Chapter 8 Chapter 0008
•CASSANDRA•
The door creaked open, and I stiffened as my hand tightened around the suitcase handle.
I quickly wiped my tears away, trying to look composed even though I knew every part of me felt like breaking.
“Nathan?”
“Luna, you’re summoned to the council hall. The Alpha and the elders are waiting for you there,” Mason’s Gamma informed me.
“Why?” I furrowed my brows, confused. “What do they want from me?”
I didn’t think Mason needed to tell the elders about our divorce. But I thought maybe he wanted to inform them that I would no longer be the Luna.
“It’s urgent, Luna,” he responded. “Please follow me.”
I pushed my suitcase to the side of the bed and followed him. My heart hammered in my chest because I wasn’t sure what to expect in the council hall.
The she-wolves were murmuring things I didn’t want to hear when we passed them. They shared looks and chuckled among themselves.
I shook my head and didn’t want to dwell much on what they were saying, but I knew what they thought.
Mason had finally found his mate. Nadia.
They didn’t know that we were already mated, but he chose someone else. He loved Nadia above me, and I understood that, and didn’t want to fight it anymore.
The thought of Nadia taking my son away was unbelievably painful.
She took the only person in the world I thought could never turn his back against me, and now Rowan wanted her as his mother.
When I got to the hall, Elder Fenrik, Elder Mira, and the head Elder Orin were waiting for me. Across their table were Mason, and of course, Nadia.
My stomach tightened when I saw her. If I had known the time I was so kind to her she’d come to my home and take my husband, I wouldn’t have even made her think I was weak.
“Luna Cassandra,” Elder Orin said, gesturing to me in the center near their table. “You’re welcome at the council hall.”
I looked at each of them with confusion, and when my gaze finally landed on Mason, he looked away, which tore my heart apart, but I didn’t show it.
I swallowed what was left of my dignity and went to stand in front of the elders’ table. I hoped they’d be done with what they wanted and let me go home.
“You must be wondering why you’re called here,” Elder Mira said as she picked up a few documents and scanned them with her eyes. “We wouldn’t have made the meeting urgent if it didn’t require your immediate presence.”
“That’s true,” Elder Draven chimed in, his voice cold and accusing. “You’re here because we’ve found evidence of you planning to kill our Alpha with your brother, Damon, on a full moon.”
“What?” I gasped, feeling as if someone had punched the air out of my lungs. I shook my head and looked at Mason behind me, wondering if he believed all this.
“There’s screenshot evidence, Luna, of you emailing your brother about how you’re going to carry out your plan,” Elder Mira answered. “You state here that you want to take over this pack and avenge yourself against the Alpha for what his father had done when he killed your pack members years ago.”
“I never—”
“You’re not permitted to speak!” Elder Draven snapped, smacking his hand on the table. “You’re called to the meeting to listen to the allegations that are laid against you.”
“I told you, Alpha, Cassandra has never loved you,” Nadia whispered to Mason behind me, and I closed my eyes and swallowed, pretending as if I didn’t hear a thing she said. “She was waiting for the right moment to finish what her pack started when they attacked us eight years ago.”
“Because of the claims made against you, the Elders and I will do a proper investigation and bring your brother for questioning,” Elder Orin added. “If you are found guilty of these schemes and treachery, you will be punished.”
I shook my head and didn’t know what to say. They had all been convinced that I planned to kill Mason, so they wouldn’t listen to a word I’d say to them.
Nadia was on her feet before I could think of what to say to the elders.
“My apologies for interrupting.” She cleared her throat and walked over to me. “But I wanted to remind the Alpha and the Elders that Cassandra and I were friends once. She trusted me with a lot of information, and maybe too much.”
My fists clenched, and my jaw tightened when she smirked, looking at me.
“What did the Luna tell you, Mary?” Elder Mira asked her.
“She told me the wars between Silvercrest and Goldenmane Court cost her the lives of people she loved,” she huffed, her gaze locked on mine.
“She also said that she wished the moon goddess hadn’t intertwined her fate with someone whose pack had almost wiped out half the population of hers.”
My breath caught, and I swallowed, closing my eyes. I couldn’t believe she used that against me. I said all of that in confidence, thinking she’d never use that against me.
I opened up to her because I thought she was my friend. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that she was going to use everything against me.
“Is that true, Luna?” Elder Orin gasped.
“I’m not surprised,” Elder Draven scoffed. “The former Alpha didn’t want to listen to me when I told him it wouldn’t be best to find Mason a wife in Goldenmane Court. We were in a war for a long time, so the marriage might have been a front for their next rebellion against us.”
“She must face the consequences of plotting against the pack and our Alpha,” Elder Mira added.
“This is unbelievable!”
“We know what to do,” Elder Draven answered, looking at them and then at Mason. “She must be banished.”