REESE POV
“So that’s how I know Katie didn’t poison Izzy.” Ethan was sitting in the chair in our sitting room and the three of us were sharing the couch, looking at him. Izzy was the first to speak.
“Exactly what did you ask her and what did she say?” she said.
“I said ‘Did you poison Izzy.’ She said ‘no’.” Ethan sat up straighter. “Why? Should I have asked something else? She admitted to starting the rumor that Izzy was cursed.”
I blew out my breath. “I wish you had talked to us before rushing out,” I said critically. “There are a lot of answers I would like to get out of little miss Katie.”
“Me, too,” Izzy said with a rueful smile. “Did you think to ask her if she knew who poisoned me?”
Ethan looked downcast. I felt for him. Izzy rarely cr
IZZY POV“Let me help you,” I shouted to Lucy through the doorway separating her office from mine. She had a huge pile of work on her desk and mine was empty. As the rumor of my being cursed grew, my workload decreased. No one wanted a cursed Luna helping them.“I’m okay, Izzy,” she said. “You don’t have to do my work.”I walked through the door connecting our offices and pointed to a stack on her desk. “They never have to know that I did it,” I wheedled. “Just let me help.” She sighed in resignation and gratefully handed over a stack.“It’s just things that need to be ordered,” she said. “I have no idea why they’re insisting that I do it.”“Because I’m the cursed one,” I said in a lighthearted voice. I was trying really hard to not let it bother me while I rode this out,
IZZY POV“Witchcraft?” I couldn’t help it. I started to giggle. “What is this? High school? There’s no such thing.”The silence of everyone else made me stop laughing. “Wait. Is there? Witchcraft is real?”Mom gave me a sad smile. “I really did you a disservice keeping you with the humans as long as I did,” she acknowledged. “Yes. Witchcraft is very real, very dangerous and very illegal. It is punishable by death.”I felt a chill in my stomach. “Death?” I asked in a tiny voice.“There’s nothing to worry about,” a fierce voice said behind me. Lucy slipped up and put her arm around me. “We all know you’re not a witch. And all we have to do is prove it.”“Umm, doesn’t the accuser have to prove that I’m a witch, not
CALEB POVI knew what was coming. I had already heard it and I had completely lost control of Ren when it had been told to me. Ren wanted to go into the village and rip everyone involved to shreds. Fortunately, I was able to fight him and get him to go to the Alpha House. Thank goodness Heka was able to talk to him.My brothers hadn’t heard this part yet. I would have to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn’t go into the rage like Ren did.“Do you remember your nurse at the hospital?” Elder Johan asked Izzy kindly. She shook her head.“I had a few, I believe. I was pretty out of it.”Elder Johan nodded. “Yes. But Anne Thorne was the main nurse assigned to your care.” Izzy was quiet, watching him with rapt attention. Elder Johan looked at me, hesitant. I didn’t blame him. I had gone ballistic and there was only on
ALPHA STEVEN POVI got off the phone with Caleb and immediately dialed my old friend, Elder Johan. Alpha James, Elder Johan and I were roommates at the Alpha School in Italy a long time ago. We used to be the best of friends and I would help my old friend’s sons as best I could as I knew Johan was doing.“Fill me in,” I said to Johan. I heard him sigh deeply.“This is a farce,” he admitted to me. “I can clearly see it and I know a few of my Council members will see it this way but the rest are young and susceptible to drama.” And payoffs, but neither of us said it. Young wolves with ambition tended to need money and would take a bribe to rule in a certain way.“How bad is it?” I asked.“Two of the testimonies can be written off. One is purely coincidental. She probably accidentally poisoned herself. I’m sure you can find oth
IZZY POVI was confined to the house for two weeks.Elder Johan had kindly told me it was best if I voluntarily submitted to that. He said it would be easier for me to prove my innocence if something else came up. I agreed. For my safety and to prevent anay sabotage of my testimony, my mates stationed warriors around the Alpha House with explicit instructions to stop me from leaving and to detain anyone from coming in. I was a prisoner in my own home.I didn’t think it would be hard because the Alpha House is so big and there’s everything I could ever want inside of it. I trained in the basement, read in the library, and ate in the huge dining room. Turns out, when someone says you can’t leave, it doesn’t matter how nice the place is. You just want to leave.My trial will take place tomorrow. My mates were on edge but trying to pretend to be normal. One of the triplets was
IZZY POVWe had a quiet dinner that night. Joanna had pulled out the stops, making all of my favorites. I didn’t have an appetite, but I tried everything because I knew it would please her. The strawberry shortcake was the grand finale, done to perfection using sponge cake instead of the biscuits that were traditional. Just the way I liked it.I stood up from the table and turned to Joanna. “Thank you for the most delicious meal,” I said with a smile. Joanna gave me a watery smile back.“I need to go prepare for your celebration dinner tomorrow night.” She turned her back and I could see her wiping tears away. I knew that she, like many others, was praying that the truth would prevail, but she didn’t have much hope I would be found innocent. Apparently, those who are accused of witchcraft rarely are.I stood up from the table, not meeting my mates’ eyes.
IZZY POV We spent a beautiful night together, our sweaty bodies entwined with sweet words and tender touches. I dropped off to sleep right before dawn. They let me sleep, but I almost wish they hadn’t. My dreams were plagued with horrors. I had found out from the gardener how the sentence was carried out. The council gave a dose of wolfsbane to kill the wolf, first, and then euthanized the person. He had told me, with sympathy, that it looked painful. I wasn’t afraid of the pain, but I was afraid for Heka. I woke with a start to see my mom standing in my room, an apologetic smile on her face. “Darling, it’s time to get up. We need to be at the arena in an hour.” I pushed back the blankets and stood on my unsteady legs. I was trying to be brave, but my insides were a turmoil of emotion, mostly anger. I was pretty sure I knew who was behind all of this and I couldn’t believe they we
IZZY POV“As is customary, the accused will listen to the accusations and then she or her investigators will be able to refute and present their own evidence.” Elder Johan sat back down. “Silvo Dargas, you may begin.”My father walked to the center of the stadium and looked out into the crowd. I could hear murmurers of sympathy for poor Silvo, having to choose between the pack and his daughter. I wanted to gag but I kept the fake smile plastered to my face.“My fellow pack members,” Silvo began. “It brings me great shame to admit to you today that I believe my daughter to be a witch who practices the craft. I will be bringing evidence to support those claims.”“Silvo!” Elder Johan’s voice was sharp. “You are presenting the evidence to us, not to the crowd. If you are going to insist on showboating, we will have the crowd removed.”