CHAPTER FIVE

Today felt like every other miserable morning. Same weight pressing down on my chest. Same quiet house. Same dull ache in my ribs from holding in too much emotion for too long.

I barely spoke to anyone in school or around the neighborhood. What was the point? No one really listened. No one asked how I was doing, and even if they did, what would I say? I’m barely holding on? I cried myself to sleep again? I’m starting to believe maybe I really am cursed?

Yeah. No thanks.

I left the house with that familiar tightness in my chest and walked toward the academy with my shoulders curled inward, like I could somehow shield myself from what I knew was waiting.

They didn’t even give me a chance to breathe when I arrived.

I wasn’t two steps through the gate when everyone I passed was whispering about me.

“She looks guilty.”

“I heard she was jealous of Annie.”

“Do you think she snapped?”

Guilty?

Snapped?

I paused mid-step, brows pinching together. Something felt off.

Why are they talking about me and Annie? They never did, all they do is bully and insult me.

I turned slightly and caught sight of two girls huddled by the stairs, staring straight at me. One of them quickly looked away, but the other didn’t.

She didn’t even flinch.

Just kept watching me like I was… dangerous.

“Maybe she finally lost it after the rejection.”

What?

My heart skipped. I tried to swallow the sudden lump in my throat and kept walking. Faster now.

Inside the building, it was worse.

The halls were buzzing. Not just with the usual gossip, they were stepping away when I walked past. Giving me space like I carried a disease.

I didn’t understand. What has changed?

Mrs. Langston. One of the older teachers. Her face was pale and tight, and she was standing by the principal’s office, speaking in low, hushed tones to another staff member.

When her eyes met mine, her lips pressed into a line. And in that second, I just knew.

Something had happened.

I wasn’t being ignored today.

I was being watched.

---

By the second period, I couldn’t take it anymore. I stopped one of the girls in my class, Mia, who usually didn’t bother being cruel. She wasn’t exactly kind either, but she didn’t go out of her way to torment me like Annie and her crew.

“Mia,” I said, my voice low, almost scared of the answer. “What’s going on?”

She blinked, hesitating.

“You… haven’t heard?” she asked, almost like she pitied me. “About Annie?”

My blood ran cold.

“What about her?”

“She’s dead.”

The words hit like a brick to the chest, I actually stumbled back a step.

“What?”

“She was found in the woods this morning. Near the east ridge. They think” Mia lowered her voice, “they think it wasn’t an accident.”

No.

No, no, no.

My stomach flipped. “She’s… she’s dead?” I repeated, barely able to say it. “Like, really dead?” Mia nodded slowly. “And people… they’re saying… I mean, you guys didn’t get along, right?”

I stared at her, my heart thudding so loud I could barely hear her anymore. You guys didn’t get along, that was all it took?

One dead body and suddenly I was the murderer? I couldn’t breathe.

“I didn’t….” I shook my head. “I would never do…” But she was already walking away.

Third period had just started. I was at my desk, pretending to take notes while silently counting the minutes until lunch.

I kept my head down. Before the teacher could give an assignment the intercom crackled, “Attention,” said the gruff voice of Beta Cassian. “All students and pack members are to report to the pack hall immediately. This is an order from Alpha Killian.”

A pause.

Then he added, “This is not optional.”

Silence followed for a moment before the classroom burst into noise. Chairs scraped back. People stood and whispered with wide eyes and hushed tones. I froze.

Tension followed me all the way to the hall. It was the largest building on the pack grounds. I stood near the back, barely breathing, while the crowd became larger. Every face seemed to blur together.

I found Ronan across the room. He didn’t look at me, not even once.

The Alpha stepped forward to the center of the stage. He was tall, his commanding presence made the room still instantly, a few elite guards flanked him.

Behind them stood Annie’s parents.

Her mother looked pale, her eyes red-rimmed and her face red. Her father’s fists were clenched at his sides like he wanted to crush something with his bare hands.

Alpha Killian raised his hand, and the little murmurs quieted.

“We gather today in grief,” he said, his voice like thunder rumbling through the crowd. “One of our own, Annie Copper, was found dead last night in the woods.

The whispers began again.

Alpha Killian’s gaze swept the room. “We’ve received two witness testimonies that place one person at the scene. One person… that hasn't fully be one of us.

My stomach dropped.

No. No, no, no.

“Lyra Jake,” he said, turning to face me fully. “Step forward.”

Gasps broke through the room like glass shattering. I stood frozen. My legs wouldn’t move but the guards did.

They came down the aisle and flanked me on either side, nudging me forward. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. I felt like I was walking into my own funeral.

I stepped onto the stage, under the full glare of everyone I’d grown up with. My voice felt lodged in my throat.

Then the first witness stepped forward.

Bran. A boy from my combat class. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye.

“I saw her,” he muttered, eyes cast downward. “ I saw her in the woods yesterday, she didn't look normal, I can't explain it. She has always been jealous of Annie and fought with her all the time so it has to be her”

I shook my head, mouth opening to speak, but no words came.

The second witness was worse.

Marla.

Annie’s cousin.

“She was growling,” Marla said, eyes sharp and cold. “Not like a wolf. Like something else. I tried to help, but she just vanished and ran deeper into the woods.”

The crowd started murmuring again, they believed them.

It didn’t matter that I hadn’t been near the woods. I didn’t even have a wolf to shift into. It didn’t matter that I had no reason, no power, no proof.

They believed them.

Annie’s mother stepped forward, voice cracking like ice. “She should die for this. Our daughter is gone. And you killed her?”

“She deserves the death penalty!” her father roared. “She murdered our only child!”

I opened my mouth. “I didn’t—”

“Silence,” the Alpha said, and I flinched.

He turned to the crowd. “The punishment for murder is death.”

A pause. I held my breath.

“But,” he said slowly, “Lyra Jake is unshifted. Wolf-less. No threat to this pack if removed.” He looked down at me like I was a bug under glass.

“Therefore, I am issuing a banishment. Effective immediately, you are no longer welcome in this territory, you will leave tonight and you should never return.”