The Pregnant Omega's Secret Pack Empire

Casey POV:

The Pack Hall was freezing the next morning.

The air was thick with the scent of aged pine, beeswax, and the unspoken tension of a pack trial. I stood alone on one side of the vast, circular room, my hands resting protectively on my belly. The steady, reassuring weight of it grounded me.

My pup was quiet, as if sensing the gravity of the moment.

In the center of the room, Wayne Tucker knelt, his hands bound tightly behind his back with silver chains. The bleeding on his face had stopped, leaving a grotesque, swollen mess around his nose and mouth. He glared at me with pure, unadulterated hatred.

The heavy oak doors swung open. Kandi Bradley strode in. Beside her stood her mate—Jace's adoptive father, Judd Frye. His face was a thundercloud of righteous indignation.

Clayton sat on the raised dais, looking down at Kandi with an unreadable expression. "Kandi Bradley," he began, his voice echoing in the silent hall. "You have been summoned because Casey Robinson has accused you of orchestrating last night's attack."

Kandi's head snapped up. She stared at me as if seeing me for the first time, her eyes wide with theatrical disbelief. Then, right on cue, her eyes welled up with tears.

"Me?" She pointed a trembling finger at her own chest. "Why would I ever harm my own daughter-in-law? The mother of my future grand-pup?"

She stumbled forward, turning to the crowd, her voice quivering with perfectly calculated sorrow. "I have been anticipating this pup more than anyone! I raised Jace as my own flesh and blood, loved him, and now... I am repaid with this?"

Judd Frye stepped forward, his fists clenched. "This is an outrage! Casey, you ungrateful wretch! Kandi has done nothing but care for you, and you repay her with this venomous lie?"

The wind of public opinion shifted instantly. The pack members who had previously looked at me with pity now began to point and whisper.

"Wayne Tucker," I said, my voice cutting sharply through her fake sobs. "Tell them again. Who sent you to my room?"

Kandi's eyes shot Wayne a subtle, warning glare.

Wayne, his mouth bloody and swollen, hesitated for a split second before his gaze hardened. He raised his head and pointed a bound hand directly at me.

"She did!" he snarled, his words slightly slurred. "She invited me! We've been mating in secret for weeks!"

A collective gasp sucked the air out of the hall.

Kandi seized the moment like a starving wolf. "Oh, Moon Goddess!" she shrieked, clutching her chest as if in physical pain. "Now it all makes sense! Casey... you've been unfaithful to my son!"

Riding her momentum, the lies spilled from her lips smoothly. "I've seen you and Wayne sneaking around! That pup in your belly belongs to him!"

A plump Omega named Doris—one of Kandi's notorious gossip cronies—immediately jumped up from the benches. "I saw her! I saw Casey going into the woods by the river with a man last Tuesday afternoon! They were acting so suspicious!"

Judd Frye roared in fury. "She has tainted my son's honor! She has disgraced this pack! Beta Clayton, I demand she be stripped of her rank! We must banish this whore and her bastard pup before they bring a curse upon us all!"

The whispers in the room morphed into loud, hostile murmurs. The eyes staring at me were no longer curious; they were filled with disgust and contempt.

In a matter of minutes, I had been twisted from the victim into the villain.

A faint, ice-cold smile graced my lips.

"Kandi," I said, my tone eerily calm. "Are you done with your performance? Because if you're finished with your lies... it's my turn."