Ch. 7 - Then it Fell Apart

Kiera POV -

For weeks, I tirelessly rallied support to clear more land in our territory. Jackson was often away, working to convince the Green Forest pack to join our forces.

After so much time spent preparing for war, tonight I arranged a celebration for the expansion of our territory, and Jackson promised me he would be home for it.

I enlisted help from the Second Lunas, to whom we provided safe housing to. Given the ongoing internal conflicts, I saw the festivities as a welcomed distraction. At least, I thought it would be until the gossip circle started.

"Have you seen poor Karen today?" Becky asked with her mischievous smile, addressing the other women hauling logs to the bonfire. She was an instigator and loved drama.

"Just for breakfast. She looked absolutely miserable." Sandra, another Second Luna from a pack nearly destroyed by the Dark Wolves, answered. The women all tsked at the sheer sadness of the situation.

I usually didn't pay them much attention, but I didn't like how this sounded.

"What happened with Alpha Marcus and his mates?" I asked.

Becky smiled at me like she was more than happy to spill the beans. She walked beside me to the large pile of wood we were gathering.

"Last month, Alpha Marcus was out visiting other packs that were in need. His wife, Karen, was ordering us around, like a typical Luna who thought she was better than us." Becky rolled her eyes, and I was confused. I didn't know she and Becky had issues with each other.

"Well, as she was prattling on about us needing to act more proper, she suddenly started screaming.  It went on for over two hours! Not only did her filthy husband cheat on her, but he waited to mark his fated until after he had her several times. It's a way our Alphas show us dominance."

"I don't understand. Alpha Marcus purposely had sex with his fated before marking her, just to hurt his first wife?" That seemed cruel in so many ways.

"Yes, my husband did the same to me. The pain weakens us and is nothing compared to what a rejection feels like. They think it will scare us into submitting."

"That's horrible! Why not just reject them and leave?" I stopped walking and looked at all the women around me. They were being abused and forced into submission.

"Leave?" Becky laughed at the idea. "It doesn't matter what we want. If we reject them, it only works if they accept, which they won't. Plus, rejecting our mate, even halfway, weakens our Alpha. After everything the Dark Wolves took from us, they would all turn on us if we dared to make our pack any worse off. Katherine has helped us cope and understand our place in this. It's not what we want, but for now, it is our lives and what a Luna needs to be for their pack."

I shouldn't have been as shocked as I was to hear my sister’s name, or how they adored her. Katherine had a knack for sniffing out those in despair, playing the savior, only to manipulate them later.

"I'm so sorry, Becky. I had no idea it was like this for all of you."

"You're still a first Luna, and luckily, Alpha Jackson seems to care for you deeply. I pray he never finds his fated. You two are the strongest of us all. Even if Jackson wanted to, he couldn't reject his fated," Becky explained.

I paused for a second at her words. "Why is that? The rejection would be fine if they don't mark each other."

Becky laughed while shaking her head. "That's not how it works with fated, Luna. Even unmarked, it weakens our wolf to turn away a gift from the goddess. As much as you think your pack loves you, they will demand Jackson to take his fated. Not only to prevent us from falling weak but also because she is their rightful Luna."

I cleared my throat in discomfort. Jackson didn't seem to be weakened when he rejected his mate; if anything, he seemed stronger.

Would my pack turn on me if they found out what he did? Would the people I grew up with, who praised my strength and leadership, no longer want me as their Luna?

"What is that place? It always gives me the creeps?" As I thought over the unsettling questions about my pack's loyalty, Sandra thankfully interrupted my thoughts with an unrelated question.

"It is the haunted mansion of the De' Luxe family," I explained, captivated by the imposing black structure nestled deep in the rainforest. "Legend claims the family, once great leaders of the South, fell victim to a malevolent force. Evil swept over the lands and brutally murdered the whole family. Some people say if you stand by the iron gates, an apparition of a grieving woman appears to be searching the grounds for her daughters."

"Creepy!" Becky nearly shivered at my words.

"I hear the North has a few of their own tales, especially their dark forest," Sandra added.

We paused for a moment, captivated by the looming presence of the black mansion. I turned to gather more wood, hoping the ladies would follow. We were almost done, and I felt an undeniable urge to leave.

I had a bonfire to host in a few hours, but I needed to speak with Jackson about all this first. It wasn’t right how the other Alphas were treating their wives. I wasn’t sure how to help, but there had to be something we could offer them.

I decided to head home to clean up and wait for him, but the second I walked into my house, I stopped dead in my tracks. Jackson was already home, and he wasn't alone.

"Amy, I told you not to come here ever again!" Jackson's voice yelled out through the house. It held such authority and anger I wasn’t sure if it was even him at first. Fear of what had him so pissed off rattled my nerves.

"Jackson, I can't wait anymore. Please don't make me hide away. It isn't fair." The woman pleaded back to him.

"Alpha Jackson!" He commanded her to address him by his title. My eyebrows furrowed at my husband's harsh tone to this woman. "I gave you an order, and you completely disobeyed me!"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, tone evident with tears in her eyes. I was about to enter the room when her following words made my heart stop.

