Blood Against Blood

The voices belonged to Mia and the twin princes.

I stood in the corner of my new, soft room. I was shaking.

I had been set up by them.

I had tried to run to find Alpha Claude. I had run into the hall, but the guard Garen had told me the Alpha was in a sudden, closed-door meeting with the Elders. He could not be disturbed.

I felt sick. I was trapped. If I went back to my room, they would find me there. If I ran, it would look like guilt. I decided to wait by the stairs, hoping to intercept the Alpha.

I waited for ten minutes. Then I heard the stomping. Heavy, deliberate boots coming up the marble staircase. Many of them.

“She’s in here, Garen! The Alpha's private pet!” Zayne’s voice was loud and full of triumph.

I spun around. Zayne, Zack, Mia, and four heavy guards were storming toward me.

“There she is! The little snake!” Zack yelled.

Zayne pointed at me. “Arrest her! Take her back to her room!”

The guards hesitated. Garen, the guard who knew the Alpha’s orders, stepped forward.

“Prince Zayne, the Alpha commanded that she is not to be touched.”

Zayne shoved Garen aside. “I am your future Alpha! This is a matter of treason! She is plotting to kill my father! You take orders from me now! Or you face the same fate as her traitor parents!”

That threat was enough. Two of the guards grabbed my arms, their grips bruising.

“Let go of me! I didn’t do anything!” I shouted.

“Silence, murderer!” Zayne snarled. He forced me toward my room.

When we got there, Zack was already inside with Mia. Mia was standing by the bed, pointing a shaking finger at the pillow.

“Look, Zayne! I found it! I was just fluffing her pillow and I saw it!” Mia said. She was a terrible actress.

Zayne stormed over. He reached under the pillow and pulled out a small, dark vial. It was glass. It held a dark liquid. Beside it, he held a crumpled piece of paper.

“Here it is!” Zayne yelled. He held the vial up for the guards to see. “The poison! The very poison she planned to put in my father’s meal!”

He smoothed the paper flat. He read it out loud, his voice full of drama. “'If Alpha Claude continues to treat this servant well, I will use this to end his life. He chose wrong. He must be removed.' It’s signed with an R. R for Rayna!”

The guards gasped. My heart sank to my stomach. It was happening exactly as I heard it planned.

“It’s a lie! I didn’t write that! I have never seen that vial! I was out of my room!” I pleaded, trying to pull away from the guards.

Zack grabbed my face, his fingers digging into my cheeks. “Don’t lie, you filthy peasant! You think we are stupid? You think your innocent eyes can save you twice? You are a murderer! Just like your parents!”

“Take her to the courtyard!” Zayne commanded. “The pack must see the evidence! They must demand justice!”

I was dragged out of the room, down the stairs, and out to the main courtyard. It was already filling up. News in the pack house moved faster than a shifting wolf.

Zayne and Zack stood me in the center, near the old execution block. The pack members poured out of the buildings. They saw me, the rejected servant, standing between the triumphant princes and the block.

The shouting started at once.

“Treason!”

“Kill her! Kill the traitor’s spawn!”

“She’s a snake! She never changed!”

“Execute her now! Do it, Princes!”

The words were a physical assault. I felt dizzy, crushed by the hatred. They all wanted me dead. They wanted the last remnant of my family gone forever.

Zayne held up the vial of poison and the note. He was a perfect actor. He looked hurt and betrayed.

“Pack of Moonlight!” he roared. “We have been betrayed! This serpent, this mate-less trash our father pitied, tried to plot the Alpha’s murder!”

He detailed the 'discovery' of the poison and the note. The pack's cries grew louder. They demanded my head.

I was crying uncontrollably now. Tears streamed down my face. I looked around, desperate for any kindness. I saw none. Only rage.

“Please! It’s not true! I didn’t do it! I swear on the Moon Goddess!” I screamed, but no one heard me.

Suddenly, the crowd went silent.

Alpha Claude walked into the courtyard. His face was like granite. He walked straight through the center of the crowd until he stood a few feet from me.

“What is the meaning of this spectacle?” his voice was low, but it held the full weight of his Alpha command.

Zayne stepped forward quickly. “Father! Thank the Goddess we caught her! This is Rayna! She was plotting your death! We found this poison and this note in her room!”

Alpha Claude held out his hand. “Give them to me.”

Zayne hesitated, but then handed over the vial and the crumpled note.

Alpha Claude looked at the poison. He looked at the note. He looked at his sons. Then he looked at me. His eyes were unreadable.

“Rayna,” he said. “Tell me the truth. Did you write this note? Did you buy this poison?”

“No! Alpha, I swear, no!” I cried, pulling against the guards’ grip. “I heard them! I heard Zack and Mia planning it last night! They put it there! They want me gone because you showed me kindness!”

Zack stepped forward, his face red with false outrage. “Don’t listen to her, Father! She is lying! She is a natural liar! Look at her history! Her parents lied to you too! She is trying to turn you against your own blood!”

“She lies!” Zayne shouted. “She’s trying to destroy our family! You must execute her, Father! Now! Before she acts!”

Alpha Claude raised his hand again. The noise stopped instantly. He looked at his two sons, his expression a tight mask of disappointment and cold fury.

He held the note up.

“The script is amateur,” Alpha Claude announced, his voice carrying clearly across the silent courtyard. “'He chose wrong. He must be removed.' These are the words of a child trying to sound like a spy. Not a truly desperate mind.”

He dropped the note to the ground. He looked at the vial.

“This poison is common. It is too easily obtained. And the timing.” He looked at Zayne. “The timing is too convenient. You drag her out less than twenty-four hours after I tell the entire pack she is under my direct protection. And you, my sons, are the ones who 'stumbled' upon the evidence.”

He walked until he was standing right in front of me. He looked into my eyes. I looked back, only seeing my fear and desperation.

“I know the truth of treachery, Zayne. I have faced it before. And this... this is not it.”

He turned to the pack. “The charges are dismissed. Rayna is innocent. This was a setup designed to remove a person I chose to protect. No harm will come to her.”

The pack erupted. Not in joy, but in rage. They yelled that the Alpha was blinded. They shouted about my parents again. They shouted about his weakness.

But the loudest voice was Zayne's.

“Father, you are making a grave mistake!” Zayne screamed, his face contorted with genuine disbelief and anger. “She will be your downfall! This is how wars begin! You choose a traitor’s spawn over your own sons! This is an insult to your Luna’s memory!”

Zack joined him. “You are weak! You are protecting a parasite! You will regret this day!”

Alpha Claude ignored the pack. He ignored his sons. He just looked at the guards who still held my arms.

“Release her. Now.”

The guards let go. I stumbled. Alpha Claude put his arm around my back, holding me steady. He turned and walked me away from the angry crowd and the furious princes, straight back into the house.

That night, I lay on my soft, new bed, my body aching from the guards' rough handling. I didn't feel safe. I felt exposed.

I was alive. I was pardoned. But the Alpha had not just saved my life again. He had publicly, violently chosen me. He chose the accused servant, the daughter of traitors, over the Crown Princes of the Moonlight Pack.

There would be no peace now. I had not only survived rejection, but I had caused a war inside the Royal House. The princes would never forgive him. And they would never forgive me.