Chapter 6

The next day, I went to the Alliance Council in the North and filed my application to travel to the South.

I'd barely made it out the door when Chloe's texts started flooding in.

"Sandra, check what's trending on the Alliance network!"

The top story was last night's Full Moon Ceremony.

Hundreds of wolves had been poisoned with wolfsbane after drinking from the Moon Spring at the ceremony. For now, they couldn't shift or heal. The hospitals were packed, and the Alliance had sealed off the Moon Spring for an investigation.

Under the story was a video of Vivian's interview.

She stood next to Kane with red eyes, her voice catching. "Sandra was at the ceremony yesterday. And we did have a little falling out, because my parents were leading the ceremony and moving into her room.

"But she just has a quick temper. Even if the wolfsbane in the Moon Spring is the same kind she carries for self-defense, that doesn't prove she did it. Please, everyone, don't blame her."

A reporter pressed her, asking if I was getting back at her because she'd taken the Luna title.

Vivian shook her head right away and clung to Kane's hand. "If Sandra wants the title, I'll give it back to her. I'm only asking her to stop hurting my family."

Right there in front of the cameras, Kane pulled her behind him and promised to get justice for her and her adoptive parents.

The comment section had already lost its mind.

Some people said I was jealous that Vivian took the Luna title from me, so I'd gone after her adoptive parents on purpose.

Others wanted the Alliance to strip me of my right to inherit my land and run me out of the North.

The same wolves who'd been laughing at her mixed blood the night before were now praising her kindness and forgiveness, and saying I didn't deserve to stay at Moonbridge.

But what actually stopped me cold was the photo of the ceremony's officiants in the story.

Where there should have been a picture of Vivian's adoptive parents, there was a photo of my parents, taken while they were still alive.

I immediately contacted the outlet that ran the story and demanded they take the photo down.

The editor hemmed and hawed and wouldn't agree, until I said I'd report them to the Alliance Council. Then he lowered his voice. "Alpha Kane provided the photo himself."

My mind went blank. I hung up and rushed to the Moonbridge council hall.

Before I even got inside, I heard Owen, the Beta Kane trusted most, confronting him.

"Vivian cries and begs you to protect her adoptive parents, so you put up a photo of Sandra's parents in their place? They died in the war seven years ago, and you know how much it would hurt her to drag them into this!"

Kane sounded tired. "At least the dead can't be hunted down by angry pack members. Once this blows over, I'll have the media take it down.

"Besides, Sandra's the one who put the wolfsbane in the Moon Spring."

Owen couldn't believe it. "You have proof?"

"She showed up at the ceremony yesterday, got into it with Vivian, then left early. And the wolfsbane in the Moon Spring is the same kind she likes to carry for self-defense."

His voice kept getting colder.

"Vivian keeps pleading for her, and her adoptive parents are simple, honest people. They'd never gamble with the whole pack's lives. Sandra only thinks someone will always clean up after her, no matter what she does, because I spoiled her for too long.

"It's time she grew up and learned her lesson."

I stood outside the door, so cold I was shaking.

The whole North knew how much I loved him.

And that love had become all the proof he needed that I was jealous and guilty.

All Vivian had to do was say, teary-eyed, that she didn't blame me, and Kane would fill in my motive for her and write off everything I said as a lie.

The floating text had it wrong. Completely wrong.

Kane had never loved me.

All his tenderness had just been an Alpha doing his duty by a war orphan.

I'd spent seven years hopelessly in love with him, and it had all been a joke.

In his eyes, I'd always been a spoiled kid who acted up because she knew she was loved. A kid he could sacrifice any time.

I didn't know how I made it back to my estate.

The second I reached the gate, I froze.

Someone had splashed black paint all over the front gate, and the lock had been pried open.

The walls my father had painted were scrawled with MURDERER and curses wishing my whole family dead. The furniture my mother had picked out herself was smashed to pieces.

I ran into my bedroom.

The family photo Mae had saved from the fire had been cut to shreds and thrown into dirty water.

I crouched down and picked up the pieces one by one. I didn't cry.

But the dirty water had blurred my parents' faces. No matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find a single smile still in one piece.

Walter, the estate's butler, told me someone had posted the address of my secret estate on the Alliance network, claiming the white wolf who'd poisoned the Moon Spring lived here.

My parents had kept this place hidden from the relatives who wanted our land, and from the vampires too.

And now I couldn't even protect the last little piece of ground they'd left me.

I asked Walter to pack up what was left, repair the house, and then close it up for good. Then I dragged my suitcase to the checkpoint on the border with the South.

With ten minutes to go before I crossed, Chloe finally sent me two clips of security footage.

The first was from the Alpha estate at Moonbridge.

Vivian had insisted on moving her adoptive mother into my old room just the day before. That same night, her adoptive father walked out of that room carrying the case of wolfsbane Kane had specially approved for my self-defense.

I'd hidden that case at the very back of the closet. Not even Mae knew about it.

But her adoptive father hadn't been in there five minutes before he came out with it.

The second was from the restricted grounds around the Moon Spring.

Wearing his officiant's pass, her adoptive father went down to the mouth of the spring alone. When he came back out, the case was empty.

I posted the footage on the Alliance network along with my parents' death certificates, and tagged Vivian, Kane, and Moonbridge's official account.

"My parents died in the war seven years ago. So tell me, how exactly did two dead people lead last night's Full Moon Ceremony?

"As for the wolfsbane, the day before, Vivian got her adoptive parents my room and access to the ceremony. The cameras show exactly what her adoptive father did with both."

It took Chloe less than half an hour to dig all this up.

If Kane had bothered to look even once, he'd have known the truth.

Less than five minutes after I posted, the Alliance network blew up.

The checkpoint guards started hurrying people through, and my phone wouldn't stop ringing.

I didn't check who it was. I turned the phone off, pulled out the SIM card, and tossed it in the trash.

Then I cut my mind-link to the pack and walked into the South without looking back.

From then on, nothing at Moonbridge had anything to do with me.