#Chapter 38: You Lied

Logan I didn’t sleep the night after the confrontation. Even after Emma stormed out of the infirmary, even after leaving Evelyn with her spine straight and her expression carved from steel, the weight of it all clung to me like damp fog. I sat in my room, staring at the dying embers of the fire, haunted by everything I hadn’t wanted to see. By morning, the whispers had already begun. They spread through the halls like smoke. First, they were quiet before they became blistering. Emma’s name slipped between hushed voices in the kitchens, trailed through training grounds, and tangled itself in pack chambers. People didn’t say much outright, but their eyes spoke volumes. There was doubt now. And in a place like this, doubt was poison. Chris hadn’t needed to say much. His word carried weight. And when he spoke up, amplifying Evelyn’s accusation about Emma’s past, it was as if the dam finally cracked. By midafternoon, Emma found me. I’d been walking the eastern ridge, needin