Chapter 2

Arabella’s Pov

“Your Alpha, is he?” I asked quietly, my voice steady despite the storm raging inside me.

Hailey flinched.

The color drained from her face before she hurriedly dismissed the image floating above the recording crystal. Its pale blue glow vanished at once, and she turned toward me wearing a smile so practiced it almost looked convincing.

“L-Luna Arabella,” she greeted, lowering her head respectfully. “I wasn't expecting you. What brings you here?”

A humorless laugh escaped me.

“You're asking what I'm doing in my mate's council chamber?” I looked around the room before meeting her gaze again. “I believe that is a question better directed at you.”

She shifted uneasily, clasping her hands before her.

“Alpha Tony is attending a council meeting with the elders,” she replied. “I was only waiting here. Please... don't mention that I was sitting behind his desk.”

I took another step toward her.

“Enough of the performance, Hailey.” My voice became colder with every word. “I know you're sharing my mate's bed.”

I pulled the small wooden casket from beneath my cloak and tossed it onto the floor between us.

The crimson lace spilled across the polished stone, along with the folded note.

For a heartbeat, she stared at it.

Then the timid expression she had been wearing dissolved as though it had never existed.

The corners of her lips curved into an amused smile.

"Oh," she murmured, bending gracefully to retrieve the garments. "So you've finally found them."

I frowned.

There wasn't even the slightest trace of shame in her golden eyes.

She merely dusted the silk between her fingers before folding it carefully.

"You aren't even embarrassed?" I asked, unable to hide my disbelief. "You knowingly accepted the affections of a mated Alpha."

She lifted her wrist, deliberately allowing the moon diamond bracelet to catch the sunlight pouring through the chamber windows.

"No," she answered with a shrug. "Why should I be ashamed? If anyone should feel humiliated, Luna, it is the woman whose mate no longer chooses her."

The words struck like claws across my chest.

Before reason could restrain me, my hand moved on its own.

The crack of the slap echoed sharply through the chamber.

Hailey staggered a step sideways, one hand flying to her cheek.

I stood over her, every ounce of restraint I had clung to finally snapping.

"You disgrace the Moon Goddess," I said, my voice trembling with fury. "Watch your tongue before you speak to your Luna again."

Hatred flashed across her features so quickly that anyone less observant might have missed it.

When she looked back at me, her eyes had turned icy.

"No, Arabella," she whispered. "You're the one who will regret raising your hand against me."

Before I could understand what she meant, she suddenly threw herself backward.

She crashed onto the stone floor with a cry, clutching her reddened cheek as tears instantly welled in her eyes.

"Luna... please..." she sobbed brokenly. "I'm sorry. I never wanted to come between you and Alpha Tony. You've misunderstood everything."

I stared at her in astonishment.

Moments ago she had been smirking in my face.

Now she looked like a helpless victim.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Begging for mercy now?" I scoffed.

That was when I caught it.

The tiniest smile tugged at the corner of her lips before disappearing beneath another tearful sob.

My blood ran cold.

She had planned this.

The chamber doors burst open before I could expose her deception.

Tony strode inside with several council elders following behind him, his expression darkening the instant his eyes landed on Hailey lying on the floor.

"What happened here?" His voice boomed through the room.

The elders exchanged uneasy glances before quietly withdrawing, closing the doors behind them.

Tony hurried to Hailey's side without sparing me a single glance.

"Hailey."

He gently helped her to her feet, his hands lingering on her shoulders before carefully examining the red mark across her face.

Only then did he turn toward me.

His eyes burned with anger.

"Why are you here, Arabella?"

I let out a hollow laugh.

"So this is where your concern lies."

I looked from him to the woman standing safely behind him.

"You rush to comfort your mistress before asking your own mate what truly happened."

Hailey quickly lowered her head.

"Alpha..." she whispered pitifully. "Please don't be angry with Luna Arabella. She misunderstood the bracelet you gifted me. She acted out of pain. I don't blame her."

