring. “I suppose it ends here, Princess.”

He raised the blade high, catching the faint moonlight, ready to slice through my neck. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the strike.

*CRACK.*

A heavy footstep shattered a branch nearby. From the deep, impenetrable shadows of the treeline, a towering silhouette emerged. His frame was colossal, his aura suffocatingly dark, and twin pools of glowing red eyes fixed dead upon the guard's blade.

A voice like grinding stone rumbled through the dark, vibrating straight into my bones.

“Leave her.”