Help!

Bella’s POV

My lungs burned as water filled them and the river’s strong currents dragged me deeper into the cold darkness. I struggled but it was useless, the force was too strong and I sank faster. The bright moon was the only thing I saw above me before everything turned black.

***********************

A few hours earlier, I woke up feeling dizzy and heavy. My eyelids were hard to keep open and my whole body ached as if I had been hit by something. I looked around and realized I was in my bedroom. My head was pounding and my throat felt dry.

I thought maybe I had drunk too much last night, but that did not make sense. I could not even remember how I got home from the club. Groaning, I lay back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It was strange. Even if I was weak, I knew that two drinks could not make me drunk, not when I could not shift into a wolf. My kind did not get drunk that easily.

Still, I could not explain why I felt so weak. I told myself I would call Elizabeth later and ask her what happened because she never forgot anything. But first, I needed a shower. I stank of alcohol and sweat and it made me feel worse.

Last night I had gone to celebrate my birthday with Elizabeth. She was my only friend even though I was Luna of the Silvercrest Pack. Nobody respected me in the pack because I could not shift into a wolf. No one valued me, not even with my title.

Harrison, the Alpha of my pack and my mate, had not been able to come with us last night. He had been stuck in meetings with the elders, trying to discuss the problems with our neighbors, the Dark Fangs Pack, who had been enemies of our pack for generations.

When I finished showering, I remembered something that made me pause. Today was our anniversary. One year ago, on my eighteenth birthday, Alpha Harrison and I had discovered that we were mates. Since then, we had been inseparable. Last night was the first time we had gone out without each other. But we had been so worried about the war with the Dark Fangs that we had forgotten what today was.

I was not going to let him forget. I planned to surprise him.

After dressing up, I left for the pack house. Excitement grew in me as I thought about how happy he would be. When I entered, I called out his name.

“Harrison?”

There was no reply, which was strange. He was always waiting for me before I even opened the door. I told myself he was probably busy in his office, so I walked there.

When I opened the door, I stopped and froze. I could not believe what I was seeing.

A cry of pain tore out of my throat as my chest tightened and my legs gave way. There, right in front of me, my mate, my other half, was betraying me with the one person I hated most.

Cassandra.

My own cousin.

They were fucking on his desk.

Cassandra was the first to see me standing at the door. With a wicked smile, she moaned louder as if she was proud to welcome another thrust from my mate. She wrapped her legs tighter around his waist and hugged him as if he belonged to her, digging her nails into his back in a way that made my stomach twist.

Harrison froze and turned his head, his eyes meeting mine. His face was cold, his voice even colder.

“Get the fuck out of here, you whore.”

The word hit me like a blade. If anyone was a whore here, it was him. It was both of them. My voice shook with rage as I spoke.

“How dare you insult me when I just caught you cheating on me with my cousin. I’m not even surprised about Cassandra. She has always wanted to be the luna of this pack, she has been obsessed with you forever. But I did not expect that you would be weak enough to fall into her trap. You cheated on me.”

He pulled himself out of her, turned around, and looked at me with pure hate.

“I’m just giving you a taste of your own medicine.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Harrison was everything to me. He was the only person who had ever made me feel loved, or at least that’s what I thought.

Cassandra, still sitting on the desk without shame, leaned back and opened a drawer. She pulled out an envelope and handed it to Harrison before pressing her lips to his cheek, her hand caressing his chest like she had already won.

“It is time to expose this whore,” she said.

My heart pounded in my chest. Cassandra had hated me all my life. My inability to shift was an embarrassment to the pack, but worse, it was a stain on our family name. She never missed a chance to remind me how pathetic I was, how unworthy I was of being luna.

“Shut up,” I hissed. “How did you make Harrison betray me?”

Before I could move, Harrison stormed over and slapped me so hard I hit the ground. My cheek burned, my head spun. His voice was sharp and cruel above me.

“Stop blaming your cousin. She’s innocent here. She opened my eyes and showed me the whore I had for a mate.”

He ripped the envelope open and tossed its contents at me. Photographs scattered across the floor. My hands trembled as I picked one up. My eyes widened in horror.

The picture showed me naked in my own bed, my eyes closed, my body limp, while a man kissed my neck and groped me. That man was Charles, Cassandra’s best friend. The one who had harassed me for years.

My breath caught in my throat as I looked at the others. There I was again, in every picture, my body exposed, my face unaware. And in the corner of one photo, I could see the dress I had worn to the club lying on the floor. My hair and makeup were the same as last night.

A sickening realization hit me all at once.

I had been drugged.

I pushed myself off the floor, my cheek burning from the slap, and pointed a shaking finger at Cassandra. “You drugged me so that fucking Charles could take me to bed and you could take those photos.”

Harrison’s hand flew across my face again, but this time I barely felt it. My rage was stronger than the sting of his palm.

“Admit that you’ve been cheating on me for months with this bastard,” he spat, his voice laced with hate. “You planned to use me for power in this pack because without me you’re nothing more than a human. No one would ever respect you without me.”

The words pierced deeper than the slap. My throat closed up, but nothing came out. I just stared at him, unable to speak, because I didn’t even know what to say.

“You can stop treating me like an idiot,” Harrison growled, his face twisted with disgust. “You can’t fool me anymore. I should have listened to the complaints of the pack. From the moment we found out we were mates, you were barely even a werewolf. You could never have been a good Luna for Silver Crest. I need a strong she-wolf beside me, a woman like Cassandra. You were never good enough for me.”

The insecurities I’d buried for years ripped through me all at once. I had been hated and mistreated since childhood for not being able to shift, even by my own family. Harrison was supposed to be the one who saw me differently. The one who loved me despite it. But hearing him say I was never enough shattered me in a way I couldn’t take.

Something inside me snapped.

I lunged at Cassandra, knocking her off the desk and onto the floor. My nails tore across her face and I felt the crunch of her nose breaking beneath my hand. “You stupid bitch,” I screamed, clawing at her skin as she shrieked in pain. “I know you drugged me. I know you took those photos. You’ll never get what you want.”

Cassandra cried out for Harrison, blood streaming down her face as she tried to push me off.

“Help me! Harrison!”

For a second, he just stood there, staring at me like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Then he rushed forward, grabbing me by the shoulders and shoving me to the ground. He stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body like I was the threat.

“Don’t you fucking dare touch her again,” he shouted. His eyes burned with hatred I had never seen before. “Your true face has been exposed. Stop pretending. It’s time you pay for your betrayal. Did you really think you could laugh at me, cheat on me, and get away with it? You will spend your days in the punishment cell until I decide what to do with you. From now on, you are banished from Silver Crest.”

My heart stopped. No one survived exile. In the entire history of the pack, only one wolf had been banished, and he had been hunted down and killed before he even made it past the borders. For me, a wolf-less girl with no way to defend herself, it would be nothing but a death sentence.

Panic rushed through me, but I forced myself to stand tall. I bent down, picked up the envelope from the floor, and shoved it at his chest. “Fuck you, Harrison. You betrayed me the moment you believed this bitch. You’re dumb as fuck. Fuck you both!”

I threw up my middle finger at them, ignoring Cassandra’s smug smile, and ran out of the office as fast as my legs could carry me.

I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t even think. My only thought was escape.

The moment I reached the pack house door, the howls began. Loud and fierce. Dozens of them.

They were already coming for me.

Harrison had given the order.