Chapter 264
“As a matter of fact,” I said slowly, “it was.”
She nodded. “That was from one of my favorite shirts. My mother was furious when she saw that I’d torn a piece from it.”
The air went out of my lungs.
Her favorite shirt.
I blinked, trying to picture that day clearly. Cassandra had been there–that much I’d believed for so long. Cassandra with a brown shirt, perfectly intact. No visible tears. No sign she’d done more than stumble onto the scene.
I thought about the bow… The bow she’d claimed as hers, that I never saw her use again.
And then flashed on the photograph.
The one I’d seen in the Moonstone packhouse years later. Young Elena, grinning proudly, a bow slung across her back and a first -place ribbon pinned to her chest.
I staggered back, one hand going to the railing.
“Derek?” Elena asked, stepping toward me.
I couldn’t breathe.
It was her. All this time, it had been her.
She was the one who saved me. Not Cassandra. Not the girl I’d promised everything to in blind, misguided loyalty.
My knees buckled slightly.
She reached out, one hand steadying my arm. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. I didn’t know what I was. Rage, disbelief, guilt, grief–they all tangled together until I couldn’t tell one from the other.
“You… you were the one,” I whispered.
She nodded, her eyes soft. “I was.”
.All the years. All the decisions. Every time I ran to Cassandra because of what I thought I owed her. Because of a lie.
A stolen truth.
I looked up at Elena, her face illuminated by the moonlight, and I felt like the biggest fool in the world.
CASSANDRA
My father’s headlights glared across the cracked siding of my cottage as he pulled into the drive. I barely had time to brace myself before he stormed out of the car and banged on the door like he meant to tear it off its hinges.
When I opened it, he pushed past me without a word, the scent of cigar smoke and anger trailing behind him.
“What the hell did you do?” he barked.
blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Derek King just pulled out of every treaty with our pack. He’s shutting down funding, canceling protection agreements, and torching every ounce of goodwill we had with Silverclaw.”
I froze. “What? That can’t be right. I just saw him. He was polite. Cold, yes, but… not like that.”
My father threw his hands in the air. “Well, something changed. And fast. Because he told the Council’s liaison that he wants
Chapter 264
+25 BONUS
nothing more to do with us–or with you.”
Tfelt like I’d been punched in the stomach.
“Why? What did he say?”
My father stared at me, his voice flat. “He said it was because of you. Because you lied.”
I staggered backward, knocking into the kitchen counter.
He knew.
He knew.
I didn’t even wait for more. I grabbed my phone and bolted out the door, leaving my father behind in the gloom of my little cottage.
I stood in the yard, thumb hovering over Derek’s name. My hands shook as I pressed the call button.
He answered on the first ring.
“You lied,” he said. His voice was dead calm, emotionless in a way that made my blood run cold. “You lied about saving my life.”
Then the line went dead.
He didn’t yell. He didn’t ask for an explanation. He didn’t even swear.
He just ended it.
For real, this time.
I stared at the dark screen of my phone, the weight of it heavy in my hand.
4
Everything I’d built on that lie–all the attention, the loyalty, the sacrifices I’d demanded from him–it all collapsed in an
instant.
The wind whispered through the trees like a thousand voices, and all I could hear was the word echoing through my mind:
Liar.
