Innocent As Charged (Completed)

Chapter 31

"Isobel Christen, you are found guilty of patricide and multiple counts of murder of members from both the Moonblood and Dawnguard packs. In most cases you would be given the death penalty. However, your plea of guilty justifies a reduction of sentence."

I send Alpha Kassandra grateful look. I know I only escaped the death sentence because of her intervention, but Matthew's expression has contorted into a one of suppressed rage, causing me to shiver slightly in fear.

"Henceforth, you are barred from the packs of the Great Britain and Ireland. You are declared a rogue for as long as your life remains."

No.

No, no, no. I want to collapse to the floor but my legs refuse to give way. Instead, Jack takes control and we somehow wrench the cuffs off our wrists and shift, breaking away from the guards and sprinting away from the pack that condemned me to, effectively, death.

I can never see Isaac again. His reputation as an Alpha is permanently tarnished. I can never see my mate again.

A large trail of guards pursue me but we are too fast for them, outpacing them until they are just specks behind us in the distance. We gallop across the territory, pursued numerous times by packwolves but they always eventually give up, allowing us to slow down temporarily before more show up.

There is a river to our left and we veer towards it, losing our scent in the water. We allow the river to carry us downstream, far from everything I have ever known, far from everyone I have ever known. Far from my mate.

The river carries us miles and miles as we lie there, floating on the surface, still, unresisting to the river's course, allowing it to carry us where it will. We've lost our mate. Our only chance or hope of true happiness. The goddess' greatest gift and we lost it - no it's was taken from us. And to attempt to reclaim it would mean death for both of us.

Days past, nights too, all the time we do not move, stiller than death, our only company the fish and animals of the river.

Eventually, the river must meet the sea and I wash up on an isolated beach, the soft sand yielding under my paws as we pick ourselves up, watching the stars dance, the moonlight reflecting off the waves lapping at the shoreline.

Above me the grass-topped cliffs tower, tall and grey against the skyline, the steady flow of water the only sounds. A herd of white horses stand on the beach off in the distance like the ghosts of the past, haunting me with every step. The wind is gentle, brushing my muzzle with the loving caresses of a mother.

Jack, I can't do this.

I know Iz. It hurts. It hurts.

We lay on the beach, unmoving, allowing the breeze to ruffle our fur, the silence welcomed into the hole in our heart.

Isaac. We've lost him forever. All I can feel is the pain from having let him go, having to run the opposite direction to where he is, running away from the one person who has always wanted to do nothing but care for us. And who's going to descend into madness because of me.

Our stomach grumbles for food but we ignore it, the energy to hunt having abandoned us long ago. We shift into our human form and let our sounds of grief be released, tears pouring down my cheeks in droves, each one a different memory of Isaac, each one unable to be forgotten.

I wait to feel his arm around my shoulders and for a second I think I do, only to realise I'm imagining it, another dagger stabbing at my heart.

I remain there until morning, the sun streaming onto the beach, making the sand blaze, sobbing into our hands, our body shaking from the emotional pain and I feel a throb inside my chest, a deep ache buried in my heart. Is this what heartbreak feels like? Because I can't stand this. Being without him.