THE WHITE WOLF YOU LEFT ALIVE

YVONNE POV

The voices outside the cabin grew louder until I could separate Lillian's loud voice from the excited whispers following her.

She had brought more than the pack leader. At least six women were with her, all of them known for spreading a scandal before the person involved had even heard about it. Lillian had chosen her witnesses carefully. She wanted the story of my disgrace to reach every rogue in the pack before the Everstead delegation arrived.

She had no idea that the scene waiting behind the door was now out of her plans.

I lowered myself beside the broken bed and pulled the torn shoulder of my dress together. My whole body hurt, and the wolfsbane still made the room sway around me, but the pain would help me. I did not need to pretend to be frightened or injured. I only needed to decide which parts of the truth they were allowed to hear.

'They're here,' Nyx warned weakly.

'Let them come.'

The lock turned, and Lillian pushed the door open with a smile already forming on her face.

"Everyone, I am sorry you have to witness something so shameful, but with the Everstead wolves arriving, I cannot hide what Yvonne has-"

Her words died when she saw the bodies.

The women behind her fell silent. The pack leader stepped past Lillian and stared at Holloway the Butcher and Duncan Thorn lying beside each other. Holloway's hunting knife remained in Duncan's hand, while Holloway's fingers were wrapped around the silver chain burned into Duncan's throat.

Blood covered the floor between them.

Lillian gripped the doorframe. "Holloway?"

She stumbled inside and dropped beside her husband's body. Her eyes moved from the chain around his fingers to Duncan's bloodstained chest, then finally to me.

Shock disappeared beneath rage.

"What did you do?" she screamed.

I flinched and dragged myself backwards. "Mother, please don't hurt me."

"You killed them!" She stood to her feet and pointed at me with a shaking hand. "You ungrateful little monster. You seduced Duncan, and when your father caught you, you killed them both!"

The pack leader caught her arm before she could reach me. "Enough. Let the girl speak."

"There is nothing to hear! Look at her clothes. Look at the bed. She has always wanted Duncan, and now she has brought death into my home."

I lowered my eyes and allowed tears to gather in them. "I never wanted him."

Lillian tried to pull free. "Liar!"

"Lillian Reed," the leader growled, releasing enough dominance to make the women at the door step back. "The Council informed me that this girl carries the White Wolf bloodline and that Everstead is coming for her. If you attack her in front of me, I will treat it as an attack against a recognised Alpha heir."

That silenced her for several seconds.

He turned towards me, his voice becoming gentler. "Yvonne, tell us what happened. Start from the beginning."

I pressed one hand against the wound on my arm and looked at Lillian as though I was afraid she might stop me.

"Mother gave me tea after dinner," I began. "I woke up chained to the bed with Duncan leaning over me. My body would not move, but I heard Mother and Father arguing in the next room."

Lillian's face tightened. "That is not true."

"Father accused her of meeting Duncan here for months," I continued shakily. "He said he had followed her tonight because he wanted proof. Mother told him Duncan loved her and that they would be together once I was sent away."

Murmurs spread through the doorway. Lillian's face went from pale to red.

"You lying snake!"

I recoiled from her voice. "Father entered the room and attacked Duncan. Duncan tried to use me as a shield, but Father pulled him away before he could mark me. They fought over the knife and the chain. Mother ran outside, and I hid beside the bed until everything became quiet."

The story settled over the room. It was simple enough for everyone to understand and close enough to the scene I had created. Holloway and Duncan had weapons in their hands, Lillian's scent covered the cabin, and my injuries proved that Duncan had attacked me.

The pack leader crouched beside the broken bottle and rubbed a drop of liquid between his fingers. His expression hardened after he smelled it.

"Wolfsbane," he announced. "Enough to prevent a full-grown wolf from shifting."

One of the women gasped. "Why would Yvonne willingly drink that if she planned to meet Duncan?"

"She must have taken it herself," Lillian said quickly. "She wanted to make it look as if someone forced her."

The woman stared at her. "And she chained herself with silver too?"

Lillian opened her mouth, but no answer came.

The pack leader examined my wrists next. The skin beneath the broken cuff was blistered and bleeding. He then looked at the wounds across my arm and the bruises forming around my throat.

"Someone drugged her, chained her and attempted to force a mark," he said. "That much is obvious."

"It was Duncan!" Lillian insisted. "He must have done it alone."

"A moment ago, you claimed she seduced him willingly," he reminded her.

More whispers followed. The women had begun looking at Lillian differently, and she knew it.

One of them moved closer to Duncan's body and noticed the red fabric beneath him. She bent down and pulled it free.

Lillian stopped breathing.

