CHAPTER 2~ A LAMB AMONGST BUTCHERS

On the cold floor Linessa still sat, staring blankly at the wall when she heard the screech of the heavy, iron bolt on the door sliding back.

The door swung open and the thud of boots rushing down the wooden stairs should've instilled fear within her heart, but that emotion had been burnt out and replaced by the cold, heavy weight of Kenneth's betrayal.

She looked up at the intruders; two pack warriors stood before her cell. One had the keys to her cell dangling in his hand and the other had handcuffs in his. "It's time to go, Luna."

The title was spat with a sneer, but Linessa didn't give them the satisfaction of a flinch. She barely even looked at them.

The one with the keys opened her cell, and before he could yank her up, she struggled to her feet; steadily, despite not eating for 3 days. She walked towards the opening of her cell, but the guard with the cuffs stepped in front of her, shaking them in her face. "Not so fast, you're supposed to wear these cuffs like bracelets."

Linessa looked at the cuffs, then at him. They were mocking her, it was obvious. The same people whom she had risked her life to protect on multiple occasions were using her fall from grace to mock her. A sad smile spread across her lips as she calmly turned her back and placed her hands behind her, silently giving him permission to cuff her.

He did, and then proceeded to lead the way out. She followed, every step up the stairs a struggle that brought her closer to her demise.

She walked through the dungeon doors, the scent of outside: the fresh air, the trees and even the scent of smoke was a luxury she'd been kept from for three days.

The world swayed when she looked around, weakness in her knees as she turned in the direction of the meeting grounds. Without her hands to steady her, the simple act of walking felt like a battle. But she proceeded and she did so without falling.

The long walk was silent until it wasn't anymore.

As she approached the meeting grounds, she could hear the yells of the pack; loud, wild, merciless. But one by one the voices died when her scent touched the air.

All eyes turned to her, assessing her with what she could only pin as disgust...not pity and certainly not sorrow.

She looked through the many faces, searching...perhaps foolishly...for one face that might soften.

Her eyes found her mother's...

And her heart sank.

She looked at Linessa just as everyone else did; like a flaw...like a sickness...like something that needed to be scorned...

And her father who stood beside her wore the very same look on his face.

No hesitation...

No pity...

No sign that the woman being marched to her death was once the little girl he once carried on his shoulders.

They weren't monsters...that would've made them easier to hate.

They were believers...and somehow that felt far crueler.

Holding her head down, she walked through the iron gates, the two men who escorted her now lost somewhere in the crowd.

The air felt cold now, and as the frigid air bristled against Linessa’s skin, she truly knew what it felt like to be alone in a world full of enemies. Each step she took felt heavy as if the world and all its problems rested atop her head, and though the aisle was short, in Linessa's state, it seemed long.

Her gaze stayed fixated on her feet, wavering from defiant to diffident, and her tiny hands were curled into angry fists behind her back.

She didn't know how to feel, especially when she was trying to feel nothing. The yells were gone, but now, whispers unfurled around her, creeping like spiders inside her ears, and every single one of them had tremors running down her spine. She tried to block them out, but that made the sound of her palpitating heart a bit too loud…so she listened as the same people she loved brought her down to the very ground.

As she approached the altar, she finally looked up, her eyes immediately meeting his. Her breath caught in her throat, and memories; good and bad flooded her mind, creating a tsunami that drowned out her thoughts.

Beside him was Katya; a woman Linessa thought would forever be her friend…but tonight Linessa was neither a friend nor a foe...to them, she was their sacrifice.

She took the first step up, the chains that shackled her wrists clinking softly as she did so. Kenneth didn't look away, he watched her climb with a terrifying sense of satisfaction. It was as if he was watching a difficult puzzle finally fall into place. Beside him, Katya's expression mirrored his, polished with a hint of victory.

Linessa swallowed the bile rising in her throat. She would not feed their triumph by begging, her pride was the only thing she had left, and she wouldn't diminish it.

With a deep, determined breath, she descended the final step, but before she could even level herself with the leading elder of the council, Katya moved. It was a fluid, sudden motion that almost made Linessa flinch, however she caught herself; locking her knees and stiffening her spine.

'No weakness' she told herself, the words a mantra against the cold. 'Not a single tear for them to drink'.

Katya didn't strike her. Instead, she reached out with a delicate hand, her fingers hovering near a loose button on Linessa's tattered shirt. "Oh, Linessa..." She murmured, loud enough for the front row to hear. Her voice was calm and sweet as she clasped the button into place, but Linessa could practically taste the venom dripping from it. "You look so worn out and tired...let's at least have you looking like a Luna one last time. You deserve so much more than just that."

She leaned in, arms latching around Linessa in an embrace that wasn't warm at all. It felt like the breeze; sharp, lifeless...cold as ice.

She breathed against Linessa's neck and for a second, Linessa's heart refused to beat. If it hadn't before, then everything sank in now. She'd basically been valuing people who never in their life valued her. The people she always saw as her friends were always her enemies. She was a lamb in a place full of butchers.

Katya pulled away, stepping back to Kenneth's side with a mask of sadness for the crowd. She tucked her hand into the crook of his arm; a claim staked in front of the entire pack.

Kenneth smiled, his eyes cold as he looked at Linessa. It was as if ~to him~ she was already dead.

Linessa didn't blink. She didn't look at the ground. She held her head high, finally seeing everyone as who they were. She saw them as they saw her; as a lamb that she wanted to butcher...all of them.

Every eye that mocked her, every mouth that disrespected her and every hand that had taken her protection only to scorn her now...

All of them.

Squaring her shoulders, she stepped in front of the elder. "Shall my trial begin?"

He looked at her, his stare was cold, no empathy even though he was looking at his Luna. “Yes," he intoned, the word echoing across the now silent ground. "We shall begin your trial."