I stared at her in disbelief.

She even knew when to sound merciful.

"Remarkable," I said bitterly. "You should perform before traveling bards. They would sing songs about your talent."

"Enough."

Tony's voice cut through mine like a blade.

"Leave."

For a moment, I thought I had misheard him.

"...What?"

"I said leave," he repeated, each word colder than the last. "Do not ever come into the Alpha Hall again simply to cause chaos."

"But I found—"

The rest of my sentence vanished.

A sharp sting exploded across my face.

The force sent my head snapping sideways.

For several heartbeats, I couldn't even breathe.

Slowly, I lifted trembling fingers to my burning cheek.

Tony...

Had struck me.

His eyes held no regret.

Only irritation.

"I am the Alpha," he said coldly. "And I am your mate. You will respect my authority."

His voice rose until it echoed through the chamber.

"Leave. Now."

Tears blurred my vision, though I refused to let them fall before either of them.

Behind Tony's shoulder, Hailey met my gaze.

The triumphant smile she wore was small enough that only I could see it.

Without another word, I turned and walked from the chamber.

Every step felt heavier than the last.

The pain burning across my cheek was nothing compared to the ache spreading through my wolf.

Tony had once sworn before the Moon Goddess that no harm would ever come to me while he still drew breath.

Now those same hands that had once promised to protect me had become the ones that wounded me.

**

By the time I reached the sacred burial grounds beyond the western forest, I had forced my expression into one of calm.

Today's ceremony honored a warrior who had fallen defending the northern borders from rogue wolves.

His widow knelt beside the flower-covered bier, surrounded by grieving pack members while the High Elder offered prayers to guide the fallen warrior safely into the Moon Goddess's embrace.

I stood quietly beside her, offering what comfort I could.

I tried to forget everything that had happened.

I failed.

The wound in my heart deepened when Tony finally arrived.

Hailey walked at his side.

Neither of them attempted to hide how naturally they stood together.

Those who knew nothing would have mistaken them for an Alpha and his Luna.

I, the true Luna, seemed little more than another attendant standing nearby.

When the final prayers ended, the warrior's body was lowered into the earth beneath the sacred silver maple.

His widow collapsed into tears.

Her cries echoed across the silent clearing, carrying the unbearable grief of someone who had lost the mate destined for her by the Moon Goddess.

Watching her, my own chest tightened painfully.

Tony still lived.

Yet for the last two years, the mate I once knew had slowly disappeared until all that remained was the shell of the man I had loved.

It felt no different from mourning someone already gone.

The peaceful silence shattered without warning.

A chorus of terrified horses erupted from the edge of the forest.

Moments later, nearly a dozen mounted wolves burst through the trees, each rider cloaked in black with their faces hidden beneath hoods.

"Rogues!"

Someone screamed.

The burial grounds exploded into panic.

Warriors shifted into their wolf forms as mourners scattered in every direction.

The sharp whistle of arrows sliced through the air.

Chaos swallowed the clearing.

Instinctively, my eyes searched for Tony.

I found him immediately.

He had thrown himself over Hailey, shielding her completely as he pulled her behind a stone monument.

Not once did he look for me.

Not once.

The realization struck harder than any blade ever could.

Danger surrounded us all.

Yet my mate had chosen another woman.

He had left me standing alone.

"Get down!"

A deep voice roared from somewhere behind me.

I barely had time to turn.

A powerful force slammed into me, knocking me to the ground just as an arrow hissed through the place where I had been standing moments earlier.

Pain exploded through my side.

The world spun violently.

The sounds of battle grew strangely distant, fading beneath the frantic pounding of my own heartbeat.

Warm hands gripped my shoulders.

"Stay with me," an unfamiliar male voice pleaded, sounding impossibly far away.

Darkness crept across my vision.

My eyelids became unbearably heavy.

Unable to fight it any longer, I surrendered to the shadows.