Chapter 2

LYRA Shit. Very deep shit. Those were the exact words that left my tongue once I opened my eyes and found myself on a strange bed, in a strange room, and naked! Covered by a blue duvet that smelt of sweat, semen, and… pussy juice? I jumped up, eyes widened in shock, only to catch the stranger from last night staring at the rest of the city from the glass walls of the hotel room. Panic set in almost immediately, and not just because he had the back frame of my husband - just bulkier and hotter - or because of the wolf tattoo that was plastered on his back. I was frightened because I didn’t know who he was, or what he could do with the information of what had transpired between us. “Good. You’re awake.” His voice rang in my ears as he spoke. “I was beginning to think you would sleep in all day.” “How did this happen?” I fired at him, holding the duvet to cover my naked body. He looked at me with a crooked smile on his face. “You kissed me with a mouth full of vomit, and I couldn’t resist.” I frowned and wrapped the duvet around myself before rising to my feet. “This was a mistake. It never happened, do you understand me?” I said, trying to be more stern than afraid. I couldn’t let him sense any form of weakness at all. “Wait, wait. Hold on a minute.” He blocked my path with his broad body. I had to admit it, he was hotter from up close, and I felt my senses tingling again before I called myself to order. “I can’t let you leave like that. Not before knowing your name.” “My name or any other thing about me is none of your business. This was a mistake! I am a married woman! And I have been married for six years. We will never meet again, nor would whatever happened here leave this room, do you understand?” I warned him. You could say my fear made me a lot more hostile than I intended to be, and I hoped it would do the trick. His smile grew even thinner and mischief sparked in those bright blue eyes. “As you wish.” He moved out of my way and I quickly put on my dress, gathered my belongings, and dashed out of the hotel. I boarded a taxi back to the palace, hoping to the goddess that my husband would still be in bed with his mistress. He was the last person I needed to see in my state. What had I been thinking? How could I have allowed pain to make me stoop so low? How could I be mad at Xander when I just did the same thing he always did to me? I arrived at the palace and sprinted up to the room, only to find Xander pacing about restlessly. Once he saw me, and properly SAW me - especially in the dress I was in - his eyes turned bloodshot red. “Where the fuck have you been? You didn’t sleep in the palace last night?” Hearing his voice brought back memories of what I had seen last night. I could have died with my third miscarriage, yet all he did was sleep with another woman in my bed. “I’m surprised you noticed.” I replied dryly, moving towards my vanity table. I pulled out my chair and settled into it. “Do you think this is a fucking joke, Lyra?! You were supposed to return back from the hospital with your report yesterday, and I waited all night for you…” A bitter chuckle forced its way out of my throat, and he clenched his fists in annoyance. “When did she leave, Xander? This morning? Last night? I saw her, you know. You couldn’t get your tongue out of her mouth.” His eyes widened in shock, but there was no hint of remorse, no iota of repentance in those cobalt blue orbs. “I didn’t disturb the both of you. I allowed you to have your fun. I just wanted to have mine too.” He stomped across the room, over to where I sat and grabbed me by my neck. It happened so fast, I could almost make no sense of the movement. “You would not speak to me in that manner, do you understand me, Lyra? You went to have fun? Fun?! When you can no longer have children?! You should be in the temple crying your eyes out for mercy from the moon goddess, not parading yourself around the city like the fucking prostitute you are!” He spat on my face as his grip on my neck loosened. His words cut me right in my heart. It hit me, and it hit me deep, just like he knew it would. I couldn’t fight back my tears. “I’m not a harlot. All I’ve ever done…all I’ve ever done is to be faithful to you, Xander. Yet you have constantly, constantly made me look like a fool in front of the world!” “Yes! Yes! You know why? Because that’s exactly what you are!” As he paced about restlessly, he turned to point at me at regular intervals, sweating profusely despite the tightly air conditioned room. “Now what? You’re a barren fool! What am I supposed to do with a barren fool for a wife?” I’m not barren. I’m not barren. I repeated the words over and over again in my head, hoping that if I said it loud enough for me to hear, I would eventually start to believe it. “You know what? I can’t deal with this right now. Pack your things and go to any of the guest rooms. You will be there until I change my mind.” It was an order. One I knew better than to fight against. I nodded feebly and