The summons came three days after the banquet.
I was in the clinic, restocking gauze, when Marcus appeared in the doorway. His face was carefully blank.
"The council wants to see you," he said. "Now."
My hands stilled on the supply cabinet. "What for?"
"You'll find out."
He didn't meet my eyes. That should have been my first warning.
I followed him through the pack house, my healer's tunic suddenly feeling too thin. The hallways were full of wolves—more than usual for a weekday afternoon. They stopped talking when I passed. Their eyes tracked me like I was prey.
The mind-link hummed with whispers I couldn't quite catch. Fragments. Accusations.
*—can't believe she—*
*—Alpha's heir—*
*—always knew there was something—*
My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin.
The council chamber was packed. Every seat filled. Wolves lined the walls, their faces hard and cold. At the front, behind a long table, sat the seven council members. And in the center chair—the Alpha's seat—Nolan.
He wore a black shirt, his arms crossed, his silver eyes fixed somewhere above my head. Not on me. Never on me.
Briana sat in the front row, her hands folded over her stomach. Her face was pale. Tearstained. She looked small and fragile and heartbroken.
She looked like a victim.
"Clara Davis." Elder Margot's voice cut through the room. She was the oldest council member, her gray hair pulled back tight. "You stand accused of deliberately administering a toxic herb blend to Briana Flores, endangering the life of an unborn heir to the Alpha bloodline."
The words didn't make sense at first. I heard them, but my brain couldn't process them.
"What?" I whispered.
Margot slid a folder across the table. "Treatment records. Signed by you. Showing a dosage of wolfsbane and bloodroot administered to Miss Flores during a routine prenatal consultation two weeks ago."
I stepped forward and opened the folder. My hands shook.
The records looked real. My handwriting. My signature. Dates and dosages written in my own careful script. But I had never treated Briana for pregnancy. I had never written these notes.
"This isn't—" My voice cracked. "I didn't write this."
"Your signature is right there," another council member said. His name was Garrett. He had always been polite to me before. Now his voice was ice.
"It's forged." I looked up at the council, my heart pounding. "I keep detailed logs of every treatment. I have my field journal. I can show you—"
"We've seen enough," Margot said.
Briana let out a soft sob. All eyes turned to her. She pressed a hand to her stomach, her shoulders shaking. "I trusted her," she whispered. "She was my friend."
The room erupted. Voices overlapping, sharp and vicious.
"She tried to kill an Alpha's pup!"
"Healer oath means nothing to her—"
"She should be exiled—"
"Executed—"
I looked at Nolan. He still wasn't looking at me. His jaw was tight, his hands flat on the table.
"Please," I said. My voice was too quiet. No one heard me over the noise. "Please, just let me explain—"
"Enough."
Nolan's voice cut through the chaos like a blade. The room went silent.
He stood slowly. His Alpha aura rolled out, heavy and suffocating. Every wolf in the room lowered their eyes. Except me.
I stared at him. At my mate. The man who had marked me. Who had whispered promises in the dark. Who was supposed to protect me.
"Alpha," I said quietly. "I didn't do this. You know I wouldn't—"
"Silence."
The word hit me like a physical blow. Not a request. A command. The Alpha tone, laced with power that made my knees buckle.
I tried to speak. My mouth opened. But nothing came out. The command locked around my throat like a fist.
I dropped to my knees on the cold stone floor.
Nolan's eyes finally met mine. They were flat. Empty. Like I was a stranger.
"The evidence is clear," he said. His voice was calm. Controlled. "Clara Davis violated her healer's oath. She endangered the life of my chosen mate and my unborn child. The council will vote."
Chosen mate.
The words echoed in my skull. My fingers dug into the stone floor. I wanted to scream. To tell them about the mark on my neck. To show them what he had done to me in private while he built this lie in public.
But the Alpha command held. I couldn't make a sound.
The council voted quickly. Seven hands raised. Unanimous.
"Clara Davis," Margot said, "you are hereby stripped of your healer rank and all associated privileges. You will surrender your clinic access and your healer's tunic. You are forbidden from practicing healing within Shadowridge territory."
The mind-link exploded.
*—good riddance—*
*—should've been exile—*
*—murderer—*
*—never trusted her—*
The voices crashed over me in waves. Hundreds of them. The entire pack, flooding the link with their hatred. Their disgust. Their certainty that I was guilty.
I knelt on the floor, silent, my throat still locked by my mate's command, while my world burned down around me.
Briana stood. She walked toward me slowly, her steps hesitant. She stopped a few feet away and looked down at me with wide, wounded eyes.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. Loud enough for everyone to hear. "I'm so sorry it came to this."
Then she turned and walked into Nolan's arms. He caught her, his hand cradling the back of her head, and she buried her face in his chest.
The council dismissed. Wolves filed out, their voices buzzing with satisfaction. Justice served. Threat eliminated.
I stayed on my knees until the room emptied. Until it was just me and the cold stone and the echo of voices in my head telling me I was worthless. Dangerous. Wrong.
Finally, the Alpha command released.
I gasped, air flooding back into my lungs. My hands were shaking so hard I couldn't stand.
I pressed my fingertips to my neck. To the mark that was supposed to mean something.
It burned.
But this time, it didn't feel like warmth.
It felt like a brand.
