The chair

Aria’s POV 

I couldn’t breathe.

The rope bit into my wrists, coarse and soaked with the sweat of my panic. I struggled against it, gasping, my stomach aching with every movement.

“Dear moon goddess, please save me. Please save  my baby.” I muttered under my breath, staring at the man I had sacrificed my whole life for. 

“Please,” I whispered, choking on the word. “Darren, you don’t have to do this. Please…”

He stood in front of me, all sharp angles and dead eyes, the man I had loved since I was sixteen. The man who once kissed my scars and told me the moon would never rise if it meant hurting me.

My husband. 

He was just watching me die with a smirk on his lips. 

“Enough of the whimpering, Luna,” he said, his voice smooth like silk stretched over broken glass. 

“Can you stop crying? You’re embarrassing yourself.” He said casually like he hadn’t tied me to a chair and set a fire underneath it. 

And beside him, stood Elara. My best friend. My sister in everything but blood. Her auburn hair gleamed in the dim light, her mouth curved in a smile I didn’t recognize. Cold, Vicious,  Beautiful and cruel.

“Elara?” My voice cracked. “You… you were there. That night in the woods, when the rogues attacked us and you saved me, why are you doing this....”

“No,” she cut me off, running a finger over Darren’s shoulder.

 “I made sure they didn’t kill you because I wanted to kill you myself. That’s not the same as saving you.”

My heart dropped into my stomach.

“You told me that you loved me, that I was the best thing that has ever happened to you. I gave you everything, my dignity, my love, my pack— and now you want my life too?” I cried, my tears now missing with mucus from my nose but he didn’t flinch. 

They both stepped closer, circling me like I was some pathetic thing they were bored of toying with. I flinched when Elara crouched beside me, leaning in close.

“Naive beautiful little Alpha,” she whispered, runing a finger through my hair. “You really thought they made you Luna because you were strong?”

I shook my head, tears slipping past my lashes.

 “I earned my title. My father..."

“Your father,” Darren cut in, laughing harshly. 

“Poor thing. He  died because we needed him out of the way. We didn’t plan for him to suffer. Well… not that much.”

“No-” I breathed. My throat closed. “No, you didn’t..."

He crouched too, leveling his gaze with mine. 

“I killed him with my bare hands,” he laughed, winking at Elara and she laughed too. 

“We needed him to hand over the pack to you, and you, you dumb, soft, trusting little thing, will in turn hand everything over to me. And you did, just  like a  good little mate would.”

“I loved you!” I screamed, my  voice breaking.

 “I would’ve given you anything! How could you have  done that to him!” I cried. 

“I know,” he said coldly. 

And then he smiled, the kind of smile that steals the warmth out of the room. 

“That’s what made it so easy.”

I wanted to kill him. 

God, I wanted to rip the ropes off, shift, tear into his throat. But the sedative they’d pumped into me still clung to my limbs like fog, slowing everything down. Even my anger. 

Even my hope.

“Let me go,” I begged, turning to Elara now. “Please. I’ll leave. I’ll disappear, you can keep my pack. You’ll never see me again—I swear on the Moon Goddess, Elara, don’t do this. Don’t hurt my baby.”

Her eyes flicked to my stomach, then back to me. 

“We won’t just be hurting your child, dear Luna.”

“No,” Darren said. “We’ll be killing it.”

I stilled.

“What… what do you mean?”

He stood again, pacing now, his voice rising with each word.

“You’re really very dumb, Aria. Why do you think I let you keep this pregnancy after making you abort over six pregnancies in the past?”

“She thought it was because you loved her.” Elara chipped in, chuckling. 

 “A child conceived by an Alpha bloodline and born of a Luna, powerful, is the key sacrifice needed to complete the Rite of Dominion. When it’s done, I’ll be unstoppable and even the  northern kingdoms will kneel before me — Even the great Lycan king Eros will worship me.” He laughed demonically. 

 I knew about the Rite of Dominion, it’s a blood ritual where the blood of a six month old child is used to cleanse the path of an alpha. Story has it that the alpha’s strength becomes unmatchable and no one can defeat him. And now, I was six months pregnant with his child, his blood. 

