Chapter 92 The Scapegoat Trap
Wynter‘s POV
The words landed like physical blows, and I watched Jax's expression cycle through shock, deep hurt, and finally settling into a cold fury.
"You've already decided I'm guilty," he said quietly, his voice going flat and emotionless in a way that suggested he'd retreated somewhere deep inside himself. "Nothing I say is going to change that, is it? Because I'm a Rogue, and Rogues are always guilty by default in your eyes."
Stone's silence was answer enough, confirming what we'd all suspected—this wasn't about evidence or truth. This was about prejudice and the easiest scapegoat.
I opened my mouth to argue further, but before I could get the words out, I felt Rosalie moving beside me, stepping forward with her usual gentle determination.
"Professor Stone, please," she said, her voice carrying that particular quality of reasonableness she used when trying to defuse conflict. "Jax has been with us all morning. I can personally vouch for his whereabouts. If you would just—"
But I'd already realized the danger. My mind, sharpened by weeks of navigating Academy politics and Bloodrock's machinations, saw the trap closing.
If Rosalie testified for Jax, if she stood up publicly to defend him against these accusations, Stone would assume she was part of whatever conspiracy he'd invented. He'd paint all of us as accomplices, as Rogue sympathizers who'd helped orchestrate this attack.
And Rosalie—sweet, kind Rosalie who'd never done anything to deserve suspicion—would be caught in the same net, her reputation destroyed, her future at the Academy potentially ruined.
I couldn't let that happen.
I reached out and caught Rosalie's arm, squeezing hard enough to get her attention. When she turned to look at me with confusion in her eyes, I shook my head firmly, trying to convey through expression alone what I couldn't say aloud.
Don't. Please don't make yourself a target too.
Rosalie stared at me for a long moment, conflict clear on her face. But finally, reluctantly, she stepped back, her hand finding mine and squeezing tight even as tears gathered in her eyes.
"This is insane," I said, turning my attention back to Stone with renewed determination. "You're making accusations based on nothing but prejudice and circumstantial evidence. Jax has been at this Academy for months now. He's worked in the cafeteria, maintained the grounds, attended every class, followed every rule. In all that time, has he done a single thing to suggest he's any kind of security threat?"
"His very presence is a security threat," Stone said coldly. "Rogues are unstable by nature. Allowing one to attend this Academy was a mistake from the beginning—today's events have simply proven what many of us knew all along."
The casual cruelty of it, the complete dismissal of Jax as a person rather than a category, made my wolf snarl with protective fury.
But before I could respond, Chase's voice cut through the tension, carrying the unmistakable authority of an Alpha heir that made even Stone pause.
"Professor Stone," Chase said, his tone deceptively calm but carrying an edge that promised consequences. "This doesn't make any sense."
Stone turned to him with barely concealed irritation, clearly not appreciating being challenged by a student regardless of that student's political status. "Lord Sterling. I appreciate your concern, but this is a security matter—"
"No, listen to me," Chase interrupted, his voice taking on that particular quality of command he rarely used but that never failed to make people pay attention. "Think about this logically for just one moment. Jax is a Rogue. He's the only Rogue student currently enrolled at this Academy. His presence here is already controversial, already subject to constant scrutiny and suspicion from both students and staff."
He paused, letting that sink in. "Now, if Jax actually wanted to orchestrate some kind of attack, if he genuinely wanted to bring outside Rogues onto campus to create chaos and violence—why in the world would he do it in a way that makes him the immediate and obvious suspect? Why would he choose the Academy's largest public event, when security would be at its highest and hundreds of witnesses would be present? Why would he essentially paint a giant target on his own back?"
Stone frowned, clearly not having considered this angle. "What are you suggesting?"
"I'm suggesting that if Jax were actually guilty of what you're accusing him of, he would be far smarter about it than this," Chase said bluntly, his strategic mind clearly fully engaged now. "He would create distance between himself and any attack. He would establish ironclad alibis. He would make absolutely certain that he couldn't be connected to the incident in any way. Instead, what we have here is an attack that points directly at him in the most obvious way possible—almost as if someone wanted him to be blamed for it."
I felt hope flare in my chest as I watched Stone's expression shift slightly, doubt beginning to creep into his certainty.
"That's pure speculation," Stone said, but there was less conviction in his voice now. "You're suggesting a conspiracy where the simpler explanation—"
"The simpler explanation is often wrong when dealing with calculated attacks," Chase interrupted. "And Professor, consider this—Jax has been at this Academy for how long now? Several months? And in all that time, under constant observation and scrutiny precisely because of his Rogue status, has he done anything—anything at all—to suggest he poses a security threat to this institution?"
Stone's jaw clenched, but he didn't answer immediately.
"Furthermore," Chase continued, pressing his advantage, "let's examine the nature of this attack more closely. Those children weren't acting on their own volition—everyone who witnessed the incident agrees on that. Their eyes, their movements, their coordinated behavior—everything about them screamed external control. Someone was manipulating them like puppets, directing their actions remotely."
He paused for emphasis. "Does Jax have the kind of power or magical resources required to control other wolves in that manner? To override their will so completely that they become mindless weapons? Because that level of manipulation requires either extremely advanced magic or access to very specific and very illegal substances—neither of which a Rogue living under Academy supervision would have access to."
The logic was undeniable, and I watched Stone struggle to find a counterargument.
"And one final point," Chase said, his voice dropping slightly but losing none of its intensity. "If Jax really had brought those Rogue children onto campus, if he really was involved in orchestrating this attack—why would he be the first person to recognize one of them? Why would he identify Marcus Thorne by name, thereby directly connecting himself to the missing children investigation? That's not the action of someone trying to hide their involvement—that's the action of someone who's genuinely shocked and horrified to see a child he knows being used as a weapon."