Chapter 9 Chapter 0009
•CASSANDRA•
“I didn’t do it!” My chest tightened painfully. “I can never plot to kill my own husband.”
“Then explain these screenshots from your phone, Luna,” Elder Mira answered as she handed me the papers.
My heart stopped when I saw them. They were screenshots from my phone, but I wasn’t the one who wrote the texts, and Damon wouldn’t have responded to a conversation like that.
I shook my head and didn’t know how to explain something I hadn’t done. The evidence was planted so smoothly that I even wondered how the person could text exactly like me.
I looked at Mason as I unmasked the mate bond. I hoped to talk to him so he’d understand that I’d never do something like that to him.
Even though I knew he didn’t love me as much as I loved him, I would never plot to kill the man who gave me a child.
He and Rowan meant everything to me. They were my family, and I wanted to leave peacefully because I wanted him to be happy. Even if it meant he had to be happy with someone else.
‘Mason, I didn’t do it,’ I said through the mind link. ‘We have a child together. I’d never be able to forgive myself if Rowan lost his father because of me.’
‘I trusted you with my life, Cassandra,’ he answered, his gaze hardening. ‘But you betrayed me and wanted me dead. Only the moon goddess knows what could’ve happened if Nadia hadn’t been in my life. I would be dead if it weren’t for her.’
‘Nadia gave you the screenshots?’ I asked in disbelief, wondering how she could do something like that to me.
She didn’t just ruin my life, but she wanted me to be banished and lose my home and my family.
She wanted me gone.
‘Are you denying them? Do you want to tell me you didn’t text your brother to get me killed on a full moon, which is tomorrow?’ He asked, and I knew that he’d never believe me.
‘I didn’t do it,’ I replied, feeling an agony that wanted to rip through my chest. ‘You’re my mate, Mason, and they don’t know that. Do you think they’d believe it if they knew the truth? I would die if I killed you.’
He didn’t answer.
He knew it made no sense for me to kill him. I’d tear my insides apart if I killed my mate.
‘I reject our mate bond, Cassandra,’ he muttered. ‘The moon forbids I have a mate who wants me dead. From now on, you and I are no longer bonded.’ With that said, the mate bond between us snapped, and I dropped to the floor on my knees, clutching my chest.
The pain felt as if someone had punched me in the chest and pressed their foot on it. My breath hitched, and I held back a scream that wanted to tear through my throat.
“We must summon her brother and uncle to come and answer these allegations,” Elder Orin’s voice broke through my thoughts. “If the Goldename Court no longer wants peace with us, then must say that to our faces.”
“You’re right, Elder Orin,” Nadia responded beside me. “I bet Damon won’t deny the allegations.”
“Call them immediately, Noah,” Mason instructed Noah as I got up to my feet.
“Yes, Alpha.” Noah pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and went to make a call in the hallway.
While Noah was making a call, Nadia looked me up and down before she went back to her seat next to Mason.
I swallowed and gathered every ounce of strength in my body not to break down.
A few hours later, Damon and my uncle, Holland, arrived.
I was so relieved because I thought they’d clear the allegations and prove to the elders and Mason that I was innocent.
“Thank the moon you are here,” I breathed as they approached me. “Please tell them the truth. I’d never plot to kill my husband. I’d never commit treason.”
My stomach twisted when they barely looked at me. Even their expressions darkened as they stood beside me.
Damon, who would’ve hugged and told me how much he had missed me, was quiet. My uncle was stiff beside him.
“Alpha Holland,” Elder Orin muttered. “We apologize for calling you so urgently to come to our council hall. We understand you had other affairs to attend to, but our Alpha’s life is at risk.”
“I understand the request,” Uncle Holland answered. “What has my niece done this time?” He asked.
I furrowed my brow and scoffed because he answered as if I had always been troublesome.
He had known me since I was a baby and took me into his home when I was eight and raised me with his wife, the Luna. And I never caused them any trouble.
I had always been someone who kept things to herself and had never gone out to seek trouble.
He and his wife adored me because of that. They always said I was such a joy to be around.
“The Luna has conspired with her brother to kill our Alpha under the full moon tomorrow,” Elder Mira answered. “They said things about our pack that have made us question our stand with the Goldenmane Court.”
“I never intended to follow through with the plans,” Damon answered. “When she texted me about killing Alpha Mason, I thought I would show the evidence to my uncle and then warn Alpha Mason.”
“So, it’s true?” Elder Draven asked, and my chest tightened.
Damon, my own brother... turned against me even though he knew I couldn’t kill anyone.
“It’s true,” he answered. “Cassandra wanted us to kill Alpha Mason. She wanted revenge for the people we lost when Goldenmane Court and Silvercrest were fighting. She believes our parents would be alive if they hadn’t been fighting with us.”