Elowen's POV
Screaming wakes me at dawn.
I bolt upright in bed, my heart racing. The poisoned tea from last night sits untouched on the windowsill where I poured it into a plant. Through my window, I see pack members running toward the pack house, their faces twisted with panic.
Something terrible has happened.
I throw on clothes and rush downstairs. My legs are weak—the poison still in my system—but adrenaline pushes me forward. In the main hall, I find chaos.
Five children lie on the floor, convulsing. Their mothers hover over them, sobbing. Pack doctors rush between the kids, but nothing they do seems to help.
"What happened?" I push through the crowd, my healer instincts taking over despite my weakness.
"Poison!" Mrs. Chen shrieks, clutching her grandson. "Someone poisoned the children's breakfast!"
My blood runs cold. No. No, no, no.
I drop to my knees beside little Tommy, the boy with the scraped knee from last week. His lips are turning blue. I place my hands on his chest, trying to channel my healing energy, but my wolf is still silent. Nothing happens.
"Move aside!" Vesper appears, shoving me away. "Let me help them."
She kneels beside Tommy, her hands glowing with healing light. Within seconds, his breathing eases. She moves to the next child, then the next, saving them one by one while I sit useless on the floor.
The mothers weep with relief, hugging Vesper. "Thank you, Luna! You saved them!"
Thaddeus arrives, his face pale. "What happened here?"
"Poison in the children's food," Vesper says, standing up. She looks exhausted but beautiful, the perfect picture of a caring Luna. "Someone used wolfsbane mixed with nightshade. They were trying to kill these children."
"Who would do such a thing?" Thaddeus demands.
That's when Vesper's eyes lock on mine. Something cold and victorious flashes across her face.
"Search the healing ward," she says quietly. "I think... I hope I'm wrong, but search it. Now."
My stomach drops. "What? Why?"
"Just do it," Thaddeus orders.
Warriors rush to my healing ward. I try to follow, but my legs give out. Sable catches me, her grip tight on my arm.
"Let go of me," I whisper.
"I'm sorry," she says, but she doesn't sound sorry at all. "I'm so sorry, Elowen."
The warriors return carrying my supply box—the wooden chest where I keep all my herbs and medicines. They dump it on the floor, and vials of wolfsbane spill out. At least twenty vials, each one clearly labeled with my handwriting.
The crowd gasps.
"That's not mine!" I cry out. "I would never—those aren't mine!"
"It's your handwriting," one warrior says, holding up a vial. "Your storage box. Your healing ward."
"She planted them! Vesper planted them!" I lunge forward, but Sable holds me back. "Please, you have to believe me!"
"Why would Luna Vesper poison children and then save them?" Mrs. Chen spits at me. "You're just jealous! You tried to kill our babies because you can't handle that Alpha Thaddeus has a real mate now!"
"No! I love these children! I would never hurt them!"
But no one's listening. The crowd closes in, their faces twisted with rage and betrayal. These people—I healed their wounds, delivered their babies, sat with them through their darkest hours. And now they look at me like I'm a monster.
"Enough!" Thaddeus's Alpha voice cuts through the noise. "Emergency council meeting. Now."
They drag me to the council chamber and throw me into a chair. The five council elders sit in a semicircle, their expressions hard. Thaddeus stands beside Vesper, his hand on her shoulder.
Not on my shoulder. Hers.
"Elowen Frost," Elder Marcus begins, "you stand accused of attempting to murder pack children. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty!" My voice breaks. "I didn't do this! Someone framed me!"
"The evidence says otherwise," another elder states. "Wolfsbane in your possession. Your handwriting on the vials. The children ate food prepared in your healing ward."
"I haven't been in the healing ward for three days! Vesper took over—she has access to everything!"
Vesper steps forward, tears streaming down her beautiful face. "I know you're upset about the mate bond, Elowen. I understand. But to hurt innocent children? To try to frame me?" She turns to Thaddeus, her voice breaking. "I tried to be kind to her. I tried to share Luna duties, to make this easier. But she hates me so much..."
"You're lying!" I scream. "You poisoned me! You poisoned those children! You're destroying everything!"
"You see?" Vesper sobs into Thaddeus's chest. "She's unstable. Dangerous."
Thaddeus holds her, and his eyes—those amber eyes I loved for seven years—look at me with something worse than anger. Disappointment.
"Elowen," he says quietly. "Just tell the truth. Did you do this because you were jealous?"
The question shatters me. After everything we shared, everything we built together, he actually thinks I'm capable of hurting children.
"I. Didn't. Do. This." Each word is a struggle. "Thaddeus, please. You know me. You know I would never—"
"I thought I knew you," he interrupts. "But the woman I knew would never act this way. Would never be so consumed by jealousy."
"We need a witness," Elder Marcus says. "Someone who can testify about her recent behavior."
Sable stands up. My best friend—the girl I trusted with my secrets, my fears, my heart.
"I'll testify," she says.
"No," I whisper. "Sable, please—"
"Elowen has been unstable for days," Sable tells the council, not meeting my eyes. "Angry. Bitter. She told me she couldn't stand watching Alpha Thaddeus with his fated mate. She said... she said Vesper had ruined her life."
"Liar!" I try to stand, but warriors push me back down. "You helped Vesper poison me! I heard you both talking about the wolfsbane!"
"You see?" Vesper says sadly. "She's making up wild accusations now. Claiming everyone is against her."
The council exchanges looks. I see the decision in their faces before they even speak.
"Elowen Frost," Elder Marcus announces, "for the attempted murder of pack children, we sentence you to exile. Effective immediately."
The room spins. "No. No, please—"
"You will be stripped of your Luna title and removed from pack lands. You are forbidden from ever returning."
"Thaddeus!" I turn to him, desperate. "Please! Tell them I didn't do this! You promised you'd always choose me! You promised!"
He stands there, frozen, his jaw clenched. Vesper whispers something in his ear.
"Thaddeus, please," I beg, tears streaming down my face. "I love you. Don't let them do this."
For a moment—just a heartbeat—something flickers in his eyes. Doubt, maybe. Or regret.
Then Vesper takes his hand, and whatever he was feeling disappears.
"Take her to the border," he says.
The words destroy me more than any poison ever could.
Warriors grab my arms and drag me from the chamber. I don't fight. What's the point? Everything is already gone.
They march me through the pack lands as pack members line the path, shouting curses. Someone throws a rock that hits my shoulder. Others spit at my feet.
These people loved me once. Now they want me dead.
At the border, they rip the Luna pendant from my neck—the one Thaddeus gave me on our mating ceremony. The chain breaks, and the silver medallion falls into the dirt.
Seven years. Gone.
They shove me across the border line into rogue territory. I fall hard, my hands scraping against rocks.
When I look back, I see him.
Thaddeus stands at the border, watching. Our eyes meet across the distance. I wait for him to stop this. To realize the truth. To save me.
He turns away.
Vesper appears beside him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She looks at me over his shoulder, and she smiles. Not the sweet smile she shows everyone else. A cold, victorious smile that confirms everything.
She won. I lost.
I force myself to stand on shaking legs and stumble into the forest. Branches tear at my skin. Thorns cut my feet. But I keep walking because if I stop, I'll break completely.
After what feels like hours, my legs finally give out. I collapse against a tree, my whole body trembling with exhaustion and poison and heartbreak.
"The woman who loved you just died," I whisper to the wind, to the pack I left behind, to Thaddeus who chose to believe lies over me.
My vision blurs. The world tilts sideways.
The last thing I see before darkness takes me is blood—my blood—pooling beneath my hands.
Then something moves in the shadows. Eyes, glowing in the darkness. Watching me.
Waiting.