Violet proceeded to tell everyone gathered in the chambers about how she had wandered away from pack land, unsure of where to go at first but feeling as if she had been led astray by the elders and no longer had a place to belong. That was when she decided to look for trouble.
"You purposely sought out another pack?" Maggie asked this ti, bringing her hands up to fold under her chin.
"I did," Violet pressed her lips together after answering, stamping down the emotion into a thin line there before it could escape and expose itself out into the open. "I scented that I was close to another pack. That pack was Thundering Falls, and I crossed their border."
"What happened then, Violet?" Maggie asked.
Violet glared at Maggie and at the question she asked. She didn’t want to discuss the details here. She didn’t want to bring all of what she had endured out into the open.
"I was terrified. I realized imdiately the mistake I had made going there. I learned later that their leadership had changed, and... while I was feeling sorry for myself and looking for trouble, I wasn’t... I wasn’t looking for that kind of trouble," he forehead cleaved and she looked down into her hands.
"At first I felt sorry—like I was being punished, and that kind of punishnt... if anyone was behind it..." she wrung her hands together, not being able to et anyone’s eyes or more clearly describe what it was that she had been through or what she was even trying to say regarding it. "It was evil, and I was sorry. I was so sorry. All I wanted was to co back to my ho and be safe."
Cressida walked out onto the floor and stood next to her daughter. She couldn’t bear to see her standing alone in the midst of everyone having to answer these questions, and she could sense that Violet was on the verge of accusing their Luna of sohow orchestrating what happened to her. If she did that, it would be the end.
"Violet was hurt badly. She was attacked. She was assaulted. She was marked against her will," she told them, placing a hand on Violet’s back only for her daughter to flinch and pull away.
"Why did we not retaliate against Thundering Falls?" Soone asked from the crowd. "If they attack one of us, we attack them!"
"Violet refused to tell anyone where she had been. We only found out recently," Cressida explained before Grae could answer. She didn’t want a judgnt to shift toward accusing Grae’s leadership, because he could very well beco impatient and decide it was ti to end this trial all together.
Cressida just wanted to share the truth. The pack should at least understand how her daughter had gotten this way. She was lost, and Cressida was terrified for her. She was terrified of her as well. But perhaps if everyone understood the extent of what Violet had been through, there would be a way to help her that didn’t involve the worst possible scenario. Perhaps she had unraveled to the destructive state she was in now because she had not felt the comfort and support of her pack. She had been isolated and alone.
"Who marked her?" A male growled. The idea that one of their females had been marked against her will by soone from another pack was unacceptable.
"The Alpha there," Violet replied quickly before anyone else could answer for her. This was her chance to argue for her worth, even if the leadership she had a right to in Thundering Falls was one that was forced on her.
"The Alpha?" A number of people gasped, and Violet smiled inwardly with the satisfaction of hearing a growing hum of outrage spreading through everyone gathered. "Alpha Galen?"
"A new Alpha," she added, her voice rising. "That is why my eyes are like this now. That is why my eyes look just like Grae’s. Their new Alpha took over the pack shortly after Grae arrived here with August. He was from Eliade, too."
She dropped these assumptions into the well of unrest within the chamber hoping they would stir in everyone’s minds what she had said about August vying for control of their pack. She didn’t know for sure when Cassian had arrived at Thundering Falls. There was no way to know that, but these assumptions would work in spreading the doubt about August without having to actually speak it outright.
Grae couldn’t find fault in it enough to accuse her of treason. All she was doing was speaking about the male who had marked her. Everyone else could make the connections that were obvious. If the male who had marked her with golden eyes was also from Eliade, if he had taken over control of another pack, and if he was capable of the horror of marking soone against their will... then maybe August wasn’t as good as she seed.
"Does this an Violet is the Luna of Thundering Falls?" The voice of a shocked female rose and echoed around the chambers. ’Ah, what an excellent thought,’ Violet thought to herself, pleased with the suggestion that she did not have to raise on her own.
"That male is dead," Grae’s thunderous voice hushed everyone’s questions. "He arrived here and attacked Samuel, Lucas, Greta, and myself. That was the intruder who was here and destroyed our office. He was seeking Violet who did not wish to go with him, and because she is still a mber of our pack, we vowed to protect her. If she had wished to go, perhaps she would have been Luna. But let be clear, we did not realize he was Alpha at the ti. He did not announce himself as such. He just attacked."
"Is war coming?"
"Will Thundering Falls retaliate?"
"Beta Ranier from Thundering Falls visited yesterday. We are not at war. He made it clear that his pack would be relieved to be rid of that male’s rule," Grae answered the murmurs. "And he did not claim Violet as their Luna. It is an extrely odd set of circumstances, but the Hallowell pack is not facing any kind of threat from Thundering Falls. And the males who were responsible for hurting Violet are dead. Every last one of them."
Violet’s eyes slid to Grae’s in silent accusation. Every last one of the males who had hurt her in the past was dead... save for one.
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