Chapter 3:The trial
1304 Words
I didn’t run.
I should have.
Kael told me to. The guards were coming. The whole pack could smell blood and secrets on the wind.
But I climbed out the window and walked straight to the front door instead.
If they were going to find out, let them find me on my feet.
The guards turned when they saw me.
“Luna Mara.” The older one frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“Checking on the Alpha,” I said. My voice didn’t shake. Much. “Is he alright?”
“He’s fine.”
“Then why is the healer still inside?”
The guard didn’t answer. Behind him, the door opened.
Elder Rowan stepped out.
Old. Thin. Eyes like chipped ice. He was the one who told me last year that “a Luna without a wolf is a burden to the pack.”
His gaze swept over me. My muddy shoes. The faint blood on my sleeve that I’d tried to scrub off.
“Come with me,” he said.
I followed.
The council room smelled like pine oil and judgment.
Five elders sat in a circle. No Kael.
The torches made shadows dance on the walls. It felt like a trial already.
“Sit,” Elder Rowan said.
I did.
“Mara of Crescent Moon,” he began. “Last night there was an attack on pack borders. The Alpha was wounded. And this morning, he sealed himself in his home. Explain.”
My heart pounded. “I don’t know why he sealed himself.”
“Do not lie to us, girl.” Elder Veyra leaned forward. She’d never liked me. “The healer says his wound is closing unnaturally fast. Like it was touched by something blessed. Or cursed.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I said.
“Liar.”
The word hit like a slap.
I kept my eyes down. If I looked at them, they’d see it. The guilt. The mark I was hiding under my sleeve.
“Where were you at midnight?” Rowan asked.
“In my room.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t a lie. I _was_ alone when I left.
Technically.
Veyra slammed her hand on the table. “Enough. We all know what happened. The Alpha is compromised. He went to her. A girl with no wolf. A girl the Goddess passed over.”
“I didn’t ask him to—”
“You didn’t have to,” Rowan cut in. “Bonds form whether we want them or not. Especially during a blood moon.”
My blood went cold.
They knew. Or suspected.
“We will test it,” Rowan said.
“Test what?”
“If the bond is real.”
They stood. All five of them.
“Come.”
---
They took me to the Moonstone Circle.
It was where we did ceremonies. Where pups first shifted. Where mates were bound.
The stone in the center glowed faintly under the moon. It was supposed to react to true mates. To wolves. To Luna energy.
The whole pack was there. Whispering.
I saw Lena in the crowd. Her face was pale. She shook her head at me. _Don’t._
Kael wasn’t there.
Of course he wasn’t. They’d locked him in.
“Place your hand on the stone,” Rowan ordered.
I did.
It was cold.
Nothing happened.
No glow. No hum. Just stone.
A few people in the crowd exhaled. Relieved.
“See?” someone muttered. “Nothing.”
“Barren,” another said.
Veyra smiled. “As expected. The Alpha must be delirious from blood loss.”
Relief should have flooded me.
Instead, my chest hurt.
“Wait,” Rowan said. “There’s one more test.”
He nodded to two guards. They dragged something forward.
A cage.
Inside it, the rogue from last night. Alive. Barely. His wolf half-shifted, snarling.
The crowd gasped.
“What is this?” I asked.
“A provocation,” Rowan said. “If the bond is real, the Alpha will feel it. Even locked away. If you are in danger, he will come.”
“You’re using me as bait?”
“We’re using you to save the pack,” he said. “From a mistake.”
They opened the cage.
The rogue hit the ground and immediately locked eyes on me.
“Little Luna,” he hissed. “No wolf. No protection.”
He lunged.
I screamed. Not for myself.
For Kael.
I didn’t think. I just moved.
I threw myself forward, between the rogue and the stone. My arms came up.
I was going to die.
A blur of black slammed into the rogue before his claws touched me.
Kael.
Half-shifted. Bandages torn. Blood fresh on his ribs.
He didn’t make a sound. He just tore the rogue off me and threw him 20 feet.
The rogue didn’t get up.
Silence.
The entire pack stared.
Kael shifted back. Fast. Shaking. He stood in front of me, shielding me with his body. His eyes were gold. His chest was heaving.
And on his ribs, under the torn bandage, the mark glowed.
Bright silver. Three lines.
My mark.
“Get away from her,” he growled. Not to the rogue. To the elders.
Rowan’s face went white.
“So it’s true,” he whispered.
Kael turned to me. Only me.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head. I couldn’t speak.
He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. His hand was shaking.
“You didn’t run,” he said softly.
“You told me to.”
“I know.”
A beat.
“And I told you I’d do something stupid.”
He turned back to the elders. The Alpha was back.
“This is my mate,” he said. Loud. Clear. So the whole pack could hear. “Marked. Chosen. Whether you like it or not.”
The crowd erupted.
“Impossible!”
“She has no wolf!”
“The Goddess is wrong!”
“Then the Goddess made a choice,” Kael snapped. “And I stand by it.”
Rowan stepped forward. “You cannot bind a Luna with no wolf. It goes against law. Against nature.”
“Then change the law,” Kael said.
“And if she never shifts?” Veyra asked, voice dripping.
“Then I’ll love a human,” Kael said. “And the pack will learn to do the same.”
He took my hand.
His skin was hot. The mark on his ribs pulsed once, like it recognized me.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like the girl who was missing something.
I felt claimed.
Rowan looked furious. But he didn’t argue. Not with the whole pack watching. Not with Kael bleeding for me.
“This isn’t over,” he said. “The council will convene. There will be consequences.”
“Let there be,” Kael said.
Then he pulled me away from the circle. Away from the whispers. Away from everything.
We didn’t stop until we were in the trees. Away from everyone.
He let go of my hand and leaned against a tree, finally letting the pain show.
“You i***t,” I whispered.
“You’re welcome,” he said, with a crooked smile.
I pressed my hand to his chest, over the mark. It was still warm.
“It chose us,” I said.
“Yeah,” he answered. “Stupid Goddess.”
“Stupid Alpha.”
“Stupid Luna.”
We both laughed. Quiet. Shaky.
Above us, the moon was still full.
And for the first time, it didn’t feel like it was judging me.
It felt like it was watching.
Waiting to see what we’d do now that the whole pack knew.
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