Six

Harper's POV

Wait, that shirt looks familiar.....

"I knew it, I knew that bitch killed Tristan!" A voice spat angrily. 

Right! That was Tristan's shirt.

Wait what?

Tristan's bloodstained shirt in my room? 

What the fuck is that doing here?

How did----

The man holding the blood-stained shirt thrust it forward like some damn trophy, with a victorious smirk on his face.

"Look what we have here." One of the men drawled out. "I always knew there was something about this bitch."

"That's.... that's not.... what's going on? who put that there???" I yelled, my voice cracking with panic and I struggled in vain with the man pining me down.

"Don't you think we should be asking you that question? What is this shirt doing in your room, Harper?" One of the men scowled at me.

Was this a joke??

"I'm asking you because I don't know too! Why is----"

The man restraining me, Marcus was one of the pack's guards, he snarled, "Shut the fuck up and save your breath, Harper. You will need it when you explain yourself to the Alpha. Now move, we cannot keep the Alpha waiting."

I frowned, "The Alpha? Alpha Damon? What does he have to do with this??" I was confused.

"He has everything to do with this. We are here on his orders to search your room for any evidence of Tristan's murder."

"What?!" I exclaimed in shock but before I could recover from what Marcus just said, he grabbed my arm and started dragging me out of the room.

"Hey, let me go!!" I screamed. "Are you sure Alpha Damon sent you?! That's not possi---- can you let go of me??! I can fucking walk on my own!" I continued screaming but all my screams fell on deaf ears as he dragged me out of my room.

"Hey, don't you think we should keep looking? There might be more. Remember the Alpha ordered us to find evidences as many as possible." Another man, Jax barked from inside my room, from the corner of my eye, I could see him rummaging my closet, tossing my clothes aside like trash.

"More?! More what?! Get the fuck out of my room, you pieces of shit!" I barked at them, kicking the air futilely. 

A growing crowd of the pack members had now gathered at the door, they whispered and murmured among themselves, giving me different kinds of looks, none of them pleasant. "That's blood on his shirt. It was found in her room." "So she killed him? Gosh...." "And he really liked her, how could she do this?" "I told you she had that look of a killer." "What a crazy bitch."

Suddenly Jax shouted from inside the room. "Found something else! Told you!" Before I knew it, he came out of the room, flaunting a backpack in front of my face. "Now would you like to explain why you have Tristan's backpack in your damn closet?" 

I tried to come up with something but after opening and closing my mouth several times and words failed me, I gave up. I continued staring at the backpack in shock and confusion.

I could feel my heart in my stomach and the nausea on my tongue.

"Exactly what I thought." Jax said with enthusiasm. 

The backpack, Tristan's backpack was the one he was carrying the night he was killed and it was now in Jax's hand, smeared with dried blood and dirt.

"This is impossible.... I.... I never----"

"Impossible?" Marcus's fingers dug into my arm and I whimpered in pain. "This was reported missing when Tristan's body was found. And here it is, stashed in your room. Did it walk in here on its own?"

"I swear, I don't know how it got there!" Tears stung my eyes but I forcefully blinked them back. I can't break down in front of the whole pack. "Someone planted this! Tristan was my mate! My boyfriend! Why would I want him dead?! Think about it!" My voice cracked as I shouted at the top of my voice but talking to these men felt like I was talking to a freaking wall.

The fourth man, Vincent moved closer to me and with a dark chuckle, he said, "We're not here to reason with you, Harper. We are here to drag your evil ass to the council hall. You have some explaining to do to Alpha Damon." 

Was this really Damon's doing? No he wouldn't--- but I barely know the guy and he doesn't exactly have good records. But why would he----

"Take her away." Jax ordered, shoving past the crowd. Marcus dragged me forward, making me stumble into the hallway. Murmurs increased among the crowd and their disgusted stares burned into my body.

"Harper!" I heard Glynn's voice cut through the murmurs, she pushed through the crowd and stumbled in front of me. Her eyes were wide with shock. "Harper? What the hell is going on? Let her go, you fucker!" She screamed at Marcus.

"Why don't you stay out of this, Glynndon? Except you want to end up in the dungeon." Marcus warned with a low growl. 

"Fuck you!" Glynn snapped and stepped right up to him. Her claws were extended halfway already. "You barge into her room at dawn, trash the place and now you're accusing her of what? Murder?? Have you all lost your goddamn minds?!"

Jax held up the shirt and backpack for everyone to see. "These were found in her room. Do you need more explanation or will you get the fuck out of the way?"

I saw an emotion flash through Glynn's face but she didn't back down. "This is bullshit. Harper wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone her mate. Someone is setting her up!"

"We are done talking to you, Miss." Vincent interrupted and grabbed my other arm, then brought out a silver blade and glared at Glynn. "Now move it. As you can see I'm not playing with you."

I quickly signaled to Glynn, shaking my head to silently tell her to back down. This was not worth killing herself for.

"I will get to the root of this, Harper. I will prove your innocence." Glynn assured me, with her eyes locked on mine.

I gave her a small smile and nodded.

"Well, good luck with that." Marcus said sarcastically and with Vincent on my other arm, they marched me through the pack house, down to the council hall.