Chapter 1 Accused and Betrayed

Chapter one: Judgement Day, Part One

Liliana

I still couldn't believe he was gone.

The wind whispered through the trees as I stood alone before the cold, grey tombstone that bled his name, Alpha Arthur Humphrey. My father. My anchor. My everything.

I blinked back tears, but they kept falling anyway. It had been three days since the doctors gave up... three days since the burial... three days since my heart shattered into a million irreparable pieces.

He was supposed to get better. He promised. He said we'd go back to how things were. But just like that, he left me. Forever. It made no sense.

After months of being sick from a mysterious ailment, he'd finally been able to move his body just a week before his death.

The doctor had said he was getting better, but then, three days ago, it all went to hell. He'd died in my arms.

"Please," I whispered, my voice breaking. "Come back, Dad... Please..."

But there was only silence.

Not even the wind offered comfort.

How was I supposed to take over the pack without him? I wasn't ready. I want my father back!

Suddenly the sound of heavy boots crunching against gravel snapped me from my sorrow. I turned slowly, heart pounding, to see three of my father's guards – my guards now – approaching. But something in their eyes had changed. Something I didn't like.

"What's the meaning of this?" I asked, trying to hold onto what little calm I had left.

The tallest of them, Captain Vance, stepped forward. His expression was unreadable, but the going was in his eyes. They shine with hostility.

"I'm sorry, Princess Liliana," he said coldly. "But you'll have to come with us."

My brows furrowed. "What? Why? What's going on?" My eyes darted between the two other men behind him.

His jaw clenched, and his eyes bored into mine like he couldn't stand me.

"You are under arrest for the murder of the late Arthur Humphrey, the Alpha."

I froze.

The words didn't make sense. Murder? My father? I shook my head, trying to piece together the sentence that had just shattered my reality for the second time in less than a week.

"Is this some kind of cruel joke? Because it's not funny." I gritted my teeth, my hands clenched into fists. I was trying to mourn my father, for crying out loud.

"No, it is not. You can either come with us willingly, or we will have to use force."

I laughed, but it wasn't out of humour. It was out of disbelief and bitterness. I must be having some kind of bad dream.

"Get out, all of you, and I'll forget this nonsense ever happened."

But my words fell on deaf ears.

Vance stalked towards me and grabbed me roughly.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" I spat, but they didn't. Instead, I felt a cold metal clamp around my wrist.

They didn't answer; they didn't even look at me.

"I command you to let me go!" I snapped my mu words and fell on deaf ears.

They dragged me away from my father's grave, away from my grief and towards the dark silhouette of the pack house in the distance.

****

We were already near the pack house when I realised this wasn't a cruel joke. I was really being accused of a crime I didn't commit.

As soon as we stepped into the pack house, I began to call out to my stepbrother.

"Tony! " I yelled, but there was no answer.

"Tony, please. Save me, I don't know what they're talking about." Silence.

"Let me go, or I swear I will have you all thrown in the dungeon." I growled.

But none of them cared about what I was saying.

Their stony faces didn't change, not for a second.

They dragged me into the throne room where the elders and Pack council were seated.

They all stared at me with a look of disgust on their faces.

"What is going on?* I asked, looking around in confusion as the guards finally let go of me.

"Tony?" I looked over at the tall blonde man.

"This is your trial, Liliana." He said, rising from the chair. That was my father's throne.

"Trial? For what? I didn't do anything."

"Of course you would deny it. I'm not surprised. I am disgusted by your actions. You killed the Alpha because you wanted the inheritance."

He glared at me.

I stood there frozen. I had to be hearing things. This had to be a bad dream.Even before today, I have already suspected that something was off about Tony.

"Are you hearing yourself? How can you accuse me of something so insane? Is this some kind of prank?"

"No, it is not, and your trial is about to begin."

Just like that, I was dragged onto a small wooden podium, and a single beam of light shone down on me, making me feel more like a criminal than a grieving daughter.

My hands trembled as I glanced around the room, faces I'd grown up knowing now twisted with judgement and suspicion. The room, once filled with laughter during celebrations, now felt colder than the grave I'd just left.

I stared at my stepbrother in disbelief as he walked to the centre of the room, his cold gaze fixed on me. We were never particularly close, but never in a million years would I have expected him to accuse me of murder.

"Liliana, You are being accused of the murder of Alpha Arthur Humphrey, our father. How do you plead?"

"Innocent", I said with my head high even though my head was still reeling.

"Then how do you explain this?" He took out a vial containing a purple liquid that I had never seen before.

"I have no idea what that is," I said, looking at any of the elders to help me.

"Really? Because we found traces of this liquid on some of your clothes and under your bed." Tony said as one of the guards brought him piles of my clothes.

"This is ridiculous. I would never kill my father!" I defended myself.

"Silence!" Elder Jacob, one of my father's closest friends, spat, his eyes filled with disgust. "You will have your time to defend yourself."

Tony smiled and continued, showing clothing item after clothing item that were stained with a purple liquid I knew nothing about.

The realisation that I was being set up slowly invaded my consciousness. And my hands shook.

"Now that we've seen the evidence. I'm sure the council would like to know what this liquid is."

Tony said.

They all nodded in unison.

"It's belladonna mixed with wolfsbane. A powerful combo that could be used over time to poison someone slowly, and the best part about this evil mixture is that the belladonna masks the wolfsbane effect so it cannot be traced."

The entire room erupted into murmurs.

"I hope the council understands how this woman is guilty of killing our beloved Alpha."

Gasps echoed through the throne room. My knees wobbled as I gripped the edge of the podium to keep from collapsing. Belladonna and wolfsbane? That was unthinkable, something no San Wolf would dare use. My voice cracked as I tried to speak, but fear strangled it in my throat.

"I didn't do this!" I finally managed. "Someone is framing me."

"Enough!" Elder Jacob bellowed, slamming his cane against the marble. "You dare lie to this sacred court?"

"Justice must be served," Tony said, voice laced with false sorrow. "You have done the unthinkable!"

"The unthinkable? Why would I kill my own father?"

"Why else? You wanted to become Alpha. You hated that he wasn't going to make you his Alpha unless you married out of alliance and not love. You always hated how women could never be Alphas! That's the reason you killed Father, to ascend the Alpha throne!"

"No," I whispered in horror. "That's not true. I never wanted the title. I just wanted my father to live..."

But no one listened.

Elder Jacob stood. "By the power vested in the pack council and in accordance with the ancient laws, you are hereby banished from the Nightfall pack."

A low hum of approval echoed as tears blurred my vision.

"You have until sundown," Elder Jacob said coldly. "After which, if you are found on these lands, you will be executed on sight."

Two guards grabbed my arms.

"Wait, please!" Don't do this!" I screamed, kicking against their grip as they dragged me from the throne room.

"I didn't kill him! He was all I had, please. Tony, please. Don't do this! You'll regret this Tony!"

But he just turned his back.

I was no longer Liliana Humphrey, daughter of the Alpha.

I was no one. A rogue.

And the door slammed behind me like a final goodbye.