CHAPTER 2

I don't know for how long I remained unconscious. When I finally opened my eyes, everything that happened for the last few days came crashing down on me. My father's limp body as he stared at me even in his death. To save my life, he pleaded with Hunter to punish him instead.

I watched as they executed my father before my own eyes.

Fat tears rolled down my eyes as I remembered the last words my father told me. “ Live well, Kiara.” He said them with a warm smile on his face as if he didn't hate me for causing his death.

Yes, I was the reason my father was killed and Hunter didn't stop reminding me of that painful fact for the last few days.

Hunter didn't stop after killing my father. He forced me to kneel before the packhouse until I confessed,a confession he didn't get. That's how he ended up locking me up in the dungeon with no hope of ever leaving the place alive.

“ I would advise you to save your energy, Kiara. Crying won't help down here.” A familiar voice said, patting my head soothingly. Her touch made me realize I was not sleeping on the hard floor but on her soft thighs.

“ They killed him, Lena. That bastard killed my father.” I cried as the bloody scene haunted me. The emotions I had been holding back for the last three days came crashing down on me like a tide. I had refused to cry, not willing to let Hunter and that she-devil Vivian see me like a weak person. With the company of my best friend who happened to be in the same predicament as me, I couldn't continue pretending to be strong.

“ Hush now, Kiara. You don't want to annoy the guards with your crying. Trust me, you won't like what they will do to you.” Lena reminded me. I struggled to stop my overwhelming emotions. Lena was right. The guards were given a go ahead to punish me by Hunter. I didn't need anyone to tell me what my fate would have been if they deemed my cries annoying.

After I got a grip of my emotions, I pushed myself up, struggling to sit up. I winced in pain, my ribs felt like they were broken from the kick Hunter gave me. My body was so weak from being deprived of food and water and forced to kneel under hot sun and rain.

“ How did you end up here?” Lena asked. Her question brought a bitter feeling to my mouth.

“ Vivian set me up.” I replied bitterly. I could still not believe that Vivian used such dirty tricks to get rid of me. What I found even more unbelievable was Hunter buying her bullshit and punishing me; his fated mate.

“Seems like she finally carried out her plan.” Lena muttered under her breath but I managed to catch her words.

“ Plan? What plan?” I asked, puzzled. What was Lena talking about? Did she know something I didn't?

However, before Lena could answer my question, familiar footsteps sounded, approaching our holding cell.

“ The plan of getting rid of both of you, of course.” Vivian's mocking voice replied to my earlier question.

“ You really are stupid, aren't you? You didn't figure out what I was doing after I got rid of your good friend?” Vivian continued, her voice venomous and gaze full of disgust.

A realization hit me upon hearing her words.

“ You set Lena up?” I asked, surprised.

“ Of course stupid. How could I leave someone as influential as her by your side if I wanted to be with your beloved mate?” Vivian answered, a smirk playing on her lips. I couldn't believe what she was saying yet the truth was right before my very own eyes.

Lena was the pack's strongest female warrior and also the Gamma of the pack. That was until she was ‘caught’ passing sensitive information about the pack to a rival pack. When she was being punished, she claimed that she was being set up but with sufficient evidence, she stood no chance.

Hunter ordered for her to be thrown to the dungeons as a punishment, never to see the light of the sun again.

“ How could you do that? She is our friend.” I accused her. How evil could someone be to do something so despicable to their friend?

Vivian's eyes turned cold when she heard my words. “ She was, not anymore. The only reason I pretended to befriend the both of you was to get close to Hunter.” Vivian confessed, disgust apparent on her face.

“ Do you know how disgusted I felt every time I had to call you peasants my friends?” She added.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry hearing her hurtful words.

All the time she was friendly to us was nothing but a facade? How could we not see through her mask? Scratch that, I am the only one who could not see her true colours. Lena always warned me that Vivian was not to be trusted yet I brushed it off as her being paranoid.

Thanks to my misjudge of character, I ended up harming myself and Lena too.

“ Everything was going on well, until you recognized Hunter as your mate.” She continued.

“ There's nothing more I wanted than to snap your neck and end your miserable life. But of course, I couldn't do that without attracting attention. I knew I had to be discreet about it so I started plotting how to make him mine.”

“ I waited for the perfect opportunity to sleep with Hunter. I should thank you for the perfume you gave me. If it wasn't for your scent on my body, Hunter would not have succumbed and slept with me.”

The more Vivian narrated, the more I realized how I sabotaged myself.

“When we woke up, Hunter didn't want to acknowledge what happened between us. Of course, how could I allow all my efforts to be in vain? Few weeks later, I went back to him with the news of my pregnancy. Left with no choice,he agreed to make me his Luna.” Vivian recounted with a wicked grin.

“ That's when your good friend decided to become a detective, snooping her nose where they didn't belong so I had to get rid of her before taking care of you. Now that the two of you have reunited, I can send you both to hell easily.”

As Vivian finished her monologue, I couldn't help the bitter taste in my mouth. It was because of me that Vivian was able to get close enough to Hunter and trick him into believing her lies.

" The pregnancy was not real, was it?" I asked. After I allegedly pushed her down, I definitely saw blood. Did she go to the extent of getting rid of her own baby just to frame me?

" It was a small sacrifice I was willing to make to achieve my goal." Vivian replied nonchalantly. It was as if killing her own child was not a big deal.

" You are crazy." That was the only word fit for someone like her.

" Indeed. I am crazy enough to destroy anything that comes in my way of being Hunter's mate and Luna of this pack." Vivian declared. Her words made me tremble from how psychotic they sounded.

" Aren't you afraid I will tell Hunter about your conspiracy?" I asked,breaking the silence.

" And what will you tell him exactly? That it was me who framed your good friend? Do you have any evidence to support your claim? Do you think he will believe I harmed myself and my child too? Don't we already know whom he will believe between the two of us?" Vivian mocked, hatred evident on her face.

She was right. I didn't have evidence to prove Lena's evidence. As for whom he would believe between the two of us, I was definitely not the one. He had already proved that.

" I am not going to stop until I see both of you broken before ending your miserable lives. I won't allow you a chance to ever make a comeback." Vivian declared hatefully.

I smiled weakly, " I can take anything you dish at me. What I certainly know is that dying by your hands is not my fate. “