Chapter 3

The next day, my mother still couldn't let it go and took me to the Healing Sanctuary.

She went off with the registration form to find a healer, telling me to wait for her.

I nodded and sat quietly on the bench.

A few minutes later, a burst of commotion broke out around me.

"Rowena? What are you doing here?"

"Oh my god, it's really her! Wasn't she accused of betraying the Pack and leaking defense secrets?"

"The Elder Council already opened an investigation on her, and she has the nerve to just sit here like nothing happened!"

I frowned.

"I didn't betray the Pack. Why shouldn't I be here?"

Before the words had fully settled, a hand grabbed my arm and yanked me off the bench.

"Rowena, how dare you show your face! Come with me to the Elder Council and confess everything you've done!"

I recognized Alex's voice and shook his hand off.

"Alex, have you lost your mind? I haven't done anything. Why would I go to the Elder Council?"

Scarlett stepped forward immediately, putting on her most earnest expression.

"Rowena, please stop being so stubborn. Those were our Pack's defense secrets!"

"Because of the leak, border guards were attacked by a rival pack. People have already died."

"If you admit what you did now, maybe the Elder Council will consider going easier on you."

I shoved her aside.

"What are you even talking about? I never leaked any secrets. Why should I confess to anything?"

Suddenly, a large man charged forward and grabbed my collar.

"You're the one who sold our defense plans to the enemy pack, aren't you?"

His eyes were bloodshot, his voice shaking with rage.

"My brother was on that border patrol! He trusted his own people, and he died in an ambush!"

"Do you know he had a wife and children? You traitor. What gives you the right to still be alive after getting them killed?"

He shoved me hard to the ground. My whole body throbbed with pain.

I struggled to explain. "You've got the wrong person! I didn't sell any intel. I never even touched those defense records!"

Seeing me on the ground, Scarlett jumped in right away.

"I know Rowena's family is powerful. I know she's going to be the Pack's Luna."

"But no matter who she is, she can't use her status and connections to treat the entire Pack's safety like a game!"

Alex pointed at me too, his face a mask of disappointment and fury.

"Rowena, how can you still claim you're innocent? I already told you, the mate bond isn't a tool for you to go rummaging through my memories!"

"Those defense plans and secret passages, nobody outside my inner circle would have had a chance to know about them!"

Everyone around us heard them, and the angry stares converged on me.

"I can't believe she'd sell out her own people for personal gain!"

"Just because she's the Alpha heir's fated mate, she thinks she can do whatever she wants? Those Pack members who died, do their lives mean nothing?"

The man rushed at me again and wrapped his hands around my throat.

"Just because your status is higher, you think ordinary Pack members' lives don't matter? I'll make you pay for my dead brother!"

I could barely breathe, thrashing desperately under his grip.

Just then, guards finally arrived and pulled the man off me by force.

Alex looked at me coldly and gave his order to the guards.

"Take her in. Hand her over to the Elder Council for judgment."

My hands were pinned. The cold bite of silver restraints locked around my wrists.

That was when one of the guards spoke up. "What's going on here?"

Someone nearby answered furiously.

"This woman sold out the Pack's defense secrets and got border guards killed. They're taking her to stand trial!"

In the chaos, someone grabbed at my clothes.

The shawl across my chest fell away.

The noise died instantly.

Every pair of eyes dropped to my chest.

Alex froze.

Then someone in the crowd screamed.

"Oh my god, she... She doesn't have a heart!"