He had casually told me about it and how he’d like to do it but for the fact that he couldn’t hurt a soul. 

Why didn’t I realize that he was this evil all along? Why didn’t I read the handwriting on the wall!

“You’d kill your own child?” I gasped, tears wailing down my cheeks.

Darren shrugged. “It’s not born yet. It’s just a heartbeat, a vessel and nothing more.”

“You’re a monster!” I sobbed, hot tears flowing down my cheeks. 

“Oh, don’t be dramatic. You…” Elara was saying when the door creaked open.

 My heart leapt with joy when  I saw two of my pack betas walking in and relief washed over me.  

They were faces I knew,  men my late father  trusted. Who swore oaths to protect me. To protect the child I carried. 

“You came,” I whispered, relief pouring through me like light. 

“You came, thank the Goddess, they’re trying to kill me. You have to help-"

I was saying, but none of them moved.

They stood silent like statues carved in betrayal.

“No-” My voice dropped to a whisper. “You’re not with them. You’re not...”

Mav’s jaw twitched and Kellan looked away.

“They are,” Darren said. “You didn’t think we’d bring you into this abandoned house far in the woods without help, did you? They drugged your tea last night. That’s how you got here.”

“You’re lying.”

“Tell her, Kellen.”

The tall man stepped forward, His eyes were glassy. 

“I’m still surprised that you haven’t killed her yet.” Kellen said coldly. 

I screamed, no,  I roared, trying to shift... but my wolf was too weak. Trapped beneath whatever poison they’d pumped into me. My body shook with the effort. I could feel my baby stirring inside me, kicking against the panic.

“I’ll kill you,” I snarled. “Every last one of you. The pack will come for me. They’ll find me. They’ll..."

“That’s not possible, princess,” Elara said gently. “You’re miles away from home, my darling. Even the Goddess won’t hear your cries.”

And then Darren leaned down, whispering the final knife into my ear.

“Say goodbye to your child, Luna.”

I spat in his face. My throat burned, my voice barely more than a rasp. But I had to show him I wasn’t afraid, even if I was drowning in it.

He didn’t even flinch, he just wiped the spit from his cheek like I was an animal that had gotten mud on his shoes.

Then Elara stepped forward with a silver goblet and could smell poison  before she reached me—sharp and bitter, thick as blood.

“No... don’t...” I turned my head clutching my stomach, but the betas gripped me from behind, holding me still and pried my mouth open.

“It’s just to keep you still,” Elara whispered. “We wouldn’t want you flailing while we… work.”

I gagged as the liquid hit my tongue, it was acrid, metallic. It burned as it slid down my throat, cold and hot at the same time.

And then everything began to drift.

My limbs slackened, my pulse slowed. My head lolled forward. I could feel the blood pounding in my ears, slow and heavy, like war drums underwater. My fingers twitched, then stilled.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t scream, but I felt everything.

Hands gripped my gown, tearing it away from my swollen belly. My breath hitched, my heart screaming in panic, but my body wouldn’t answer.

Darren brought out a blade and  I saw it before it touched skin. 

I felt the pain as it sliced my stomach open.

I would’ve howled—gods, I would’ve shattered the walls with my screams, but no sound came. Just a silent, burning agony that tore through me, sharper than claws. 

I saw Elara’s face above me, calm and focused as they cut my stomach open. It was like she was studying a spell, not cutting into her best friend.

Blood pooled around me, warm and wet and endless. I felt it drip down the sides of the chair. The scent of it filled the room, copper and life, and something slipping away.

It was my  baby.

Moon Goddess…

Can you hear me?

They say you watch us. They say you protect your daughters.

Please don’t let this be the end.

Let me come back. Let me fix it. Let me protect what they took from me.

Give me another life.

I’ll be stronger.

Colder.

Wiser.

Please...

Please...

My vision faded into black.

Not the kind of black that sleeps.

The kind that swallows.

And then everything went blank.