Three days after Jasper's rejection came a summons, handed over by a guard who wouldn't meet my gaze.
"The Alpha demands your presence in his study. Now."
"Demands," as if I had any say.
I followed him through cold hallways that seemed to grow more hostile each day, passing wolves whose contempt was no longer hidden. Whispered rumors trailed me like a shadow, each one a blade.
"She's carrying a bastard."
"Trying to pass it off as the Alpha's. Shameless."
"Who was it? A guard? A visitor?"
My hands shook at my sides, but I held my head high. It had been three days since I told Jasper about our child. Three days since he branded me a liar and threw me from the council chamber.
Three days for the poison to take root.
The study door stood open. Jasper sat behind his vast desk, his eyes as cold and hard as winter. He wasn't alone.
Corvin, his golden Beta, stood by the window. Elder Thorne, stern and ancient, was seated near the hearth. And Marisol, my stepmother, sat perched like a scavenger waiting for a kill.
My heart sank. This wasn't a private talk. It was a trap.
"Close the door," Jasper said.
The guard complied, sealing me inside with those who meant to destroy me.
"Sit." Jasper motioned to a chair directly opposite him. Isolated and vulnerable.
I sat, hands clenched in my lap to hide their trembling.
Elder Thorne spoke first, his voice heavy with age and authority. "We've heard troubling claims, Luna Araya."
The title felt more like an accusation.
"Claims?" I forced the word past the tightness in my throat.
"Don't play dumb." Marisol's voice was sharp. "Everyone knows you're with child. The question is, whose child?"
My cheeks burned. "My mate's. My husband's. There's no doubt—"
"Every doubt." Corvin turned his stern gaze on me. "The timing is suspicious."
"Suspicious?" I flared up. "I told Jasper myself. He's the father. What's suspicious?"
"You were seen," Marisol said carefully, "alone with another man after dark. Two weeks before you announced your pregnancy."
The room spun. "That's false. I never—"
"Many witnesses." Elder Thorne's gaze was piercing. "Respected pack members who saw you in the eastern gardens, talking intimately late into the night."
I struggled to recall. Two weeks ago, I barely left my room, crushed by Jasper's coldness.
"Who?" I demanded. "Let them say it to my face!"
"That's not how it works." Jasper's voice was ice. "You don't question witnesses when you're accused."
"Accused?" I stood, chair scraping. "I am your mate! Bound by vows before Selene herself! How dare you—"
"Sit." His command was sharp, his Alpha power forcing me down.
Through the bond, I felt his cold satisfaction and grim resolve. Beneath it, a hint of relief, as if this was exactly what he wanted.
It hit me hard.
This was planned. The witnesses, the timing, the council—all to make his decision official.
"You want me gone," I whispered.
Only silence answered.
Marisol cleared her throat. "The pack needs a Luna without blemish. If these claims are true—"
"They're not!"
"—then you've brought shame upon us. Shame that can't stand, no matter your lineage."
"My father—"
"He's been told." Her smile was cruel. "He agrees it must be... settled."
Betrayal slammed me. My father condemning me without hearing me. But he stopped defending me the day he remarried.
"What settlement?" I asked, already knowing.
Elder Thorne leaned forward. "A public trial. At the full moon, three days away. You will answer."
"A trial." I laughed brittlely. "To prove what? I'm innocent!"
"Then fear nothing." Corvin's voice was almost kind. "If you speak truth, Selene's light will show it."
But we knew trials were a farce. The pack would see what they were told.
"And if I refuse?" I looked at Jasper.
"Then you'll be cast out." His voice was final. "Packless. Mateless. With a child no one claims." His eyes burned. "Is that your choice? To doom your bastard to a rogue's life?"
His cruelty stole my breath. He knew exactly how to hurt me, through the child I carried.
"The trial," I whispered. "I accept."
Marisol smiled. Elder Thorne nodded. Corvin looked pitying.
Jasper? I felt only cold triumph through the bond.
"Three days. Prepare yourself."
I staggered back to my chambers, legs weak, past wolves with hungry eyes. Whispers haunted me.
"Trial at the full moon."
"About time."
"My bet's on rejection."
Millie waited, pale and worried. "My lady, I heard—"
"A trial." The words scraped my throat. "For adultery."
She gasped. "But you never—"
"I know." I sank onto the bed, hands guarding my belly. "But some say I did. Lies, but who will believe the wolf-less Luna over 'good' pack members?"
"This is wrong." Millie's voice cracked with anger. "This is murder disguised."
"Yes." I met her eyes, fear mirrored back. "And I'm powerless."
She took my hands. "Then we run. Tonight. Before the full moon. I'll help."
"Run where?" I laughed bitterly. "I'm pregnant. Weak. Wolf-less. I'd last a day out there. Jasper would hunt me down."
"Then what?"
I stared at my ghostly reflection. "I stand trial. And pray Selene has mercy, because my mate won't."
The next two days dragged by in dread.
Millie helped me practice, but every answer felt hollow. How to prove I never met this man? How to fight shadows?
The whispers grew crueler. Friends crossed the street. Warriors laughed. Servants 'forgot' meals.
I was being erased. And the pack was eager.
On day two, I saw her.
Serenya stood in the great hall, flames of her emerald dress catching firelight. Her laughter was poison. Her eyes found mine, her smile wide and victorious.
She raised her goblet in mock salute, mouthing words I read clear.
"I win."
It hit me, witnesses, rumors, timing, all her doing. She promised I'd be gone before the full moon.
This wasn't just Jasper's cruelty. This was Serenya's triumph.
I turned away, legs shaking, her laughter trailing me like death knells.
The night before the trial, Jasper came.
Pretending to sleep, I smelled him before I saw him, storm and steel and something darker. Through the bond, I felt grim resolve, cold satisfaction, maybe regret if I dared hope.
He stood, a shadow.
"Tomorrow," he said, "you face the pack. Witnesses against you."
I held my breath.
"If you confess," he said low, "say you were seduced, confused, you might get mercy. Exile, not death. Your life spared."
My eyes opened. Firelight revealed his cold face, unmoved by the chaos.
"And if I don't?"
His jaw clenched. "Then you face the full weight."
"They're not lies."
"Doesn't matter. The pack decided long ago. Tomorrow's just for show."
He left, but I stopped him.
"When this child is born with your eyes, your pride," I whispered, "I hope you remember this moment. I hope it haunts you."
I felt a flicker, doubt? shame? But his voice remained cold.
"That child will never be mine."
The door shut.
Alone, I laid my hands on my belly and whispered promises.
"I will protect you. No matter the cost."
Outside, the full moon rose—silver, pitiless.
Tomorrow, I would fight for both our lives.
Tomorrow, everything would change.