0001.

Lunaria's POV.

“What is going on?” I whispered to myself, staring in disbelief at the body lying next to me. My heart raced as I pinched myself, trying to wake up from what must surely be a nightmare. This couldn’t be real. It had to be some figment of my imagination, a twisted dream that I desperately wanted to end.

“Sir,” I called out, my voice trembling as I gently tapped him. But to my horror, his body was cold and unresponsive. No movement, no sign of life. My heart pounded in my chest as panic set in. “Sir!” I repeated, pushing him slightly. His body just flopped over, drenched in blood like a lifeless shell.

I gasped, my hands flying to cover my mouth as shock overwhelmed me. Tears blurred my vision as I tried to make sense of the scene. Glancing down at myself, I saw that I too was covered in blood. A small scream escaped my lips as I leaped up from the bed, my legs trembling beneath me. There, on the bed, lay a small dagger, stained with blood. What the hell was going on? I was in a state of complete shock.

The last thing I remembered was feeling a bit intoxicated after the ceremony last night, though I hadn’t drunk much. I went to bed, but how on earth did I wake up in the room of my mate's father and the Alpha of our pack, Alpha Griffin, drenched in his blood? How did this happen? My mind raced with questions, none of which had answers.

Just as I was trying to piece together what had happened, a knock on the door made me jump in fear. “Your morning coffee is ready, Alpha Griffin,” came the voice of the butler, Marcus, as he entered the room with a tray. The moment he saw the lifeless body of the Alpha, drenched in blood, his expression shifted to one of sheer horror.

The tray slipped from his hands, crashing to the floor as he stared at me, his eyes wide with disbelief. I shook my head frantically, tears streaming down my face as I looked from the Alpha’s body to the butler. My entire body trembled as I tried to speak, but the words came out in broken stammers, “I didn’t do it... I... I don’t know how I got here.”

But Marcus wasn’t convinced. He bolted to the door and shouted, “Guards! Guards, come quick! The King has just been murdered!” His words sent a lot of panic crashing over me. My breathing became labored, and it felt like my heart was about to burst from my chest. I gripped the edge of the table, trying to steady myself as I struggled to maintain my composure.

If this was a dream, I needed to wake up—now. This nightmare had gone too far, and I was desperate to escape it.

Just then, my mate Nathan rushed into the room, and the first thing he saw left him in utter shock. His father lay lifeless on the bed, drenched in his own blood. His eyes met mine with the same horrified disbelief that the butler had shown earlier. Desperate, I shook my head and stammered, “I didn’t do it… Sir Nathan, I swear, I didn’t do it.” He looked away, staring at his father’s body in stunned silence as I tried to plead with him, “Sir Nathan, please, you have to believe me. I didn’t do it.”

But it was as if my words bounced off a wall, having no effect on him in that grievous moment.

Then Sarah, my best friend and a fellow servant in the pack, hurried into the room. She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock as if they might burst from their sockets. She looked at me, then at the Alpha’s lifeless body, pointing as she stammered, “Lunaria… did you…?”

“I didn’t kill him, Sarah, I swear I didn’t,” I pleaded, my voice trembling with fear and desperation as tears streamed down my face. “I woke up this morning and found myself here. I don’t know what happened or what went wrong. One minute I was sleeping, and the next I was…”

“You are covered in his blood, Lunaria,” Sarah interrupted, her voice cutting through my explanation, silencing me instantly. “What do you mean you didn’t kill him? Why would you go that far, Lunaria? Why?” She was crying now, and her accusation cut deeper than anything I could have imagined.

I was stunned, unable to believe what I was hearing. This was supposed to be my best friend, yet she seemed utterly convinced that I had committed this unspeakable act. I glanced at Nathan, who still hadn’t taken his eyes off his father’s body. His hands trembled slightly at his sides, the initial shock on his face now replaced by a cold, unreadable expression. I gulped, trying to control my racing heart as Sarah continued.

