Chapter 6

She smiled. "Elara. I didn't think you'd end up in my hands, did you?"

"Start with a hundred kowtows to the Alpha's Mate."

Elara didn't move. Serena tilted her head at the guards. A boot caught her leg. A hand twisted in her hair. They drove her forehead into the floor. Once. Twice. The skin broke fast. A dark welt rose. Every shred of her pride cracked with every impact.

Serena was watching, amused, until she realized Elara wasn't making a sound. She was biting down so hard her lips were bleeding. The amusement soured. "Stop."

She walked up to Elara and swung her hand. The slap landed hard. Elara's head jerked sideways. She still didn't speak. A dozen more slaps followed. Her face swelled. Any twitch of muscle sent pain through her skull.

Slap. The last one knocked Elara flat. She dragged out a few words from the floor. "What do you actually want?"

"Give me the photos." Serena's voice dropped. The cards were on the table. The smugness was gone. Just thick, raw panic.

So. She was afraid her crime would come out. Elara laughed. She spat blood and a tooth onto the rug. "No."

Serena beat her all night. She tried every method she knew and couldn't pry the photos' location out of Elara. "You think evidence helps you?" she hissed. "Damon and Julian are on my side. You don't have a chance."

After Serena left, Damon carried Elara to the bedroom. He was careful with the salve, but his voice was hard. "Serena doesn't hit that hard. Why are you pretending to be so fragile?"

"You want my sympathy? Be a good girl and I'll pet you like before."

She said it quietly. "I don't want that anymore."

He paused. "What?"

"I don't want you anymore. I don't want Julian anymore."

A low panic moved through Damon. He couldn't name why. The old Elara, angry as she could get, had never said this. Disappointed as she could get, she had never called Julian by his first name, flat like that. He pushed it down. She was just hurt.

Damon kissed her forehead. His voice was soft for once. "Don't talk like that. When you're well, I'll have a surprise for you."

Elara closed her eyes and stopped talking.

A few days later her wounds closed enough. She took the evidence and filed at the Alpha Council Tribunal.

In the chamber Serena wept like her heart was breaking. "These photos are fabricated—image synthesis—we would never do something this cruel."

"Elara. I know you lost your daughter. It hurts. But you can't do this to me."

Julian stood up as Serena's Counselor. The youngest Counselor ever seated on the Alpha Council handed in Elara's treatment records from the Pack Asylum. "Most of you know. The Luna of Sterling Pack is my own sister. Please do not judge her. She's ill."

Elara looked at her brother. She opened her mouth. All she said was, "Nora loved you so much."

He locked up.

"She said you were the best uncle anyone had. She said when she grew up she would take care of you."

"The cotton candy you bought her—she held it so tight she wouldn't eat it. She held it until it melted in her hand—"

"Enough! This is a Tribunal." He avoided her eyes. His voice was too loud. "If you won't admit you're ill, I have a witness."

The witness was Damon. He was perfectly dressed. His posture was easy. His eyes even looked tender when he spoke of his Mate. "Losing our daughter broke something in my Mate. I apologize for wasting the Council's time. I will do everything I can to help her heal."

It was streamed across every Pack in the Territory. Comments that had been doubtful flipped in seconds. People posted mockery of Elara's tantrums, sympathy for poor Serena. A flood of them praised Damon's devotion.

On the way out of the chamber, Serena stepped in front of her, smiling. "Sorry, Elara. Looks like I won again."

Damon curled his arm around her waist. His voice was a warning. "Elara. This is the last time. Don't push me."

She said nothing. She looked like something hollow. She had failed. But this was the last time. Tomorrow, the flight would take off.

On the way back to the manor Elara heard a few servants whispering. "The Luna really is crazy. They should lock her up. What an embarrassment."

"That kind of madness is hereditary. Her daughter was probably just as bad. Good that she died."

"Drowned in the river, I heard. Served her right. With a mother like that—"

Hearing Nora dragged in too, Elara felt something snap. For a moment she really did go mad. She threw herself at them. "I am not insane!"

"Don't you speak about Nora. She was—she was—" She was the sweetest pup in the world. She was the best daughter I ever had.

Damon caught her, frowning. "Enough. You'll hurt yourself."

"Get off me!"

Julian looked at Damon, disapproving. "Tomorrow is Theo's First Moon Ceremony. If she's like this, she'll ruin it."

"Put her in the Pack Asylum. Just for the night."

Damon hesitated. Then he looked at Elara, out of control, and he sighed. "You're right."

Inside the Asylum, Elara pounded on the iron door. "Let me out!