Chapter 2 ***
Selene Blackwood
I don’t move. I can’t. My body is still standing in the middle of the ceremonial hall, but my mind feels like it has been ripped somewhere far away from here, somewhere Damon can’t reach me.
Somewhere I don’t have to listen to the words that just came out of his mouth.
Rejected.
Exiled.
Treason.
The words keep repeating themselves in my head, over and over again, until they barely sound real anymore. I stare at Damon, waiting for something in his expression to change, but he looks completely calm.
How can he stand there like this is nothing, like he hasn’t just taken the entire future I thought I had and crushed it in front of hundreds of people?
My lips part, but my voice refuses to come.
I don’t know how long I stand there before something inside me finally snaps, forcing the words out of my throat. “No.” The word comes out quietly, almost like I’m trying to convince myself more than anyone else.
Damon’s expression doesn’t change.
I swallow, forcing myself to breathe. “No,” I say again, louder this time. “I don’t understand.” A few whispers spread through the hall, and I look around at the faces staring back at me.
People I have known my entire life.
People I grew up with.
People who have smiled at me, spoken to me, and laughed with me.
Now they look at me like I’m something disgusting. Like I’m dangerous. Like I’m a traitor.
My heart twists painfully.
“I don’t understand,” I repeat. “What are you talking about?” Damon doesn’t answer, and the silence between us feels heavier than anything I’ve ever experienced. I look at him desperately, searching for even the smallest sign that this is some kind of terrible misunderstanding.
“Damon, you just accused me of treason.”
His jaw tightens.
“I know what I said.”
“Then tell me why.”
The words come out sharper than I intend, and a murmur moves through the crowd. I barely hear it because all I can see is him. The man I love, the man who was supposed to stand beside me today, is looking at me like I’m his enemy.
“Tell me what I’ve done,” I plead.
Damon’s eyes remain cold.
“You will be informed of the grounds for your exile.”
“My grounds?”
My voice cracks.
“Yes.”
“Then tell me!”
My voice echoes through the hall, and the silence that follows is suffocating. I take a step forward, my hands shaking at my sides as I stare at him. “Tell me what I did.”
For the first time, Damon looks away from me. He glances toward the pack council seated near the front of the hall, and my eyes follow his. That’s when I notice the man standing beside the ceremonial altar, holding a long parchment in his hands.
I hadn’t paid much attention to him before.
I think I was too distracted by Damon.
But now I notice the man properly. He looks older than most of the council members, dressed in the dark robes reserved for those who record and announce matters concerning the pack.
My stomach twists when I realize that he is the one who is going to tell me why my entire life has just been destroyed.
He slowly unfolds the parchment.
“Selene Blackwood,” he begins.
I stare at him.
“By order of Alpha Damon Nightshade and the Moonfang Pack Council, the charges brought against you are hereby read before the pack.”
My heart begins to pound.
“Charges?”
I look at Damon again.
“You brought charges against me?”
His expression doesn’t change.
“Damon.”
He doesn’t respond.
The man clears his throat.
“The first charge against Selene Blackwood is the conspiracy to poison the Moonfang royal bloodline through the use of forbidden sorcery.”
My entire body goes cold.
“What?”
The word slips from my mouth before I can stop it. I blink, staring at the man as if waiting for him to laugh and tell me this is some kind of horrible mistake. Poison? Sorcery? The Moonfang royal bloodline?
I must have heard him wrong but the man continues.
“Selene Blackwood is accused of conspiring with individuals practicing forbidden magic with the intent of weakening and ultimately destroying the bloodline of the Moonfang Alpha.”
My head starts shaking before I even realize it.
What is he talking about?
I barely know all the pack members let alone sorcerers and conspiring with them nonetheless. Someone in the crowd gasps, while another person whispers something I can’t make out. I turn toward Damon, my heart racing as I try to understand how anyone could possibly believe something so insane.
“That’s not true.”
Damon doesn’t move.
“I would never..”
“Silence.”
The command comes from one of the council members.
“How can you say that about me?”
I look around desperately.
“How can any of you believe this?”
More whispers rise from the crowd, and this time I hear my name clearly.
Then I hear another word.
Traitor!
My hands begin to tremble.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The council member continues as if I haven’t spoken.
“The second charge is that the accused has been meeting in secret with a known sorcerer by the name of Malakai.”
I freeze.
For a moment, I don’t understand the words. Then I laugh, but it’s a small, breathless sound that carries no humor at all. This can’t be real.
“Malakai?”
He looks at me and I stare back at him.
“I don’t know any Malakai.”
My voice rises as I take another step forward.
“I don’t know any man by that name.”
Someone in the crowd scoffs, and my head snaps toward the sound.
A woman is staring at me with disgust.
“She has the audacity to deny it.”
My mouth falls open.
“Enough,” Damon says.
I immediately turn back to him.
“Damon, I don’t know this man.”
He says nothing.
“I swear to you, I don’t.”
My heart is pounding so hard I can barely breathe. “I have never met anyone named Malakai in my entire life.”
The council member simply looks down at the parchment again, as if my denial means nothing.
“According to the evidence presented before the council, the accused met with Malakai on multiple occasions outside the boundaries of Moonfang territory.”
I shake my head.
“No, that’s false.”
“Selene…”
“I said it’s false!”
My voice breaks across the hall, and the entire room falls silent. I look at Damon, desperately searching his face for some sign that he knows me well enough to understand that I would never do this.
“You know me.”
His expression remains unreadable.
“You know I would never betray this pack.”
Nothing.
“Damon, look at me.”
He does.
And I wish he hadn’t.
Because there is no warmth in his eyes. No love. No trace of the man who once made me feel like I was the only person in the world.
Is this really over?
