Chapter 5: Judgment Day

Nyssa’s Pov

The sun is only just above the trees when they come for me.

I hear them first, many boots on the dirt, low growls, the sound of weapons. The whole pack stands around the Moon Cell like wolves around something hurt and weak. Through the glass I see them all: old ones, young ones, mothers holding babies. They stare at me with angry yellow eyes.

The silver has cut my wrists open. Dried blood sticks to the cuffs. I smell metal and sweat. But I sit up straight. I will not look broken.

Raiden walks into the circle first. He looks tired. Dark circles are under his eyes. His face is tight. The bite I gave him shows through his torn shirt—dark red and ugly.

Kael comes next, with a cold little smile I already hate. Then Elder Voss with his walking staff. Then Thorne and ten big warriors holding spears.

Raiden lifts one hand. Everyone becomes quiet.

“Pack law says,” he says in a strong, clear voice, “an assassin caught here must be judged by the Circle. The punishment is death.”

Many wolves growl yes.

Kael steps closer. “Then kill her, Alpha. Or let me do it.”

Raiden does not look at him. His eyes stay on me.

I stand up slowly. The chains are heavy, but I stand tall. I look at every wolf, one by one, until some look away.

“I came here to kill your Alpha,” I say loudly so everyone hears. “I failed. So kill me. But if you kill me today, you will never know who really burned Greyhaven.”

No one speaks.

Kael growls. “She is lying to stay alive.”

Raiden turns to him. “Then let her prove the truth. Twenty-six days. She lives until the full moon. If she gives names and proof of who sent her, she dies fast. If she lies, she dies slow and everyone watches.”

The growls are louder now.

An older woman shouts, “She is only human! She has no rights!”

Raiden’s voice is sharp. “She is my mate.”

Those words fall like a heavy stone. Everyone feels shock, anger, fear. The bond pushes all of it into me, and I feel sick.

Kael’s face goes white, then red. “You will break every law for...”

“I am the law,” Raiden says quietly. It sounds dangerous.

Elder Voss hits his staff on the ground once. “The mate bond is sacred, even with a human. The Alpha has spoken.”

Some wolves look ready to fight. Some show their teeth. But no one moves forward.

Raiden walks to the glass door. He opens it just enough to step inside. The pack watches, waiting for blood.

He stops a few steps away from me. I smell pine and smoke on him. The bond burns hot between us.

“Give me one name,” he says softly, only for me. “One name and I give you the twenty-six days.”

I laugh, but it hurts. “No one sent me, wolf. I told you.”

He looks deep into my eyes. He sees I am telling the truth.

He closes his eyes for a second, like the truth hurts him more than a lie.

“Then we do it the hard way,” he says under his breath.

He turns back to the pack.

“She stays in the Moon Cell until the full moon. No one touches her. No one talks to her except me. Anyone who breaks my rule will fight me with teeth and claws.”

Kael steps forward again. “And if she runs away?”

“She will not.” Raiden’s voice is hard as stone.

Kael smiles, thin and mean. “We will see.”

Raiden looks only at me now. “Food and water twice a day. Blankets when it is cold. A healer if the silver cuts too deep.”

I lift my head high. “I do not want your healer.”

“You will get one anyway.”

He starts to walk out.

I shake the chains hard. The loud noise makes many wolves jump.

“Raiden.”

He stops.

“When I am free from these chains,” I say so everyone hears, “I will still kill you.”

The bond burns bright and hurts. His back becomes stiff, but he does not turn.

“I know,” he says quietly.

Then he walks out and locks the door.

As soon as he is gone, the pack starts shouting. Some want my blood now. Some argue about the mate bond. A few look at Kael like he could be the next Alpha.

I sit back down on the floor. My wrists bleed again.

Twenty six days.

I will find a way. I always do. But for the first time, my plan feels weak.

Because every time Raiden looks at me, the bond whispers that maybe he is not the monster who burned my village.

That thought is more dangerous than any chain.

I rest my forehead on the cold glass and count heartbeats until the sun is high and the angry pack finally walks away.

I am still alive.

For now.

FLASH BACK

(The night my world ended)

I was nine years old when the wolves came.

Greyhaven was just a small village between two rivers. Nothing special. We grew apples, kept a few goats, and sold wool at the market three days away. We paid our taxes, stayed quiet, and told our children: never walk alone in the dark.

My mother, Elira, was the village healer. She had soft hands and a warm, kind voice. People came from far away for her medicines and teas. She taught me every plant name, how to make tea for fever, how to sew a cut so the scar stayed small. She never talked about my father. Only once, when I asked why I had no grandparents, she touched the crescent-shaped birthmark on my shoulder and said, “Some family blood is better left sleeping.”

That night the moon was full and orange. It hung low, like it wanted to see everything.

I remember the smell first: smoke in the air. Then the screaming started.

Mother pushed me toward the root cellar behind our house. “Go down. Do not come out until the sun is high. No matter what you hear.”

I held onto her skirt. “Come with me!”

She kissed my head, fast and hard. “I have to help the others. Go now.”

I crawled into the dark hole and closed the wooden door. I curled up between potatoes and onions. The screams grew louder. I covered my ears, but I still heard my mother calling names, telling people to run to the river.

Then I heard the fire roar.

Through tiny cracks I saw orange light on the walls. Heavy boots ran above me. Someone broke our front door. I heard Mother shout, strong and not afraid:

“Where is your Alpha? Raiden of Shadowfang did not order this!”

A man laughed, cold and mean. “The Alpha’s seal says different, witch.”

I did not know what “witch” meant yet.

I heard swords hit, then Mother cry out in pain. Then silence.

The cellar smelled of dirt, fear, and my own pee. I stayed there all night, shaking and saying every prayer I knew.

When morning came, I pushed the door open.

Greyhaven was gone.

Houses were only black bones. Dead people lay in the streets like broken toys. I found Mother in the village square. She was on her knees. Her throat was torn open. Her hands still held the little silver knife she used for plants. Her eyes looked at the sky, empty.

Around her neck was the pendant she always wore: a crescent moon inside a circle of thorns.

I took it. It was still warm from her.

That is when I saw the black flag nailed to the well. It had a red wolf head and Raiden’s own seal burned on it.

I was nine, black with smoke, covered in blood that was not mine, and I promised over my mother’s body:

I will learn everything about wolves.

I will find Raiden of Shadowfang.

I will cut out his heart and throw it in the river.

Twelve years later, I walked into his land with poison hidden in my clothes and that same pendant under my shirt.

Now the pendant sometimes burns hot against my skin when Raiden is near.

And the crescent mark on my shoulder has started to shine silver in the dark.

I still want him dead.

But every night in the Moon Cell, when I remember that night, I hear Mother’s words again, louder than before,

“Some bloodlines are better left sleeping.”

I think she was trying to keep me safe from what I'm really am.

And I am starting to be afraid she could not protect me after all.