"I just wanted to be close to you, Alpha. I'm sorry for disobeying you tonight, but I can't breathe when we are apart. I need you." She pleaded to him.

I froze, a wave of uncertainty and confusion washing over me, paralyzing my thoughts. This couldn’t be my husband.

"Don't cry, Amy. You've angered me; both of you constantly infuriate me and never listen. I am your Alpha!"

"Yes, Jackson, you are my Alpha." Her voice dropped seductively.

"After that little stunt your father pulled on my pack, I should have you punished for weeks." Jackson snarled at her. I heard a gasp from the woman, assuming Jackson had roughly grabbed her.

"I didn't ask him to attack you; I swear I would never hurt you. I came here that night to warn you, didn't I?”

My head shook in disbelief. That night, I thought he had just first met his fated, but nothing was what I thought.

"And you almost exposed us to Kiera," Jackson growled this time at her.

Tears slowly left my eyes. I couldn't process what I was hearing. My entire life was fading away like some distant dream.

"She isn't your fated, I am." The woman whined.

"No, she isn't, but she is my wife. You know what your punishment is Amy. After you apologize to your Alpha, you are to leave until I call for you. Do you understand?" Jackson's words echoed with the authority of his wolf.

I swallowed hard, taking small steps towards my husband's study. This can't be what I think it is. This wasn't happening, not to me, not now. I closed my eyes with tears flowing down my face.

I listened too long and knew exactly what Jackson meant by her punishment. Bile rose in my throat, and I couldn't believe it was all a lie. I should have just run as far as I could from them all, but I needed to see it with my own eyes.

With a deep breath, I quietly opened the door. There, in the middle of the room, was a redheaded woman on her knees to my husband.

"Now, this is how a mate should please her Alpha," Jackson growled with his head back and eyes closed. The woman's mouth bobbed enthusiastically over his hard cock. She moaned loudly as she kept a smooth rhythm. I stood there, like I was in a vortex of a twilight zone. My vision was blurry from tears, but I clear saw his betrayal.

Then Jackson roughly grabbed her head, forcing himself deep into her throat, and he began grunting out as he finished inside some other woman.

"Fuck, Amy. You don't listen for shit, but damn, do you give the best head." He looked down at her, slowly swaying himself in and out before completely pulling himself out from her lips.

"Even better than your wife?" The woman asked as she wiped my husband's cum from the corner of her mouth.

My hand covered my lips to silence the sobs. Her eyes met mine with a sly smile on her face. She knew I was here. She wanted me to see this, and she wanted me to hear his answer.

"Kiera doesn't feel anything like you, sweetheart," Jackson said, his thumb gently circling her cheek as he admired her face.

I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to believe this was really happening, but there was no denying it.

Athena shot forward with a vicious growl, fighting me with everything she had to shift and rip his heart out. "I reject you, Jackson, you pathetic Alpha of the Nightmare pack." I spat the words out, then widened my eyes in disbelief. Athena rejected him!

"Kiera! No!" Jackson's voice roared out in pain. He turned to me as I stood in the doorway, eyes black with wolf. He moved to grab me, but tripped over his pants around his ankles.

"You will die for this Jackson!" Athena vowed, and she meant it.

I tried to push her down with little effort, my body reluctantly turning to flee. Waves of rejection crashed over me, leaving a profound sense of suffering to settle in the depths of my soul. Athena refused to acknowledge the pain, attempting to wield it as a means to gain control over me.

'We can't kill him! It will kill us, too!' I screamed at my wolf as I ran out of the house and straight to the woods. Once marked, if a mate killed the other, it would end their own life. Athena knew this, but she didn't care.

I just caught my husband with his dick down some woman's throat, but I couldn't even comprehend that right now. Athena was on a mission for death, one that would bring our own demise.

'I don't care! I want his blood!" She demanded, growling and clawing at my soul, which was already burning in pain from rejecting Jackson.

My skin sprouted thick amber hair, my nails elongated, and my canines sharpened. I sprinted with all my might until I reached the dense rainforest at our borders.

'Athena! We can't! We will find another way to make him pay!' My knees hit the ground, and I struggled with her for control.

I could barely breathe as white-hot pain sliced away my insides. I remained in the woods, panting and pleading for my wolf to calm down.

'Please, Athena! Don't let us die for what he did.' I begged before completely collapsing. Sweat covered my body, and I struggled not to scream in pain. I couldn't let anyone find me like this.

'He needs to suffer!' Athena demanded but finally backed off. After an hour of being in a half-shifted state, my body returned to fully human.

'I promise, we will make him pay, just not by death from our own hands. He needs to finish the rejection. Let me handle this.' I begged of her.

'I can't promise that I won't rip his throat out, but I'll try to be patient. No excuses, Kiera! Make him reject us so we can be rid of him for good.'

I gathered myself, adjusting my clothes and leaning against a tree momentarily before returning to town. Though my body still ached, the mind-numbing slicing of my insides had finally subsided from rejecting the one man I thought loved me beyond any could. I was so wrong, my entire life was upside down, and I was in a haze of confusion and betrayal.