"Keep moving," a guard barked, shoving my shoulder hard enough to make me stumble.
"Don't touch me," I snapped, righting myself. I glared at the broad-shouldered guard beside me. "I can walk on my own."
My thin black dress offered zero protection against the biting winter wind. I tripped over a snow-covered tree root in the pack cemetery, barely catching my balance before the hundreds of gathered wolves. The frost bit into my bare legs, turning my skin numb.
Chase stood at the front of the crowd beside a small, open grave. He kept one thick arm wrapped securely around Lily. She wore a heavy, fur-lined coat, her face pale and buried against his chest.
"It is time for the final respects," the pack elder announced, his voice carrying over the frosted tombstones. "We honor the pup that was taken from us."
Chase turned his golden eyes toward me. The absolute disgust in his stare made my stomach clench tight.
"Get over here, Evelyn," Chase demanded.
I stepped forward, the ice crunching beneath my bare flats. The crowd parted, creating a narrow aisle for me. Every eye tracked my movements.
"Look at her," a she-wolf muttered to my left. "Not even a coat. Playing the victim."
"Disgusting," another replied. "She has no respect for the dead."
"She deserves to be banished," a male voice chimed in.
I ignored the whispers and stopped three feet from the grave.
"Apologize to her," Chase said. His voice rumbled low, vibrating through the frozen air. "On your knees."
I locked my gaze with his. "No."
The single word cracked like a whip across the silent graveyard.
"What did you say?" Chase stepped away from Lily, his fists balling at his sides.
"I will not apologize for a crime I didn't commit," I shouted, keeping my spine straight. "I didn't push her. She threw herself down those stairs."
Angry whispers erupted from the surrounding crowd.
"Murderer," someone hissed from the back row.
"She has no shame," another voice added.
Lily let out a loud, theatrical sob and grabbed the sleeve of Chase's black suit. "Please, Alpha. Don't make her do it. I just want my baby back. I don't want any more fighting."
"You're a liar," I snapped, pointing a trembling finger at her. "You destroyed those ledgers, and you planned that fall."
"Why are you doing this?" Lily cried, burying her face in her hands. "Haven't you taken enough from me?"
"I took nothing!" I yelled. I turned toward the pack elder. "Check the emergency accounts! Check the missing funds from the winter timber contracts! She is stealing from us!"
The elder frowned, shaking his head in disappointment. "Silence, Evelyn. This is a funeral."
"Shut your mouth," Chase warned, taking a threatening step toward me. "Do not speak to her that way."
"Are you blind, Chase?" I demanded, the injustice burning my throat. "She played you. She played all of you."
"You pushed a pregnant woman down a flight of marble stairs," Chase snarled. "You stood there and watched her bleed on the floor."
"She faked it to cover her tracks!"
"She lost her child!" Chase yelled, his voice echoing off the distant tree line. "My brother's only heir is dead because of your jealousy."
"I was never jealous of her!" I screamed back.
"Enough!" Chase roared.
His patience snapped. A heavy, suffocating pressure exploded outward from his body. The supernatural weight of his Alpha Command slammed into my shoulders like a concrete block.
"Kneel," he commanded.
My knees buckled. The unnatural force drove me downward, slamming my bare skin against the icy ground. Sharp pain shot up my shins as the frozen earth scraped my legs.
"Show some damn respect for the life you took," Chase sneered, towering over me.
The pressure pinned my chest, forcing the air out of my lungs. I gasped, tasting the metallic tang of blood where I had bitten the inside of my cheek.
"I didn't take anything," I choked out, staring at the toes of his polished shoes.
"You killed my brother's child," Chase stated flatly. "You will stay on that ground until she accepts your apology."
"Then I'll freeze to death," I replied.
Humiliation burned my throat, but I refused to stay down. I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached.
My baby.
The thought of my own hidden pregnancy flared in my mind. I would not bow to a man defending a snake. I had to protect the life growing inside me.
I planted my freezing palms against the frost-covered grass. My muscles screamed in protest against the command.
"Stay down," Chase warned, his eyes flashing a dangerous gold.
"I will not," I grunted.
I forced my right foot flat against the dirt, pushing my body up onto one freezing knee. My arms shook under the strain, but I lifted my chin and glared right at him.
"I said, I didn't do it," I panted, fighting the crushing weight of his aura. "And I won't bow to a thief."
Lily gasped loudly. She took a quick, exaggerated step forward, then shrank back, pressing her body tightly against Chase’s side.
"Chase, she's coming at me!" Lily cried out, throwing her hands over her face. "Keep her away! She wants to hurt me again!"
"I'm not even moving toward you," I said, my voice straining under the effort to stay upright.
Chase didn't hesitate. He saw my upward movement, heard Lily's panic, and reacted.
"Get back!" he shouted.
He swung his heavy combat boot.
The thick leather connected with my left shoulder. The sheer force of the blow lifted me off my knee.
I crashed hard onto the frozen cobblestones lining the grave site. My numb hands failed to catch my weight. My hip and ribs slammed into the jagged rocks.
At once, a sharp, tearing pain pierced my lower abdomen.
A harsh gasp tore from my lips. I curled into a tight ball, wrapping both arms around my stomach.
"Don't you ever try to attack her again," Chase spat, adjusting his cuffs.
The pain intensified, ripping through my insides like a serrated blade. I couldn't speak. I couldn't pull air into my lungs.
"Let's go," Chase said, turning his back on me. He wrapped his coat around Lily's shoulders and guided her away from the grave.
"Leave her," the pack elder instructed the crowd. "She needs to reflect on her sins."
The crowd parted for them, their boots crunching against the snow as they followed their Alpha. They left me lying in the dirt, casting disgusted glances over their shoulders.
I lay on the ice, the cold seeping into my bones, but it was nothing compared to the fiery agony radiating from my stomach. I curled into a tight ball, my vision blurring as I stared at Chase's retreating back.
A dark, warm trail of blood began to seep through the thin fabric of my dress, pooling rapidly over the frost-covered cobblestones.
