Hazel could not believe what she was seeing.
The black stone still glowed under her hands.
Everyone in the hall could see it.
Everyone could feel the strange power coming from it.
Even she could feel it deep in her chest.
How was this possible?
She was sure her wolf still lived somewhere in the back of her mind.
She had always felt it there, quiet but real.
So how could the stone say she was a witch?
Tears burst from her eyes.
For three years she had feared the worst thing that could happen was becoming a lowly omega.
Now she stood in a place far worse than that.
An outcast….An enemy of the entire werewolf race.
And the person who put her there was only a former maid.
Sarah lifted her head and spoke again in a clear voice.
“Scarlett is the true biological daughter of Alpha Gabriel.”
Scarlett’s lips curved into a wide, victorious smile.
“Impossible!” Emily shouted at once.
She stared hard at Scarlett’s face.
She couldn’t see her face very well, but she knew the features did not match their mother at all.
Emily and Hazel shared the same dark hair and the same oblong face.
She had seen old pictures of Luna Charlotte.
If anyone looked carefully, those pictures looked almost like Hazel.
The similarities were not perfect because Hazel also took after their father too, but they were still there.
Lady Mira, the High Priest, snorted.
Her sharp eyes fixed on Scarlett, who had been hiding half of her face behind her long hair.
“Why is she covering her face?” Lady Mira asked.
Scarlett stepped forward.
She slowly pushed her hair back so everyone could see her clearly.
Gasps filled the hall.
Suddenly Scarlett’s face looked very much like Luna Charlotte’s.
Same soft hair.
Same beautiful shape.
The likeness seemed stronger than anything Hazel had ever seen.
Hazel looked shocked.
She had seen Scarlett many times before.
She had even seen her earlier that same night in the hallway.
None of this made sense to her again.
Emily stepped closer and folded her arms.
A smirk touched her lips.
“Nice trick, Scarlett,” she said.
“But you still look nothing like my mom. I know what you are up to—”
She stopped in the middle of her sentence.
Her eyes darted around the hall in sudden confusion.
“Who’s speaking?” she asked.
No one else had said a word.
Everyone stared at Emily as if she had lost her mind.
Emily froze and quickly stopped talking.
Scarlett was smiling at her as if she knew what had happened to her.
Sarah quickly wiped fake tears from her cheeks and turned to Alpha Gabriel.
“Look, Alpha,” she said in a sad voice.
“Poor Emily has been bewitched. I heard she never liked Hazel. Yet now she is suddenly on her side and looking around with fear.”
Alpha Gabriel frowned.
“Why would she not—”
“That’s right, Alpha,” one of Emily’s friends called out quickly.
“Emily did not like Hazel at all… until tonight.”
Many people nodded.
Fresh whispers spread through the crowd.
Sarah gave a soft chuckle.
“Blood is always thicker than water. It is normal. Emily never felt the family bond with Hazel. She only felt the witch energy. That is why she despised her for so long.”
Emily almost laughed out loud.
She had never liked Hazel; that was true.
But it was only because Hazel was weak and too kind.
Not because of any witch energy.
Emily remembered the strange voice she had just heard inside her own head.
She decided to stay quiet for now.
Alpha Gabriel looked at Hazel with deep disappointment in his eyes.
“I do not know if you are innocent or not…” he began.
Scarlett bowed low.
“She is not innocent, Alpha. She knew about the mission all along. She still wanted to finish it.”
“Do not lie about the innocent,” Alpha Gabriel said firmly.
Scarlett frowned and pointed at Hazel.
“Apart from the fact that she used her witchcraft on me in school, Hazel can see what will happen the next day. She talks to other witches by touching that moon chain around her neck.” Find the original chapter at NovelPing.
Luna Charlotte’s hand flew to her stomach in surprise.
Alpha Gabriel’s frown grew deeper.
He looked more confused than ever.
Scarlett suddenly dramatically clutched her chest.
“Don’t tell me she has already touched your stomach?!”
Luna Charlotte stepped back nervously.
She could not find any words.
Alpha Gabriel’s eyes flashed gold.
The anger in the room became heavy and dangerous.
They had finally pushed him too far.
His fists clenched at his sides.
Scarlett smirked inside her mind.
‘Yes… that is it, King Caius’s favourite Alpha.
Let the anger take over you.’
Hazel flinched hard when those golden eyes landed on her.
Tears streamed down her face.
Alpha Gabriel rose to his full height.
“She will be beheaded!” he declared in a voice that shook the hall.
Then he turned and walked out.
Cheers exploded from the crowd at once.
“What?” Luna Charlotte cried.
She jumped up and ran after her husband.
“Gabriel!” Lady Mira shouted.
She slammed her cane against the floor.
Alpha Gabriel stopped at the doorway and looked up, trying to hold his anger, still clenching his fists.
Lady Mira gave him a knowing smirk.
“You know you do not dare to hurt her.” She glanced once at Sarah and Scarlett.
Then the High Priest turned and left the hall with her people without another word.
Alpha Gabriel swallowed hard.
He left in silence.
Scarlett stared at Sarah with wide eyes.
A moment later, she hurried to her side as the guards began dragging Hazel away.
The rest of the people started to leave.
Parents congratulated one another because their children had finally shifted under the full moon.
Scarlett leaned close to Sarah and whispered, “I thought the plan was to make him kill her?”
Sarah’s hands curled into tight fists.
Her voice was low and cold.
“She must be killed before she finds out who her mate is.”