Page 8 of Noah

“Boys?” Marcus snapped, his voice rising. “Boys don’t leave one of their own tumbling down a slope, nearly breaking his neck. That’s negligence.”

I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek to keep quiet. I wanted to speak up, to defend myself and Jackson.

It wasn’t our fault Adrian had been so reckless. But Dad’s hand clamped down on my shoulder again, this time hard enough to make my teeth click together.

His silent warning was clear: stay quiet.

Marcus stepped forward, his piercing gaze cutting to Jackson and me. “Your boys have shown nothing but recklessness,” he said coldly. “Recklessness that could’ve cost my son his life.”

The pack alphas’ voices overlapped, rising into a tangle of accusations, defenses, and barely veiled threats.

My chest tightened, the weight of their anger suffocating. I stopped trying to follow what they were saying.

My mind was all over the place, and my heart was racing so fast, I couldn’t hear anything else.

What would they decide? Punishment? It wasn’t right.

It was Adrian. He was the one who taunted us, pushing until things got out of hand.

My fists curled at my sides, frustration bubbling up. It wasn’t fair.

"That's not true!" Jackson’s voice cut through the noise.

I flinched at the sound, my eyes snapping to him. What was happening? What was he doing? Why was he?—

Movement caught my eye. Adrian leaned back in his chair, his uninjured hand draped lazily over the armrest.

A smirk tugged at his lips. He was enjoying this.

Jackson took a step forward. “Noah didn’t do anything. It was me. I dared him. Pushed him into it. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me.”

The room erupted into chaos. Voices clashed, loud and sharp. I couldn’t make sense of them, couldn’t hold onto a single thought long enough to process. It was all too much.

Jackson was lying. For me. Why? Why would he do that?

My mind raced, panic and confusion flooding me. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

I glanced toward Adrian. His face twisted into a dramatic grimace, his hand clutching his arm like he was in unbearable pain.

But then, just for a second, it flickered—a smug little grin flashed across his face before vanishing behind the mask of agony. My fists clenched tight enough to hurt.

That liar. He wasn’t in pain anymore; the healers had already patched him up.

“Enough.” Marcus’s voice cut through the chaos. He raised a hand, and the room fell silent. His sharp eyes scanned the room, lingering on Jackson.

“This happened on Thornebane pack lands, and we follow our traditions. An injury for an injury, a scar for a scar.” His tonewas cold, unforgiving. “The boy is of age. He will face the same consequence.”

It felt like the floor dropped out from under me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This wasn’t fair!

Adrian stayed motionless, his expression carefully blank, but his eyes gleamed with something cruel—something that made my stomach churn.

And Jackson didn’t flinch. He stepped forward. Then, to my horror, he dropped to his knees.

“No.” The word barely left my lips.

A Thornebane enforcer moved toward Jackson, gripping his arm and pulling up his sleeve. The fabric tore away, revealing the unblemished skin of his shoulder.

The same shoulder Adrian had injured.

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