Chapter 2: Disowned With An Ultimatum. Sierra Valium

The walk home took two days. By the time I reached the estate, I couldn’t feel my feet and my dress was stiff with dried blood, and my voice was gone from screaming. The guards at the gate didn’t even recognize me.

“State your business.” Marcus, the head guard, said sharply.

“It’s me. Sierra. Let me in.” my voice was so weak and fragile and I was surprised that I was even able to use it.

“Sierra? Is that really you?" The gate was pulled open immediately, and he hurried out with worry etched on his face. "We heard reports you were dead. The Alpha of Glendale sent word that you attacked his Luna and tried to steal their child. They said you were executed at the border.”

I held on to his arm for support, the memories of the last two nights filling my mind. I shook my head bitterly and lifted up my eyes, fresh tears running down my cheeks. “They lied. Everything they told you was a lie. Please, help me into the house."

They carried me inside and the first thing I saw was mourning clothes. Black fabric draped over every mirror, every window, every portrait. The smell of funeral incense still hung in the air, which was very suffocating. “You guys had a funeral because you thought I had died?” my heart felt hollow.

“Your father and your sister, miss. They died three months ago.” Marcus tried so hard to soften the blow of the truth, but I was suddenly overcome with a nauseous feeling.

Dead? My stepfather and stepsister? No, it didn't make any sense. I could have known. Was this all a prank?

“Three months? How could they be dead for three months and no one told me?”

“No one could get word to you." He bowed his head in apology. "The Alpha of Glendale had the borders sealed and said it was for security reasons because his Luna was pregnant. He said there were threats against the pack, and...”

He was cut off when my stepmother appeared in the doorway, and the look on her face made me wish I had died on the road.

“So you’re alive.” Cora’s voice was flat and cold as winter stone. “It would have been better that way to seal the fate of this family.”

“Mother, I—"

“Don’t.” She held up her hand and cut me off sharply. “Do not call me that. I am no mother of yours! You lost the right to that name when you killed my husband and my daughter.”

“I didn’t kill them. I didn’t even know they were dead until five minutes ago. I was locked in a tent, Mother. I was giving birth to a child that was stolen from me the moment she took her first breath. I didn’t know about any of this.”

“What are you talking about? What child?” Cora lifted her eyes, and for the first time today, I saw a hint of warmth in them.

I told her. I told her everything; the pregnancy, the isolation, the birth, the betrayal. I told her about Darius ripping Aurora from my arms and the Alpha King's daughter posing as the mother and the pack stoning me and driving me out. By the time I finished, Cora’s expression hadn’t changed, but her hands were shaking.

“Darius,” she said, and the name came out like a curse. “Darius did all of this.”

“He called me a breeder. He said I was never his mate. He said I was fat and ugly and useless and he only kept me around to produce an heir.”

“And you believed him? You believed him when he said he loved you, when he claimed you as his mate, when he convinced you to run away from a royal betrothal that would have protected this family from everything that came after?” My stepmother made sure that every word hit me where it hurt the most. If I hadn't been so stubborn back then... This wouldn't have happened.

“I was young and I was scared and everyone told me the Lycan Prince was a monster who destroyed everything he touched. What was I supposed to do? Walk willingly into the arms of a beast?” I tried to have her see my side. I was young, foolish, scared and in love with Darius that I didn't want to end up in the arms of someone rumored to be a killing machine.

“Yes.” Cora’s voice cracked and for a moment I saw the grief beneath the fury. “You were supposed to do your duty. You were supposed to protect this family instead of destroying it. Your father died in a duel, Sierra, because your mate tried to take his land. They cut him down in front of half the pack, and where were you all these while? In hiding? Elara got sick during the siege that followed. We had no healer, no medicine, no allies willing to help because of your so called mate, and she died in my arms asking for you. Asking why her big sister had abandoned her.”

I sank to my knees, my chest tightening and my heart caving at the thought of my little sister, the one who convinced her parents to adopt me while I was picking up dirts and rags from the bin, dying and wishing I could save her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, mother. I didn’t know. Mother, I—"

“You didn’t know because you didn’t want to know. You ran away from your responsibilities and you never looked back. And now my husband is dead and my daughter is dead, and you are standing in my house covered in blood and shame asking for my forgiveness. I cannot give it to you, Sierra. I don’t have any left.”

“What should I do?" I broke down again, my shoulders shaking and my lips trembling. "How do I fix this? How do I get revenge? How do I make Darius suffer for all he has done to us? For what he did to father, to Lisa, to..." I choked, my throat tightening harder.

Cora was silent for a long moment. When she spoke again, her voice had changed. It was still cold and hard, but with something purposeful underneath. “The Lycan Prince never withdrew his betrothal offer. After you ran, everyone expected him to be furious. They expected him to declare war on our family. But he did nothing which means the contract is still valid.”

“The Lycan Prince? You want me to go to the Lycan Prince after everything I just told you?” my heart sank.

“I want you to do what you should have done three years ago. Marry him. Use his power to destroy Darius and his pack. Get your daughter back. Bring me Darius’s head or don’t come back at all.”

“You’re disowning me.”

“I’m giving you a purpose. You wanted to know how to fix this? That’s how." Her voice was harder than before. "You have no home here, Sierra. You have no family unless you bring Darius' head to this house."

“What if he rejects me? What if the Lycan Prince takes one look at me and sends me away?”

"Then you make sure he doesn't." She said coldly. "Get up, clean yourself up and prepare to leave for his kingdom immediately.”