Chapter 3

Audrey

One voice broke the silence first.

"No wonder she vanished thirteen years ago! She was sent undercover!"

But someone immediately shot back.

"No. A mission wouldn't take that long. She must have been turned while she was undercover. Why else would she spend all those years in the Dark Moon Pack without sending back a single word? Edna was the one who kept gathering intelligence about Blue Ghost shipments, drastically reducing the amount that reached us."

Someone else chimed in at once.

"Exactly! And Audrey killed Klein. We all know that! The fatal wound on his body was the one she inflicted!"

At that, the doubt in their eyes hardened back into hatred.

Killing Klein, their beloved former Alpha, was the biggest reason they despised me.

But Eugene didn't move. He only stared at me, hard, as if trying to read something in my exhausted, listless eyes.

Hermia was looking at me too, visibly shaken. She had never once imagined that her mother might actually love her.

A vicious glint flashed through Edna's eyes, then vanished beneath her usual warmth. She spoke softly to Eugene.

"Maybe we should stop here. Audrey may simply have lost her way for a moment when she killed Klein and Hilary.

"And she may not have come back in thirteen years, but she is still Hermia's mother."

With two airy sentences that sounded like a defense, Edna reminded Eugene and Hermia of every one of my supposed crimes.

A vicious mate. An unfit mother.

The look in Hermia's eyes cooled at once.

And yes, whatever my reasons for leaving, it was true that I had not spared her a single word in thirteen years.

In her eyes, I didn't deserve to be called a mother.

I couldn't hold a candle to Edna, the stepmother who had been at Hermia's side since childhood, who handmade a birthday gift for her every year and had once risked her life to save her.

"Continue," Eugene ordered coldly.

At his command, the Memory Crystal trial passed the point of no return.

From that moment on, it would keep extracting the most important memories buried in my mind until I died in agony and my soul dissolved completely. No one could stop the process.

Pain tore through me, pain that made my wolf howl like a dying thing, and the second memory appeared before the crowd.

Everyone recognized the backdrop of this memory.

It was the place where Klein had died at my hands: the Phantom Forest, between the Flame Pack and the Dark Moon Pack.

A stir ran through the crowd. Surely this memory would prove I had murdered the former Alpha.

In the vision I wore a white cloak, its wide hood hiding half my face, the moonlight stretching my shadow long across the ground.

Standing across from me was Klein.

Frustration edged my voice as I said, "That damned mole. I was this close to finding out who she was! Then she exposed me to the Dark Moon Pack by telling them I was Eugene's mate. They already suspect me, so there's little point in staying undercover. Maybe we should call off the operation."

Klein thought for a moment, then asked, "Who do you think the mole might be?"

I sighed. "I don't care who it is anymore. I just want to go home. Two years. I haven't seen Eugene and Hermia in two years. Klein, I want to go home."

Klein said nothing. He only looked at me, apology written all over his face.

A terrible feeling crept over me.

"Audrey, the Blue Ghost has spread too far through the Flame Pack. With the leads we have now, there's no way to keep it from crossing our border.

"If you pull out, it will be even harder to place another undercover agent inside the Dark Moon Pack. The Flame Pack needs you to stay."

I frowned. "But I've already been exposed..."

"No. There's still one way left. You can defect."

I stared at Klein, bewildered.

Then his next words made me doubt my own ears. "Kill me, and no one will question your defection. The Dark Moon Pack won't merely stop suspecting you; they'll raise your standing and give you access to their most closely guarded secrets."

I blurted, "Have you lost your mind, Klein?!"

Klein gave a bitter little smile. "My mind is perfectly clear, Audrey. I've been poisoned by a strange toxin. I don't have much time left anyway..."

I whispered, numb, "Who poisoned you? The mole... it has to be her."

I screamed, my voice raw with rage. "I'll kill her! I'll kill her!"

Klein crushed me into his arms and patted my back, gently, the way he used to when I was small.

I sobbed and wailed against his chest. Holding back his own tears, he said slowly, "Audrey, kill me. Then stay under. Find the mole. Avenge me. Avenge the countless people of the Flame Pack drowning in this nightmare... Promise me."

I choked back sobs, as if swallowing every drop of blood-soaked hatred and letting it grow into fangs and claws inside me.

"I promise. I promise you."

The moonlight that night was pale as frost, and it made Klein's blood on my white cloak burn all the brighter.

The last thing he ever said to me was this.

"I'm sorry. I promised you'd be home in six months. From here on, you'll have to walk this road alone."

I never wore white again. I disappeared into the dark for good.

The second memory ended there, and the crowd erupted.