Isyra wasn’t even pregnant

Lysera

The underground dungeon was cold, damp, and suffocating.

I lay on the bare floor in a fetal position, my hands bound with heavy chains that felt like they were made to crush every last hope inside me. The only salvation I had been given was that they allowed me to put on my clothes before dragging me down here like a criminal.

That was the only mercy but even that felt like mockery because they all stood around and watched me.

I cried until my throat was sore, until my chest hurt, until my eyes burned and my body shook with every breath. I didn’t know how I still had tears left, but they kept coming anyway.

I couldn’t understand why my own twin sister would do this to me?

How could Isyra look at me—someone who had spent her whole life being ignored and pushed aside—and decide I was worth destroying?

The fact that she wasn’t even pregnant made it worse. There was no baby. No heir or future alpha in her womb. No life I could have harmed. Only lies and deception.

I didn’t know how much time had passed. Everything was dark. There was no window, no crack for light to slip through, nothing to tell me whether it was day or night. Time down here felt like it didn’t exist.

And I had no visitors. Of course I didn’t. Who in this pack cared about me?

I swallowed back another sob, my throat aching painfully, and buried my face into my knees.

My head jerked up when I heard approaching footsteps. I pushed myself into a sitting position so quickly the chains clanked loudly against the floor.

The footsteps grew louder and closer. My heartbeat sped up as the door creaked open and torchlight spilled into the cell.

Two guards stepped inside.

Their expressions were cold, their mouths curled into sneers as if looking at me disgusted them. One of them grabbed my arm roughly and yanked me up.

“Get up.”

My legs trembled beneath me as they dragged me out, the chains scraping the ground.

“Please,” I whispered, voice hoarse. “Is Isyra… Is she okay?”

The guards didn’t answer at first. They only continued to drag me.

I kept asking anyway, because I needed to know. I needed to hope—no matter how stupid it was—that my sister wouldn’t truly go that far.

“I didn’t touch her,” I said desperately. “I swear I didn’t. Please… just tell me she’s fine.”

One of the guards laughed, low and cruel.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

My stomach sank and I felt faint.

We climbed up stone steps for what felt like forever, the cold air shifting gradually until warmth brushed my skin.

The guards dragged me out of the dungeon, and I squinted against the brightness that flooded my vision. The sun was high up in the sky, glaring down hard. That meant I’d been down there for hours.

The guards pulled me forward, dragging me across the pack grounds. Everybody was already there.

Pack members stood gathered in a wide circle like they were waiting for a show. Their eyes followed me as I stumbled into view, chains rattling, humiliation crawling up my throat.

Their hatred rolled off them in waves, thick enough to choke on. Some spat as we walked past. Others threw sand on me and others cursed me.

I searched instinctively for familiar faces. Isyra wasn’t there, neither was my mother.

My mother wouldn’t miss this, not unless she was too busy holding Isyra and crying for her like she was the only daughter she ever had.

My lips trembled as my gaze landed on him.

Alpha Henry stood at the center of it all, tall and rigid, like a judge ready to pass a sentence. My father was nearby, his face hard and unfeeling.

And on either side of Henry stood the elders.

They were the law of the pack. It was rare for all of them to appear for a pack members trail but this had to do with the pack’s future Luna and heir so of course they all came out.

My heart pounded so hard it hurt. The guards dragged me into the middle of the circle, then shoved me forward.

I nearly fell but I caught myself in time. I was trembling as I lifted my head slowly. My wolf perked up as Henry’s scent hit us, wrapping around us like a warm blanket.

Henry’s eyes met mine. They were cold, hard and full of fury, I flinched.

My mate, the man who was supposed to love me, was glaring at me like he wanted to reach over, wrap his hands around my neck and throttle me.

My wolf whined silently as she crept to the back of my mind. It wounded her to see that her mate despised her.

An elder stepped forward, and the crowd hushed at once. The elder wasted no time.

“Isyra has lost her baby,” he announced, his voice loud and cold. “She miscarried a few hours after the accident… after Lysera beat her up.”

The crowd erupted instantly. Growls, curses, furious shouts filled the air.

“Murderer!”

“Witch!”

“She should die!”

I flinched at the sound of their rage, my knees trembling, but the elder raised his hand. Silence fell again.

Then he walked toward me. Each step was deliberate, and like he was drawing everything out for his own cruel satisfaction.

He stopped right in front of me and spat at my feet.

“All the elders have agreed,” he said, “that Lysera will be caned publicly, a thousand strokes before she is sent to the underground dungeon for life imprisonment.”

My blood froze. The crowd exploded into cheers.

One thousand and life imprisonment? For a crime I did not commit?

My vision blurred and my body shook violently as terror ripped through me. I’d spend my whole life in that cold, dingy place?

“And Alpha Henry has approved,” the elder added, turning slightly so the pack could see Henry standing there like stone.

More cheering followed his words.

“No!” I screamed, voice breaking. “No! I didn’t do it! I didn’t kill her baby!”

My chains clinked as I stumbled forward desperately. I was no longer scared to tell them everything. I couldn’t spend my life in that dungeon when I was innocent.

“I never touched her!” I shouted. “I swear I never touched her!”

The elder’s face twisted with disgust as he stepped back, putting space between us. But I didn't stop, I followed him.

“She wasn’t even pregnant!” I cried. “Isyra was never pregnant!”