LOGINLyra was gone. Every eye swung to Caleb.He shrugged. “What are you all looking at? I didn’t kill anyone. You can’t convict me for trash-talking an ex.”We didn’t have proof he’d been in on the murder. We had to let him go.The Greenmoor Alpha apologized to me for what he’d accused me of. The war was off.But something was still gnawing at me. The witch who made that tonic didn’t sell to anyone — you had to trade something equal in value, and the price was steep. There was no way Lyra had pulled that off alone. Caleb had to have helped her.And that was just the start. The real question was why he’d come at me at all, and why he’d put in so much effort to put me in the ground.I went to find him.He didn’t even pretend to care. “I don’t like you. I don’t want to mate with you. That’s enough of a reason, isn’t it?”The anger climbed up my throat. “That’s it? If you didn’t want to mate, you could have told me. I would have called off the match.”He started laughing. “Rosie. You really ar
The trial came fast.People who knew nothing about the case looked at me like I was the devil. They threw rotten eggs. They threw rotten produce. They wouldn’t stop screaming.“Murderer. You don’t get to be a wolf!”“She’s the one who took the Alpha King. If his name gets dragged because of her, we are not letting this go.”The crowd was tipping toward a riot.“Silence.”Killian’s voice cut the room in half. Every wolf there felt it land, the full weight of an Alpha, and shut up.He sat on the dais and let his gaze move over the room. Then he spoke, easy and slow.“Time of death was midnight. Rosie was with me the entire night, in one room. She didn’t leave my sight at any point. I’ll testify to that personally.”When the Alpha King spoke, even the loudest voice fell flat. The crowd settled.Then someone called out, “Then how is she on every camera at the scene? How are her prints on the weapon?”People nodded along.Killian raised a hand. A clerk stepped out behind him carrying a smal
I dropped straight to my knees and let it all come out.“I know I crossed a line. I didn’t have a choice. I’ll take whatever’s coming to me. Just don’t take it out on my parents or my pack.”There was no anger in his face when I finished. He was looking at my neck. “How’s the cut?”I blinked. My hand went up on its own. The bandage was long gone, the cut already healed. I hadn’t thought he’d remember.“It’s fine. Thank you for asking.”He waved me up and opened the folder. It was the murder file.“I was with you the entire night. You didn’t leave my sight for a second. But your face is in the footage at the scene, and your prints are on the silver blade we recovered. Explain that to me.”I’d been chewing on the same question. How had they put me in two places at once?He stood and adjusted his tie. “The Greenmoor Alpha is ready to march on your pack. If we don’t have an answer before that happens, you know what that means.”I nodded, throat tight.“A war damages every pack in the natio
The case stalled out.Even the lead agent had nothing. He rubbed his temples. “You were at the hotel at midnight. We’ve got that confirmed. But the footage from the scene shows you too. How can someone be in two places at once?”Lyra jabbed a finger at me. “Stop wasting time. She did it. She said herself she’d take out anyone who got near the Alpha King. The motive’s right there!”She was pushing too hard,too eager to nail me down. The agent caught it.He brought his palm down on the desk. Lyra jumped and shrank behind Caleb.“This is the Authority. Keep your voice down.”“Rosie has motive. She has an airtight alibi. We can’t charge her. She stays in holding until we know more.”So I sat in a cell while the story spread faster than anyone could contain. People found my parents’ address. They camped out front holding signs that said MURDERER. They wanted my life.The Greenmoor Alpha was already mustering for war against my pack to avenge his daughter. If the real killer didn’t surface f
So they took me to the Authority.It blew up online, but Killian hadn’t actually been harmed, and he’d told them to go easy on me. All I got was a lecture.I was halfway through the interview when the agent in front of me got a call. He frowned, said something short, and then his face went still. He slammed his hand on the table.“Say that again. The Greenmoor Alpha’s daughter is dead?”My heart was pounding hard enough to hurt. My hands were shaking.He glanced at me but kept his voice level. “Understood. I’ll look into it personally.”He hung up and looked at me a long moment. “We just got a report. The Greenmoor Alpha’s daughter has been murdered. Some are saying you’re involved.”The floor dropped out from under me. My eyes went wide. “That’s impossible. I’ve been at that hotel since last night. Every one of you can verify it.”That’s when the door opened. Caleb walked in with Lyra at his side. “We’re here to file a report. Rosie killed her.”The room tilted. Had I really done all
At some point my mother had made it to the hall too. Her voice came through the door, ragged. “Rosie. Sweetheart. Don’t do anything stupid. If something happens to you, your mama can’t live through it. She can’t.”It tore me apart.Last time, on the road to exile, she’d thrown herself at the guards’ feet and begged them to let me go. She refused to believe her daughter was a killer.They shoved her off like she was nothing. I’d watched her get smaller and smaller in the distance, until she was just a dark speck.When the news of my death reached her, something snapped. She lost herself.My father held her together as best he could, while their pack crumbled around him. The real killer never spent a single day paying for it.And in the end, it was my own boyfriend, Caleb, who swallowed our pack and sent my parents to the block.A debt like that doesn’t go unpaid.Killian felt me stop struggling and slowly let go of my arm. “If you stop hurting yourself, I’ll play along.”I looked up at







