Chapter 2

Eliara’s POV

“You know that’s not true…”

I don’t get to finish the sentence.

Alpha Nikolai moves so fast I barely see it coming. One second he’s standing across the hall. The next, his hand is wrapped around my throat, slamming me hard against the wall.

My feet lift off the ground.

“Are you challenging me?” he growls, tightening his grip. “You fucking omega. Did you just talk back to me?”

My vision blurs instantly. I claw at his wrist, gasping, my lungs burning as panic floods my chest.

“I… I’m not…” I choke out.

He releases me suddenly.

I collapse to the floor, coughing violently, my throat on fire as I struggle to breathe.

“I’m not challenging you,” I whisper hoarsely, tears spilling freely now. “I’m telling the truth.”

My chest aches as I force myself to look up at them.

“My mother didn’t kill the Alpha,” I say shakily. “She swore her innocence before the moon goddess. The elders were there. They performed the rites, and she was found innocent.”

Nikolai scoffs.

“We don’t believe in that ancient nonsense,” he says coldly. “An autopsy was done. Poison was found in his system and your mother was the last person seen with him when served him wine.”

I drop to my knees and crawl forward, grabbing desperately at Nikolai’s boots.

“Please… please, you can’t let her die,” I beg. “She’s all I have. I watched my father die once. I can’t let it happen again. I can’t lose her too.”

His response is swift.

Nikolai lifts his boot and slams it into my face and pain explodes through my nose.

I scream as warm blood gushes down my lips and chin, splattering onto the marble floor.

“You should have died alongside that useless father of yours,” he says coldly.

“If not for his death,” he continues, “your mother wouldn’t have been forced into my father’s bed as an automatic bride while we were still mourning our mother.”

“What’s going on here?” a female voice asks lightly.

I don’t need to look up.

It’s Selene.

The devil herself, probably here to pour more salt into my wounds.

“Is this riffraff stressing you again?” she continues, her voice dripping with disdain. “I’ve told you both, just lock her up, or kill her, or something. But you never listen to me.”

She steps past me like I don’t exist.

I hear her soft laugh as she reaches Nikolai, rising onto her toes to kiss him deeply. Then she kisses Niven just as possessively.

“Hope your flight wasn’t stressful?” Niven asks casually.

“Not at all, baby,” Selene replies sweetly.

Footsteps echo behind her.

“Wow,” a familiar male voice drawls. “What did you do this time, little omega?”

Dorian.

Their best friend and Beta.

He strolls in like he owns the place, his gaze dropping to where I’m still sprawled on the floor, blood staining my lips.

He chuckles softly. “You really have a talent for causing problems,” he says, nudging my side lightly with the toe of his boot. “Every time I come back, you’re bleeding.”

Niven’s jaw tightens.

“She’s such a burden,” he says bitterly. “I can’t even begin to describe how much this little lowlife disgusts me.”

Dorian straightens, his amusement fading slightly.

“Speaking of burdens,” he says casually, “the elders just mindlinked me.”

Nikolai turns to him. “And?”

“They called an emergency meeting,” Dorian replies. “Apparently, this one’s mother had a heart attack.”

Niven scoffs harshly.

“That’s exactly why we’re punishing her,” he snaps. “Do you know this idiot had the guts to call us liars?”

My head snaps up instinctively. “I didn’t…”

Selene’s palm cracks against my face.

The slap rings through the hall, knocking me sideways.

“Will you shut your mouth?” she snaps, eyes blazing. “How dare you speak when we’re talking?”

I taste blood again.

Dorian exhales through his nose, unimpressed.

“Anyway,” he continued like nothing happened, “Eliara’s mother contacted the elders before collapsing. They ordered the guards to take her to the hospital.”

“They’re waiting in the chambers,” he adds. “With the pack lawyer. Apparently, it concerns the will.”

Niven laughs.

“Great,” he says mockingly. “Who would’ve thought it would take our father’s mistress’s funeral day for the will to finally be read?”

Nikolai turns sharply. “Let’s go.”

They move immediately.

Selene hooks her arm through Nikolai’s, casting me one last look filled with disgust before following. Dorian trails behind them, unhurried.

I force myself to stand.

My legs shake as I follow at a distance. By the time we reach the chambers, my vision is swimming.

Nikolai and Niven walk in first and take their seats without a word, without even acknowledging the elders gathered around the table.

Niven leans back, arms crossed.

“So,” he says coolly, “to what do we owe this impromptu meeting? It’s quite disrespectful to disrupt our schedule.”

One of the elders rises slowly.

“We apologize,” he says carefully, “but we had to gather quickly due to the severity of the issue. It concerns Luna.”

Niven is on his feet instantly.

“She is not Luna!” he roars. “She’s a woman you elders handpicked to replace our mother!”

A heavy silence falls over the room.

Another elder speaks, his voice sharp. “Is that why you left her to die?”

Nikolai’s jaw tightens.

“It has come to our notice,” the elder continues, “that you’ve been maltreating Luna and her daughter, your step‑sister.”

Finally, someone looks at me.

I’m still standing by the door, blood streaking down my face, my hands trembling.

The elder’s eyes darken.

“And I’m guessing,” he says coldly, “you did this?”

Neither Nikolai nor Niven responds.

The elder slams his hand on the table.

“How can you even be crowned Alphas,” he demands, “with this kind of behavior?”

“I beg your pardon?” Nikolai snaps, rising slowly.

Another elder stands, one who also serves as the pack’s official lawyer.

“You heard right,” he says firmly.

“And just so you know,” he continues calmly, “your father instructed in his will that I inform you tonight, the eve of the Sixth Blood Moon Festival after his passing, and before your coronation, which is set for the next full moon, that…”

The room goes deathly silent.

“…no coronation may occur should Luna or her daughter leave the pack house or come to harm before the rites are completed.”