Chapter 4 Exiled

Nancy's POV: Clerent barged into the bedroom, the elders trailing behind her. She yanked my naked body off the bed with furious force! A wave of humiliation drowned me. I hurriedly wrapped myself in a blanket. "You shameless whore! How dare you appear in the Alpha's bed?!" Clerent's eyes burned with jealousy as she raised her hand to strike me. I stood up and caught her wrist with one hand. "What do you think you're doing?" "Let go! You filthy, lowly daughter of a murderer!" Clerent spat. "My parents didn't kill anyone! Stop spewing nonsense!" I turned to Shane, but he just stood there, dazed and shattered. Last night, we completed the mate bond. Now, I could clearly feel his emotions. Shock. Rage. Pain ... I felt suffocated. Was he really so quick to believe their so-called truth? Ten years ago, my parents and Shane's sister were killed in the same murder case. I was only eight at the time, so traumatized by their deaths that I lost my voice. Back then, he comforted me gently, secretly arranging for a werewolf doctor to treat me. With his help, my speech gradually returned to normal. And because of that, I fell in love with this powerful yet gentle werewolf. However, due to the vast gap in the hierarchy, I had always kept my feelings buried deep inside. Last night, the dream I had secretly harbored for 10 years seemed to come true. And today, it was about to be shattered. The real culprits behind the murder of Shane's sister were my parents—who had been dead for a decade! "We have found the evidence." One of the elders strolled in slowly, looking down at me with a condescending gaze. "How could my parents be murderers? They were also killed in that incident!" I had always believed that my parents were victims of the same crime. There was no way they could be the culprits! How could they be murderers? My parents were kind people. Even though I was only eight when they adopted me, I remembered clearly. They were a compassionate werewolf couple. Otherwise, they wouldn't have saved me when I was on the brink of death or begged the Blue Moon Pack to take me in. "Nancy, your parents murdered Alpha Shane's sister ten years ago!" one of the elders declared with disgust. "Our pack hasn't seen an act of fratricide in over a hundred years—it's horrifying. Thankfully, they took their own lives out of guilt." "Did you actually investigate this properly?" I forced myself to remain calm. "The case will be tried publicly in the Elders' Council today." With that, the elders turned and left. Clerent sneered at me. "The trial is in three hours. Get ready to be exiled from the Blue Moon Pack, daughter of criminals!" Then, she too walked away. I trembled as I turned to Shane. He avoided my gaze. "Nancy, I need some time to calm down." With that, he turned away, leaving me with nothing but his cold, unforgiving back. Despair washed over me ... ... In the afternoon, the Elders' Council held the public trial. I sat in the defendant's seat, taking my parents' place. They presented their alleged evidence piece by piece. The most damning piece of proof was a knife found in the western woods, bearing my father's fingerprints. The blade was stained with the blood of Shane's sister. Shane stepped forward to sniff the sample, confirming its authenticity. The Elders' Council's gavel struck—the verdict: I was now the daughter of criminals! "Daughter of murderers!" "She has no right to live!" "Filthy, lowly werewolves like her should die in shame, just like her parents!" "We can't let this curse remain in the pack!" "Get out of the Blue Moon Pack!" "Exile her!" "Exile her!" The werewolves roared in fury, their shouts echoing through the hall. The moment the verdict was pronounced, they hurled stones at me. A jagged rock shot straight toward my temple. Numbly, I lifted my head. Whoosh! Shane moved like lightning, stepping in front of me to block the attack. He caught the stone in his bare hand—crushing it to dust. His towering frame shielded me from the storm of hatred. Hope flickered in my heart as I looked up at him. But in the next second— His expression turned to ice. And then, with the cruelest words, he shattered everything. "I, Shane Boston, Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack, hereby declare: Nancy Gardner is officially exiled from the pack."