Zoe POV

"You did!" Jake's voice gets louder. "You made me think you cared, and then you just walked away like I was nothing! You used me!"

I am shaking. With anger. With disbelief.

"I never dated you! I told you no! Over and over, I told you no!"

"You are lying!" Jake shouts.

I do not understand.

I do not understand what I did wrong.

I told them the truth. I showed them the messages. I explained everything.

And yet everyone is looking at me like I am a liar.

"You are lying!" Jake shouts again. His face is red. He looks panicked. But he also looks righteous. Like he believes his own lies.

Or maybe he has told them so many times that they have become real to him.

"Ask anyone!" Jake turns to Alpha Owen. To my father. "You can investigate this. Ask the other students. Ask Zoe's best friend Annie. She knows! She knows we were dating!"

My stomach drops.

Annie.

'Oh no. Please no.'

'What if she lies for him? What if she tells them we were dating?'

I want to believe Annie would tell the truth. We were best friends. We have known each other since we were children.

But Annie is also terrified of Jake.

Everyone is terrified of Jake.

I have seen what Jake does to people who cross him. Last year, he slammed a boy's head into the lockers over and over until blood ran down his face. Another time, he cornered a younger girl after school and took all her lunch money. She was too scared to tell anyone. When someone tried to stand up to him once, Jake and his friends waited outside school and beat him so badly he missed a week of classes.

The teachers pretend not to see. The students stay quiet.

No one stops Jake. No one dares.

'Annie will do what he tells her to do. She has to. She has no choice.'

My father is silent.

I look at him. His face is unreadable.

'Is he worried about me? Or is he worried about Jake?'

I remember something he said once. It was months ago. He was teasing Jake about something. He laughed and said Jake should marry me one day. That Jake would make a good son-in-law.

At the time, I thought it was just a joke. Just my father trying to be friendly with Robert's son.

But now...

A chill runs through me.

'Does he want this? Does he want Jake and me to be together?'

"ENOUGH!"

Noah's voice explodes through the room. It is not just loud. It is a command. An Alpha command.

The air itself seems to shift. To press down on everyone.

Everyone goes silent. Instantly.

Some people's heads actually lower. Submitting without even realizing it.

Noah's presence fills the entire space. His gray eyes are cold. Merciless.

"All of Zoe's classmates who are here—step forward. NOW."

It is not a request. It is an order.

There is movement in the crowd. Five students step forward immediately. Then a sixth. A seventh.

I recognize all of them. We went to school together. Sat in the same classes. Some of them I even considered friends once.

Noah's voice cuts through the silence like ice. "I want the truth. What is the relationship between Zoe and Jake?"

The students glance at each other. Then they look at Jake.

My father finally speaks. "Tell the truth. All of you."

His voice is firm. Authoritative.

For a moment, I feel a flicker of hope.

'Dad is asking them to tell the truth. Maybe he does believe me. Maybe—'

The first student speaks. A girl named Sarah. "They were dating. Everyone knew about it."

The hope dies.

"Yeah," another student says. A boy named Aiden. "They were together for a while."

"I saw them holding hands in the hallway," someone else adds.

"They were always together at lunch."

"Jake talked about her all the time."

One by one, they all say the same thing. One by one, they all lie.

I cannot breathe.

Annie is the last one. She has not spoken yet.

She will not look at me. She stares at the floor.

'Please, Moon Goddess. Please let her tell the truth. Please.'

I am begging. Praying. Hoping for a miracle.

'Please. She is my best friend. Please let her tell the truth.'

Annie opens her mouth.

"Zoe and Jake were dating," she says quietly. "I... I saw them together a lot."

The world stops.

'Annie. You were my best friend.'

The room starts to spin.

I want to scream. I want to tell them they are all lying. That Jake forced them to say this. That he threatened them.

But my voice will not work.

And even if it did, no one would believe me now.

My mother moves.

I do not see her coming until it is too late.

CRACK.

Her hand connects with my face. Hard.

The sound echoes in the silent room.

My head snaps to the side. My cheek explodes with pain.

"You WHORE!"

The word hits harder than the slap.

My eyes sting with tears. My face burns.

My mother's face is twisted with rage and disgust. "How dare you—"

Then her eyes roll back.

She collapses.

My father catches her. Cole rushes over to help.

"Grace! Grace, stay with me—"

But she is unconscious.

The room erupts into chaos. People are shouting. Someone is calling for the pack doctor.

I just stand there.

Numb.

Everyone is staring at me. The pack members. The guests. The warriors.

They are all looking at me like I am filth. Like I am trash.

Like I am everything my mother just called me.

'They all believe it. They all think I was sleeping with Jake. They all think Chloe died because of my lies.'

I am alone.

Completely alone.

I lift my head.

Through the chaos, through the crowd, I see Noah.

He is standing perfectly still. Staring at me.

But his expression is different now.

The rage is still there. But there is something else too.

Despair. And confusion.

Like he does not understand what he is seeing. Like something does not make sense to him.

For just a moment, our eyes meet.

Then his expression changes. The confusion vanishes. His eyes go cold. Hard.

He takes a step toward me.

My father moves to intercept him. "Noah. Not now."

Noah stops. But he does not look away from me.

"Soon," he says quietly. His voice is deadly calm. "Very soon."

I have become the target of the entire pack.

And Noah is going to make me pay.