Chapter 103
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The council room was full when Damien brought me in. I felt everyone staring before I reached the table. Some looked at my smoke stained hoodie. Some looked at my face Alice sat near Clara with her hands folded in her lap, eyes red from crying. The girl had dressed for sympathy.
I stopped beside Damien and crossed my arms. “She was there.”
Alice lifted her head. “Sienna, please.”
“No,” I said, pointing at her sleeve. “Don’t Sienna please me. There was soot on your sleeve. Your perfume was in that storage room. The maps were there before someone locked me inside and filled the room with smoke.”
Alice’s lips trembled. She looked around the room, not at me. “I don’t know what she wants me to say. I didn’t do anything.”
I laughed under my breath and raked my fingers through my hair. “Girl, you are actually unbelievable.”
Marcus leaned forward. “Sienna, we need calm.”
I turned to him with furrowed eyebrows. “I was locked in a room with smoke. I am being calm.”
Alice pressed a hand over her mouth. “This is exactly what I mean. She keeps attacking me. Every time something happens, she blames me.”
Damien’s jaw tightened beside me. “Alice.”
She looked at him, eyes wet. “No, Damien, I need to say it. Everyone is scared to say it because she is your mate now, but I am not.”
The room went still. I stared at her. “Say what?”
Alice wiped under her eyes. “That you are unstable. You hear voices. You smell things no one else smells. You shift when you are angry. You almost hurt Damien during training.”
My chest tightened, but I forced myself not to step forward. That was what she wanted. She wanted me angry. Loud. Wild.
Damien’s hand brushed mine Alice saw it. Her eyes flicked down, then back up.
“And now,” she continued, voice shaking, “you keep accusing me because I have been close to Damien for years. Maybe you’re jealous. Maybe you feel threatened by any woman who belonged in this pack before you ever got here.”
I felt the room shift. Tense. Curious. Doubtful.
I swallowed and looked at Damien. His eyes were already on me.
Alice turned toward the elders. “I am not saying she is evil. I am saying she is new. She is changing. We do not
11:49 Thu, May 21
Chapter 103
know what she is capable of.”
I gripped the chair. “You are the one lying.”
She flinched like I had screamed in her face. “See?”
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I stopped. That movement hit harder than her words. She was not trying to beat me with truth. She was making every reaction look like proof. Every time Damien defended me, she twisted it until I looked obsessed.
Damien moved closer anyway.
Alice looked at him. “You are not seeing clearly because of her.”
Damien’s voice stayed flat. “I see enough.”
I touched his arm lightly. He looked down at me, and I shook my head Not because I wanted him to stop supporting me, but because I understood the game. Alice wanted his loyalty to look like blindness. She wanted me to look like the problem he was too in love to control.
Alice turned back to the room. “Maybe your new Luna is not safe around the pack.”
A few people whispered. Damien’s head snapped toward them, and the room shut up instantly.
I inhaled slowly. Alice smelled like salt, perfume, and something bitter. Fear. The kind that came from almost being caught.
Damien stepped forward. “You are removed from inner security access.”
Alice froze. “What?”
“You heard me.”
Her tears stopped.
Damien’s voice hardened. “You will no longer attend private council briefings. You will not receive patrol updates. You will not access the storage wing, the cells, or border reports.”
Alice stood so fast her chair scraped back. “You cannot be serious.”
“I am.”
She looked around the table. “Are you all going to allow this?”
Clara glanced at Marcus. Marcus said nothing.
Alice turned back to Damien. “After everything my family has done for this pack?”
Damien stared at her. “That is the only reason I am not putting you in a cell.”
Her mouth parted. I watched the mask slip. The crying girl was gone. Her fingers curled into fists.
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Chapter 103
“You are making a mistake,” she said.
Damien took one step closer. “Then prove me wrong.”
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Alice laughed once, sharp and ugly. “You will regret choosing that thing over someone born for this pack.”
The whole room went silent. My body went cold first. Then hot. My wolf pushed up so fast my nails pressed into the chair.
Damien did not move.
That was worse somehow. His face changed, but not how I expected. I thought he would explode. Instead, he looked at Alice like he had finally seen something he did not want to see.
Betrayal sat on his face quietly. Not just anger for me. Real hurt. He had trusted her.
Alice noticed it too. Her chin lifted, but her eyes flickered.
Damien’s voice was low. “Get out.”
Alice swallowed. “Damien.”
“Now.”
She grabbed her shawl and walked to the door. When she passed me, she leaned close enough that only I could hear her.
“This pack will never love you.”
I looked at her without blinking. “Good thing I’m not begging.”
Her jaw tightened, and then she left.
The door closed behind her, and the room stayed silent.
Damien looked down at the table, one hand braced against the edge. His knuckles were pale.
I stepped closer slowly. “Damien.”
He shook his head once, not looking at me. “I should have seen it sooner.”
I touched his wrist. “She fooled everyone.”
I swallowed. “I did not want to be right.”
He finally looked at me. His eyes were tired, and that hurt more than anger would have. I slid my hand into his, and this time he held on.
Linda pushed into the room before either of us could say more. Her face was pale, and there was blood on her sleeve.
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Chapter 103
Damien straightened. “What happened?”
Linda swallowed hard. “Three loyal guards were found dead at the east gate.”
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