rose to my feet. I could have put up a fight. I should have yelled at him and rained curses down on him for every hurtful thing he had ever said and done to me. I couldn’t. Not when my atrocity of last night continued to replay in my mind. It was the only reason I moved myself to the guest room as he had instructed. With Ophelia’s help of course. She had told me that he had sent guards to the hospital when I didn’t return last night, and the doctor sent the report through the guards. I thanked her and locked myself in the guest room, bawling my eyes out. I had been promised to Xander as a child. My father was a trusted steward of the late alpha king, who earned the late king’s trust in so many ways. I had been beautiful as a child, or I was told I was. The alpha king saw me on a visit to our small house and made my father promise my hand in marriage to his son, Xander. I didn’t meet Xander until I was sixteen. On the night of his mating ceremony. I had turned into a wolf, but was yet to find my mate. When it was clear that Xander hadn’t found his mate too, I was introduced to him. I remember falling for his boldness and looks at first sight. And when he spoke? Heavens! It was like the son of a god had come down to earth. I spent months trying to prove myself to him until we got married when I turned eighteen. His cruelty began once his father fell ill, and it became worse three months ago after his father died. He blamed me for barging into his life. He said I was the reason his father didn’t let him have a choice, and I was the daughter of a nobody. I took it all in good faith, giving everything I could to make him happy, until now. I had betrayed our marriage, but he did first. Why did I have to feel guilty about it? The screams from outside forced their way into my thoughts. I rose from the bed in a haste and hurried to the window. My jaw dropped once I took in the sight before me. The palace gates were on fire! Guards were being shot from every angle, and men in wolf masks trooped into the palace. It was almost dark already, and the attack was being launched from every angle of the palace. “Heavens! What the fuck is happening?!” Someone screamed. My heart beat thundered in my chest. Sweat poured from my face and dropped to every part of my body. How could this happen? As I watched flames engulf the once-sturdy entrance of the palace, burning down the sculptures and everything else in its way, panic gripped me.A knock echoed through the room, and I rushed to the door. Opening it, my personal maid Ophelia stood there, eyes wide with terror. “Lady Lyra, the palace is under attack!” she gasped, her voice trembling.“I can see that! Where…where is the king?!” The corridor was in commotion as maids and guards ran around. Ophelia said nothing, but from the look in her eyes, I knew Xander had been targeted. “They have already infiltrated the palace. We have to find a place to hide until we’re sure it’s safe to come out.” She beckoned to me, pulling my hand. Confusion clouded my mind; the Redmoon pack was renowned for its impenetrable defenses. Ophelia and I ran as fast as our legs could take us, but just as we were about to run down the stairs into the basement, we were caught by two men who ambushed us from behind. In an instant, they seized me, dragging me toward the heart of the palace. The throne room unfolded before my eyes. Xander and his mistress lay vulnerable on the cold floor, half naked, visibly shaking as though they had poured ice on their backs. It hurt to see it again. He couldn’t even keep his hands off her for a fucking day. Forced to my knees, I watched helplessly as the attackers, their identities concealed by the haunting masks, wreaked havoc.Screams echoed from every corner of the palace while my face was pressed to the ground. Three guards fell to their deaths right in front of me, their pool of blood quickly stretching towards me. I pressed my eyes together and fought back my tears. Perhaps this was my punishment for the sin I had committed. My days were over, and the goddess had allowed these men to penetrate Redmoon to teach me a lesson. “Sit up. All of you.” One of them yelled, and we all did as instructed. Xander looked beyond petrified. I could tell he had never faced an opposition he couldn’t control in his entire life. “Do you have any idea who we are?” “The rogues of Blackwater,” I coughed out. “I…I know. I’ve heard about…” Xander turned to look at me, disbelief masked his fear in that moment. Disgusted, I turned away from him. “Smart. Very smart.” The man stepped back, laughing out loud. A commanding figure, the assumed leader, emerged from the shadows. His chilling voice cut through the turmoil, demanding a choice from my husband. “Choose, Alpha. Your wife or your mistress. We will let the one you save go, and the one you choose not to save would be taken by my men to do…well, what they know how to do best.” The men crackled behind their masks and my intestines joined to form a tight knot in my stomach.