Rebirth of the Betrayed Luna

NIARA'S POINT OF VIEW

“No! Leave me! I didn’t do anything! Please, it was Helena who took me there! I swear I went there because she said someone needed help. Please!”

My voice tore through the courtyard, raw and desperate, but no one listened.

The guards dragged me down the stone steps, iron chains cutting into my wrists as they yanked me forward. Every stumble earned me another blow. A fist struck my back. A boot slammed into the back of my knees. I crashed hard against the ground, gravel tearing into my skin.

“Get up, murderer.”

I barely pushed myself upright before another shove sent me forward again.

“Shut your mouth, you cursed disgrace!”

My father’s roar froze even the crowd for a moment.

Alpha Cedric Winters stormed down from the platform, rage twisting his face beyond recognition. He stopped in front of me and pointed a shaking finger at my bleeding body.

“My brother, the Beta of this pack, lies dead because of you.” he thundered.

The crowd gasped, then burst into vicious whispers.

“She killed her own uncle?”

“Monster.”

“Bad blood from birth.”

My father’s chest heaved violently.

“You have destroyed everyone's dignity tied to your name.” His words shattered something inside me that the chains could not. The guards seized my arms again and dragged me toward the execution grounds.

I twisted frantically, searching through the lots of faces until I found him.

Logan Blackwood.

My mate.

My boyfriend.

The man who had held me beneath moonlight and promised I would always be safe with him.

He stood near the tribunal steps in black ceremonial clothes, untouched by chaos, hands clasped behind his back like a stranger watching a public show.

Relief hit me so hard it nearly made me sob.

He would stop this.

He had to.

“L-Logan!” I cried, stumbling toward him before the chains jerked me back. “Logan, tell them! Tell them you know me. Tell them I would never do this.”

My voice cracked as tears blurred my sight.

“Please save me, baby. Please. Tell them Helena is framing me. Please!”

For one heartbeat, he only stared. Then his face darkened with disgust. He stepped forward slowly, eyes full of something colder than hate.

“Shut up, you filthy little bitch.”

The words struck harder than any beating.

“Do not say a single word about my fiancée.”

He glanced toward Helena my cousin, who stood behind him dressed in white, tears shining beautifully in her eyes.

“F-Fiancée… what did you say?”

The word barely left my lips before panic ripped through me.

“You are my mate!” I screamed, fighting against the guards so hard the chains tore skin from my wrists. “You are my mate, Logan!”

My voice echoed across the courtyard. For a moment, silence fell.

Then Logan laughed.

“She has gone mad.”

Laughter broke out immediately.

“Me and Helena have been together for the last five years, you pathetic whore,” he said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “We have been engaged for over three months.”

My heart stopped.

No.

No.

That was impossible.

Five years?

My knees nearly gave out beneath me.

Helena stepped gracefully to his side, sliding her hand into his arm like she belonged there.

“Oh, Logan,” she said softly, lowering her lashes. “Do not be harsh. She is clearly confused.”

The crowd cooed at her sweetness.

“She always wanted what was yours, Lady Helena.”

“Look how gentle our new future Luna is.”

I shook my head wildly.

“No… no…”

My voice came out broken.

“No!”

The guards tightened their grip as I struggled harder.

“He is lying!” I screamed. “He is my mate! He marked me! He promised me..”

“Enough,” Logan snapped.

He strode toward me and crouched just enough for only those nearest to hear, though the whole courtyard strained for every word.

“I touched you because it amused me,” he said coldly. “Nothing more.”

My breath caught.

“You were warm, willing, and stupid enough to believe scraps of affection meant love.”

He straightened and spoke louder.

“I never claimed her. I never accepted her. She chased me like a desperate stray.”

The crowd burst into savage laughter.

“Shameless!”

“She imagined the whole thing!”

“No wonder she's a curse.”

My stomach twisted so violently I thought I would be sick.

Helena covered her mouth delicately, pretending sorrow.

“I begged him to be kind to you,” she sighed. “But looks like you considered kindness as something else you begger.”

More voices rose around me now.

“No… no!”

I screamed until my throat burned raw.

