~Grace ~
"I will peel all your flesh off your bones if you do not start responding, Omega! Do you swear by the moon that you are going to say nothing but the truth throughout the course of this trial?" Anthony, the pack's head warrior, releases a frustrated growl from where he stands over me.
I wish I had it in me to be frightened. I have lost every feeling of fear, anger, hatred, and rage.
I stand motionless under the hateful gaze of the whole pack. Everything is meaningless. There is a circle-shaped hole in my chest, and nothing matters anymore. That must be why I feel so numb. I am empty. Grief has blown me apart, scattering my bones into a desert.
My stare drills holes into my mother's body where she sits beside her husband, the former Alpha of the pack. After my father was banished, the Alpha took my mother as his new bride, and with her new position, she makes sure every waking day is hell for me.
I have a lot of questions I want to ask her. If Emily has been living under the same wing in the packhouse as her, she must have crossed paths with her more than once. Does she not recognize her beloved daughter, or is she also in on this? Has she intentionally deceived and punished me all these years just because I was born different? Just because I am human?
The questions keep playing in my head as we wait for the arrival of Leo. He is now the Alpha of Oceania and the one to pass the final verdict on me. I do not even want to imagine what is keeping him.
The chains at my wrists and ankles are beginning to chew through my skin, the metal rusting with my blood. My left eye is swollen shut, and I can taste metal in my mouth. In the far corner, my mother's figure looks tense, her brows furrowed deep with worry. But she could just tell her Alpha husband and Anthony that her daughter is mute. She could tell them I cannot answer the questions.
I glare at her with my one good eye, making sure that if this happens to be my last moment, my image will forever haunt her.
"Enough, Anthony! She cannot hear or talk. She's mute." Leo walks in and blocks Anthony's next attack. He shakes his head at me. "You cannot even defend yourself, and you want to be my Luna?"
I stare at him with burning, reproachful eyes.
Emily stands beside him with a sword. She clears her throat, a mocking smile curving her lips. She was that kind of child who was impossible not to love because she was so full of life. She was constantly causing trouble, but she was smart—she knew how to use me as a shield, knowing our parents would never raise their voices near their 'fragile' daughter. Back then, my weakness was her greatest protection.
"But she'll grow up," my mother would always say, tousling her hair. "Just as you did. And just as you still will."
I really cannot understand how she is able to fool everyone. I mean, her face hasn't changed that much.
"As ordered by the Alpha, the defendant will be tested to ensure she's truly a shifter." Emily glares at me as her silver sword hits my stomach. It spears into me, and I stumble backward as the searing force strikes every nerve in my body. A taste of bile rises in my throat.
She advances and thrusts the blade deeper, striking my organs. I hiss out a breath and fall on my face. My vision blurs when the sword is jerked from my flesh. Instinctively, I place my hands over the wound, but the flow of blood seeps through my fingers and hits the ground.
"Heal," Emily commands. "Show us you are the wolf you claim to be, or admit you are the parasite we've always known you were. Admit you are the pawn to our flesh, a ticking bomb waiting for the perfect time to explode."
I scoff. So this is it. A wolfless Omega is supposed to heal? Is she serious right now? I feel pain everywhere. Blood trickles from my nose, and there is an awful metallic taste in my mouth. She is even more brutal than Anthony. To think she is my flesh and blood. Tsk.
There are tears in my eyes, but I will not let them fall. I am on my knees, but I will not beg. I am ready to accept the freedom that comes with death… if only they would give it that easily.
The pack healer advances toward me. She places her hands on my stomach, and my wounds stop bleeding instantly. My flesh starts to patch up as well. They are keeping me alive just to prolong the torture.
I am still in awe, wondering when I ever offended Emily. I have only loved her all my life. I have only cared for her as my younger sister. I never got jealous that she was the normal shifter everyone loves, so why all this?
"Normally, a shifter could at least do that much. But oh well. I will leave your judgment to Alpha Leo." She steps in front of the dais and bows to the royals.
I am pathetic, and I should just run from here, but when I look at the huge men at the exit and the chains on my legs, I give up on that idea. The pack watches as if I am acting out the Passion of Christ for them.
Leo takes over. The tip of his sword raises my chin so I can meet his gaze. I knock the sword off my face and roll my eyes at him. That only earns me a gut-wrenching punch before he starts his speech.
"I see everyone is here now," he projects toward the crowd. "We are all finally gathered here today to bear witness to the trial of… of the late Emily's sister. Remember our treasured girl who had to die as a child because of the jealousy of her sister. Yes, the murderer wasn't killed then. She was kept alive, for she was still a minor."
His eyes scan the faces of everyone around before finally landing on me. "Do you swear by the Moon Goddess, under the silver sky, to speak nothing but the truth throughout this trial?"
I pretend not to have read his lips and refuse to answer.
"Someone get me a pen and paper," Leo orders.
It is hurried over to him, and he writes the words down, bending a little to push my head up so I can see his writing. I nod anyway. My eyes meet his brown ones, and a shiver runs down my spine. How I wish to pluck them out and feed them to the dust.
Anthony snickers in front of me, and I swallow hard, trying not to break down. He probably realizes now why I never answer him.
"You are charged with the murder of Emily Cooper." Leo leans in closer, his breath hot against my face, whispering so only I can read his lips: "I'm sorry it has to come to this."
He pulls back, his face a mask of amusement. "How do you plead?" he says as he writes.
Everyone's eyes fall on me… including my mother's nervous gaze. I still have questions to ask her, and until I get my answers, I am not giving in.
I take the pen, my fingers shaking—not from fear, but from a rage so cold it feels like ice in my veins. My hands are stained with my own blood, leaving red smudges on the white page as I carve the words into the paper until the nib nearly tears through.
"NOT GUILTY."
Leo draws closer, leaning forward to stare me down. He folds the paper and tosses it aside like trash. "The evidence we have gathered proves otherwise. Your inability to heal also proves you are a threat to shifters. By the power bestowed on me as the Alpha of Oceania, I hereby sentence you to death by hanging."
"Tomorrow, you will be executed for your crimes. Your body will hang from the gates as a warning to the rest of your kind."
He spits on the ground by my feet and turns to leave, Emily trailing behind him. I let my lips quiver; the tears stinging my eyes finally spill over as I watch them walk away.
Suddenly, he stops in his tracks. His legs tremble as he struggles to take a step back.
A flash of sword light and a spurt of hot blood gush from a throat, spattering onto Leo's face. The man wielding the knife falls stiffly. The sticky blood on Leo slowly drips down.
The man doesn't even glance at Leo. With a flick of his wrist, he shakes the blood droplets from his long sword.
Within ten meters around his feet lie nothing but corpses.
My face turns pale, either from fright or cold. But I am so terrified that I cannot even cry again.
The man sheathes his sword and walks back. Seeing my condition, he frowns and kneels to touch the back of my hand with his knuckles. As expected, it is as cold as ice.
He glances at his jacket, which is almost completely soaked with blood and offers little warmth. His gaze falls on a nearby corpse whose throat he has just slit.
He walks over, uses his sword to cut open the man's fur coat, kicks the dead body to roll it over like a sack, and with the tip of his sword, flips the fur coat into his hand.
"There you are," he whispers, his face melting into a buttery smile. However, his tone remains icy cold: "Put it on. Stay alive at all costs."