•• Elijah’s POV •••
I felt a sudden sharp pain in my chest, which nearly made me fall to my knees, and I had to reach for the edge of my table to support my weight.
What the…
Another stabbing pain, more searing than the last one, was felt again, successfully sending me to my knees this time.
Sweat beaded on my forehead, groaning, I touched my chest through my top, circling my hand over the area.
Fuuuuck… I knew where this feeling came from, or how.
There was only one thing that could make one feel this way—that was if their mates had sex with someone else.
An ugly snarl ripped through my chest. That bitch Victoria!
I hadn’t thought she would give her body to someone other than me!
But then…
Had she and Damien had sex before today? The thought made me want to wreck everything in front of me.
She told me I was her only
•• Victoria's POV •••We returned to the pack house under the cover of night, the tension between us thick enough to choke on. Damien said nothing as he opened the door, his eyes dark with something primal—hungry. I stepped inside, and the door clicked shut behind me.The next moment, his hands were on me.His mouth crashed against mine with a desperation I hadn’t seen before, like he’d waited a thousand years to taste me and couldn’t wait another second. His hands traced my hips, my waist, my spine—everywhere at once—as if memorizing what had always been his.When he pulled away, his breathing was ragged. “You have no idea what you do to me.”I barely had time to respond before he lifted me off the ground and carried me to the bedroom, dropping me onto the bed like I was precious and breakable—but his eyes promised to do anything but that. I felt a delicious shiver run through my body as I anticipated what would come next.He hovered over me, taking in the sight like he was starving.
•• Victoria's POV •••I didn’t breathe again until the massive doors of the Council chamber closed behind Alpha Martin.Silence hung in the air like thick fog. The kind that clings to your skin, suffocating and still.Then, a gavel struck.“Order,” one of the elders barked, voice shaking with the effort of reclaiming control. “This trial is not over.”My heartbeat still hadn’t slowed. I clutched the edges of my seat. Damien hadn’t moved from where he stood, his broad frame angled just slightly in front of me, a wall I didn’t know I needed until Martin walked in and stared like I was prey.But I breathed a sigh of relief. At least Diana would still go on trial. At least Alpha Martin hadn't taken her away.The moment the doors shut, Diana shifted. She looked smaller without Martin behind her—less confident, more desperate. Her eyes darted between the council and Damien. And then to me.“They are lying!” she shouted, pointing at me and Damien. “Those photos are fake! You think I’d tortur
•• Victoria's POV •••The Werewolf Council chamber was cold and kind of suffocating. Every Elder looked intimidating.It was lucky I wasn't the one being judged today. A shudder ran through me. If I hadn't been able to prove my innocence and if Damien and Luna Astraea hadn't believed me, if they trusted Diana instead, I would have faced the judgment instead of Diana in this cold place.The chamber’s vaulted ceiling loomed above, lit by a dome of silver-tinted moonstone. The air carried the faint scent of old paper, aged wood, and politics. My fingers twitched in my lap. I tried not to let the tightness in my chest show. I hoped everything went well today and Diana would receive the punishment she deserved.Damien sat beside me, his presence comforting, especially when he took my hand, as if he could sense my nervousness. Whether he knew it or not, he’d always been my anchor ever since the da
•• Damien’s POV •••"She doesn’t love me," I said quietly. "She doesn’t feel the bond.""Because she can’t," my mother reminded me. "Her wolf is still asleep."I closed my eyes. The memory hit fast and brutal.My throat tightened. I thought of Victoria, of how cold her body was when I carried her out of the shed and how silent she was, no matter how many times I tried to wake her up.I asked Eros to help reach her wolf, but Lya was also silent. I had never heard Eros sound so devastated as that time. He cried out for her. Mine, mine, mine—over and over again, pleading her to open her eyes, to feel us, to feel our bond—but she didn’t hear it.She had never felt the pull of our matebond and might never feel it.Victoria didn't know it, but I never left her side. For days, I sat by her bed, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest. I wiped
•• Damien’s POV •••"Those pictures are fake! They’re photoshopped!"Diana’s voice shrieked through the chamber, bouncing off the stone walls like the last desperate cry of a cornered animal. Her hands trembled as she shoved the stack of printed photographs back toward my mother. "You expect me to believe you’d fall for this crap?"Mother didn’t flinch. Her expression remained steady, calm as marble. She sat on the couch like the Luna she was - a Luna who’d heard enough lies to last a lifetime.I didn’t move either. My fingers still clutching some of the pictures, my spine straight, jaw clenched. I believed my mother.There would be no way she faked those images, especially because she used to favor Diana. She had no reason to frame her.“I’ve already had the images verified by two members of the High Circle,” my mother said evenl
•• Damien’s POV •••I took my phone from my suit pocket and scrolled through the media folder until I found the proof I needed: a recording of my conversation with Alpha Martin.“Diana, I gave my invitation to Diana.” Alpha Martin’s voice came through my phone speaker, and I saw that Diana’s face had started to turn pale.“Are you sure about it?” Noah’s voice came next.“Yes, I’m sure,” Alpha Martin replied.“Diana, my sister?” My voice came next.“Yes,” Alpha Martin’s voice was heard again, this time sounding confused. “Was there anything wrong? She said she needed the invitation, and since she’s your sister, I didn’t think of anything by giving it to her.”“You didn’t hear the news?” Noah asked.“Diana gave the invitation to my fian