“You shouldn’t have done this, Lunaria. We talked about it…” Her words were confusing, her tone accusing. I couldn’t understand what she was getting at, and I was too scared and shocked to offer any defense. Then, turning to Nathan, tears streaming down her cheeks, she said, “I’m so sorry for not telling you earlier, sir, but Lunaria has always talked about killing the Alpha. She would often tell me how she wanted to spike his drinks and drive a silver dagger through his chest because he opposed your marriage to her, a common slave in the pack. I never thought she’d actually do it.”

Nathan finally lifted his head to look at me, and I shook my head, horrified. “What are you saying, Sarah? I never said any of that!” I didn’t know what shocked me more—the lies pouring from my best friend’s mouth or the fact that I had somehow found myself in this nightmare. How does someone go to sleep and wake up in the middle of a murder scene? What the hell was happening?

I walked closer to Sir Nathan, but a few guards stepped forward, blocking my path as if I were some dangerous murderer who might strike again if they weren’t careful. “Please, Sir Nathan, believe me. I didn’t kill him. I swear I didn’t. I had no reason to.”

I might have had many reasons to hate the Alpha, but murder? The thought had never crossed my mind, let alone actually doing it. I was just a common slave in this pack, bought years ago. Weak and without a wolf, I was often treated as less than nothing by the other members of the pack. The only one who ever stood by me was my best friend Sarah, and it was almost unbearable to think she might be betraying me now.

It was Sir Nathan who had announced to the entire pack one sunny afternoon that I was his mate. I didn’t know about the bond since I didn’t have a wolf, but he made his intentions clear: he wanted to honor the mate bond by marrying me. Of course, the Alpha didn’t approve. He wanted his son to marry a princess from another pack, not a slave who would one day be queen. But Nathan didn’t care. He proceeded to get engaged to me despite his father’s objections, and though the Alpha made my life a living hell at every opportunity, Nathan was always there to protect me. But could he protect me now, with me being accused of murdering his father?

“You don’t get to plead innocent when you’re standing there drenched in the Alpha’s blood,” Sarah spat. I looked at her, confused, tears welling up in my eyes. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but no words came. She continued, her voice filled with fake disappointment, “I’m so disappointed in you, Lunaria. How could you go this far? What happened to the sweet, innocent woman I once knew? How did you become a cold-blooded murderer?”

“I DIDN’T DO IT!” I screamed, my voice echoing through the room. I looked at Sir Nathan, my eyes pleading with him, tears streaming down my face. “Please, I’m begging you, if not for anything else, then for our mate bond. Believe me, I didn’t do it. I just woke up…” I glanced at the king’s lifeless body, then back at Nathan. “I didn’t do it…”

Nathan remained silent, his eyes fixed on me. The room was atmosphere was uncomfortable, the silence almost suffocating, before he finally spoke. “You betrayed me, Lunaria. You committed a sin I can never forgive. A sin I will make sure you are punished severely for.” His words hit me hard like a blow. I staggered back, struggling to stay conscious amidst the chaos as he commanded the guards, “Take the traitor away and lock her in the dungeon. If she resists, do as you wish to her. She will stay in the dungeon until her judgment is passed.”

Nathan turned and walked out of the room, leaving me behind. Sarah stared at me with an expression I couldn’t quite tell what it meant. She wiped away her fake tears with the back of her hand and offered me a very small, almost unnoticeable smile before she too walked away. I stood there, numb with shock, as the guards roughly grabbed me, dragging me to the dungeon. I couldn’t resist; I was too overwhelmed to even try.

The guards flung open the dungeon door and shoved me inside, causing me to fall flat on the cold, hard ground. My knees scraped against the rough surface as they slammed the door shut behind me. Lying there on the dungeon floor, different kind of emotions took over me. I let out a loud, piercing scream, trying to release my frustration, my despair. I sobbed uncontrollably, my heart aching as I desperately tried to wipe the Alpha’s blood from my skin, but all of my efforts were useless.

As the emotions and pain I was feeling took their toll, my head grew light, and my vision blurred. It was only a matter of seconds before I passed out, my head hitting the cold floor as I slipped into unconsciousness, my last thought echoing in my mind:

How did my life suddenly take such a terrible, wrong turn?