To ruin an Omega

Chapter 181: Not guilty 1

HAZEL

The knocking wouldn’t stop.

Each rap against the door drove deeper into my skull, pulling me from sleep I barely remembered finding. I rolled over and grabbed my phone. It was Five thirty in the morning. The knocking continued, insistent and aggressive.

“Come in.” My voice came out rough. “This better be fucking good.”

The door opened and Delta stepped inside. My personal Omega looked pale even in the dim light filtering through my curtains. Her hands twisted together at her waist.

“Luna Hazel.” She swallowed hard. “Two sentinels are here. They’re demanding to escort you to the elders circle. For trial.”

The words hit me like cold water. I sat up slowly, keeping my face blank even as my heart kicked against my ribs.

Trial.

Already.

I’d thought I’d have more time to prepare. To position the pieces. To reach out more to Alpha Aldric and figure out in greater detail what kind of leverage I could buy.

“Get me something modest to wear.”

Delta didn’t move. She stood there, her eyes wide and wet. “Luna Hazel, we can help you run. There are tunnels beneath the estate. Old ones that lead past the territory borders. We can get you out before they realize.”

I looked at her. Really looked at her. She meant it. And it sickened me to think I would cover like her and run with my tail between my legs. I wasn’t that kind of girl.

“I have nothing to hide, Delta.” The lie tasted metallic. “Dress me.”

She looked at me. In the way that told me she knew me. She knew what I had done. The ones she had helped me with even. But she knew not to linger on it.

“Of course.”

She obeyed immediately, crossing to my wardrobe and pulling out a jade green dress. The fabric was flowy and soft, the kind of thing that would photograph well. Make me look innocent. Vulnerable. I let her help me into it, her fingers quick and efficient with the buttons.

“Your hair, Luna?”

“No.” I caught her hand. “I cannot look completely put together.”

She nodded and stepped back. I checked my reflection in the mirror. The dress hung right. My hair was messy from sleep, tumbling over my shoulders in waves that looked artfully disheveled rather than neglected. Dark circles shadowed my eyes.

Good.

They needed to see what their accusations had done to little ol’ me.

I turned toward the door. “I’m ready.”

The sentinels waited in the hallway. Different ones from earlier. Older. Their faces carved from stone as they watched me approach.

“Luna Hazel.” The taller one reached for something at his belt. Silver glinted in the low light. “Protocol requires restraints.”

The cuffs closed around my wrists before I could respond.

Pain exploded up my arms. Silver burned against my skin, sinking deep into flesh that was still healing from the bathroom encounter. I screamed. The sound ripped from my throat unbidden and I couldn’t stop it. My knees buckled and one of the sentinels caught my elbow, keeping me upright.

“Please move.” His voice held no sympathy.

They led me down the hallway. Each step sent fresh waves of agony through my wrists. The silver felt alive, eating through skin and muscle. My vision blurred at the edges.

A figure appeared at the end of the corridor. Mother. She wore a dark blue gown, her hair perfectly styled despite the hour. Her eyes locked on my wrists and her face went white.

“Uncuff my daughter right now.” Her voice cracked like a whip. “She is not guilty.”

“Luna Isobel, this is protocol for all—”

Mother moved faster than I’d ever seen her move. Her hand connected with the sentinel’s face hard enough to snap his head sideways. The sound echoed down the hallway.

“I said uncuff her.”

The other sentinel fumbled with his keys. The silver fell away and I bit down on my tongue to keep from crying out again. Red welts circled my wrists, the skin already blistering where the metal had touched.

Mother pulled me into her arms. Her perfume wrapped around me, familiar and suffocating. “We tried our best.”

Her lips brushed my ear. The whisper came so soft I almost missed it.

“Deny any involvement in Milo’s death. I sent assassins to kill his family. They will get there before the Elder’s circle men. His grandmother and half brother will never have a chance to come for you. For the other… Plead for leniency. Attempted murder is not the worst thing that can happen.”

I went rigid in her embrace. Assassins. She’d actually done it. Moved pieces on the board before I’d even woken up. Part of me wanted to thank her. Because she wasn’t as useless as I thought and she could actually be just as ruthless if she put her mind to it.

But I said nothing. I didn’t nod or shake my head or give any indication I’d heard. Because I wouldn’t plead for mercy. I wouldn’t take accountability for things they wanted to pin on me. If Mother thought her confession would make me grateful enough to play the victim, she didn’t know me at all.

The sentinels waited. Patient as death.

I pulled away from Mother and held out my wrists. They didn’t cuff me again. Small mercies I guess. They simply held on as we walked together through the estate, past windows that showed the sky just starting to lighten. Dawn was coming. Perfect timing for a trial.

The elders circle building rose ahead of us. It was completely made of stone and wrought iron. The weight it carries alone made my stomach twist. The doors opened as we approached, yawning wide like a mouth. Inside, the circular chamber stretched upward. Seats lined the walls, rising in tiers until they nearly touched the ceiling. Old wolves filled those seats. The elders circle. Twenty of them, maybe more. Their faces blurred together, weathered and hard and convinced of their own righteousness.

I stood in the center of the room. Alone. The floor beneath my feet had been polished to a mirror shine and I could see my reflection staring back up at me.

Small.

Isolated.

Exactly how they wanted me to feel.

The doors slammed shut behind me. The sound reverberated through the chamber.

The lead elder leaned forward in his seat. He was ancient, his face a map of wrinkles and liver spots. But his eyes were sharp. Focused. He looked at me like I was something he’d scraped off his shoe.

“You stand accused of three charges, Luna Hazel.”

Mother’s voice rang out from somewhere above me. I looked up and saw her taking her seat among the elders. Her face was composed now, every trace of emotion locked away.

“No. It is two.”

The lead elder spared her a glance. Nothing more. “It is three.”

He began to list them. His voice echoed off the stone walls, each word precise and damning.

“Callously putting this pack in danger to avoid an arranged marriage.”

My jaw tightened. This wasn’t supposed to be part of them. Not anymore.

The way they twisted it too. That wasn’t how it had happened. But they would twist everything. Make my fucking survival look like selfishness.

“Wrongfully accusing Sentinel Milo of rape in the sadistic hope to get him murdered.”

The words hit like physical blows. Wrongfully. Sadistic. As if I’d orchestrated it for my personal enjoyment. Milo had to go because he was going to let his empathy endanger me.

“Attempting to spill kinblood.”

I looked at Mother. Her face had gone white again, her eyes wide with something that might have been genuine shock from the first charge. She hadn’t known about it. Neither had I.

The lead elder’s gaze found mine. For just a second, something flickered across his face. His eyes widened slightly. His jaw tensed. Then it was gone, replaced by that same cold judgment.

He flinched. Just barely. Just enough.

If I survived this, he was going to do more than flinch at my glare. I would demand blood.

“How do you plead?”

The question hung in the air between us. Every eye in that chamber fixed on me. Waiting. Expecting tears maybe. Or rage. Or a desperate plea for understanding.

I lifted my chin. Met the lead elder’s gaze without blinking. Let him see exactly what I was.

“Not guilty.”