Chapter 3

BRIE’S POV

For a heartbeat, I was nothing. I felt numb. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move.

I didn’t feel anything.

Just… nothing.

Because there he was—my husband, my Alpha—between another woman’s legs.

And not just anyone. Mira. One of my maids.

The sheets tangled around them. The smell of sweat and sex was thick in the air. They didn’t even hear me. Or maybe they did and didn’t care. Maybe they wanted me to see. I couldn’t decide which was worse.

The sound, her moans, his voice—snapped me out of my frozen trance. Mia gasped, dragging the sheet over herself. Alex turned. His eyes went wide with shock.

Shock. He was shocked?.

As if he were the one betrayed.

My throat burned like acid, but my tears refused to fall. My chest cracked open and all that poured out was silence.

“Why?” My voice was barely a whisper.

He sat up slowly, searching for words but his face hardened. His eyes became cold.

“I won’t lie. This has been going on for a while.” He said.

The world tilted.

“I tried with you, Brie,” he continued. “But Mia… she gives me what you can’t. You were too cold.  You were too proper. Never really mine. Not like she is.”

Each word was a blade in my heart.  Never really his?

After everything I had given up? After every sacrifice?

He wasn’t sorry. He wasn’t even ashamed.

My wolf snarled inside me, begging to be released, to tear him to pieces. My fists clenched until my nails cut my palms. Heat burned my cheeks with rage.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream.

I just turned and I walked away.

If I stayed, I would lose control.

Back in my chambers, I slammed the door shut and pressed my palms against the wall until they bled. My scream tore through the silence. I punched the wall over and over again till I bled. My fists pounded the plaster until cracks split down the wall.

My wolf howled with me. we were both betrayed, heartbroken. She wanted blood. But I forced her down. He wasn’t worth it.

He had never been worth it.

There was a knock on the door.. I ignored it. The door opened anyway.

“Brie.” A voice said.

I turned around and saw Lina. She was Alex’s Beta. She was his most trusted confidante. She was also my friend. Or so I had believed.

She stepped inside with arms folded. There was a smug smile on her lips.

“I figured you’d find out eventually.” She said

My stomach twisted. “You knew?”

“Of course I knew.” She shrugged casually “It’s hardly a secret. At least, not to anyone important.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

She smirked. “I didn’t tell you because I’m tired of pretending. You don’t belong here, Brie. You never did. You were a placeholder. A symbol. You were never his mate.”

I staggered back like she’d struck me.

“I’m his wife,” I snapped.

“Politically.” She laughed, stepping closer. “But me? I’ve always been his lover. Long before you. Long before the council ever chose you. I was his bed, his comfort, his real mate in everything but title. You? You were the cage.”

My knees nearly buckled. “No.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “You thought you were his Luna? You were nothing but decoration.”

I could feel the rage burning in my veins. “You traitorous—”

“You’re the traitor,” she hissed, leaning in. “You came here and thought you could steal his pack, his people. But the truth? You were never wanted. Not by him. Not by me. And your time is over.”

Her words dripped poison. She turned, leaving me with one final dagger:

“You’re finished.”

The door slammed shut.

All I could hear was silence. The pain, the betrayal, the humiliation—all of it burned through me like wildfire. But this time, I didn’t try to put it out. I let it consume me.

No more naïve Luna. No more silent queen in a gilded cage.

They thought they had broken me. They had no idea what they’d unleashed.

I stormed through the palace, past portraits of Alphas long dead, until I reached the west wing. At the end of the corridor, there was the tapestry of the Moon Goddess. I shoved it aside and pressed my palm to the cold stone wall.

A pulse answered me. The wall shuddered, then split open, revealing the hidden stair.

I descended into the darkness.

At the bottom was a trunk. My mother’s trunk. I hadn’t touched it since her death. My hands shook as I brushed off the dust.

“I need you,” I whispered—whether to her, the Goddess, or myself, I didn’t know.

I opened it.  inside was the armor of my mother. It was silver and black polished steel that gleamed even after years in hiding. I lifted the chest plate.

I was not a Luna. I was not a wife. I was a warrior.

And I smiled. For the first time in years, it was real.

=

That evening, the ballroom glittered with chandeliers. Music filled the hall. it was the night of The Moonlight Ball. The annual night when the Luna made her grand entrance.

They waited for me.

Servants whispered at the empty dais. Elders sipped their wine. Alex stood tall, smug in his suit, laughing with his council like he hadn’t destroyed me hours earlier.

The orchestra faltered. Silence fell. And then—gasps.

I stepped into the light. Not in silk. Not in jewels.

But in armor.

My mother’s silver plates gleamed. I had my sword strapped across my back. My braid swung down my spine as I walked down the stairs.

I was not their Luna. I was now something far more dangerous.

Zelda’s grin from across the room was wicked. “Damn right, sister.”

Alex choked on his wine, coughing in disbelief. “Brie. What the hell is this?!”

“This,” I said “is me. Something you never had the courage to see.”

“You’re making a fool of yourself!” he spat. “This is a formal event, not a—”

“Not a battlefield?” I stepped closer. “That’s the only place I was ever truly myself. You never wanted a partner, Alex. You wanted a puppet. A trophy. Something silent. I am not yours. Not anymore.”

The color drained from his face.

“You’re my Luna,” he growled.

“Wrong.” I leaned in, letting him see the fire in my eyes. “I’d rather be a warrior with blood on my hands than a queen in a cage. You’re not an Alpha. You’re a boy hiding behind a crown.”

Everyone in the crowd gasped. His face twisted with rage.

“I’m done.” I said.

I turned.

“Brie” he roared. “Don’t you dare walk away from me!”

His guards stepped forward, blocking my path.

“Move,” I warned.

They didn’t. So I moved.

I did what I was born to do.

I moved fast. One step, two strikes. One man’s dagger was kicked from his hand before he even blinked. The other reached for me and I twisted his arm behind his back, flipping him onto the floor. I delivered a flying round house kick to the third guard. The rest of them backed off.

Everyone gasped.

“STOP HER!” Mario screamed. But no one moved. Not one soul dared.

Because they weren’t watching a Luna anymore.

They were watching a legend reborn.

I pushed the ballroom doors wide. .

I didn’t look back.

Let him scream. Let him rage.

I was free.

The warrior had returned.

And this time, she would not be silenced.