Azura
I sigh and inhale a deep breath to calm my racing heart. “I will take a shower and join the gathering soon,” I tell him with a small smile on my face and he pecks a kiss on my forehead before letting me go.
Finally, I will catch the culprit and rip his fucking heart out for murdering my father who had never hurt a single soul in his entire life. My wolf howls in my mind, ready to mangle the culprit.
I take a quick shower to get the smell of sweat off my body and dress in a black A-line dress that reaches below my knee.
I had to change my entire wardrobe and fill it with the dresses that Nicholas preferred as he didn’t like me showing off my skin. He liked modest and sophisticated dresses that would suit a Luna and I didn’t care much about my dressing style so I went with whatever he chose for me.
After combing my long honey-blonde hair and pulling it into a bun, I cast one final look into the mirror to make sure I’m looking presentable enough and exhale loudly, preparing myself mentally for the moment I have been waiting for a week before making my way toward the front yard, the designated spot for all the pack gatherings.
“There she is,” one of the elders points a finger at me, glaring at me disdainfully as I walk toward Nicholas who has a cold expression etched on his handsome face.
“Seize her,” Nicholas commands in his Alpha voice and his Gamma leads four men my way who immediately surround me in a circle.
“What is happening?” I ask, appalled by the way everyone is gazing at me with hatred-filled eyes.
“You killed Dad, bitch,” Aria’s shriek fills my ear and I see her standing beside Nicholas.
“What the fuck are you saying, Aria? Have you lost your mind?” My voice is strong enough to make her flinch but the skepticism and bitterness in my mate's stare weighs heavily on me.
“Don’t you trust me, Nicholas? You know, I would never do that, right?” I ask with the hope that he would support me but even before he speaks, his cold eyes tell me that he doesn’t trust me.
“All the evidence is against you,” he declares, averting his eyes away from me and handing me the reports. His hand brushes against mine, and the sparks of our mate bond flare within me, bringing me a sense of peace for a fleeting moment.
He retracts his hand as if my touch contaminated him. Tears well up in my eyes but I force myself to read the reports and the stretch marks on my Dad’s body had my blood, said the reports.
“Your necklace was also in his hand when we found his dead body and those marks on your neck and your missing necklace…” Nicholas says calculatingly as if he trusts those bullshit reports more than his own mate.
His incredulous gaze makes me want the ground beneath my feet to open and swallow me whole. I can endure all the pain that fate will throw at me but the mistrust from my own mate seems like a silver dagger piercing my heart.
Even if the whole world stands against you, your mate is supposed to stand with you and trust you, right?
Before I can even say anything, he turns his back on me. I strain to keep my balance as my knees threaten to give way.
How can he do that to me? Didn’t he love me? I ask my wolf who is howling in pain.
“At least, give me a chance to prove my innocence,” I roar though my world is crumbling down and my heart is broken into pieces that will never mend again.
I will not let them see the pain I’m feeling. Even if my mate doesn’t trust me, I will prove my innocence and catch the real culprit.
“You’re not innocent, bitch. You killed our Beta.”
“You killed your mother while coming into this world and now, your father who should have abandoned you the day your wretched shadow cast upon our pack.”
“Beta Gavin was so kind. He should have killed her right after her birth.”
“She should be beheaded for murdering our Beta.”
The pack members’ screams fill the chilly yard and all those people who used to love me are standing against me and saying hurtful things to me which are breaking me.
I knew that I killed my mother the moment I came into this world and that’s why I never asked for anything from my father. I was grateful that he didn’t abandon me as many other men did when their mates died while giving birth to their pups. I snatched away his mate from him but he loved me nevertheless. All my life, I had spent in guilt and believing that I didn’t deserve his love though he never made me feel like I was a burden on him.
“How could you do this to your father who always treated you like a Princess?” Linda sobs and drops to her knees.
Alina and Thea rush to her side immediately and console her as she breaks down.
