Chapter two:BETRAYAL IN THE DUNGEON

Serena’s POV

 

The dungeon smells the same as the last time I was here, wet stone, rusted metal, old blood. And underneath it all, the sting of wolfsbane. It’s in the air, soaked into the walls, probably in the water dripping from the ceiling. It makes my head heavy and my wolf quiet.

 

I sit against the wall, chains tight around my wrists. My stomach rolls from the wolfsbane, and my wolf curls into herself, too weak to help me. Without her, I’m just… human. No strength. No healing. No backup.

 

Like last time.

 

I was fifteen when the former Alpha locked me down here. I was stupid and brave back then, stepping between him and a child he was beating for stealing food. I told him to stop. He didn’t like that.

 

I spent three days here. Three days of darkness and his “lessons.” The scar down my back came from squeezing through a gap in the bars when I finally escaped. I was bloody, terrified, and half-dead when I crawled out into the moonlight. But I lived.

 

I always live.

 

Now I'm sitting in the same cell, older and tired, wondering how I ended up back where I started. A full circle I never asked for.

 

Footsteps echo down the hall. Light ones. Familiar ones.

 

I don’t bother opening my eyes.

 

The cell door unlocks, and Sapphire steps in like she owns the place.

 

“Well, look at you,” she says, smiling like she’s smelling flowers instead of rot. “The Luna of Ravenfall, chained in a dungeon. It suits you.”

 

I lift my head. She’s dressed in a white dress that’s way too clean for this place. Her hair is curled perfectly. She looks like purity and light, if purity had fangs.

 

“Did you come to brag,” I say, “or are you actually sick and need help?”

 

She laughs, too sweet. “Still trying to act above all this? You’re not Luna anymore, Serena. You’re just a prisoner.”

 

I don’t respond. I’m too tired for her games.

 

She crouches, careful not to touch the floor. “You poisoned me,” she says softly. “That’s what everyone believes.”

 

“You and I both know you weren’t poisoned,” I say. “So drop the act.”

 

Her smile sharpens. “Of course I wasn’t poisoned. I took a few herbs to make myself throw up. A little water to make my eyes red. A dramatic collapse. And boom, everyone believes you tried to kill me and my unborn child.”

 

She says it like she’s explaining a recipe.

 

I don’t even feel shocked. Just exhaustion. “Why?”

 

“Because you were in my way,” she says, as if it’s obvious. “Ronan and I should’ve been together from the start. But then they chose you. The orphan girl with nothing. You took what was supposed to be mine.”

 

“So you planned this.”

 

“Planned it?” She tilts her head. “Serena, I crafted it. Three years of making sure everyone thought you couldn’t get pregnant. Three years of making Ronan feel like he was failing as an Alpha because you couldn’t give him an heir. Three years of being his comfort every time you ‘disappointed’ him.”

 

My stomach twists. She’s proud of this. Proud of destroying me.

 

“You spread the rumors,” I say.

 

“Of course. And people believed them instantly. No one questioned whether Ronan might be the problem. No one questioned anything about you. You were the easy target.”

 

She stands, brushing imaginary dust off her dress. “The pack never wanted you. You were always a placeholder until I produced an heir.”

 

I try not to show how much that hurts. I failed. Just a little.

 

“You’re cruel,” I say quietly.

 

“No,” she says. “I’m strategic. You’re the one who wasted years trying to make people like you. Trying to earn a place that was never yours.”

 

She starts toward the door, then looks over her shoulder. “Ronan won’t believe you. Even if you told him everything, he’d choose the option that makes him feel righteous. You being guilty is cleaner. Simpler.”

 

The door slams shut behind her.

 

I sit there in the dark, letting her words settle like dust. She’s right. I spent years trying to earn something that was never available to me.

 

Time blurs. The wolfsbane drags me in and out of consciousness. I don’t know how long I’m alone before I hear heavier footsteps. His footsteps.

 

Ronan.

 

I open my eyes as he enters. He looks tired. Or maybe I’m imagining it.

 

“Serena,” he says. His voice is cold. Formal.

 

“Ronan,” I answered. “Are you here to listen? Or just here to finish what the council started?”

 

His jaw tightens. “The healers found nightshade in Sapphire’s system.”

 

Of course they did. She would make sure the evidence matched her story.

 

“I didn’t give her anything,” I say. “I never even spoke to her today.”

 

“She has witnesses.”

 

“Then they’re lying.”

 

He looks away, like that’s too much for him to handle. “I don’t know what you’re capable of anymore.”

 

That hurts more than it should.

 

“You don’t believe me,” I say.

 

“I believe the evidence.” His voice breaks for half a second before he forces it steady again. “I believe this is over.”

 

There it is.

 

“Say it,” I whisper. “Just say it.”

 

He gathers his Alpha tone, the one used for official decisions. It hits like a physical force.

 

“Serena Valen,” he says, “for attempted murder and failure to uphold your duties as Luna, I strip you of your title and your place in Ravenfall.”

 

Something inside me cracks.

 

“I sever the Luna bond.”

 

The bond snaps. Pain floods my body. My wolf screams. I choke on the sound and can’t stop it.

 

Ronan steps back like the sight of me hurting is too much, or not enough. I can’t tell anymore.

 

“Guards,” he says.

 

They unlock my chains and drag me out. He refuses to look at me.

 

They parade me through the packhouse. Everyone watches. No one speaks. Some look relieved. Some smug. Some pitying.

 

Sapphire stands beside Ronan, tucked under his arm. She cries prettily. When I pass, she smiles behind the tears.

 

The guards drag me all the way to the edge of Ravenfall. The border. The forest beyond is rogue territory.

 

They shove me forward.

 

“Wait,” I gasp. “At least give me water….something—”

 

They’re already walking away.

 

I’m alone.

 

I try to move, but my legs give out. The wolfsbane is still poisoning me. My wolf is silent, traumatised by the bond breaking. My whole body feels hollow.

 

I sit against a tree and let my eyes close.

 

Rogues come first, five of them, circling, snarling. I don’t move. I don’t have anything left.

 

The biggest one lunges—

 

A roar explodes through the forest. Not a wolf’s roar. Something deeper. Older.

 

A huge figure crashes through the trees. Black fur. Massive frame. Silver eyes that practically glow.

 

A Lycan.

 

The rogues scatter instantly.

 

The Lycan turns toward me, those silver eyes locking onto mine. He studies me like he already knows everything.

 

I try to speak, but the world tilts, and everything goes black.

 

My last thought before I pass out is simple:

 

At least it wasn’t the rogues.