THE POISONED PAST

MAYA

"You knew me, didn't you?"

The words came out harshly as I stood over Marcus's bed in the healer's cottage, watching him struggle to breathe.

Dr. Chen had stabilized him after his collapse, but his face was still pale, his breathing labored.

His eyes met mine, and something broke in his expression.

"Sera," he whispered, reaching for my hand, "you're alive."

I pulled back, my heart racing.

"My name is Maya."

"No," he shook his head weakly, "you're Sera, I'd know you anywhere, I helped deliver you when you were born."

The room tilted.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your mother was the pack healer before you," his voice cracked, "I was there the night you came into this world, I loved you like a daughter."

I sank into the chair beside his bed.

"So you knew her, knew Sera."

"When Kaden told me you died, it destroyed me." Tears streamed down his face. "I blamed myself for not protecting you."

"Protecting me from what?"

He tried to sit up but winced, clutching his chest.

"The threats, the people who wanted to use you against Kaden, I should have seen it coming."

"What people threatened me?" 

"I can't," he gasped, "it's not safe."

I leaned closer, desperate.

"Marcus, please, I need to know what happened."

"You need to leave," he gripped my wrist, "before it happens again, before they make you into something you're not."

"Before who makes me into what?"

"The witch," he breathed, "the one who brought you back, she's not done with you yet."

Cold fear washed through me.

"What witch?"

Before he could answer, the door opened.

Lyanna walked in carrying a tea tray, her smile bright and false.

"There you are," she said cheerfully, "I brought tea for our patient and our guest."

Something in her tone made my skin crawl.

"I don't want tea."

"Nonsense," she poured two cups, handing one to me, "you look exhausted, this will help you sleep."

Marcus's eyes went wide, his mouth opening like he wanted to warn me.

But Lyanna moved between us, blocking his view.

"Drink up," she said sweetly, "it's a special blend, very calming."

I stared at the cup, every instinct screaming danger.

But my hands were shaking, my head pounding, and the promise of sleep was too tempting.

I drank it.The tea was bitter, leaving a strange metallic taste on my tongue.

Lyanna's smile widened.

"Good girl," she said, "now why don't you go rest? Marcus needs his sleep, too."

I stood up, my vision already going fuzzy.

"Wait," Marcus tried to say, but his voice came out weak.

I stumbled out, my body feeling heavy and disconnected.

I barely made it to the guest house before darkness pulled me under.

When I came back to myself, I was standing in the training yard.

My hands were covered in blood.

Three bodies lay at my feet, their throats torn out, their eyes staring at nothing.

Pack warriors in training gear.

I stumbled backward, horror flooding through me.

"No," I whispered, "what did I do?"

Voices shouted in the distance, getting closer.

Then the entire pack was there, surrounding me, their faces twisted with fear and rage.

"Monster," someone shouted.

"She killed them in cold blood."

The crowd parted, and Kaden walked through, his face cold and empty.

He looked at the bodies, then at me.

"Kaden," I choked out, "I didn't mean to, the tea Lyanna gave me, I think she did something."

"Enough," his voice came out flat."But you promised to help me."

He looked at me, and what I saw in his eyes made my heart shatter.

Disgust, betrayal, resignation.

"Lock her in the cells," he said to the guards, "maximum security, silver chains, no food, no water, no visitors."

"Kaden, please."

He turned away, addressing the pack.

"Tomorrow at dawn, we will hold a trial," his voice rang with Alpha command, "the pack will vote on whether she lives or dies."

The crowd murmured, some nodding, others looking unsure.

I searched their faces for anyone who might show mercy.

But all I saw was fear and hatred.

Guards grabbed my arms.

I didn't fight as they dragged me toward the cells, my eyes locked on Kaden's back as he walked away.

Lyanna appeared beside him, slipping her arm through his.

She looked back at me and for just a moment, her mask slipped.

I saw triumph in her ice blue eyes, cold satisfaction.

The guards threw me into the cell, silver chains burning as they locked around my wrists and ankles.

The door slammed shut.

I was alone, completely and utterly alone.

Tomorrow I will die.I curled up on the cold stone floor, my body shaking.

The blackouts were getting worse, the violence escalating.

I'd killed four people in two days.

Maybe Kaden was right, maybe I deserved to die.

A sound made me look up.

Someone was standing outside the cell, hidden in shadows.

"Who's there?" I called out.

The figure stepped into the dim light.

Marcus.

He looked terrible, still pale and weak, but his eyes burned with determination.

"I told you to leave," he said quietly, "I told you it wasn't safe."

"What are you doing here?"

"Saving you," he pulled a key from his pocket, "because if I don't, everything Sera fought for will be for nothing."

He moved toward the cell door.

That's when I smelled it, blood dripping from a wound on his side.

"Marcus, you're hurt, you need a healer."

"I'm already dying," he said, unlocking the cell, "Lyanna poisoned my tea tonight too."

The words hit me like a blow.

"She poisoned you?

"She's been poisoning me for months," he said, helping me to my feet, "making it look like heart failure, because I know the truth about what she is."The silver chains fell away.

"Tell me.”

He opened his mouth to answer.

Then his eyes went wide, his body jerking forward.

A knife protruded from his back, blood blooming across his shirt.

He fell into my arms.

I looked up.

Lyanna stood in the doorway, her hand still raised from throwing the knife.

"Such a shame," she said softly, "he was a good Beta, but loyalty only matters when it's to the right person."

Marcus coughed, blood on his lips.

"Run," he whispered to me.

Then his eyes closed, and his body went still in my arms.