“I didn’t kill Dad,” I say helplessly, tears brimming in the corners of my eyes as I stand alone against all of them and face their hostility. Even the strongest spirits have a limit to withstand.
Aria walks toward me, seething in anger, and slaps me across my face. “You killed him because he transferred the ownership of all the properties to me, didn’t you?”
I fight back my tears, putting on a face devoid of emotions. No one is ready to listen to me or hear what I have to say so it’s better that I shut my mouth and let them accuse me of whatever they want to.
“She is not denying it, you see?” Aria speaks again, pointing a finger at me and looking at the crowd.
“All the properties that are under your name belong to my mother. I was the one who asked Dad to transfer it to you as I didn’t need anything after having Nicholas,” my voice sounds like it belongs to someone else as it’s weak and dripping with pain that no one can see.
With a sliver of hope, I look up at my mate. Maybe he will speak in my favor since he was there when I had that conversation with Dad but he has turned a blind eye to me and I wondered if he had ever loved me.
Azura “You’re a murderer. Why will we believe you?” Becky, Aria’s best friend speaks up and the pack members resume their verbal assaults against me. “Enough,” Nicholas raises his hand and commands in his Alpha voice. “Silence, everyone.” The power of his Alpha command makes everyone bow to him except me. I don’t know why but his Alpha command never worked on me, not even Alpha Lucius’s but out of respect, I always obeyed. Well, not anymore. With a defiant stance and a piercing gaze, I face him squarely, my eyes refusing to waver under the fiery contempt emanating from his brown orbs. His jaw clenches as he glares at me with disdain, his Alpha ego is wounded when I don’t submit to him. “Father will return by this weekend. Till then, keep her locked in the dungeon,” my mate ordered in his glacial tone, turning his back on me. Despite the agony gnawing at my heart and my wolf howling in anguish, I presented a facade of indifference as the Gamma locked my hands with shackles.
Azura I tell the guards on the borders my name and he mind-links his Alpha to get his permission to let me enter. The cold expression on his face soon vanishes as he smiles at me and leads me to the pack house where Alpha Theo lives. My mother’s parents had two daughters so Aunt Gina’s mate, Alpha Theo, took over the pack as he was the Crimson Moon pack’s Alpha’s second son and my father wanted to serve his pack as the Beta. “Zura,” Elias smirks, teasing me by calling me Zura just like he used to do when we were kids. We often played together as Dad let me come to the Black Cliff pack to bond with my mother’s side family and Aunt Gina treated me like her own daughter. Elias and I were close, he knew about my crush on Nicholas but he never liked him. Contrarily, he was glad when I dated Ryker in the academy. Ryker and Nicholas were roommates and had become best friends, that’s how I came to know about the most arrogant and ruthless Ryker’s existence. The cold-hearted Alpha. I r
Azura “You want to disguise yourself as Alpha Elias and participate in the combat?” He asks as if confirming if he heard right. “Yes. I want to go to the Lunar Academy to train instead of your place,” I reply and he gives me a puzzled look. “And why? Why do you want to do that? Do you even have any idea what will happen to you if you get caught?” Elias bombards me with his questions, playing my big brother’s role. I can’t help but roll my eyes. “You know, I’m more powerful than you,” I smirk and continue, “Besides, I’m capable of fighting any Alpha and I want to have a chance to speak to the Alpha King. This Alpha combat is my only chance.” “Because you think that no one else can bring justice to you and your father except the Alpha King, right?” Elias says, reading my mind and my jaw drops in amazement. He is getting smart, I would give him that. “I know that even if I want, I can’t fight against the Dark Shadow pack as the situation in my pack is not good and no other Alpha ca
