Chapter 16 False Witness
For a long moment, I just stand there, staring at the closed door, my mind unable to process what just happened. Then, slowly, the shock gives way to pure terror.
I stagger to the mirror above my dresser and assess the damage. My face is a mess of scratches, some deep enough that they'll definitely scar. My arms are similarly torn up. But it's my stomach that terrifies me most.
With shaking hands, I lift my shirt.
The skin of my abdomen is covered in angry red welts where Stella's nails dug in. Some are bleeding. One looks particularly deep, right above where I know the baby is growing.
"Please be okay," I whisper, pressing my hand gently over the worst scratch. "Please, little one. Please be okay."
I don't feel any cramping. No unusual pain beyond the scratches themselves. But I have no way to know if the baby is truly safe. No way to check without going to the pack doctor—who will immediately report my pregnancy to Mason.
And if Mason finds out about the baby now, in the midst of all this...
I can't even think about what might happen.
Moving carefully, I clean the wounds as best I can with supplies from my small bathroom. Every time I catch my reflection in the mirror, I see Stella's handiwork. The evidence of her rage.
The evidence that no one will ever believe came from her hands instead of mine.
When I finally collapse on my bed, exhausted and hurting, I find my phone tucked under my pillow where I'd left it. With trembling fingers, I pull up Damon's number.
She found out. She attacked me. Mason thinks I attacked her. I'm locked in my room. I don't know what to do.
The response comes almost immediately.
I heard. I'm coming.
No. Too dangerous. He'll know you're helping me.
I don't care. Hold on. I'm coming.
But twenty minutes pass, then thirty, and Damon doesn't appear. I imagine Mason must have intercepted him, must have told him to stay away.
I'm alone.
Truly, completely alone.
I curl up on my bed, my arms wrapped protectively around my stomach, and finally let myself break down. Great, heaving sobs that shake my entire body. Tears that won't stop flowing.
Everything I planned, everything I tried to do to save myself and my baby—it's all fallen apart.
Tomorrow, Mason will hold some kind of hearing. He'll let Stella tell her lies in front of the pack. And everyone will believe her, because who would question the Luna? Who would take the word of a lowly omega over the Alpha's mate?
I'll be punished. Maybe banished without resources, without help, left to fend for myself in the wilderness. Or maybe something worse.
And my baby... my baby will pay the price for my failures.
"I'm sorry," I whisper into the darkness. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you."
Outside my locked door, I hear footsteps. Voices discussing what to do with me. How to handle "the situation."
No one sounds sympathetic.
I close my eyes, pressing my face into my pillow to muffle the sounds of my crying. Tomorrow will come whether I'm ready or not. Tomorrow, I'll face Mason's judgment.
Tomorrow, everything will end.
But tonight, in the privacy of my locked room, I let myself grieve. For the life I'm about to lose. For the future that's been stolen. For the tiny heartbeat inside me that may never get a chance to see the world.
The night stretches on, endless and dark.
And I am utterly, devastatingly alone.
Morning comes too soon.
I barely slept. Every time I started to drift off, pain from the scratches would jolt me awake, or I'd remember Stella's hands on my stomach and panic would seize my chest.
The baby. Is the baby okay?
I've felt no cramping, no bleeding beyond the scratches, but without proper medical care, I have no way to know for certain. My hand has barely left my stomach all night, as if I could protect the tiny life inside through sheer force of will.
At seven AM, my door unlocks.
Mrs. Chen enters carrying a tray of food. Her face crumples when she sees me—the scratches on my face have darkened overnight, painting my features in shades of purple and red.
"Oh, child." She sets the tray down and rushes to me. "What has that woman done to you?"
"You believe me?" My voice cracks with desperate hope.
"Of course I believe you. I've seen what she is. Seen how she looks at you when she thinks no one's watching." Mrs. Chen's hands hover over my face, afraid to touch the wounds. "I tried to get to you last night, but Mason posted guards. Wouldn't let anyone in."
"What's going to happen to me?"
Mrs. Chen's expression turns grave. "There's to be a pack gathering at noon. In the main hall. Mason is going to... he's going to hold a hearing."
A hearing. Which means witnesses. Testimony. A formal judgment.
"He's already decided I'm guilty," I say flatly. "This is just for show."
"Damon is trying to talk to him. Trying to make him see reason." But even Mrs. Chen doesn't sound hopeful. "Mason is... he's not listening. Stella has him completely under her spell."
"The mate bond." I touch the tender scratches on my stomach through my shirt. "He can't see past it."
"Eat something." Mrs. Chen pushes the tray toward me. "You need your strength for what's coming."
But I can barely look at the food. My stomach is twisted in knots, and I'm terrified that if I eat, I'll just throw it all up.
Mrs. Chen sits beside me on the bed. "Whatever happens today, you fight. You tell the truth. Make them hear you."
"They won't believe me."
"Some will. I will. Damon will. There are others in this pack who've seen Stella's true nature." She grips my hand. "Don't give up before you've even tried."
After she leaves, I force myself to eat a few bites of toast. To drink some water. Mrs. Chen is right—I need strength, even if I feel like I have none left.
At eleven-thirty, two guards came to escort me to the main hall.
They're both wolves I've known for years. Michael, who used to sneak me extra desserts from the kitchen when I was a kid. And Sarah, who helped me learn to control my shift during my first transformation.
Now they won't meet my eyes.
"This way," Michael says gruffly, gesturing for me to walk ahead of them.
The walk to the main hall feels like a death march. Wolves stop what they're doing to stare as we pass. Some whisper behind their hands. Others just watch with cold, judgmental eyes.
