The Alpha's Betrayal-

Aria stood by the large window of her bedroom, her shaking hands varnished in silver by the moonlight. There was silence in the packhouse, probably a counterpart to the storm inside her. She had been the Luna of the Shadowpeak Pack for two years, married dutifully to Alpha Kieran. Two years of devotion, of striving to be everything he needed, and finally, she had the news she'd been waiting to share with him.

She pressed a hand against her stomach, the faintest hint of life growing in her womb. After all the tears, the prayers, and the relentless pressure from her pack to give Kieran a son, she was finally pregnant. She should have been overjoyed, yet the dread coiling low in her belly had nothing to do with her pregnancy.

The conversation had been overheard earlier that evening. Her heart clenched as, in her mind, the cold, emotionless tone of Kieran replayed in her memory. He had asked for a divorce. He wanted to end their marriage. Why? Another woman, some other woman who was, at least momentarily, more interesting to him, not her.

She suspected who it might be, though: Selene, her best friend, had always been closer to Kieran than she was comfortable with. Selene, with her beauty and charm, had never kept her disdain for Aria's position as Luna subtle. The woman who once laughed with her, shared secrets with her, had been plotting her downfall all along.

Tears blurred her vision as she remembered how hard she'd tried to be a good Luna, how she'd worked her fingers to the bone and sacrificed so much of herself for the pack, for him. She thought that love and loyalty would have been enough. But with Kieran, it was never about love.

She heard the door creak behind her and her breath caught in her throat. Kieran entered the room, his presence cold, imposing. He didn't bother to glance at her while shrugging off his jacket, heading toward the bed, deliberately keeping his movements distant.

"Kieran," she whispered, barely audible. "We need to talk."

He did not immediately respond to her. When he finally did, the words were like a knife to her heart: "There is nothing to talk about, Aria. My mind is already made up. The divorce will be happening."

She felt her knees almost buckle under her, but she held strong. She couldn't tell him now, not after listening to those words, not after knowing he had already chosen someone else. The pregnancy news died on her lips.

"You… you don't have to do this," she begged, her voice breaking. "We're married. We're bound with the pack, with the moon. I am your Luna."

Hard, unyielding eyes stared into hers now, eyes that had once radiated warmth. "I never wanted a weak Luna, Aria. You failed to give me an heir for two years. Selene can give me what you couldn't."

The name just hovered there, a curse. Her best friend. It was as if her heart had shattered into a million pieces. Yet that pain only seemed to fuel her resolve. "You're choosing her?" Aria asked, her voice shaking with injured fury.

"I'm marking her as my Luna tomorrow," Kieran said, his tone absolute. "You'll no longer have a place here."

It hit her like a blow to the abdomen, and for one moment, Aria could not breathe. All her years of loyalty, her love, and devotion—cast aside in an instant.

She needed to get away; she needed to protect her unborn child. But where would she go? Her family had turned their backs upon her the moment she married Kieran. The pack? They'd follow their Alpha's orders without question. No one would defend her. No one cared.

"You're making a grave mistake," Aria told him with a voice no louder than a whisper. Her every word was said with an ache in her heart. "But I won't be around to see you regret it."

Kieran said nothing as she turned and left the room. His silence sealed her fate.

Aria sat on the edge of her bed, staring off blankly at the crumpled divorce papers in her hand. Her heart had felt numb from the weight of Kieran's words the night before. The rejection still stung like a fresh wound, but what hurt most was the truth she carried inside her, a truth she had wanted to celebrate. She wasn't just pregnant with one child; she was carrying twins.

She had dreamed of the day she would tell Kieran about this great news and how his face would light up at the news that they would finally have not just one son, but two. Now that dream lay reduced to ashes inside her chest. Kieran had made his choice, and he hadn't chosen her.

Her fingers shook as she clutched the divorce papers more tightly, her gaze tripping over the lines in front of her that dissolved the bond between them. She could barely wrap her head around the words. How had this moment in time come? Two years standing by his side as his Luna, putting up with the whispered conversations of this pack over her inability to conceive, giving everything she had to this pack and to him, this was how it would end.

She squeezed her eyes shut, letting the tears course down her face. Tomorrow, she would sign the papers, leaving the pack once and for all. She had no other choice. Kieran had already moved on, and with Selene already well on her way of stepping into her place, Aria knew her presence would only cause more pain. But how could she leave? Where would she go? She had nothing but the life growing inside her.

Aria wiped her tears away, determination hardening her heart. She would not let them see her break. For her unborn children's sake, she would leave with her head high. Kieran no longer deserved to know of them. He had made his decision, and now she would make hers.

Little did Aria know, across the packhouse, Selene was spinning her web. Standing in front of her mirror in her lavishly decorated room, a wicked smile danced across her lips. It wouldn't be long before she had everything that she had ever wanted, Kieran, the title of Luna, and all the power that came with it. Before it could fall into place, though, she had one vital thing that needed to take place. Aria had to fall, utterly and completely.

"It is not enough that she leaves," Selene spat, her eyes agleam with malice. "She needs to be shamed. I want the whole pack to despise the very mention of her, to turn their backs upon her, just as Kieran did."

She had always envied Aria, and the very moment her former friend had been chosen to be Luna, a plot for her downfall had already begun. Aria had it all: the power, the love, and the respect of everybody, but not for long. Selene had begun whispering into the ears of the pack members, filling them with doubts about how worthy Aria was to be Luna.

"She's weak," she told them. "Couldn't even give our Alpha an heir. How can she lead us when she can't even fulfill her duties as a mate?"

The pack had started to doubt Aria's position, but Selene needed something more serious and public that would shame her irreparably. She knew exactly how to manage it. Tomorrow, Selene would reveal Aria's biggest secret to the pack, that she was pregnant, and she was going to twist it to make it sound like Aria had kept her pregnancy a secret, like she had cunningly tried to snare Kieran with her pregnancy after he had already moved on.

The pack would turn violently aggressive toward her. They would see her as weak, a needy woman holding on to a mate that didn't want her anymore. And when Aria was amongst them now without a title, shamed, defeated, Selene would be there to take her place as the new Luna.

In her head, Selene's scheme was perfect. By tomorrow morning, when the pack gathered, Aria would be done.