The Last Betrayal

The silver chains had burned through my skin and muscle, but the worst pain was watching my husband cradle our three day-old twins like a butcher choosing cuts of meat. 

"Perfect Luna bloodline," Darius murmured, his ice-blue eyes that I'd once thought were beautiful were now examining baby Kai with clinical interest. "Twin sacrifices. The ritual will be twice as powerful with fresh blood."

I tried to speak, but the silver poisoning had claimed my voice hours earlier. All I could manage were ragged gasps as I watched him study our babies tiny faces. Kai squirmed in those powerful hands that used to stroke my hair, while his sister Mira slept peacefully in the bassinet nearby, and every maternal instinct I had screamed at me to protect them.

"Stop looking at her like that." Elena stepped forward from the shadows, and the smile on my best friend's face fired ice straight through my chest. She was smiling. Smiling actually as I bled to death in chains. "She still thinks this was about love."

"You told her everything?" Darius shifted Kai to one arm, bouncing him absent-mindedly.

"Of course I did. What's the point of winning if your adversary doesn't know they've lost?" Elena moved forward, her brown eyes glinting with pure pleasure. "I've been feeding him information about your family for three years, Aria. Every secret ritual, every weakness in your pack magical defenses, every detail of the Luna bloodline power. Did you honestly believe your mate loved you by chance?"

My body convulsed against the chains. Not from poison this time, but from anger so pure it was lightning in my blood. Three years of marriage. Three years of choosing him despite my family's warnings. Three years of believing in a love story that was calculated destruction right from the start.

"The mate bond is also fake," Elena continued, examining her nails as if this was boring conversation. "Dark magic is wonderful for that kind of thing. Your true mate has been out there somewhere, suffering rejection pain every time you kissed this bastard. Can you imagine how much pain we inflicted on that poor man?"

Fresh tears seared paths down my face. Some poor guy had suffered the consequences of my foolishness. Due to the fact that I'd ignored every warning sign and red flag.

"Show her the rest," Darius commanded, still bouncing Kai like nothing else was important but keeping the baby silent.

Elena theatrically pulled out her phone. The video on its screen halted my heart completely. My parents hung from silver chains in another dungeon, their faces red with bruises. My little brother David hung unconscious between two of Darius's warriors, blood pooling under his lifeless body.

"They did not die in that rogue attack as we claimed," Elena explained in a tone as sweet as poisoned honey. "We needed you focused on providing us with healthy sacrifices, not grieving your family. Darius had them tortured for days before killing them. Their Luna blood wasn't pure enough for the real ritual, but it worked well enough as practice runs."

The rage brewing in me was sufficient to melt steel. My parents had warned me not to marry him. They'd foreseen something wrong with the whole courtship, said the timing felt manipulated. I'd screamed at them for being jealous and controlling, chosen his lies over their desperate love. 

And their reward was torture and death.

"The ritual is tomorrow at the time of the lunar eclipse," Darius said, studying Kai's sleeping figure. "Twin Luna blood will bring to life powers that have been dormant in Luna bloodlines since the first werewolves walked this earth. Time manipulation, warping of reality and the power to change fate itself."

"Don't forget the best part," Elena laughed, scooping up sleeping Mira from her bassinet like she owned her. "I gave birth to your real heir two weeks ago. My Logan will be inheriting everything when we sacrifice these little mistakes."

The final pieces clicked into place. Elena's mysterious weight gain during my pregnancy. Her refusal to see doctors or talk about her health. How she'd disappeared for a few days close to my due date, blaming work stress.

She'd been pregnant with Darius's real child while I was carrying the blood sacrifices they needed.

"Your faces at the baby shower was priceless," Elena cooed, now rocking both my babies like some twisted Madonna. "So happy and glowing, planning your perfect little nursery for two. I kept thinking how funny it would be when you finally got it."

I strained forward by instinct, the silver chains ripping deeper into my already burned flesh. All the strength remaining in my body was concentrated on trying to reach my children, but the bonds held fast. My wolf Lyra whined softly in my mind, too poisoned to offer me any help.

"Easy, we'll not hurt them," Darius said, probably thinking he was being merciful. "The ritual requires willing blood sacrifice, so we'll put them to sleep first. Quick and painlessly, then drain what we need for the ritual."

Something fundamental broke in my chest at those words. Not bent or cracked. Shattered, like crystal on concrete. This wasn't betrayal or heartbreak anymore. This was the complete and utter destruction of everything I'd ever believed about love, trust, and basic human decency.

"The ritual will turn me into something more than just an ordinary Alpha," Darius continued, as though discussing booking travel plans. "Immortality, mastery over reality, the ability to warp time streams. Other packs won't just follow my orders, they'll worship me as their god."

"And me as his goddess queen," Elena added, giving each of the small foreheads gentle kisses that made my bile rise in my throat. "We've been planning this since high school, you know. Years before you even existed in our world."

My vision tunneled as the silver poisoning hit critical levels. Soon I'd be too weak to even witness them murdering my babies. The injustice of dying before I could save Kai and Mira felt worse than any physical agony.

Then I heard something impossible. A voice like moonlight made sound, ancient and furious and completely unforgiving.

"Daughter," the voice breathed in my fading consciousness. "My dear daughter, see what they have done to you."

It was the Moon Goddess herself who addressed me. I had prayed to her all my life but never heard her voice until this very moment of ultimate despair. Now she filled my dying mind with silver light that kept the encroaching darkness at bay.

"Your story does not end in this vile dungeon," she continued, and warmth spread through my chest despite the burning chains. "The moon does not forget her daughters, and she blesses those who choose love over power. Sleep now, child. When you wake, the balance will be restored."

The last thing I heard was the soft breath of my twins, still innocent and unaware. The last thing I felt was anger so pure and distilled it could have powered the sun itself. 

Then the darkness claimed all.

But even as consciousness slipped away, I felt the Moon Goddess's promise kindling in my bones like holy fire.