Blood and Chains

Seraphina

Warm.

That was the first thing I felt. Warm… and wet. For a second, I thought I’d spilled wine in my sleep. Then the smell hit me. Iron, thick and metallic blood.

My eyes snapped open. The ceiling above me blurred, spinning. My head pounded like something had clawed its way through my skull. My throat burned, dry and raw. “Adrian…?” I whispered.

No answer. Strange. He always woke before me, always. I tried to move my hand…and then I realized it wouldn’t budge. Something heavy trapped it, it felt sticky.

My heart began to pound. Slowly… slowly… I turned my head. And the world ended. My mate lay beside me. Eyes open, empty and lifeless.

Blood soaked the sheets beneath him, dark and endless, spreading like a shadow that would never stop growing. And my hand…

Oh moon help me.

My hand was wrapped around a silver dagger. The blade buried deep in his chest. Pressed straight into his heart. My fingers were still holding it. Like I had just stabbed him. “No…” My voice came out broken.

I shook my head, waiting for the scene to disappear. Waiting to wake up again. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. “Adrian… get up… please…”

He didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Didn’t blink. My mate. My Alpha was dead. And I was the one holding the knife.

My stomach twisted violently. I scrambled backward off the bed, slipping on blood and crash on the floor. My hands smeared red across the tiles. My whole body trembled. “I didn’t… I wouldn’t..” But my mind was empty. Nothing, no memory. Last night… we celebrated, we drank, we laughed and then blank.

The door suddenly opened. “Alpha, I…” Gamma Rafe froze. His eyes dropped to the bed. Then to me. Then to the knife still clutched in my shaking hand. His face drained of color. “GUARDS!” he screamed, the sound shattered everything.

Boots thundered down the hall. Warriors rushed in, gasps, curses. “Moon goddess…”

“The Alpha…”

“And the Beta too..”

I turned. Only then did I see the second body. The Beta. Collapsed near the couch, throat slit, more blood, so much blood. My mind couldn’t process it.

Two bodies, two deaths, and me in the middle of it. “No… I didn’t do this… I didn’t…” Hands grabbed me. They yanked me up so hard my shoulder popped. “Get off me!”

“She killed them!”

“I didn’t!”

They dragged me across the floor. My knees scraped tile. My nightdress soaked in blood that wasn’t mine. I screamed for someone. Anyone. But no one listened.

They threw me into a cell first. Cold metal bars, no explanation, no comfort. Hours later, they dragged me out again. Straight to the judgment hall. The entire pack was there. Watching, whispering, looking at me like I was something rotten.

Screens lit up around the room. CCTV footage of me entering the Alpha’s room. No one else, pictures of the crime scene, the knife, my hand and the blood everywhere. Every image stabbed deeper than the last.

A maid stepped forward. “I saw Luna Seraphina arguing with the Alpha last night.”

A guard followed. “She went inside alone. No one came out after.”

Each word felt like another nail in my heart. “That’s a lie,” I whispered.

No one cared.

Then my friends rushed forward. Lena. Tara. And Jules. My chest cracked with relief. “She would never do this!” Lena cried out, kneeing before Elder Amira.

“She loves him!” Tara shouted. “ How could she have killed someone she loves? Does that make sense?” Tara gestured to the entire pack.

“She’s innocent!” Jules begged, facing Elder Joel.

For one moment, one tiny moment, I thought they would save me. But the crowd murmured. “They’re her friends.”

“Of course they’d lie for her. They’re biased.”

Gamma Rafe stepped forward next. “She was alone with him. Her hand held the silver knife. What more evidence do we need?”

“I don’t remember anything.” I retorted, “we were together but then it all went blank.”

“Liar!” Someone from the crowd shouted.

The elders exchanged glances, others bites on their fingers and finally the Head Elder stood.“The bond does not lie.”

My heart dropped.

“The moon has judged,” he continued. “Memory loss is a liar’s excuse. All evidence points at you, Seraphina.” He grabbed some pictures beside him and threw them at me, “ these are evidence, pictures and a few videos of how everything happened.”

“Luna Seraphina,” one announced, “you are found guilty of murdering your Alpha and Beta.”

My knees buckled. “No.. please..I didn’t..”

“Your wolf will be stripped. Your title revoked. You will be bound and sold as restitution.”

My world stopped.

“No, not Sira. Please not my wolf…” Anything but that. Anything!”

They didn’t care.

Silver chains wrapped around me. The spell began. Sira screamed inside my head. It felt like someone was tearing my soul out with their bare hands.

I screamed until my throat bled. Then…Silence. My wolf, gone. I felt empty. Like half of me had died.

They burned the Luna mark off my collarbone. Replaced it with a slave brand. The smell of my own flesh burning filled the air. No one stopped them. No one helped. Not even my friends.

Before I could even breathe, the warriors seized me, yanking me from the judgment hall.

Wolves hissed, others spat curses.They dragged me into the torture house. Whips. Ropes. Silver blades. All lined up on the table like they’d been waiting for me. I swallowed hard, unable to move, my knees weakened, breath hitched and then they all fell on me. Whips. Hits. Slaps. Cuts.

I screamed until my throat tore, I begged, pleaded but no one cared to listen. When it was over, I was empty.

LATER IN THE DUNGEON

They came to see me. Tara, Lena and Jules with tears in their eyes. “Don’t blame yourself,” Tara whispered.

“Maybe the Alpha and Beta killed each other,” Lena said. “ But then no evidence showed that.”

“Maybe it was fate,” Jules added. They held my hands through the bars. Promised everything would be okay.

That night, chains were locked around my wrists. “Prepare her,” a guard said.

“Where…?” I croaked.

“To SilverShade Pack.”

My stomach dropped.

“The rival pack bought her.”

Bought? They dragged me away, I looked back at my home. At the pack I loved, at the friends I had. At the life I once had all gone.

I still don’t know what happened that night. All I knew was I went to sleep as Luna, woke up a murderer and by sunrise… I became a slave.