10. Ten

ten

I leaned back, propped against the headboard. Evera sat at the foot of the bed with her legs crossed beneath her and a throw pillow in her lap. One of the plastic cups she’d brought from home was in my hand, and the half-empty vodka bottle was on my nightstand beside the last few bites of my dinner.

My fingers and toes were warm and tingly, and my shoulders sagged. For the first time in days, it didn’t feel like a struggle just to exist. Evera listened while I recounted the lopsided fight with the stray.

“I’m surprised the attack hasn’t entered the rumor mill,” I said, slurring my words a little.

She frowned. “Me too.”

“Your mom knew.” I stared down into the empty cup and contemplated another shot.

“It’s her knitting club.” Evera laughed. “Those women know everything. It’s unsettling.”

Silence fell between us. My best friend watched me closely, like the darkness might steal me if she looked away. It wasn’t entirely impossible.

“Mom said you tried to take off,” Evera said after a minute. “I made her tell me what she knew before I came up here. Where were you going, Drake?”

I chewed my lip and shook my head. “I wanted to run. Not, like, away. Just anywhere besides here.”

Evera nodded. “I get it. That’s how I felt when my dad died.”

She pointed toward the vodka, and I passed her the bottle. She poured a heavy amount in my cup, while only adding a splash to her own.

“I thought maybe you wanted to see Basil.”

My tired eyes sprung open. “What do you mean?”

Evera drained her cup, prompting me to do the same. I’d consumed enough that the liquor no longer burned going down.

“Mrs. McDaniel came by earlier today. I overheard her tell Mom that the enforcers took Basil’s body to Gold Cave,” she said, her voice much softer than before.

Had my father died of old age, this wouldn’t have come as a surprise. Located between the jewel lakes, the Gold Cave was sacred among our pack. It was Ophiuchus custom for important members to rest there prior to burial, like a stopgap between this world and whatever lay beyond.

When my grandfather had passed, Dad and I visited the cave every day at sunset. Supposedly, when my mother entered eternal slumber, my father refused to leave the cave until they released her to the gods.

“On whose orders?” I asked after a long moment. “Surely Finneus didn’t request that.” My tone turned bitter. “He wouldn’t want my father honored in that way.”

“It is tradition,” she reminded me.

“So is not murdering the alpha.” I gestured to the bottle, and Evera poured substantially less in my cup this time.

“Mom went down there herself.” Evera took her shot straight from the bottle. “It’s true. Your father’s there. I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”

I swirled the clear liquid, the faint odor making my stomach turn. Liquor wasn’t my usual choice; I preferred champagne and not waking up with a hangover.

Tears burned my eyes. Despite vowing not to cry, I let them fall. I hadn’t wanted to consider what Finneus would do with my father’s body, so I hadn’t allowed myself to dwell on the matter.

Now that I knew I could go visit him and say a real goodbye, I wanted to make a second window-jump. There was a slight chance it would work out better than last time.

“Not tonight,” Evera said, as though reading my thoughts. “We’ll find a way. I promise.”

She crawled up to sit beside me at the top of the bed and pulled me into her arms. A hiccup tightened my chest as I gulped for air. Evera stroked my hair while my tears fell on her shoulder.

“Do you remember that weekend he took us to Interlaken?” she asked, voice thick with emotion.

Of course I remembered the trip. My father had said it was a family getaway, a chance for me to try extreme human sports like canyoning and skydiving during the day and eat fondue at night.

“I will never understand how they managed to make cheese taste so bad,” she went on when I didn’t verbalize a response. “It’s like they really cared about ruining it. At least the waiter more than made up for the crappy meal. What was his name?”

“Claude,” I mumbled, even though we both knew she never forgot a shockingly hot guy’s name.

“Right.” Evera laughed. “That Australian accent…” She fanned herself. “He lost major points for running like a coward when your father caught us making out. It was very cool of Basil to not tell my mom, though. She’s always worried I’ll run off with a human.”

It was the first time since his death that I didn’t mind hearing someone talk about him. Evera knew my father well, and not just in his capacity as alpha. He’d always treated her like more than just another wolf under his command, despite his rift with Grace. Since Evera’s father had passed before she was born, Dad had played the role to an extent—he always included her. The weight in my heart grew impossibly heavy.

Like when we graduated from school, and he walked both of us into the ceremony. Not to mention all the holiday meals she ate with us when Grace was on call as one of the pack healers.

