Crowned in Carnage

My mate, Alpha Lucas, swapped our pup to save his precious Sarah, then had me killed. I woke up in the past, found a witch, and drank the potion to end the pregnancy.

I walked out of the witch's hut, clutching the bottle that would fake my pregnancy.

The cramps from the abortion potion were nothing. Not even a fraction of the agony I felt in my last life when Lucas plunged a silver dagger straight into my wolf's heart.

Hate had frozen my wolf solid. I couldn't feel pointless things like sadness anymore.

The pup that would have been his was gone forever.

I drove toward the pack lands.

In the distance, I saw Lucas's luxury car parked in front of the pack house.

He stepped out, a woman cradled in his arms.

Sarah.

She wore a pink maternity dress, her arms wrapped tightly around Lucas's neck like a delicate bird needing protection.

I parked and slammed my car door, making sure they heard it.

They turned to look at me. A flash of triumph flickered in Sarah's eyes before she plastered on a look of surprise.

"Elena! You're back!"

Her voice made my stomach turn.

I walked toward them, my hand resting protectively on my still-flat stomach.

The witch's potion was already working, making me smell like a pregnant she-wolf.

"Good afternoon, Lucas. Sarah," I said, my voice flat.

Sarah snuggled deeper into Lucas's arms, her eyes locked on me.

"Elena, look!" she squealed, pointing to the back seat. "Lucas bought me a limited-edition stroller! There are only five in the whole world!"

I glanced at the stroller. It looked ridiculously expensive.

"It has the latest protection technology," Sarah boasted. "It can keep a pup completely safe, even from a vampire attack. Lucas said he wants to give my pup the best protection."

The best protection.

Memories flooded back.

Sarah returned right after I found out I was carrying a pup. She was broken, her mate bond shattered.

Lucas told me he just felt sorry for her. His oldest friend. He had to look out for her.

I believed him. I even shared the herbs meant to calm my wolf during the pregnancy.

I had no idea it was a trap. That they were setting me up all along.

"Lucas is such a good Alpha," Sarah cooed. "Elena is so lucky to be his mate."

A good Alpha.

I almost laughed out loud.

In my last life, Sarah and I went into labor at the same time.

I gave birth to a monster with fangs and red eyes.

Everyone said I'd betrayed the pack, that I'd slept with a vampire.

I remember screaming my innocence until my throat was raw, begging Lucas—my mate—to look into my eyes and see the truth. But he wouldn’t meet my gaze.

He just held up the memory crystal, its cold light projecting my supposed betrayal for the entire pack to see.

"How could you?" he'd asked, his voice thick with a disgust that shattered me.

It showed me meeting a vampire in secret. Scheming.

With the war raging, I was convicted by the pack and thrown in a silver cell.

They injected me with silver poison every day, suppressing my wolf until I couldn't even fight back.

I even started to wonder if I'd been kidnapped by a vampire, if I'd been cursed without knowing it.

Three years later, Lucas was crowned Alpha King.

He came to the dungeons, saying he was willing to forgive his "errant mate."

He brought me back to the pack house, where I overheard Sarah talking to my son.

The vampire pup was hers.

And my own son was complaining about how weak my wolf had become, wishing I would just die already.

When I uncovered their conspiracy, I tried to flee—to expose them to the Council. But I was caught.

Lucas threw me back into the silver dungeons, and this time, he ended my life himself with a single thrust of a dagger.

The ache of that memory pulled me back to the present. I stared at the "lovers" in front of me.

"Lucas." My voice was ice. "An Alpha playing chauffeur instead of running his pack?"

Lucas's brow furrowed. "Elena, watch your tone."

"I'm just concerned about the pack's future," I said with a shrug. "War is coming. Everyone should be doing their part."

Sarah flinched in his arms, putting on a scared act. "Elena, I haven't been feeling well. Lucas was just worried about the baby…"

"Of course," I nodded. "The baby is the most important thing."

Lucas gave me a long, hard look, a warning in his voice. "By the way, Elena," he warned, "stop taking those human vitamins. They can weaken a pup's wolf."

A pup's spiritual development.

He wasn't worried about my health. He was worried I'd mess with his plan to swap the babies.

I nodded, pretending to be obedient.

But the moment I was in my room, I tossed a handful of pills into my mouth.

There was no pup in my belly anymore.

This time, I couldn't wait to see them scramble for a scapegoat for Sarah's little vampire monster.