Azura His lips linger over my ear for longer than they should, awakening the butterflies in my stomach. He pulls himself away and lets go of my elbows. I swallow hard when his words sink into my mind and I realize that he has recognized me. My ex, Ryker Lockwood, the most arrogant and cold-hearted Alpha and half-brother of my mate has saved me from falling. I peer into his brown eyes and my gaze falls on his lips. My wolf is smitten by his handsome face, she liked him a lot. I hadn’t expected her to like him after having our fated mate but I guess my wolf is shameless and crazy. She growls at me and I ignore her tantrums. I frown when I see his lips twitching into a nasty smirk. I follow his gaze and realize that my hands are still resting on his chest. “Arrogant asshole,” I mutter to myself, immediately pushing him away and heading toward the lobby but he grips my hand and drags me along with him. I subtly clear my throat, masking my natural tone with a deeper, more masculine re
Ryker The officer asks me to have a seat and even orders a cup of americano for me as he prepares the new list. “Remove the old list and stick it on the board right now,” I say and he nods his head in understanding. Someone has deliberately picked that bastard as my roommate for me. We didn’t keep our hatred for each other hidden. Everyone knows that I don’t even prefer breathing the same air as him. “Any speculation… um, who could do this?” Ethan, the officer, asks meekly. My jaw clenches as I try to remember my enemies and there are plenty but no one can dare to do this. They fear me and know very well what will happen to them if I find out who did it which I’m going to find out eventually anyway. “No.” I give a curt reply and get up to go back to the dormitory. “I will let you know if I find any lead,” he says and stands up with the new list in his hand. We head to the dormitory together and part our ways from the lobby. I head to my room after seeing the new list on t
Azura Fuck. Everything is going opposite of what I had planned. I’m not ready yet to face my husband and to make the scenario worse, they start arguing. I hear Nicholas provoking Ryker as always from the outside and I immediately go to the small dressing mirror. Thanks to the Goddess, I had kept all the things in the drawer safely before taking the shower. I start getting dressed but I feel gross as I don't have any other option than to wear the clothes I had on again. Ryker’s growl makes my heart leap into my chest, fearing the worst. If Nicholas manages to prod him enough to make him lose his self-control, Ryker will lose the chance of even participating in the final battle, let alone becoming the Alpha King. I get out of the bathroom after making sure that my wig is in place and my scent is disguised. My jaw drops to the floor, seeing Ryker seizing Nicholas’s neck furiously. When he threatened that asshole to kill him, it wasn’t a mere threat. His wolf has taken control over
RykerI look at her in awe, she is acting like a stranger in front of her husband for Goddess knows why. Nevertheless, it makes me happy and worried at the same time. Azura loved that bastard so much. The whole Academy knew that but Nicholas didn’t even bother to glance at her until he saw her with me. The only reason she dated me was to get the attention of my half-brother who changed girlfriends like clothes. Despite me trying to explain to her how he was and she was bound to get hurt by that asshole, she didn’t pay any heed to my warnings. She was blindly in love with him but the she-wolf standing in front of me isn’t a teen girl anymore. Azura has turned into the most beautiful woman and her actions are forcing me to wonder what happened between them that she isn’t even ready to disclose her true identity to him. He was such a foolish man, I chuckled inwardly. How can he not recognize her despite being his mate? “You will pay for this, fucker,” Nicholas seethes in anger and s
Azura“What?” I look at him with my jaw dropped to the floor. “For real?” I scoff, shaking my head in disbelief. He showed his faith in me when no one else did. Even he could figure out that I couldn’t kill my father but my mate refused to believe me. It hurts me more to admit that my mate doesn’t trust me when the man whom I fake-dated for a few months trusts me. Ryker steps toward me and sits beside me on the bed with a frown etched on his face. “Do I have to repeat myself?” Of course, the big bad Alpha hated repeating himself. “I can’t believe that you’re offering to help me find the true culprit behind my father’s murder,” I tell him, narrowing my eyes at him suspiciously. He rolls his beautiful amber-brown eyes and looks at me with a perplexed look on his face. “Why is it that hard to believe?” I sneer and shrug casually, stealing a glance at him. “Can you blame me for your cold-hearted Alpha reputation?” He waves his hand off and frowns. “I’m still cold-hearted but I thin