Mariana
The jury foreperson of the National Wolf Council stood up to announce the verdict of the judges before the silent but harsh crowd inside the court.
“This court has found the accused, Mariana Rose…”
I clenched my hands on my lap and stared at the heavy cuffs on my bleeding wrists while comforting my crying wolf.
“It’s okay, Nirvana,” I kept telling her. “We are going to be fine a month from now.”
I still hoped that I would walk away free from this place no matter how impossible it may seem despite the fact that the powerful family together with the wealthy fiancé of Margot Hill, the luna of the Crest pack, the dead woman on the road, made sure I would rot in jail.
“…guilty of murder beyond reasonable doubt. Her wolf will be suppressed and she will serve a total of seventy years in the national penitentiary. So ordered.”
The judge punched the gavel handing me practically a death sentence.
I felt numb all over. I expected this already. I knew it would happen but still, my flesh is trembling.
Life sentence…
A lifetime imprisonment for a morbid sin that I did not commit but is willing to admit for my love.
My wolf will be sacrificed just because I want to prove how I love my mate and husband.
“Oh, thank goodness!” The victim’s family rejoiced and embraced each other in celebration. “Finally! Justice for our dear Margot!”
Tears fell from my eyes as I clutched my chest especially when my gaze fixed on my stepfather crying in the corner. He is probably asking himself what went wrong. What did he do wrong for his precious daughter to commit such a heinous crime?
He brought me up in his own small pack wishing that I would flee from my own mother’s fate but here I am again in the same court that my mother stood up in years ago.
“I’m sorry, dad,” I said in my head knowing I could never say that to him face to face anymore. He is dying and his funeral must be the first thing that I am going to go to the minute I get released from prison. “I’m sorry for being such a disappointing daughter to you.”
But it’s okay, Mariana, I kept telling myself as my eyes locked with Evan seating on the last row in the court.
He is my fated mate and the alpha of the powerful DarkNights pack. A month ago, we had a secret ceremony where he accepted our bond and promised me to be his one and only wife and luna.
The man nodded at me assuring me that I will be alright. He will get me out of there. He promised me. He loves me so much to not help me. He loves me more now because he saw how I am willing to sacrifice everything for him.
It’s okay because my husband will save me. He promised me that he will save me, I repeated in my head.
Our eyes met again when the prison guards pulled me up. For a second, doubt filled my heart when I read something in him but I quickly dismissed it.
I love him. He loves me too much too. We will get married in the grandest wedding everjust like in my dreams.
Everyone will know that I am someone’s mate and wife.
I know he will not fail me. I know he will come for me.
“Mariana!” My father’s frail voice filled the entire room when he tried to run towards me but his weak knees due to cancer stopped him. “Mariana, I know you did not do it, my child! I know you cannot do that! I know you are innocent, my daughter!”
I let out a cry and tried my very best to smile at him. “It’s okay, dad. I’m fine.”
“Let my daughter go!” he yelled at the guards who restrained him while the rest of the crowd began leaving the court still cursing my name.
I saw my life flash before me as the judge stood up and left.
It was supposed to be a happy honeymoon after our wedding ceremony. Evan and I were happily sitting in his car, singing our wedding tunes when a woman drastically crossed the street. Before I knew it, Evan took out his gun and shot the girl to my surprise.
Everything that happened after that became a blur in my head.
“Mariana, I don’t know what to do anymore!” Evan is panicking when we are back at our apartment and the news of the murder spreads like wildfire. “I cannot be jailed! My father would kill me! He will strip me off my title as the alpha of my pack! You know it’s my dream to be one!”