Connection.
Touch, even if carefully regulated.
I’d destroyed Luke’s life, and I would never be wanted.
His pack fathers seethed with darkness, and I was glad I couldn’t see their faces. Their expressions must be filled with hatred and rage.
“You must have something to say for yourself!” one barked.
“I…” The words were caught in my throat. “It was my fault. I broke the rules,” I whispered. “I touched him in the service.”
“You did what?” That was Head Sister Matilda.
“It was an accident,” I whispered, but I was in so much trouble. The people around me were the most important in the Church. The most important in my whole life, and they hated me. Everyone was going to hate me forever. What was I going to do? “I swear.”
“You expect my son to carry the shame for trying to do the right thing?”
So much was going on around me I couldn’t keep up. New voices. The events recounted again.
Luke Anderson was set to join a new pack by the end of the month. But it was over. The other families involved were pulling out.
“…Punished for her sin…”
“What will he do after this…?”
“…S…Ruined he must be removed…”
But the mother—her words cut through everything.
“It’s not enough. She would have seen him suffer hellfire. I need her to feel what that means.”
She was right. I deserved to be punished—accident or not.
Everyone else agreed too.
Fear boiled in my stomach as I listened carefully for what I would do to repent. What punishment was great enough? The Sisters had a long list, but I’d never heard of an infraction this severe.
“I will take charge of her punishment,” The High Priest was saying. “Perhaps if we can convince the other packs that we’ve dealt with this properly, Luke will gain their trust back.”
“That is inappropriate,” Sister Matilda cut in. “She is in our charge.”
A different male voice whispered to Sister Matilda, one I recognized as another High Priest—not one of Luke’s pack fathers. “The Andersons have been a part of the Church for generations. Their family is generous—and rightfully upset—I think we can have faith that their plans are in alignment with the Lord.”
That was the last I heard of Sister Matilda. She didn’t speak up for me again.
I heard more back and forth I didn’t quite understand, assurances that whatever my fate, it would be appropriate.
I couldn’t keep up.
Then everyone cleared the room, footsteps receding, until I was certain only Luke and his family remained.
“I want her to pay.” His mother had an edge of steel to her tone.
Where were they going to send me?
“I’m sorry for what I did,” I whispered. “Truly.”
“I won’t have my son paying for the sins of a whore.”