News has spread fast. The omega who attacked the Luna. The jealous girl who couldn't accept that Mason found his mate.
The lies are already taking root.
The main hall is packed. It seems like every member of Crescent Moon Pack has gathered for this spectacle. They part to let me through, creating a pathway to the front where Mason sits in the Alpha's chair, his father beside him.
Alpha Reeves looks older than I remember. Tired. Like dealing with his sons' drama has aged him overnight.
And there, sitting in the Luna's chair, is Stella.
She's dressed in white—a calculated choice. Pure. Innocent. Her face is covered in bandages, far more dramatic than the actual scratches warrant. She dabs at her eyes with a handkerchief, playing the victim perfectly.
When our eyes meet, I see triumph flicker beneath her tearful facade.
She's won. And she knows it.
"Sage Mitchell." Mason's voice rings out across the hall. "You stand accused of attacking your Luna, of planning to abandon your pack without permission, and of conduct unbecoming an omega. How do you plead?"
I lift my chin, refusing to cower even though every instinct screams at me to submit to his Alpha authority.
"Not guilty, Alpha."
A murmur runs through the crowd.
"Then let the witness testimony begin." Mason gestures to Stella. "Luna Stella, tell us what happened."
Stella rises gracefully, despite her "injuries." Her voice trembles as she speaks—a masterful performance.
"I went to check on Sage last night because I'd heard she was upset. When I entered her room, I found her packing supplies—food, money, clothes. It was clear she was planning to run away." Stella pauses, letting this information sink in. "I asked her what she was doing, and she... she just exploded. Started screaming about how I'd stolen Mason from her, how she should have been Luna, how I didn't deserve any of it."
"That's a lie," I say, but Mason silences me with a look.
"She came at me with her claws out," Stella continues, gesturing to her bandaged face. "I tried to defend myself, but she was like a wild animal. Completely out of control. If Mason hadn't arrived when he did..." She breaks off, sobbing delicately into her handkerchief.
Mason's jaw tightens. He looks at me with barely concealed disgust.
"And what do you say to these accusations, Sage?"
"I say she's lying through her teeth." I'm shaking with rage now, with fear, but I force my voice to remain steady. "She found out I was planning to leave, yes. But she's the one who attacked me. She was trying to—" I stop myself just in time. Can't mention the baby. Not yet. "She was trying to hurt me. I was defending myself."
"You were defending yourself?" Mason's voice drips with skepticism. "Then why are her injuries so much more severe than yours?"
Because she inflicted them on herself, I want to scream. But I know how it sounds. How insane it would seem.
"Look at my stomach," I say instead. "Look at what she did—"
"Enough." Mason cuts me off. "You've made accusations against my mate before, Sage. Accusations that proved to be baseless. Why should I believe you now?"
"Because I'm telling the truth!" My voice rises despite myself. "She's been abusing me for months! She pushes me down stairs, starves me, threatens me—"
"Lies!" Stella cries. "All lies! I've never touched her before last night when she attacked me!"
"Someone must have seen something," I plead, looking around the hall desperately. "Someone must have noticed—"
But the faces staring back at me are either hostile or carefully neutral. No one speaks up. No one comes to my defense.
Except—
"I have something to say." Damon rises from where he's been sitting in the front row.
Mason's eyes narrow. "This doesn't concern you, Beta."
"It concerns me when my alpha is about to make a terrible mistake." Damon's voice is firm. "I've observed Stella's treatment of Sage for weeks now. The bruises, the weight loss, the fear in her eyes whenever Stella is near. Something has been going on—"
"You're questioning your Luna?" Stella's voice is sharp.
"I'm questioning her version of events, yes." Damon meets her gaze steadily. "Because I know Sage. I've known her my entire life. And this violent, jealous person you're describing isn't her."
"People change," Mason says coldly. "Especially when they can't have what they want."
"And sometimes people lie," Damon counters. "Especially when the truth would expose them."
The tension in the room spikes. I can see Mason's hands grip the arms of his chair, his knuckles white.
"Careful, beta." The warning in Mason's voice is unmistakable. "Don't let emotions cloud your judgment."
"I could say the same about the mate bond," Damon replies quietly.
For a moment, I think Mason might actually hit him. The rage that flashes across his face is volcanic.
But Alpha Reeves intervenes, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "That's enough. Both of you." He turns to address the assembly. "Does anyone else have testimony to offer?"
Mrs. Chen stands. "I've seen bruises on that girl's arms. Seen her jumping at shadows. Whatever happened last night, there's history there that shouldn't be ignored."
"Clumsy omegas often have bruises," Stella says dismissively. "And I'm sure I've accidentally startled her once or twice. But that doesn't give her the right to attack me."
A few other wolves speak—some in my defense, most against me. But it's clear which way the tide is turning.
Mason has already made up his mind.
Finally, after what feels like hours, Alpha Reeves raises his hand for silence.
"Mason. As the Alpha who will soon lead this pack, the decision is yours. What is your judgment?"
Mason stands. When he looks at me, I see no trace of the boy I grew up with. The friend who used to share his lunches when I forgot mine. The teenager who taught me to hunt.
That person is gone. Replaced by an Alpha who sees me as nothing but a problem to be eliminated.
"Sage Mitchell," he begins, his voice formal. "You have been found guilty of attacking your Luna and planning to abandon your pack. Such actions cannot be tolerated."
My legs start to shake. This is it. This is the moment my life ends.
"Therefore, I, Mason Reeves, future Alpha of White Moon Pack, hereby banish you from pack lands. You have until sunset to gather your belongings and leave. If you are found within our territory after that time, you will be treated as a hostile rogue."
Banishment.