Chapter 4 Three days on

Three days felt like three years but the morning came anyway. As Elara walked to the pack temple with her stomach churning from nerves and morning sickness she'd only just started experiencing.

Pack members lined the path leading to the temple entrance, watching her pass with judgment in their eyes and whispers following her steps—sinner, omega whore, cursed child—and she kept her gaze fixed ahead because looking at their faces would break what little composure she had left.

The seer waited inside the temple's main chamber where candles burned in iron holders, five pack elders seated in a semicircle behind her while Kai stood off to the side with his arms crossed and Maya beside him holding his hand.

"Kneel," the seer commanded and Elara dropped to her knees on the cold stone floor, her hands shaking as the seer approached with a ceremonial bowl filled with water that glowed faintly blue.

The seer dipped her fingers in the water and pressed them to Elara's forehead, speaking words in the old language that Elara didn't understand but felt in her bones, the magic crawling under her skin and settling warm in her abdomen where the child grew.

"The purification cleanses the child of the mother's sin," the seer announced to the watching elders. "But the bloodline must be confirmed for the ritual to take full effect."

She pulled a silver knife from her robes and Elara flinched but the seer only made a small cut on Elara's palm, letting three drops of blood fall into the glowing water which immediately turned gold and began to swirl.

The seer added her own magic, chanting again in the old language while images formed in the water's surface—Elara at the bar, the stranger approaching, the hotel room, and then the stranger's face became clear as the magic stripped away the disguise.

Kai's face stared back from the water's reflection and gasps echoed through the chamber as the elders leaned forward, Maya's hand dropping from Kai's as she stepped back in shock.

"The Alpha heir is the father," the seer declared, her white eyes fixed on Kai. "The magic cannot be deceived, the bloodline speaks truth."

Kai moved forward fast, his expression twisted with anger. "This is a lie, I was never with her, someone's manipulated the magic."

"The old magic cannot be manipulated," Elder Thomas said from his seat. "If the seer's vision shows…"

"Then the seer is wrong," Kai interrupted, pulling out his phone. "I have proof I was nowhere near that bar the night she claims this happened."

He opened a video file and held the phone up for the elders to see—security footage from the Grand Arena showing him entering at 8 PM and not leaving until 2 AM, time stamps clear in the corner.

"I was at the arena practicing for the championship game," Kai said. "My coach was there, the security guards saw me, this footage proves I couldn't have been at some human bar getting an omega pregnant."

Elder Thomas frowned and gestured for the phone, studying the footage carefully while the other elders crowded around to watch.

"The footage appears legitimate," Elder Sarah said slowly. "Time stamps match the night in question."

"Because it is legitimate," Kai snapped. "Elara is lying to trap me into claiming a child that isn't mine, probably slept with some random human and now wants to pin it on me for status."

Maya found her voice finally, moving back to Kai's side. "She attacked me in my home last week, tried to hurt me because she's jealous, and now this? She's unstable and dangerous."

The seer struck her staff against the floor, the sound was so loud that almost everyone flinched. "The magic does not lie, I saw what I saw…"

"Then your magic is broken," Kai said coldly. "Or you've been bribed by someone who wants to see me fall, either way I won't accept false accusations from a rejected omega desperate for attention."

Elder Thomas handed the phone back, his expression troubled. "The evidence contradicts the seer's vision, which is unprecedented, but the footage is clear and can be verified with the arena's records."

"This is madness," Elara whispered, still kneeling on the floor. "He was there, the magic showed him, why would it lie?"

"Why would security footage lie?" Elder Sarah countered. "Alpha Kai has no reason to disguise himself and seduce his rejected mate, it makes no logical sense."

"Unless he wanted an heir while keeping Maya's wealth," the seer said quietly but no one seemed to hear her.

Kai's father stood from where he'd been watching in the shadows. "This omega has made serious false accusations against my son, the Alpha heir, and attempted to damage his reputation and his bonding with Luna Maya."

The other elders nodded slowly, their decision forming in the silence.

"For making false claims against the Alpha bloodline and attempting to manipulate pack magic for personal gain," Elder Thomas announced, "Elara Whitmore is hereby exiled from Silvercrest pack territory."

The words knocked out air from her lungs and Elara's vision blurred as she tried to stand but her legs wouldn't cooperate.

"You have twenty-four hours to gather your belongings and leave," Kai's father added. "If you're found within our borders after that time, you'll be arrested and imprisoned."

Kai smiled, while Maya pressed closer to his side like she'd won some competition Elara hadn't known she was competing in.

The seer said nothing more, just watched with her white eyes as guards lifted Elara from the floor and escorted her from the temple into the morning light that felt too bright and too cold all at once.

Twenty-four hours to pack six years of life into whatever she could carry, twenty-four hours before she'd be homeless and pregnant and completely alone.