The Worst Betrayal

Chapter 1

All I could taste was blood.

All I could see was my blood leaking out from the fresh hole in my stomach.

"Please... help me... don't..." I whispered weakly, turning slowly toward my killer. The bloody knife still dangling from her hand.

"For someone who's about to die, you sure do talk a lot! Take a look around you, Lyra... who the fuck do you think is coming to help?" Vivian, my husband's former mate, chuckled as she strolled closer, enjoying every second of the show.

I looked down at my bleeding body, my white silk nightgown was ruined, stained dark red. The wet fabric clung to my wound. I pressed my both hands hard against my stomach, but the warm blood just kept leaking through my fingers, pooling onto the floor.

My knees gave out and I collapsed on the wet ground of the master bedroom, my cheek pressing against the cold, expensive carpet my husband and I had picked out together just three months ago.

"Kael..." I choked out, staring helplessly at the empty doorway.

"Someone... fucking help me..."

My heart hammered against my ribs. I was going to die here, and no one would know until it was too late. I tried to crawl toward the door, extending my bloody hands and pulling to drag my heavy body inch by inch across the floor.

I... just... need... to reach... the door...

Seeing what I was doing, Vivian casually placed her heel onto my outstretched palm and climbed with her full weight down, pinning my hand to the floor. Pain shot up my arm. My finger bones were definitely broken.

"Please! Kael! No!" I screamed with every last bit of strength I had left.

Vivian looked down at me like I was trash waiting to be tossed out. "Still calling for him?" She sneered. "No one is coming to save you, Lyra. And Kael definitely won't come for you."

"Please," I begged, my voice cracking as tears blurred my vision. Numbness was creeping into my arms and legs, but white-hot agony still radiated from my core. "Vivian, please... I've done nothing to you..."

"Yes...You did nothing to me." Vivian grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back, forcing me to look into her eyes. "I'm just here to take back what's rightfully mine."

"Kael? You're doing this because of him?" Blood bubbled at the corner of my mouth. "He rejected you, Vivian... Kael loves me. He won't want you after he finds out you murdered his wife!"

Vivian laughed harshly, before shoving my head back toward the floor.

"He rejected me because we planned it that way," she said calmly, wiping the bloody blade on the edge of my white bedsheets. "We needed a show, Lyra. Think about it. If Kael had just married you out of nowhere, your pack would have been suspicious. The Council would have investigated. They would have asked why the last heir of the Silverclaw royals was suddenly handing over her territory to the Nightbane pack. But a fated mate rejection? True love standing above the Moon Goddess's bonds? Everyone bought that bullshit."

"That's a lie!" I yelled, clinging to my love and my life with everything I had. "Kael is a good man!! He saved my life! When my pack was invaded and I was auctioned off, ready to be sold to the highest bidder, he saved me! He bought me himself and helped me rebuild! He did that because he loved me!"

"He put you there, Lyra," Vivian leaned closer, and the heavy scent of her perfume hit me...the exact same scent I’d smelled on Kael's clothes for months and ignored. "Who do you think destroyed your pack? Who do you think leaked your location to the traffickers? Kael did. He needed you stripped of your title, vulnerable, and desperate. He needed you to see him as your savior so you would trust him blindly. And you fell right into his lap, you foolish cunt."

"No," I gasped, my heart shattering completely. "He helped me secure my throne..."

"Because he needed the throne to legally be yours before he could take it," Vivian sneered. "A married couple shares everything. Once you signed that treaty to merge our packs last week, legal control of the Silverclaw lands transferred to him. Your pack is his now. The Northern Throne is his. You've served your purpose."

The weight of the betrayal hurt worse than the blade in my gut. Every sweet word, every protective touch, every night he held me and swore I was safe... all of it was a calculated game to steal my birthright and erase my family's legacy?

"He... he promised me a future," I choked out, a sob tearing through my chest.

"And he kept his promise, Lyra...he did." Vivian said, standing up and looking down at me with cold triumph. "He protected you right until the ink on that treaty dried. Now you're just a loose end. A useless queen who outlived her utility."

A sudden, hot rage burned through the pain. I forced my chin up, locking my eyes onto hers.

"You think you've won?" I spat, my voice raspy and wet with blood. "You're just a secondhand prize, Vivian. A discarded mate who had to wait in the dark like a dog for my leftovers while he was in my bed. Even after I'm dead, you'll always know he had to touch me, hold me, and pretend to love me just to get what he wanted. You're pathetic."

Vivian's smug smile vanished. Her face twisted with ugly rage.

"You bitch," she hissed, raising the silver knife.

Before she could strike, the bedroom door clicked open.

I looked up, praying against all hope that Vivian was lying. But Kael stepped into the room. His tall frame filled the doorway, his face completely blank above his tailored black suit.

"Kael..." I gasped, reaching a blood-stained hand toward him. "Please...help me... tell me she's lying..."

He walked in, his shoes echoing against the floorboards, and looked down at my bleeding body with ice-cold eyes.

"Everything she told you is the truth, Lyra. Don't ask me to lie to you anymore," Kael said, his voice entirely devoid of emotion.

"Why?" I sobbed. "I loved you... I trusted you..."

"And that was your mistake, Lyra. You.did all that by yourself....All on your own." Kael stepped closer, not even flinching at the blood on the carpet.

"A true Luna shouldn't be so easily blinded by affection. Fuck...you were always too weak, Lyra. Too soft to lead a territory as vast as Silverclaw. You always let your stupid feelings dictate your choices, and now you're just paying the price for trusting me blindly. Don’t worry, though...I'll manage your lands far better than you ever could."

​"You monster," I whispered.

​"I did what was necessary for my pack, you cunt...you should have done the same." Kael replied smoothly. He turned to Vivian, his expression softening just a fraction. "Sweetheart, finish it up. I would have done it, but I don't want blood on my clothes, and we don't have all night."

​Vivian grinned, bringing the dagger down and shoving it deep into my chest.

​Pain...blinding pain shattered through me as my lungs collapsed. Dark spots filled my vision, but I forced my eyes to stay open.

"Vivian, my love...you have gone through a lot, waiting for this bitch and fir the plan to go through...I'm sorry it took so long."

I watched Vivian stand up from the bloody ground and walk straight into Kael's arms.

I watched Kael wrap his arm around Vivian's waist, pulling her close. I watched him lean down and kiss her right over my twitching, dying body.

He never loved me. He used me, broke me, and slaughtered me, and now they kissing over my dead body...literally. How poetic.

No. I won't die like a helpless dog. I won't let them keep everything they stole.

With the last ember of my soul, I called out to the heavens hoping someone, anyone would help me.

"Moon Goddess... if you have any mercy left, give me another chance. Give me the strength to tear them apart, to exact my revenge, and to take back every single thing that belongs to me."

The cold darkness of death swallowed me whole, and my wolf's final whimper went silent. This was it... This was the end...