Chapter 5: The Price Of Mercy

Maeve.

The silence in the cottage felt like death itself had crawled inside and made itself comfortable, everything here feels just too cold and alarming.

Carson stood over the healer like a predator sizing up wounded prey, his shadow falling across her weak form like one who is about to explode. She trembled beneath her shawl, but her chin stayed lifted, defiant even now without fuss.

"You know the law," Carson said, his voice cutting through the air like a blade. "You've broken it willingly."

My heart beat against my ribs, fast and unsteady beating that can be heard outwardly. This was all my fault. She'd saved me, hidden me, and now she was going to die because of it.

The healer's voice cracked when she spoke. "She was dying, Alpha. What kind of healer turns away from death?"

"The kind that values her pack's safety over misplaced compassion."

His words hit like physical blows. I couldn't just stand here and let this happen. Not to her. Not because of me.

"Please," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "She didn't know who I was. I lied to her."

Carson's head turned toward me, those piercing blue eyes drilling into mine like he was examining something out of the moon. "Did she ask where you came from?"

"Yes, but.."

"Did you tell her you were an outsider?"

I swallowed hard. "No."

"Then she knew." His eyes shifted back to the healer. "She knew, and she chose to harbor you anyway."

The healer straightened, her weathered hands clasping together like a tornado. "I would do it again," she said, her voice growing stronger. "I took an oath to heal, to protect. Not to let innocents die because of borders drawn by men."

Something flickered across Carson's face, respect, maybe, or frustration. I couldn't tell which of it but I know deep down he is feeling something, something I can't really phantom.

"Your oath doesn't supersede pack law," he said quietly.

"And pack law doesn't supersede the goddess's will."

The guards shifted uncomfortably. Even they seemed affected by her words.

I couldn't take it anymore. "Kill me instead."

Everyone turned to stare at me. Carson's eyebrows shot up, and Raymond, the blonde man who'd read the law actually took a step back.

"What did you say?" Carson asked.

I lifted my chin, trying to summon courage I didn't feel. "Kill me, but let her live. She saved me, I owe her that much and I'm not going to let her die."

"Maeve, no," the healer whispered, but I ignored her.

"You want to make an example?" I continued, my voice getting stronger. "Make it of me. I'm the one who broke your law by being here. She just... she just showed kindness to someone who was dying."

Carson studied me with those unnerving eyes. Something shifted in his expression, curiosity, maybe. "You'd die for someone you barely know?"

"I'd die for someone who chose to save me when she could have let me rot."

"How noble," Raymond said dryly. "But the law is clear. Both crimes require punishment."

"What crimes?" I snapped, whirling to face him. "Being an outsider? Showing mercy? When did those become crimes worth dying for?"

"When outsiders bring war to our doorstep," Carson said. "When mercy gets innocent pack members killed."

"I haven't killed anyone!"

"Haven't you?" His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "How do we know you're not a spy? An assassin? How do we know you won't slit our throats the moment we turn our backs from you?"

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Look at me. Really look. Do I look like an assassin to you?"

He did look. His eyes traveled over my torn clothes, my bruised arms, my tangled hair. "Looks can be deceiving."

"So can laws," the healer said suddenly. "Alpha, may I speak?"

Carson nodded once.

She struggled to her feet, leaning heavily against the wall. "This child came to me more dead than alive. Wounds that should have killed her, blood loss that should have taken her straight to the goddess. But she survived. She healed faster than anyone I've ever seen."

My stomach dropped. Where was she going with this?

"She helped me gather herbs, tend to the sick. Never once did she ask for anything more than a place to rest and heal. Never once did she show violence or malice." The healer's eyes found mine. "Child, there's something about you... something I should have told you."

"What?" I whispered.

But Carson cut her off. "Enough. Whatever she is or isn't doesn't change the fact that you both broke the law."

"Then execute me publicly," Raymond suggested, his voice clinical. "Make it a spectacle. Show the pack what happens to those who defy you."

"No!" I lurched forward, but the guards grabbed my arms. "She doesn't deserve this! I'm the outsider. I'm the problem. Kill me and let her go!"

Carson held up a hand, and everyone fell silent. "You keep offering to die for her. Why?"

Tears burned my eyes. "Because she's the first person in my life who looked at me and saw someone worth saving. Because when I was broken and bleeding, she didn't ask questions, she just helped. Because..." My voice cracked. "Because she's good. And good people shouldn't die for being good, that is just nature, good people are meant to stay, with them this world is going to be a better place to dwell in."

The cottage went quiet again. Even the guards seemed moved by my words. Carson stepped closer to me. "What happened to you before you came here?"

I shook my head. "It doesn't matter."

"It does to me."

Something in his tone made me look up. His eyes weren't cold anymore, they were curious, almost gentle.

"I was nobody," I said finally. "Less than nobody. A mistake everyone wished would disappear. And when I finally did disappear, when I was dying alone in the woods, she found me. She brought me back."

"From where?"

I closed my eyes. I couldn't tell him about Johan, about the Blue Moon pack, about everything that had led me here. "From hell," I whispered.

When I opened my eyes, Carson was studying me intently. "And now you'd go back to hell to save her?"

"Yes."

He was quiet for a long moment. Then he looked at Raymond. "What do you think?"

Raymond frowned. "I think they're both guilty. I think the law is clear. And I think public execution would send the right message."

"The right message," I repeated, anger building in my chest. "What message is that? That showing mercy gets you killed? That saving someone's life is a crime? What kind of pack are you running here?"

"A safe one," Carson said firmly.

"Safe for who? Not for people like her. Not for people like me."

"People like you don't belong here."

The words hit like a slap. My vision blurred with tears, but underneath the hurt, something else was building. Something hot and fierce and dangerous.

"You're right," I said, my voice shaking. "People like me don't belong anywhere. We're just problems to be solved, mistakes to be erased. But she.."

I looked at the healer, "she belongs here. She's one of yours. She's served this pack faithfully for years. And you're going to kill her because she saved someone you don't want to exist."

The heat inside me was growing, spreading through my veins like fire. My hands started to shake.

"That's not ." Carson started.

"It is exactly what you're doing!" I shouted. "You're going to murder a healer for healing. You're going to kill kindness because kindness is inconvenient!"

The healer reached for me. "Child, calm yourself.."

But I couldn't calm down. The anger was consuming me, burning through me like acid. My vision started to blur at the edges, and for a moment, I could have sworn I saw silver light flickering at the corners of my eyes.

Carson noticed it too. He went very still, his nostrils flaring slightly with something I can't say.

"What are you?" he asked quietly.

I blinked, the silver light fading. "I don't know what you mean."

"Your eyes..." He stepped closer, his voice trailing off. "They just.."

He stopped mid-sentence, his entire body going rigid. His wolf was stirring, I could feel it somehow, restless and agitated beneath his skin.

"Guards," he said suddenly, his voice sharp. "Take them to the dungeons. Both of them."

"Alpha?" Raymond looked confused.

"Now," Carson snapped. "I need time to think."

As the guards grabbed us, dragging us toward the door, I caught Carson's eye one last time. He was staring at me like I was a puzzle he couldn't solve, or a threat he couldn't quite identify.

And deep inside me, something silver and wild whispered that maybe, just maybe, I was both….