Chapter 4 ***

Selene Blackwood

The council member finally steps down from what was supposed to be my wedding altar. For a few seconds, no one says anything. The hall is so quiet that I can hear my own breathing. I stand there waiting for someone to speak, for someone to tell me this is all a mistake, but no one does. My eyes stay fixed on Damon, silently begging him to say something, anything.

Finally, Damon moves. He steps forward, and the entire hall seems to hold its breath.

“Selene Blackwood,” he says, and my heart jumps at the sound of my name. I stare at him, waiting, while his expression remains cold, though I notice the tension in his jaw and the way his hands are clenched at his sides.

“You are to leave Moonfang Pack immediately.”

I think I stop breathing for a few seconds.

“What?”

The word barely leaves my mouth, but Damon doesn’t take it back.

“You will leave the pack grounds before sunset. You are no longer welcome here.”

Something inside me cracks. I stare at him, unable to understand how those words could have come from the same man who once held me close, someone I have shared everything with.

“You can’t…” My voice breaks, but Damon doesn’t move. “Damon,” I whisper, and his jaw tightens before he looks away.

“Wait!”

A familiar voice suddenly cuts through the hall. I turn as Axel pushes his way through the crowd, moving quickly until he stands between the council and me. He turns toward Damon, his face filled with disbelief. “Alpha Damon, you can’t do this.”

Damon’s expression hardens. “Axel.”

“You can’t possibly believe she did all of this.” Axel shakes his head.

“You’ve known Selene long enough. You’ve been close to her these last few months. You know she would never try to poison you or plot against the royal family.”

Damon tells him that’s enough, but Axel refuses to back down.

“No, it isn’t.”

He takes another step forward.

“You’re going to cast her out based on accusations and the word of one person? You’re really going to stand there and pretend you believe that Selene is capable of all this?”

The hall falls silent again, and I look at Damon. Please. I don’t know who I’m begging anymore, but I need him to say something.

Damon’s eyes finally meet mine. For a second, neither of us speaks, and then his gaze shifts away.

“It’s done.”

Axel stares at him in disbelief, but I can’t listen anymore.

I slowly nod. “Okay.”

It’s not.

Nothing about this is okay but I don’t have the strength to fight anymore. It’s not even a battle.

I turn around and start walking. I don’t look at Damon again because I can’t.

My feet carry me through the hall and toward the exit, each step feeling heavier than the last, and I keep my head down, ignoring the eyes following me. I don’t want to see their faces or know who is relieved to watch me leave.

I hear footsteps behind me.

I already know who it is.

“Selene.”

I keep walking.

“Selene, wait.”

I stop just outside the hall. Axel catches up with me, breathing slightly harder from rushing after me, and the moment I see his face, everything I’ve been holding inside finally falls apart.

Tears fill my eyes.

“I didn’t do it, Axel.”

My voice breaks, and he immediately steps closer.

“I know.”

That’s all it takes.

I start crying.

Not quietly this time.

I cover my face with my hands, but the sob that escapes me is impossible to hide. Axel pulls me into his arms, and I cling to him like I’m afraid that if I let go, I’ll completely fall apart.

“I didn’t do it,” I repeat against his chest.

“I know, Selene.”

“I didn’t poison him.”

“I know.”

“I didn’t say those things about my family.”

“I know.”

I squeeze my eyes shut as more tears spill down my cheeks.

“Then why doesn’t he?”

I ask, but Axel doesn’t answer. He just holds me tighter.

Eventually, I pull away and wipe my face. I know I can’t stay here anymore. I have to go home and pack whatever I can carry because, apparently, I no longer have a home in Moonfang. Axel walks with me, and neither of us says much.

When I finally reach my small house, I push the door open and step inside. Everything looks exactly the same as it did this morning, and somehow, that makes everything worse.

My clothes are still folded where I left them, my things are still scattered around the room, and for a moment, I wonder how a place can feel like home one minute and like somewhere I’ve been kicked out of the next.

I grab a bag and start packing. I don’t bother folding anything properly; I just grab whatever I can. Clothes, a few personal things, and the little necklace my mother left me. I hold it in my hand for a moment before putting it carefully inside the bag.

Then I hear something outside.

Footsteps.

Several of them and I freeze. I move toward the window and look outside and it’s the pack soldiers.

My heart clenches. They’re here already. Of course they are. They don’t even trust me to leave on my own.

I quickly close the bag and lift it, my arms trembling from the weight and everything else I’m trying not to feel. I take one last look around the small house I’ve shared with Emma for years. Emma.

I try not to let my mind drift to her for now.

The soldiers are waiting. I expect them to surround me, but instead, I see Axel. He’s standing a few feet away, and the moment he sees me, he walks forward. Before I can say anything, he takes the bag from my hand.

“Hey.”

I blink at him.

“Let’s go.”

I stare at him. “What?”

Axel adjusts the bag over his shoulder.

“Come on.”

I look from him to the soldiers and then back at him.

“Axel, what are you doing?”

He gives me a small smile.

“You didn’t seriously think I was going to let you leave alone, did you?”

My throat tightens. “Axel…”

“Selene.”

His voice is gentle now.

I shake my head.

“Do you even understand what you’re doing?”

He shrugs.

“Not really.”

Despite everything, a small laugh almost escapes me. Axel grins before looking toward the pack behind us.

“I never liked this place much anyway.”

My eyes immediately fill with tears.

“Axel.”

“What?” He shrugs again. “It’s true.”

I wipe at my cheeks, but the tears are already falling. He reaches for my hand. “Come on.”

I look back at Moonfang one last time. At the place that was supposed to be my home. At the pack that had once been my family. At Damon.

I don’t know where he is now.

I don’t know if he’s watching me leave.

And I don’t let myself wonder.

I turn away.

Axel’s hand tightens around mine as we begin walking. I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m going to do, and I don’t know what the future holds for me anymore. But as I walk away from Moonfang with Axel beside me, I know one thing.

At least I’m not leaving alone.