The pain of death waiting ahead was nothing compared to this.

Every kiss, every promise, every night in his arms.

A lie.

And the mate bond I had trusted more than my own heartbeat was being buried alive in front of the entire pack.

AT NIGHT | DUNGEONS

That night, they threw me into the dungeons.

The cell smelled of rust, mold, and old blood. My body was one giant ache. Bruises bloomed across my ribs and arms where the guards had beaten me. My lip was split. One eye had swollen half shut. Every breath scraped through my chest like broken glass.

At sunrise, they would execute me.

I spent the night curled on the stone floor, shaking from pain and disbelief, trying to wake from a nightmare that would not end.

Then I heard footsteps.

I forced myself upright as the iron door creaked open.

Logan stepped inside first.

Helena followed behind him in a pale cloak, looking perfectly rested, perfectly beautiful, perfectly untouched.

My stomach twisted.

Even after everything, my eyes went to Logan first.

Ten years.

Ten years of stolen kisses, secret promises, whispered plans for the future. Ten years of loving him like he was the center of my world.

He was the son of our head servant yet I never differentiated him and loved him like my whole life.

And he stood there smirking at me.

“W… why?” My voice barely came out.

Logan tilted his head. “Why what, you bitch?”

I gripped the bars beside me to stay upright.

“Why did you do this to me?” Tears burned my swollen eyes. “Logan… tell me it’s all a lie. Please tell me.”

For some seconds, both of them simply stared before they laughed cruelly together and the sound of it hollowed me out.

“Lie?” Logan repeated with mock surprise. “Yes, Niara. It was all a lie.”

He took a step closer, boots scraping the stone.

“That pathetic little relationship with a whore like you?” He smiled coldly. “A lie.”

My knees nearly buckled. Helena clicked her tongue and moved toward me.

“Did you really think Logan would ever date someone as pathetic as you?” she asked sweetly.

Before I could move, her hand fisted in my hair.

“Ahhh!”

She yanked my head back hard, forcing me to look up at her. Pain shot through my scalp and neck.

“You should see your face,” Helena said, laughing softly. “Still hoping he loved you.”

Tears spilled down my cheeks and Logan was watching this all without blinking.

Helena leaned closer, her perfume smelled very sharp.

“Every gift he gave you, I chose it.”

She pulled harder.

"A..ahh!!!", I whimpered in pain.

“Every time he left your bed, he came to mine.”

My breath hitched.

“No…”

“Oh yes,” she whispered. “While you were dreaming of forming a perfect family with him, he was in my room planning our future.”

Logan slid a hand into his pocket, bored.

“Why?” My voice cracked. “Why did you do that to me?”

He rolled his eyes as if I were exhausting him.

“Because you were the future Luna,” he said coldly. “And I was mere a servant's son with nothing, that made everything unfair to me.”

I stared at him, unable to understand. He took a step closer, anger sharpening his face.

“You had the title waiting for you. Respect waiting for you. Power waiting for you.” He laughed harshly. “And what did I have? To stand beside you and smile while everything was handed to you”

My lips trembled.

“That’s not true…”

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” he snapped. “You were born lucky and too stupid to know it.”

He crouched in front of me, voice turning crueler.

“Your parents named all the pack treasury in your name.”

My blood ran cold.

“Accounts, lands, reserve vaults, investment shares. All legally yours.” he said, enjoying every second. I shook my head violently.

“And you were pathetic enough to sign it all over to me,” he said with a grin. “For our little future together.”

My chest caved inward. Every paper, signature and every time he smiled and kissed my forehead, telling me we were building a life.

“No! No, no, no!”

My scream echoed through the dungeon.

Helena clapped once, slowly.

“Yes.”

She stepped forward, fury blazing through the sweetness she always wore in public.

“And if you were alive, I could never have become Luna.”

Her voice shook with years of hatred.

“You were the daughter of Alpha! The blood of royals that everyone worshipped. Not me! I was the daughter of your father's sister!”

She pointed at me like I disgusted her.

“They all considered you better than me because you were there Luna! Kind, elegant and gentle. The poor wolves still talk about you were some goddess.”