Wedding day

Estelle

I had barely stepped foot out of Kaleb’s car when the pack warriors surrounded me and covered my head with a black cloth. Panic clawed up my throat as I screamed to know what I had done. Actually, I didn't do anything.

The ones who were supposed to be treated this way were Lara and Eden.

And that was when I heard those words that completely changed my life. Was I being taken into custody for attempted murder?

Attempted murder?

How?

This had to be a joke. A cruel joke at that. To think that today was supposed to be the day I get married to that cheat? No, the universe had to be playing some tricks on me.

“Leave me alone—” I screamed, thrashing against them but their hold on me remained firm. When I got a whiff of that air that thickened with rot, the dark energy that swirled around me as my brain tried to source where I was, that was when it slammed into me like a tidal wave.

I was being led into the dungeon. A place where hardened criminals were kept.

I could hear the steps of someone hurrying behind me, voice laced with panic. “Estelle, I will be back. I have to find out what this is about,”

Kaleb’s voice.

The warriors removed the cloth from my head, threw me into the dungeon until my body hit the floor. Despite the wince that escaped me because I had scraped my knees in the process, I quickly shoved to my feet and slammed my body into the metal bars.

“Warrior Adrian, you can't just keep me here based on a lie. Who put you to it? Eden—”

Adrian turned, gaze dark on me as he stepped closer while I grabbed the cold metal. “Last night, you pushed Lara down the stairs. She almost lost her life and the life of the child that she was carrying. The Alpha’s heir,”

My heart ceased beating, grip faltering as the words resounded through my head.

Lara was pregnant with Eden’s child. A boy at that? Knowing how the boy child was placed on a pedestal in this pack, I was in trouble.

Still, it made no sense to me because as far as I could remember, she had only lost balance. I didn't push her down the stairs.

Adrian didn't say any further words to me and left, despite my screaming. Kaleb didn't return as he had promised and now, minutes transcended into long hours—still no one had visited me.

The maids who served food and water, walked past my cell, refusing to talk to me or even offer me what they were sharing.

Moisture gathered in my eyes, my back slumping against the brick wall in defeat as I ripped my hand through my hair. In that moment of uncertainty and fear slowly nudging at me, I could only think of Maeve.

If she had eaten. If her fever were still running. If she was already crying from searching around the pack house and not finding me. Wondering why she wasn't seeing her mummy in a wedding dress.

“Goddess please,” A gambit of emotions racked through me. Anger, panic, and the worst of them all—fear.

“You have a visitor,” One of the guards had said.

A flicker of hope bloomed in my chest. Kaleb. It had to be him. He promised to…

My thoughts paused when I saw the wheelchair that rolled in, steps halting as the maid who gripped the handlebars of the chair asked. “Can you stand,”

“No. I can't stand but I will talk to her from here. Please, excuse us”

The maid bowed her head, a flicker of contempt in her eyes as they briefly met mine.

I watched the woman in the wheelchair, removed the shawl over her head—blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders, and as she turned her head to me, a gasp almost escaped me. Lara.

My head spun. Was this a joke? This was the same woman whom they claimed was in a critical state!

Yet, here she was, smiling at me. “Hello, Luna Lara—” she covered her mouth and snickered.

Anger surged through me and before I could respond, the same person who claimed she couldn't walk, slowly rose to her feet, strutting towards me with that evil smile on her face.

My fingers curled into fists, jaw tightening with regret.

“How do you love it being here?”

“Fuck you—” I spat.

She threw her head back and laughed before the smile on her face dropped completely. “Do you want to know the greatest mistake you’ve ever made,”

“Bringing you to this pack?” I muttered through gritted teeth.

Lara shook her head. “Correct but not entirely,” she stepped forward, the metal bars the only thing separating us now.

She was so close. So close that I wanted to grip her head and slam her head against it.

Her fingers curled around the cold iron. “Your mistake is not leaving me when I wanted to die,”

The tension from my shoulders loosened, expression morphing into confusion. “What!”

The corner of her mouth tilted up in a smile. “You saved me then flaunted your family to my own face, telling me ‘oh, Eden bought me this,’ ‘He bought me that,’ ‘my daughter is the best thing to ever happen to me—” A sick dry laugh sputtered from her mouth.

“When I hung myself from that tree, all I wanted was to return peacefully to my parents and siblings. But you stopped me from reuniting with my family. So, I just decided to steal yours instead. This is what you get for not minding your own business!” she smirked and returned to the wheelchair.

My brain had stopped working.

And before I knew it, I was screaming. She looked at me for a second with that look on her face—that she loved seeing me in despair.

Tears fell from my eyes as I screamed and screamed until I completely lost my voice. I was only being kind. How could she use it against me?

Soon, I was arraigned in the pack’s court where the sixteen elders gathered. Eden sat on his large throne, anger raging in his eyes while Lara sat next to him—pale-faced.

On the other side was Kaleb, staring at me with helplessness on his face as he mouthed. “I’m sorry. I tried my best,”

I offered him a weak smile, too weak and numb to even cause another scene.

Elder Norse walked to the centre of the court while holding a scroll that he opened. “A male child who is a direct heir to the throne in the BlackFang pack is important as well as his mother. For attempting the death of the future heir and his mother, you’ve hereby been sentenced to death!”

I closed my eyes, a tear dropping from it.

“Preposterous!” Kaleb shouted. “Estelle is the victim here. Not them,”

No one paid him attention, the same way they didn't listen when I told my own side of the story. My vision blurred with tears, my voice croaked and hoarse as I searched around for my daughter. “Mae…Maeve…”

There she was with her dark hair packed into a pigtail, a popsicle in one hand. I wanted to reach for her but the moment I stretched out my hand to her—she took flight and ran straight into Lara’s arms.

My hands froze mid-air as I turned to my daughter who had never spoken for the first time, calling Lara. Mum.

“That bad woman wants to hold me,” Maeve said as I slammed my hand over my mouth and allowed the tears to fall.

Me?

Bad woman?

I almost lost my life while giving birth to her.

Lara gathered Maeve on her lap, kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay. Mummy is here,” she smirked at me.

I had hardly processed everything happening when Eden spat out venom. “Get her out of here!”

All of a sudden, a voice boomed through the hall like a snarl. Oddly familiar as it sent goosebumps spilling over me and a shiver skating down my spine.

“Give her to me and the peace treaty is sealed”

I didn't bother looking. It felt as if I looked, his gaze would crush me into smithereens.

“King Riordan?”

The Rogue King.

“I don't want the Omegas, the food tribute, and the gold bars anymore. I want her,”

Gasps echoed in the courtroom and that was when I noticed the eyes on me. Lara gave me a weird look. Eden and Kaleb were staring at me with confusion in their eyes.

By her, he meant me?

I turned and the moment my eyes clashed with those black magenta own, my breath locked and I whipped my head fast from him as the memories came back to me.

He was the same man that I’d mistaken as the escort and now, he turned out to be the cruel Rogue King?

I was done for.