Chapter 3

Harold let out a harsh bark of laughter and cut me off.

He stepped closer, crowding my space.

"Is your son some kind of big shot?"

"You think my daughter would throw away her own reputation just to frame an outsider?"

Daisy immediately stopped sobbing and backed up her father at the top of her lungs.

"I saw Koda with my own eyes!"

"On moving day, I bumped into him coming out of your place in the hallway."

She clutched at the torn fabric of her clothes, absolutely certain of her claim.

"He came up and introduced himself to me!"

Gloria heard her daughter's words and started screaming along.

"Daisy saw your son in person — she even knows his name!"

"Don't you dare keep trying to weasel out of this, Vera!"

I watched the three of them taking turns with their little charade, and all I felt was contempt.

I knew exactly why Daisy felt bold enough to lie so brazenly. The patch of woods behind Pack House was a blind spot in patrol coverage. No one ever passed through, and there wasn't a single witness to contradict them. The family had exploited that gap, spinning their lies without a shred of fear.

I was done arguing with these people.

I turned to face Alpha Kieran directly.

"Alpha, their testimony is full of contradictions and obvious holes." My voice was hard. "A few words aren't proof of anything."

Alpha Kieran met my gaze and gave a slight nod. His demeanor made it clear he intended to conduct a fair hearing.

Gloria panicked. She scrambled to her feet and screamed at the Alpha.

"Every word my daughter said is the truth!"

Harold's jaw was clenched so tight a muscle jumped in his cheek.

He glared at me through gritted teeth. "If you won't handle this, Alpha, I will."

I held Harold's stare without flinching.

"You think a few unsubstantiated claims are enough to convict my son? Pack law isn't something your family gets to twist to suit yourselves."

The watching pack members took my pushback as stubbornness. The jeering grew louder.

"The outsider Beta is exactly as unreliable as we thought!" someone yelled.

"She won't even own up to what her son did!"

I straightened my spine and let my voice rise above their curses.

"The truth hasn't been determined yet. I'd think twice before letting yourselves be used as someone else's weapon."

Gloria caught the crowd rallying behind her and grew bolder. She turned and fixed me with a venomous look.

"You said our evidence wasn't enough?"

A smirk crept across her face.

"Then take a good look at this."

Gloria turned and waved toward the edge of the crowd.

A woman in a dark cloak stepped onto the training grounds.

A witch. Clearly hired by Gloria.

Harold puffed up his chest and announced to the crowd.

"We brought a witch to perform a memory trace on Daisy!"

"The witch has already seen the attacker's face in the memory playback!"

The witch stepped forward to stand before Alpha Kieran.

"Alpha, I performed a memory trace spell on Daisy. In the playback, I clearly saw a young male who identified himself as Koda assaulting her."

As she spoke, she produced a crystal ball. She murmured an incantation, and a projected memory flickered to life above the crystal.

The image was blurry — impossible to make out the attacker's face clearly.

But everyone could see a young male figure violently tearing at Daisy's clothes.

In the playback, Daisy struggled desperately, whimpering in anguish.

"Koda, please let me go..."

The male figure let out a cruel laugh.

He backhanded Daisy hard across the face, the crack ringing out over the training grounds.

"Don't push your luck!"

He snarled viciously.

"You were smiling at me all day when I moved in — flirting with me, weren't you?"

The playback cut out abruptly.

The training grounds erupted into pandemonium.