The scarf was soaked with Duncan's blood, but its black thorn embroidery remained visible. Everyone in the pack recognised it because Lillian wore it whenever she went to the pack market.

"Isn't this yours?" the woman asked.

"Yvonne stole it," Lillian answered, but her denial came quickly. "She must have planted it there."

The pack leader took the scarf and inhaled slowly. His wolf surfaced in his eyes.

"Your scent is mixed with Duncan's. It is on his clothes, the bed and half this room."

Of course it would be. I got to know Lillian had helped Duncan drag me into the cabin, poured the wolfsbane down my throat when I began waking and remained beside him while he fastened the silver cuffs.

Now every trace she had left behind served my story instead of hers.

The women moved away from her. I recognised disgust on their faces, but there was also satisfaction. Lillian had spent years judging their relationships and spreading their secrets. They would enjoy returning the favour.

"So this was why you dragged us out here," one of them said. "You wanted us to blame the girl before anyone discovered you were sleeping with Duncan."

"No!" Lillian's face twisted. "She planned this. That thing is not the girl I raised."

She lunged at me again.

I screamed, dropped into a crouch and covered my head with both arms. "Mother, please! I won't say anything else. Please don't kill me too."

Two men seized Lillian before she reached me. The more she fought them, the more terrified I allowed myself to appear.

The pack leader's expression turned cold. "Forced marking is forbidden here, even among rogues. You drugged a young wolf and delivered her to Duncan, two wolves are now dead, and you tried to blame the victim before anyone could investigate."

"You cannot prove I drugged her!"

"Perhaps not," he said. "But I can prove you brought witnesses here expecting to find her with Duncan, and I can smell your scent throughout this room. That is enough for me to protect this pack from you."

He turned towards the men holding her. "Lillian Reed is expelled. Strike her name from the pack ledger and take her beyond the eastern boundary before sunrise. She is not to return or receive shelter from anyone under my protection."

Lillian went completely still. For a rogue, losing the protection of a pack was almost a death sentence. She would have no guarded land, no food through winter and no one obligated to answer if another rogue attacked her.

"You can't do this," she whispered. "This is my home."

"It was Holloway's home," the leader replied. "He is dead, and you have brought enough danger to the wolves living here."

Before Lillian could protest again, a long howl sounded from the northern road.

Every wolf in the cabin became silent.

A second howl followed, more powerful, carrying authority. Through the open doorway, headlights appeared between the trees as several black vehicles entered the pack.

The silver wolf crest on their doors gleamed beneath the moonlight.

Everstead Pack had arrived.

The pack leader looked at me. "It appears your family came earlier than expected."

Family.

The word did not warm me as much as I had once imagined it would. Somewhere inside those vehicles were wolves who had raised Jacinda in my place for twenty-one years. Whether they would accept me or see me as an inconvenience remained to be discovered.

A tall woman wearing a dark blue coat entered the cabin with four Everstead warriors behind her. Her silver-streaked hair was pulled into a severe knot, and her gaze moved over the bodies before settling on me.

There was no warmth in her expression.

"I am Matron Flora," she announced. "I was sent by Alpha Aldric Chase to retrieve Yvonne Holloway."

I pushed myself to my feet despite the pain. "I am Yvonne."

Her gaze swept over my torn dress, bare feet and bloodstained skin. For one brief moment, surprise entered her eyes.

"You resemble Luna Weston," she said. Then her expression went cold again. "Prepare yourself. We leave for Everstead at dawn."

The men holding Lillian began dragging her towards the door. She fought them, screaming that everyone would regret believing me.

"Wait," I said.

They stopped.

I looked at the pack leader. "May I speak to her alone for a moment? She raised me, regardless of what happened tonight."

The women exchanged sympathetic looks. Even Matron Flora studied me with something close to approval, apparently mistaking mercy for weakness.

The leader sighed. "One minute."

I followed Lillian outside. The men took her several steps away from the cabin before giving us space, although they remained close enough to stop her from attacking me.

Lillian glared at me, her eyes red with hatred. "Tell me what really happened in there."

I stepped closer and lowered my voice so no one else could hear.

"I killed Duncan," I said. "Then I killed Holloway."

The anger disappeared from her face. "You..."

"I heard everything you said about exchanging me with Jacinda. I know why you kept me alive, and I know what you planned to do with the Everstead pack once your daughter became Alpha."

Lillian stared at me as though she had never seen me before.

I smiled. "Your plan failed. I am returning to Everstead pack unmarked, and I will take back the family, title and pack you stole from me. You should pray Jacinda runs before I arrive."

Lillian stumbled backwards until the men holding her caught her arms.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

I held her terrified gaze. "I am the White Wolf you should never have left alive."