C2

"Guards, throw her onto the stone platform right now!"

Elizabeth’s shrill voice echoes through the massive council hall, cutting straight through the roar of three hundred Bloodmoon pack members.

I am dragged across the cold marble floor, my wrists raw where the heavy iron chains bite into my flesh. The entire pack surrounds the raised stage, their furious glares fixed on me. Whispers ripple through the crowd like venom. On the projection screen hanging above the grand dais, the video loops on repeat.

It is not the video I saw last night.

The footage is altered. Deeply, masterfully edited. The clip shows my face clearly, pinned beneath a dark shadow in an alleyway outside the pack territory, gasping and smiling while Micheal’s name is cut into pieces. It makes me look like a lying, unfaithful whore who betrayed the Alpha.

My wolf inside me whimpers, locked behind my ribs, suffocating under the heavy magic in the air.

Micheal stands at the center of the high stage in his formal Alpha robes, his black eyes colder than winter. Beside him, Cecelia leans against his arm, wearing a dress made of white silk, her head resting arrogantly against his shoulder. Cynthia stands right behind them, holding her hands together like a dutiful servant.

"Silence!" Micheal’s command carries the full power of an Alpha’s voice, slamming into the room until every wolf drops their head.

He turns to look down at me where I kneel on the cold floor, chains rattling around my bloodied knees.

"Ada of the Bloodmoon Pack," Micheal says, his tone completely lifeless and flat. "For five years you held the title of Luna while poisoning my home. You lied, you cheated, and you disgraced the Bloodmoon name. I, Alpha Micheal, reject you as my mate and my Luna."

A sharp gasp echoes through the crowd, followed by immediate cheers from the front row.

"Effective immediately," Micheal continues, reaching out to wrap a heavy arm around Cecelia’s waist, "your Luna title is stripped. Cecelia carries my true heir in her womb. She will take your place on the throne."

My heart drops into a black abyss, my blood freezing in my veins.

"Drag the traitor up here," Elizabeth commands, stepping to the edge of the stage with a cruel sneer on her wrinkled face. "She will congratulate the true Luna in front of the Goddess and every wolf present."

Two guards grab my shoulders, yanking me upright and shoving me up the stone steps. My legs tremble, but I keep my spine straight. I stand three feet away from Micheal and Cecelia. The smell of their shared heat radiates off them, thick and nauseating.

Cecelia steps forward, holding out her hand, her eyes sparkling with pure, wicked triumph.

"Go on, placeholder," Cecelia whispers softly so only I can hear. "Say the words. Tell the pack I am your superior."

I stare at her extended hand. My throat burns. My teeth grind together so hard my jaw aches. I do not move. I do not lower my head.

"I said congratulate her!" Elizabeth shrieks from the side.

Before I can take a breath, Elizabeth steps up and slaps me hard across the face.

The crack of her hand against my cheek echoes across the silent hall. My head snaps to the side, the taste of metallic blood bursting over my tongue. My skin burns red, but I do not drop to my knees. I turn my face back slowly, staring straight into Elizabeth’s hateful eyes.

"You think you can break me with lies?" I spit out, blood dripping down my chin.

Before the guards can grab me to drag me to the dungeon, I lift my voice, throwing my words across the entire council chamber with every drop of strength I have left.

"I invoke the Old Law!" I scream. "I demand the Moon Trial! Let the Goddess choose the true Luna!"

The entire council hall goes dead quiet.

The elders in the front row sit up straight, their eyes widening in shock. Whispers break out like wildfire. The Old Law is sacred. It cannot be denied by any Alpha, no matter how powerful he is. To reject a Moon Trial is to invite the Goddess’s curse upon the entire pack.

Micheal’s jaw tightens, his muscles flexing as his black eyes narrow on me. He has no choice.

"So be it," Micheal says coldly. "Bring out the Trial Artifact."

Elizabeth’s lips curve into a dark, sinister grin. She steps back toward the altar and reaches inside a velvet box, pulling out a smooth, pitch-black stone relic shaped like an inverted crescent moon. It pulsates with a strange, unnatural purple shadow.

She holds the black stone up toward the open skylight above the center of the hall.

The clear white moonlight streaming down from the sky strikes the black stone. But instead of reflecting pure white, the moonlight bends. It distorts into an oily, dark violet hue that swirls through the air, casting a blinding glow straight over Cecelia.

Cecelia’s entire body shines with the violet light, making her appear like a divine queen bathed in celestial favor. The crowd gasps in absolute awe.

"The Goddess has spoken!" Elizabeth shouts, her voice booming across the hall. "Cecelia is the true mate! The placeholder is a curse!"

Before I can even process the corrupted light, Jessica steps out from the shadows behind the altar. In her heavy leather gloves, she holds a thick silver branding iron, the tip glowing red-hot from the fire pit beside her.

"Hold her down," Jessica orders, her face twisted in sick pleasure.

Two massive Alpha guards pin my arms behind my back, slamming me down onto my knees. I fight against their grip, my wolf thrashing frantically inside my mind, trying to break free.

Jessica steps up behind me and slams the white-hot silver brand directly onto the back of my neck.

The sound of sizzling flesh fills the air, smoke rising off my skin. A blinding wave of pure agony violently shreds through my nerves. My wolf shrieks inside my chest as the dark magic of the brand slams the door on our connection, locking my wolf away into deep, dark silence.

I bite down on my bottom lip so hard it splits wide open. I taste my own hot blood.

I do not scream. I refuse to give them my pain.

Through the haze of burning flesh and liquid fire rushing in my veins, I force my head up. My eyes clear, landing on the black stone artifact still glowing in Elizabeth’s hands. I see the dark, unnatural runes carved around its base—runes that do not belong to the Moon Goddess.

A small, bloody smile stretches across my lips as I look straight into Elizabeth’s triumphant face.

"That artifact is Shadow Pack magic, Elizabeth," I say, my voice dripping with red blood and deadly confidence. "You're all traitors."

Elizabeth’s face turns pale for a fraction of a second, horror flashing in her eyes before anger replaces it. She steps forward and slaps me silent once again, her heavy ring cutting into my split lip.

"Strip her!" Elizabeth screams at the guards, her voice cracking with wild panic. "Strip her naked and throw her into the street! Order the pack to spit on the traitor as she is dragged out!"

The guards rip my torn dress completely off my body, leaving me exposed, bleeding, and bare on the cold stone. They drag me by my hair and chains down the long center aisle of the hall, out through the massive wooden doors, and toss me hard onto the sharp gravel of the courtyard.

The heavy sky opens up, cold freezing rain pouring down in violent sheets, soaking my bare skin and washing the blood down my back.

Members of the pack crowd the stone stairs, shouting curses and hurling dark insults at me. A large Beta steps forward, sneering down at my broken form, and gathers a thick glob of spit in his mouth.

He spits directly onto my cheek.

The filthy fluid mixes with the rain on my face.

Suddenly, a deafening roar of thunder shakes the earth. A violent bolt of blinding blue lightning splits the pitch-black sky directly above the pack house, shattering the clouds apart.

For one single heartbeat, a beam of pure, radiant silver moonlight pierces through the storm, striking my exposed, bleeding body directly on the pavement.

The rain stops around me. The silver light soaks into my skin, and where the terrible burn mark sits on my neck, a brilliant, glowing mark of the true Luna ignites in pure, blinding silver fire, completely burning away the dark mark Jessica placed on me.

The whole courtyard freezes in absolute terror.

Micheal stands at the top of the grand stairs, his eyes wide, staring down at my glowing skin as the true Luna mark blazes through the darkness.

Then the lightning fades, and total darkness consumes the world.