Evera continued to reminisce over all the good times she and I had shared with my father. After a while, I curled onto my side but continued to listen to stories we’d recounted hundreds of times. Her voice grew fainter as my eyelids drifted closed.

With my light still on, and her shoes still on her feet, we both gave into the exhaustion. I still felt hollow inside but having her close kept the desperate loneliness away.

Of course, that wasn’t the end of my night. Not even close.

The dream sucked me in like a vacuum and dropped in the middle of a show already in progress.

“Guilty!” a voice boomed, his tenor echoing from the gray stone walls of the room. “For the Aries pack, I enter this verdict.”

My vision tilted before righting, as if I watched through a telescope that hadn’t been calibrated.

“Alpha Sagittarius, what say you?”

A second man rose from his seat, a gleaming mahogany chair with ornate carvings on the arms.

“Guilty!” he declared. “For the Sagittarius Pack, I enter this verdict.”

I squirmed, searching for a comfortable position in my unforgiving wooden seat. As my hip throbbed and my back ached, I wondered why my mind had forgotten to conjure seat cushions.

That’s when my brain realized I’d been transported back to an antiquated room. Masquerades and medieval times seemed to be appealing settings for my subconscious... which was concerning.

A semi-circle table looped half the room in front of me, with thirteen tall-backed chairs evenly spaced around it. Only twelve were occupied. A small, angry crowd watched the proceedings from behind the gathered alphas.

“Alpha Cancer, what say you?”

This time, I sought out the voice. The woman sat at a table to my right facing the tribunal. She wore heavy black robes that screamed witch, though she was definitely a shifter, and her hair reminded me of fresh snow.

The folded parchment in front of her read Estonia Haggerty, Eldest . Her painted lips frowned as her glare studied the man who rose from his seat at the table next.

“Not guilty,” he answered, his head bowed in deference. A murmur flitted through the crowd. “For the Cancer Pack, I enter this verdict.”

I twisted my hands in my lap as hope and dread warred in my heart. My muscles were tense, and it was more than the corset squeezing my ribs that made breathing a chore. The outcome of this trial meant a great deal to me in the dream, though I didn’t understand the stakes or know which way I wanted the verdict to swing.

Estonia Haggerty continued down the row of alphas as each entered their pack’s vote. I felt the burning gazes of the assembly settle on me after each man spoke, everyone expecting a reaction I didn’t know to give.

Part of me understood this tribunal wasn’t real. The archaic courtroom, Estonia, the crowd—they were imaginings. Still, the storm brewing inside me felt extremely real.

It’s a dream, I chanted to myself. Just the darkest parts of your mind manifesting your bleak fears.

The thought calmed me. Not entirely, but enough for me to appreciate the rapid thumping in my chest when the final member of the tribunal rose from his seat.

“Not guilty,” he declared. The echo of his words from the steepled ceiling was nearly lost in the collective gasp that rippled through the room.

I hadn’t counted as teach alpha gave their verdict, yet I knew this was a tying vote.

What now? I wondered.

Estonia Haggerty banged a gavel on the table in front of her to call for order.

“Please show Elder Stolly in,” she instructed loudly.

The doors at the back of the room banged open. A man in his thirties strolled in. He had dark features and an even darker energy. In the waking world, my interactions with magic users were few and far between. In the dream, I recognized the fae Estonia called Elder Stolly.

We knew one another. I was certain of it.

Oily magic coated my skin as the fae passed by my seat on his way to stand before the tribunal. His shadowed stare moved slowly through the room as if determined to meet every set of eyes in turn.

“Thank you for joining us, Elder Stolly,” Estonia said reverently. “I am afraid the decision is in your hands. On behalf of the Ophiuchus—what say you?”

A needle hitting the floor would’ve been enough to cause pandemonium as the crowd waited on the edges of their seats for the fae to cast his vote. Honestly, I was intrigued and curious about the reason the tribunal gave a non-wolf so much power in the matter. Oddly, I seemed to be the only shifter in the courtroom surprised by the move.

The fae’s flashing gaze landed on me. “In the absence of a true Ophiuchus alpha, I vote guilty on behalf of their pack.”

Several of the wolves on either side of me flew to their feet and started shouting protests. The pack delegations standing behind their alphas screamed back, calling us traitors and embarrassments to the supernatural community.

Estonia banged the table again and rose, her stoic expression unwavering in the face of such anger and hostility. The heat of my pack mates’ ire blazed all around me, while our opposition wore smug, satisfied grins.

