Sable POV
"Missing Moonstone Tears?" I repeat, my voice shaking. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Maris descends the stairs like a queen approaching her execution block. The pack enforcers—big, muscled wolves who've never liked me—stay close behind her. Their eyes are hard. Unforgiving.
"Don't play innocent, Sable." Maris's perfectly manicured hand waves dismissively. "The sacred artifacts were discovered missing this morning. And we found them in your bedroom."
My bedroom. The one I just watched Corvin defile with my stepsister.
"That's impossible—"
"Search her," Maris commands.
The enforcers grab my arms before I can move. Their grip bruises. One of them pats down my pockets roughly while I struggle.
"Stop! I'm pregnant! You can't—"
"Pregnant." Maris laughs, the sound like breaking glass. "How convenient. Using your condition to avoid justice."
The bedroom door opens. Corvin emerges, now fully dressed, Ondine clinging to his arm. He doesn't even look at me.
"Did you find proof?" he asks Maris.
"Not on her person." Maris smiles. "But I'm certain we'll find evidence in her quarters. Shall we?"
This can't be happening. Ten minutes ago I was excited about my pregnancy. Now I'm being accused of theft?
"Corvin." I try to catch his eyes. "Tell them this is crazy. Tell them I would never—"
"Wouldn't you?" His voice is cold. So cold. "You've been acting strange for weeks. Paranoid. Emotional. I thought it was just jealousy over Ondine, but maybe it was guilt."
My mouth falls open. "Jealous? I didn't even know about Ondine until—"
"Everyone knew," Ondine interrupts, her voice dripping false sympathy. "The whole pack has been whispering about how Corvin finally found a real woman. You were the only one blind enough to miss it."
The enforcers drag me down the stairs. My feet scramble for purchase on the steps.
"Please," I beg. "Just listen—"
"Take her to her old room," Maris orders. "The one she had before she married Corvin."
They haul me through the pack house. Wolves crowd the hallways, watching. Whispering. I recognize faces—pack members I've known for years. People I thought were friends.
None of them help me.
We reach the small bedroom I lived in before becoming Luna. The door stands open. Inside, pack investigators are already searching.
"Found them!" One investigator holds up a velvet pouch.
No. No, this isn't real.
He opens it. Five moonstone gems spill into his palm, glowing with sacred blue light. The Moonstone Tears—our pack's most precious artifacts, said to be blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.
"Those aren't mine!" I thrash against the enforcers. "I've never seen them before!"
"They were hidden under your mattress," the investigator says. He pulls out something else. "And this."
My favorite scarf. The blue one Corvin gave me for our first anniversary. It's wrapped around the moonstones.
"My scarf was in Corvin's room," I say desperately. "I left it there this morning before I—"
"Before you stole the Tears and planted them here?" Maris finishes. "How thoroughly you planned this."
"I didn't plan anything!"
Corvin steps into the room. He picks up the scarf, examining it. For one moment—one tiny moment—I think he'll recognize the truth. He'll remember giving it to me. He'll defend me.
"This is definitely Sable's scarf," he confirms. "I'd know it anywhere."
My heart shatters completely.
"She's been unstable since the pregnancy," Corvin continues, addressing the investigators like I'm not even there. "Mood swings. Irrational behavior. I should have seen the signs."
"You're lying!" I scream. "You're all lying! Maris, you planted those—"
Maris slaps me across the face.
The crack echoes through the room. My scarred cheek burns where her hand connected. The enforcers hold me tighter when I try to lunge at her.
"How dare you accuse me," Maris hisses. "I took you in after your father died. Fed you. Clothed you. Loved you like my own daughter."
Loved me? She gave me this scar when I was seven years old. Told everyone it was a cat attack while she smiled.
"This is clearly theft of sacred property," the head investigator announces. "We need to convene the tribunal immediately."
"Agreed," Corvin says.
They drag me to the pack hall. It takes less than an hour to assemble the tribunal—five high-ranking pack members who serve as judges. Maris sits among them. So does Corvin.
I have no one.
The trial is a joke. A mockery.
Evidence is presented: the moonstones found in my room, my scarf, my "suspicious behavior." One pack member testifies that I seemed "nervous" around the sacred vault last week. Another says I asked "strange questions" about the artifacts' value.
All lies. All carefully constructed lies.
"I didn't do this!" I keep shouting. "Someone set me up!"
"Who would set you up?" the head judge asks.
I want to scream the woman who just stole my mate and my life, but Ondine sits in the audience, hand on her pregnant belly, tears streaming down her face.
"Poor Sable," she whimpers to the wolf beside her, loud enough for everyone to hear. "The pregnancy must have broken her mind. She always was fragile."
"I'm not fragile! I'm not crazy!"
"The accused will be silent," the head judge commands.
Corvin stands to testify. "As Alpha, I must put the pack's safety first. Sable has displayed increasingly erratic behavior. As her mate—" his voice catches perfectly, like he's heartbroken, "—I wanted to believe she was just adjusting to pregnancy. But stealing our most sacred artifacts?" He shakes his head sadly. "She's a danger to everyone."
"You're a liar!" I shriek. "You're doing this to get rid of me! You want Ondine and you need an excuse—"
"Enough!" The head judge slams his hand down. "Sable Thorne, you are found guilty of theft of sacred property. The sentence is immediate exile to the Bloodthorn Wastes."
The room spins.
Exile to the Wastes is a death sentence. Everyone knows that. Rogues hunt there. Feral wolves who've lost their humanity. No one survives the Wastes alone.
Especially not a wolfless pregnant woman.
"Please," I beg, all pride gone. "Please, I'm carrying a pup. An innocent pup. You can't—"
"You should have thought of that before committing treason," Maris says coldly.
The enforcers haul me toward the door. I'm screaming now, thrashing, fighting with everything I have. My hands claw at their arms. My feet kick wildly.
"Corvin! Please! Our pup! Think about our pup!"
He turns away. Just turns his back and walks toward Ondine.
The last thing I see before they drag me outside is Ondine's smile.
Victorious. Cruel. Satisfied.
They throw me in a transport vehicle. Two enforcers climb in—the pack doctor and a guard. We drive in silence toward the Wastes border.
The doctor leans close while the guard isn't looking. Her eyes are sad.
"I'm sorry," she whispers. "For what it's worth, I believe you."
Hope sparks in my chest. "Then help me—"
"I can't. They'd exile me too." She presses something into my hand. A small vial. "Wolfsbane antidote. Take it tonight. All of it."
"Why would I need—"
"Because they've been poisoning you for years, girl." Her voice drops even lower. "That's why your wolf never came. Someone's been keeping her suppressed."
The vehicle stops. We've reached the border.
The guard opens the door. "Out."
"Wait—" I turn to the doctor, but she's already looking away, face blank.
They shove me across the boundary line into dead, twisted forest. The guard throws a small bag after me—probably empty, just for show.
"Good luck, wolfless," he calls. "You'll be dead by morning."
The vehicle drives away.
I stand alone in the Bloodthorn Wastes, hand pressed against my pregnant belly, holding a vial I don't understand.
And then I hear them.
Howls. Multiple voices. Coming from every direction.
The rogues have already caught my scent.