Maribel walks forward and while Ginny is still standing there shaking with her shoulders caving inward like she’s bracing for a blow, Maribel approaches from the crowd with her spine straight and her jaw set so hard it looks like it might crack. Where her sister is raw nerve, Maribel is fury made articulate.
"I will," she says loudly, cutting through the murmurs. "I’ll speak."
Elder Rowen’s eyes narrow. "You were not called."
Maribel lifts her chin. "Then call me."
Murmur moves through the court. Not whispers this time—interest. Real interest. The kind the elders hate because it means things are no longer moving according to script.
Ace rises halfway from his seat, then stills when Maribel flicks him a look that says I’ve got this. He sinks back, lips twitching despite the tension. That’s his sister. Gods help anyone who forgets it.
"State your name," Rowen says curtly.
"Maribel Vale," she replies. "And before you start talking about credibility, let me make something very clear, I’m not here because I’m guilty, jealous, or obsessed. I’m here because my sister told the truth, and you’re trying to bury it."
A collective inhale sweeps the room.
Sierra lets out a sharp, disbelieving laugh. "You’ve always been dramatic."
Maribel turns on her like a blade. "And you’ve always been a liar."
Sierra recoils, face flushing. "You bitch...!"
"Enough," Rowen snaps.
But Maribel doesn’t even look at him. She keeps her eyes on Sierra, and when she speaks again, her voice is lethal.
"You don’t get to humiliate my sister in front of the entire pack and expect me to stay polite."
That lands harder than shouting ever could.
Maribel reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. The action is simple and unremarkable, but the effect is electric. Phones have become the unspoken villain of this entire hearing. Everyone feels it.
"We weren’t aware of when the video was originally recorded," Maribel announces, addressing the elders now. "That part is true. Sierra never told us when or how it was made."
Sierra stiffens.
"But she did tell us something else."
Maribel taps her screen and turns it outward. "She told us she was going to edit it."
The courtroom goes still.
"She said she’d make it look worse," Maribel continues. "More explicit. More humiliating. She said she wanted to crush Heidi slowly—bit by bit, so no one would ever take her seriously again."
A low, ugly murmur spreads. Heidi’s breath stops painfully. Her wolf snarls, hackles raised.
"She wanted to crush you slowly." He repeats. "Like peeling skin. We should have killed her when we had the chance."
Maribel swipes her screen and looks directly at Elder Rowen. "These are messages from our group chat. Time-stamped. Unedited. You’ll see Sierra saying she’d already ’fixed’ the video enough to ruin Heidi if she needed leverage."
Sierra’s lawyer is on his feet instantly. "Objection! We don’t know the authenticity of–"
"You will," Maribel snaps back. "Because I’m submitting the original chat logs. Not screenshots. The logs."
She hands the phone to a stunned pack official, who hesitates before taking it like it might bite him.
"You can cross-reference metadata," Maribel adds coldly. "Server timestamps. Participants. Everything."
For the first time since the hearing began, something like unease flickers across the elders’ faces. Even the corrupted ones. Even the spokesperson, Rowen.
Sierra’s jaw drops. She’s lying," she says weakly. "She’s trying to save her sister."
Maribel laughs. It’s sharp and humorless. "Oh, honey. If this were about saving my sister, I’d have dragged your name through the dirt years ago."
Ace coughs loudly into his fist, barely disguising a grin.
Maribel turns back to the elders. "Sierra told us she didn’t know when the video was shot, but that didn’t matter. She said she’d make it ’convincing enough.’ Her words."
She pauses, then adds quietly, "She wanted to blackmail Heidi. And when that didn’t work, she escalated."
Silence crashes down on the room.
Heidi feels dizzy from vindication so suddenly it hurts. Her chest tightens, eyes burning. This is it. This is the proof they couldn’t bury. She’s equally flabbergasted that Sierra lied to even her friends about not knowing how the video was shot when she set the camera herself.
Her wolf lifts its head, triumphant. "They can’t erase this."
Rowen clears his throat. "Even if this is true, it does not absolve the accused of her actions."
There it is. The pivot.
Rowen rises slowly, his presence filling the room with authority. "Heidi of the Moon Blessed, you will now take the stand." He announces.
Heidi stiffens.
"And you will explain," Rowen continues, "why you would record such a video in the first place. Why you would resort to violence. Why a wolf lies dead and a girl sits crippled."
A murmur sweeps the room again—this one darker and more volatile.
Rowen’s gaze sharpens. "Killing a wolf is not merely a crime. It is a sin. An affront to the heavens. A challenge to the Moon Goddess herself."
The shift is immediate after the mention of the Goddess. Heidi feels it like a cold wave rolling through the court. Religion always works. It doesn’t need logic. All it needs is fear and Rowen knows how to wield that well.
"Moon Blessed or not, unintentional or not," he presses on, "no one stands above divine law."
Her wolf growls. "He’s weaponizing faith."
And it worked.
"She angered the Goddess!"
"That’s why this is happening."
"The Moon doesn’t forgive those who go against her!"
Heidi’s stomach twists. This is exactly what they warned her about.
Darien, who is back standing closer to them, moves instinctively, but Grayson grips his arm hard. Morgan’s jaw is clenched so tightly a vein pulses at his temple. Amias looks like he might tear the room apart molecule by molecule.
Heidi rises before she can put the heirs in further trouble. Her legs feel steady. Too steady. Like she’s floating above herself, watching from a distance as the courtroom turns predatory.
As she walks forward, the condemnation grows louder.
"Murderer!"
"Blasphemy!"
"She brought it on herself–"
Her wolf snarls. "We can take them all on if we want to. Do we really have to do this?"
Heidi, who is too beaten to care, can’t even answer. When she reaches the center, the room feels smaller. Hotter. Like all the air has been sucked toward her.
Sierra’s lawyer rises with a thin, sharp smile. "Let’s begin," he says pleasantly.
Of course, it’s his turn to roast her and get payback for Darien’s wits.