Chapter 3

When Sara woke up, she was lying on a cold hard floor. Her head hurt, and her entire body felt sore as she tried to rise and take in her surroundings. Panic shot through her as memories of what had happened streaked through her brain. She looked around fearfully, afraid that she was still in Victor’s room. But no. This was a…prison cell? Chains jingled as she moved, drawing her attention to the strange weight around her hands and legs. Her hands were bound together with handcuffs, and so were her feet. A long chain joined the cuffs on her hands to those around her ankles. How has she ended up here? As much as she felt relieved that she was no longer in Victor’s room, the werewolf prison was the last place she expected to be. She was still wearing her dirty dress from earlier on. She remembered the strange power that had coursed through her before she bit Victor, and then the weakness that had overcome her before she fainted. That must be why her muscles were sore and her joints ached as she tried to rise. Pressing her bound palms to the floor, she raised her upper body and looked around. The cell was small, with ugly grey walls. Steel bars separated her from a hallway on the outside. She walked to the bars and wrapped her hands around them, trying to get a glimpse into the corridor. Right across from her cell was another one, but it was empty. Was she here because she had bitten Victor? Is that why she was chained up like some rabid werewolf? She heard movement, and soon, a male guard appeared in front of her cell. “Good, you are finally awake,” he said. “What am I doing here?” she asked, hoping to get an explanation from him. The guard scoffed. “Did you lose your memory when you went rabid?” She frowned. “What are you talking about?” “You attacked the Alpha King and bit him. What did you expect would happen?” She shook her head vehemently. “I did not attack him! I was defending myself! And I’m not rabid!” The guard shook his head. “Save your story, you’ll tell it to the court.” “The court?” she shrieked. The werewolf court? “Yes, the court. You’ll go on trial for attacking the Alpha. Did you think you could get away with it?” “But I didn’t do anything wrong!” “Like I said, tell it to the court. I’ll fetch you a tunic and then we’ll escort you to the court right away,” he said before walking back down the hallway. Sara groaned and pressed her forehead against the steel bars. She had never in her life thought she would find herself facing the werewolf court. Could she dare hope for justice? She was just an Omega, and Victor was the Alpha King. Would the court believe her over him? *** “When I rejected her, she tried to seduce me and then attacked me.” A murmur rose in the court after Victor was done giving his testimony. Sara couldn’t believe what was happening. Victor had twisted the story to make it seem like she attacked him because he rejected her. And so far, everybody seemed to be believing his story. “That’s not true,” she denied, turning her gaze to the court members. “He is the one who attacked me and tried to force me to have sex with him. I only lashed out in self defence.” Victor scoffed, looking disgusted. “Why would I go to that length for an Omega?” “The court is aware that there was one other person present at the time of the incident,” the head of the court said. “Miss Green, please tell the court what happened this afternoon at the Alpha’s house.” Sara turned her gaze to Laura, knowing even before the other girl spoke that she wouldn’t tell the truth. After bullying her for so long, Laura finally had a chance to get her into trouble for real. “Victor is telling the truth, sir. He invited me to his house and asked me to be his Luna. When Sara walked in on us, he rejected her, and she became violent. That’s when she attacked him and bit his neck. There was so much blood, I thought…” she trailed off, her face twisting dramatically in feigned pain. “If it had been a weaker werewolf, he would have died. As if that wasn’t enough, she tried to attack him again, but luckily, I stopped her.” Murmurs filled the court once again, as people looked at Sara with horror and disgust. She balled her hands into fists and faced the panel. “She is lying. She and Victor attacked me together. How can her testimony be taken as a witness?” “What a shameless girl! You dare to make false accusations against the Alpha King and the Beta’s daughter. Do you have a death wish?” One of the members of the crowd shouted angrily. “They should never have adopted her. A classless Omega will always remain one. She even dared to attack their son. How ungrateful!” As the sentiment grew against her, Sara turned her eyes to her adoptive parents. She gulped when she met her mother’s icy stare. “Mother, I swear, that’s not true!” “Don’t call me your mother, you ungrateful girl! Did we raise you so you could try to murder our son?” Sara was lost for words. She had thought that her parents would know it was all a lie. Surely, they knew she was incapable of hurting Victor out of malice. She had thought they trusted her. Her father didn’t look any less threatening or angry, so she turned away from them, afraid to make a scene. Of course they would believe Victor’s words over hers. He was their true son, after all. She was just a homeless Omega they took pity on and welcomed into their home. An hour later, the court delivered their judgement. First, they stripped Sara of the right to be their Luna. That didn't matter much to her–she had already rejected Victor and had no intention of being his Luna anymore. Second, they sentenced her to spend time at the notorious North Academy as punishment for biting the Alpha King. North Academy was a campus where werewolves who were deemed a danger to the community were sent. Sara had heard before that it was where all the powerful werewolf families sent their delinquent kids. Sara’s feelings were mixed as a pair of guards escorted her back to her house to gather her stuff before driving her to the campus. She was saddened about the fall out with her adoptive parents, who had always treated her well. But she was sort of relieved to be leaving the pack. If she were to stay, after all the accusations lodged against her, her life would become even harder. Not to mention the fact that without the mate bond, she was now weaker than ever. North Academy wasn’t exactly the kind of place she would have preferred to spend the next few years at, but maybe she could figure out a way to survive. The school’s reputation had her worried. It was where the worst of the worst, including the worst bullies, ended up. What if she ended up being bullied over there too? The more she thought about it, the more uncertain she became about what lay ahead for her. She could only hope.