SAMANTHA
Molly's eyes were always on me.
I knew it. The scheming bitch. There was malice in her gaze, dark and hungry. Her lips twisted into something unkind—a smirk that promised pain. She had been waiting for this moment–planning it, enjoying it, waiting for it and savoring it!
And I was done being silent.
Something inside me snapped. The Alpha power that pressed down on my shoulders, that tried to keep my mouth shut, that wanted me to bow and obey—I defied it.
I pushed against it with everything I had so that I could talk and defend myself. It was illegal to use your Alpha Power to stop people from trying to defend themselves.
"Miss Hanes, I would really love to know. Have I done anything wrong to you?"
The hall went quiet.
King Lionel's eyes flickered to me. His gaze pierced through my defenses, through my bravado, down to the trembling core of me. He studied me for a long moment, then he turned to Molly.
"Why do you think we should throw her out to be a rogue?" His voice was calm. "Is there any solid reason?"
Molly did not hesitate. Her voice was steady and practiced. Like she had rehearsed this speech in the mirror.
"This lady shamelessly seduced the triplets yesterday," Molly announced, loud enough for everyone to hear. "She has been very disrespectful to me. She does not regard me at all. In fact, she told me she would boot me out and become the future queen herself."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. The other slaves exchanged shocked glances. Some whispered behind their hands. Even the guards shifted uncomfortably, their eyes darting between Molly and me.
Molly paused. She let the weight of her words settle. Then her eyes found mine. Hatred burned in them—bright and hot and personal.
"She has the scent of a weak wolf," Molly continued, her voice dripping with contempt. "She cannot bear cubs for the princes. Do you want her to bear omega children for your sons? Do you want the Cunningham bloodline diluted by someone lower than an omega? Do you want your grandsons to be weak, small, pathetic creatures that other packs will laugh at?"
The word omega landed like a slap.
I felt the stares of every person in the room. Some looked at me with pity. Others with disgust and a few with curiosity, wondering if the accusations were true.
King Lionel turned to me. "Do you have anything to say?"
The weight of his question pressed down on me. The room spun and I was seeing stars. My vision blurred at the edges.
Being branded a rogue meant my life would be beyond repair. I had already ran away once and I had also been cast out by John. I had been sold like cattle. I had been tortured by lizards. I had been cornered by Jayce in that garden, humiliated, degraded, treated like a toy.
But I would not be rejected from another pack.
I would not be sent away shamefully like garbage.
If I left this place, I would leave with my head held high, not dragged out in chains. Not flogged until my back was ribbons. Not branded on my skin for the rest of my life.
I clenched my fists. I lifted my chin and met the king's eyes.
"Your Highness, I have been tested like every other girl in this room. I am not an omega. I am not an incomplete wolf." My voice was shaking, but I forced the words out one by one. "I did not seduce any triplet. Neither did I disrespect Miss Molly Hanes. She is lying to you. And I do not know why. It seems she has marked me out. She hates me right from when she set her eyes on me."
I turned and pointed at Molly. My finger was steady even though my heart was not.
"If you doubt me, you can ask Ms. Daisy Bond. You can ask every other person who was there. They will be my witnesses. They saw everything. They know the truth."
Ms. Daisy Bond's face went pale. Pale as snow, pale as death.
King Lionel's eyes shifted to her. His voice was soft. Dangerous. The kind of soft that came before a storm.
"Is she telling the truth, Daisy?"
Daisy's mouth opened and no sound came out.
"Ummm..." Her eyes darted between me and Molly like a trapped animal looking for an escape. Her hands twisted together so tightly her knuckles went white. Her whole body was shaking. "Umm..."
I began to feel tense. My stomach clenched into a hard knot.
'She is going to lie. She is going to save Molly. She is going to destroy me.'
'I knew it. I could see it in her eyes. The fear. The calculation. Molly's father was the Gamma. Molly had power. Molly could ruin Daisy's life with a single word.'
And I was nobody.
Daisy's voice came out small, weak and broken.
"Yes, Your Highness. Miss Molly is correct." She would not look at me. Her eyes stayed fixed on the floor, on the cracks between the stones, anywhere but at my face. "The new girl has been very audacious. She jumped on the princes once she saw them. And she insulted Miss Molly to her face, called her names and said she would never be queen."
Molly gave me an evil smirk. Her lips moved silently, forming words only I could see. 'I told you. No one dares me.'
Anger flooded my entire body, hot and uncontrollable. It burned away my fear, my hesitation, my caution. It burned away everything.
"Daisy," I yelled, my voice echoing off the marble walls, bouncing back at me from every corner of the hall. "Why are you lying?"
Molly's smirk widened.
I stepped forward, pointing at Daisy with a hand that would not stop trembling. "That is not what happened. You know it. I know it. Half the people in this room know it."
I took another step.
"That's not what happened," I said again, my voice breaking.