Rhythmic clapping started behind the alphas, followed a moment later by reverberating foot stomping. Howls, both pained and jubilant, echoed from the ceiling. I sat motionless, pinned to my seat under the weight of the fae’s gaze.

Or was it my own guilt that rendered me immobile? It gnawed at my insides, and I wondered whether I’d made the wrong choice. With regards to what decision, I didn’t know. I just knew I had cooperated, potentially contributed to, the guilty verdict. Somehow, someway, this was all my fault.

Gaia, help me, I thought.

“The accused will now step forward,” Estonia declared, her voice ringing throughout the room until the gathering quieted.

I half expected to rise, like this was my trial. But it was the man two seats down from me who stood.

Estonia focused on him, while the fae elder continued to watch me.

“The Ophiuchus have broken our most scared covenants as wolves,” she began, eyeing the blank-faced shifter with disdain. “Per custom, when we first called the tribunal, the alphas agreed upon the punishment you would face if found guilty of your crimes.” She pulled a sealed scroll from her dark robes and held it up so everyone could see the wax was still intact.

“In accordance with our Gaia-given laws, this declaration shall be accepted by all as just and befitting the crimes without prejudice.” Estonia fixed the man with a hard stare that made me squirm. “Do you understand?”

He gave a curt nod.

The torches lighting the courtroom surged as Estonia broke the seal, like Gaia herself was showing her approval for the proceedings. She scanned the unrolled parchment at least twice before nodding. Without reaction or commentary, she handed it to page who stood nearby. He took it to each alpha in turn, and I studied their expressions for any hope that I might not suffer the consequences along with the accused.

Would I be spared for ensuring the conviction? I wasn’t innocent. I could’ve done more.

He is guilty , I reminded myself.

I knew it, the council knew it, and the spectators knew it. Hell, even the fae knew it. But would his intentions and motivations shield him from ultimate culpability? Would the fact I’d be left adrift factor into their decision? Did anyone even care what came of me?

Except, it wasn’t merely his future being ruled upon. It was the fate of an entire pack—hundreds of wolves—that hung in the balance. The tribunal judged as all on the actions of one power-hungry wolf.

Technically two, I thought, though I had no clue what my dream-self was referencing.

The page returned and handed the scroll back to Estonia. She placed the parchment in front of her on the table and swept her gaze down the row where I sat.

“For their crimes against the natural order, the tribunal hereby strips the Ophiuchus pack of their place among the Zodiacs,” she said, voice growing harder with each word. “We seize your lands and territories, and any Ophiuchus who refuses to comply will be taken into custody.”

I expected another round of angry outbursts, but Estonia’s words were met with stunned silence. Even the wolves who’d applauded the verdict grew uneasy with the harsh punishment.

Something despondent bubbled up within me. By the time I registered the first hint of tears on my cheek, I’d already swiped at them with the rough fabric of my sleeve.

My last vestiges of hope fled. Leniency clearly wasn’t in the cards. Had I not suffered enough? What else would this life take from me? How much more could I handle before I cracked under the burdensome pressure?

For several very disorientating moments, I didn’t know whether the questions swirling in my head pertained to the dream or my real life. Possibly both. Before I could decide, Estonia’s hard voice pulled me out of my confusing thoughts.

“From this day onward, the Ophiuchus wolves shall exist in exile without the support or aid of the supernatural community.” Her tone was harsh, matching the gravity of the sentence she handed down. “Their punishment will serve as a reminder to us all the grave price for sowing discord and nurturing it as it festers within ranks. Gaia meant us to be warriors and align as one against a common enemy.”

Adrenaline raced through my veins. My heart pumped too fast, and my skin felt too tight. I needed out of that courtroom. All the glowing eyes glowered at me from every direction, and it was too much.

Just wake up, I told myself.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I didn’t fight against the dream where I’d hear the rest of Estonia’s speech. She refocused on the lone man standing from our pack.

“As for your individual crimes, the tribunal sentences you, Colin Aspen, to death beneath the next full moon.”

The blood drained from my face, and my head began to spin. This couldn’t be happening. I had never meant to nail his coffin closed—had I? Surely a part of me must’ve known this outcome was possible, yet it was my actions as much as his that had led to this moment.

The back doors opened again. A dozen enforcers marched into the courtroom and surrounded their prisoner. He didn’t fight. Hatred deepened the yellow of his irises to gold, and he directed his fury toward me.

“History will not remember you kindly for this, sister,” he growled. “Never forget, I wasn’t the downfall of the Ophiuchus. You were.”