NEW BREEDER

MAYA

The morning sun had barely crested the eastern mountains when the announcement echoed through the cold stone corridors of the palace.

Maria’s birthday is in a few days. She decided to celebrate it.

Even the maids were shocked at the mention of it. I was in the secondary kitchen, folding fresh linen napkins, when the head housekeeper hurried in, her eyes wide with total disbelief. She clapped her hands together to gather everyone's attention, her voice trembling slightly.

"Listen up, everyone!" the housekeeper called out, looking around at our bewildered faces. "Get ready, Luna Maria celebrates her birthday in three days!"

A heavy, breathless silence fell over the kitchen. Maids stopped scrubbing, cooks froze with wooden spoons in hand, and low whispers immediately broke out among the staff. Maria had never held a public gathering in all the years she had occupied the high throne. She was a woman who hid in the shadows, using her dark reputation and quiet cruelty to rule through fear.

Later that afternoon, I was carrying a leather ledger into Edward's study when the news reached him.

Edward was shocked. He dropped his quill onto the mahogany desk, ink splattering across the parchment as he stared at the guard who had delivered the message.

"She wants a grand banquet?" Edward asked, his deep voice thick with disbelief. "Since I married Maria, there has not been any celebration. Not a single festival, not an anniversary, nothing."

He leaned back in his tall leather chair, rubbing his temples with a tired sigh. He looked up at me as I set the ledger down on his desk.

"She hates attending people's birthdays, let alone celebrating hers," he muttered, his sharp amber eyes narrowing with deep suspicion. "She has turned away every invitation from the allied packs for five years. Why now? What is she planning, Maya?"

"I do not know, My Lord," I replied softly, keeping my posture humble and my eyes cast down. "Perhaps... perhaps she wishes to bring joy back to the palace after her long illness."

Edward let out a dry, cold laugh. "Maria does not care about joy. She only moves when she wants to mark her territory."

He was right. But neither of us truly understood the full extent of her madness until the night before the grand celebration.

The entire pack was buzzing with nervous energy. Banners of silk and velvet were being hung in the grand ballroom, silver trays were being polished, and the fragrance of roasted meats filled the air. My 36 days of spiritual healing were finally coming to an end in less than twenty-four hours, my skin was smooth and radiant again, and my royal light was fully restored beneath my servant's dress.

I was in my small chamber, getting ready to rest, when a low knock rattled my door. A young junior maid stood outside, pale and trembling.

"Maya...  Luna Maria demands your presence in her bedchamber immediately," she whispered, looking around as if the walls had ears.

My heart tightened, but I kept my composure. I smoothed down my skirt, walked out into the dimly lit hallway, and headed toward Maria's private wing.

When I pushed open her heavy oak doors, the smell of bitter herbs and dried blood hit my nose. Maria was standing near her tall floor-length mirror, wrapped in a long crimson gown. She looked thin and fragile, her face pale despite the heavy powder she had applied to her skin, but her dark eyes burned with a desperate, wild fire.

She didn't turn around immediately. She just stared at my reflection in the glass as I stopped near the center of the room.

"You called for me, Luna Maria?" I asked, my voice calm, flat, and completely devoid of fear.

Maria turned around slowly, her dark silk dress sweeping over the marble floor. She walked toward me, stopping just three feet away, staring into my face with a terrifying intensity.

"I asked you to sleep with Edward for a baby," she began, her voice low, raspy, and sharp as a blade. "The baby came, and then you killed her, and also schemed your way into my husband's life as a second wife."

I felt a sudden, sharp coldness wash through my chest. I thought we have passed this, I said to myself, my jaw clenching silently as I swallowed the bitter lump in my throat. We had already been through her false accusations, her poisonous lies, and her attempts to turn Edward against me. Why was she digging up these old, twisted narratives tonight?

Maria stepped closer, her breath smelling of heavy wine and iron.

"Polygamy is accepted in the pack, but not in my home," she said, her voice rising with a bitter, venomous edge. She glared at me, her chest heaving beneath her silk dress. "I want my husband all to myself, and I have decided to hire another breeder for him."

I stood my ground, staring right into her bloodshot eyes without blinking. "The Alpha has already made his peace with me, My Lady. He accepted me as his second wife."

"He accepted a snake!" Maria spat, her fingers curling into tight claws at her sides. She took another step forward, searching my face as if trying to tear through my skin and see what lay beneath.

"There is something scary about you, Maya," she whispered, her voice trembling with a strange, sudden terror that made her skin crawl. "Most times, in your eyes, I see Philomena."

My heart gave a heavy, powerful thud against my ribs, but my face remained an icy mask. The ancestral bloodline within me hummed softly, making the air in the room grow thick and heavy.

"Yes, you warm my bed," Maria continued, her words tumbling out in a frantic, confused rush as she gestured wildly between us. "But I am not free around you still! I cannot rest when you are near! I cannot breathe!"

She turned away, grabbing the wooden edge of her vanity table to steady her shaking body.

"If I try to hate you," Maria whimpered, her voice cracking with raw, hysterical despair, "I see demons in my dream! They tear at my skin and scream your name! If I try to love you, Philomena warns me in my dream! She stands at the foot of my bed, bleeding, telling me that you will be my undoing!"

She turned back to face me, tears of utter exhaustion and madness spilling over her pale cheeks, smearing her makeup.

"I hate you!" she shrieked, her voice echoing off the stone walls. "Please, leave my house! I am bleeding! My body is falling apart, my soul is torn, and I cannot take another day of your presence!"

I stood there, watching the woman who had murdered me completely collapse under the weight of her own guilt and my ancestral power. She was breaking. The book, the grave magic, and her own wicked past were driving her straight into a dark abyss.

Maria wiped her face with the back of her hand, trying to pull the last remnants of her broken pride back together. She straightened her posture, looking down at me with a cold, desperate sneer.

"I will introduce the new breeder on my birthday," she said, her voice dropping into a harsh, final whisper. "Tomorrow night, in front of the entire pack council, in front of the elders, and in front of Edward. I will replace you, Maya. I will strip you of your title, cast you back into the dirt, and bring a clean bloodline into this house."

She glared at me one last time, her eyes full of raw, unadulterated hatred.

"Get out," she hissed.

And with that, she walked out.

She swept past me, slamming her bedroom door shut behind her, leaving me standing alone in the quiet hallway.

I stood there for a long moment in the dim light of the wall torches. A slow, quiet smile spread across my face, a smile that reached all the way to my eyes for the first time in weeks.

Maria thought she was setting a trap for me. She thought she was going to humiliate me, cast me aside, and assert her dominance over Edward in front of the whole territory. But she had no idea that tomorrow night was not just her birthday.

Tomorrow night was the exact end of my 36-day spiritual healing. Tomorrow night, my royal power would reach its absolute peak under the full moon.

Let her bring her new breeder. Let her gather the elders and the pack council. She was setting the stage for her grandest victory, completely unaware that she had just built the very scaffold where her reign would finally come to an end.