Rogue

[Hyacinth]

[The Moon Goddess Temple - The Tribunal of Elders]

“Hyacinth Althea Monrovia James, you have been brought before the Tribunal of Elders because you have been accused of the crime of adultery,” the older wolf pauses, looking down on me with no attempt to hide his disgust. “How do you plead?”

I am standing inside the backroom of the pack Moon Goddess Temple. The walls are white, the floors are white. Everything is pure except for me. 

Still draped in the same dirty sheet as before, I am covered in filth. 

Unlike other packs, our pack does not have an Alpha. Instead, we have a Tribunal Elders made up of the most influential members of our pack, put in place after our last Alpha passed away. Someday we may have a new Alpha, but until then they are in charge of running the pack and meeting for tribunals to solve pack issues.

They stare at me from their tall backed chairs, waiting for me to respond. The world is spinning, I can barely stand. Not just from nerves, but from the lingering effects of the drugs in my system.

 As the pack Delta, my father is a board member. He stands in judgment of me, sitting there with the other judges, his face blank, as if I were just another criminal and not his own flesh and blood.

I try to explain to the tribunal, to answer their every question, but nobody seems to be listening to my words. 

“Did you, or did you not, have sexual relations with a man who is not your mate,” the Gamma asks directly, his deep voice booming in the mostly empty room. 

“I don’t know,” I shout through tears. “Like I said before, I can’t remember.”

No matter what I say, they have already decided who I am and what I have done. 

“How can you ‘not know’ dearie,” a shrill older female asks from the other end of the tribunal. She replaced my mother as Beta after her death. Every time I see her is a reminder of what I have already lost. “You are covered in your own blood and the dried juices of your lover.”

My body is so heavy, I feel like I could fall asleep standing. 

“Answer us, girl!” My father demands. “Guilty or Not Guilty.”

As I stand there, listening to them proclaim my guilt, I feel the weight of everything falling on my shoulders. But I also feel rage at the injustice of this system.

“Guilty…not guilty…” I repeat sarcastically, my voice gaining strength as I try to contain my anger at this situation. “How can I be guilty if I don’t know what happened?”

“I think you know what happened,” The Delta pleads, “Just tell the truth and we might show you some mercy.”

I want to laugh in her face. Mercy? This system has no mercy, only judgment. 

“The truth is,” I take a deep breath. “I think someone might have framed me, set me up to be in this situation.”

“Who?” The Beta inquires, her face bored as she adjusts her glasses. I can tell from her expression that she doesn’t believe me.

“I don’t know,” I will not weep although my heart is heavy. I refuse to show them any more of my tears. “Maybe one of my sister’s friends? Someone else at the party, it could have been anyone.”

The entire Pack Board gasps. 

“Are you accusing your sister?” The Gamma shouts. I wince at the harshness of his tone. 

“Of course not,” I stammer nervously. “It's just that she handed me a drink and I…”

“Do you realize that by bringing her up you can ruin her reputation?” My father spits, furious, his eyes filled with anger and fear. “How dare you bring her up at this tribunal. She has done nothing but show you kindness.” 

“But she’s the one who handed me the drink. I only had one. And then I can’t remember much after that?”

“So now you are accusing your sister of drugging you?

“No, of course not,” I try again. I want so badly for them to understand. I need them to understand. “But maybe if we ask her about last night she might know something,” I suggest. 

The Beta pinches her nose in frustration. “I don’t see any reason to bring your poor sister into this. This happened because of your poor judgment. Regardless of whether or not you understood what you were doing at the time, your actions remain the same, as do your consequences.”

My anger boils to the surface again at her words. “These rules make no sense!” I shout at the injustice of the situation, my fists clenching as I try to rein in my emotions. 

The Beta shakes her head, glaring down in disappointment. “I wish you had answered differently, my child, but you have no remorse for your actions. Based on the evidence before us, I judge you guilty of the crime of adultery. All in agreement?”

The remaining three hands rise in the air. 

“It is unanimous,” the Beta decrees. “The punishment is immediate banishment. You are no longer a member of your family or this pack. From this moment on you are a rogue.”

One by one, each of the four members of the tribunal stands and turns, showing me their backs, shunning me from the Gold River Pack. 

The last person to turn is my father, his eyes hard and unyielding.

____________

Angry and afraid, not sure of what I am going to do next, I walk home. As if the Moon Goddess herself is mocking me, it starts to rain. Large drops of ice-cold water hit my body, chilling me, saturating the fabric of the sheet until it clings to me in a shocking display, revealing all of my curves to the world. 

Apparently, news of my shunning spread fast because as soon as I make my way through town, people on the street turn their backs as I pass. Some even throw rotting things at my feet. 

When I reach my house, I try to enter with the spare key, but it doesn’t work.

“Let me in,” I beg, banging on the door. “Please, I just want to grab my things and..”

It opens suddenly. 

“Oh, you’re still here,” Ashlynd fills the doorway, blocking my entrance. “I thought you’d be long gone by now.”

I don’t say anything, I just glare at her. 

“It’s a shame you lost the necklace I let you borrow,” she sighs. “It was worth a few grand. You could have used the money to buy a bus ticket. Now you’ll have to pray that whoever picks you up on the side of the road isn’t a serial killer.”

Reaching up to touch my collarbone, I notice the necklace is missing. 

“The necklace didn’t even belong to me,” she confesses. “I had borrowed it from that family vault. It was your mother’s.” 

A sudden wash of sorrow flows through me. I had lost something precious. 

“You need to get out of here before anyone sees you,” Ashlynd throws a plastic bag full of some of my things at my feet. It lands in a large puddle, covering everything in mud. “Now!”

“But…I” her actions are so strange today. Why is she being so distant? 

“Good luck out there, Cindy,” she smiles sadly. “I hope Hunter doesn’t find you. Rogues can be unpredictable and he’s already had a taste of you.”

“Who?”

“The man who defiled you. He could be out there waiting to do it again,” her eyes are big, looking around to see if anyone notices. “I wouldn’t come back around here again if I were you. Who knows what might happen next time.”

It is only as I make my way out of town that something strange occurs to me. 

If Ashlynd had nothing to do with this, how did she know so much about what happened?

And how did she know his name?