Chapter 4

Olivia Anderson's POV

The wind howled like it was mourning me already.

They dragged me from the pack house at dawn…two of Smith’s new enforcers, wolves I’d once laughed with at feasts, now stone-faced and silent.

"Leave me alone you bastards! I command you!" I yelled, enduring the burn from the silver chains.

"We don't take orders from you anymore...You are now equal to an omega!" The filthy enforcers laughed so loud that I could see a pair of yellow teeth.

I cringed with disgust.

I tried to stop myself from crying. My own pack, my father's pack had turned against me. Lila...foolishly, I never saw her true colours.

 My wrists were bound with silver-laced rope that burned every time I twisted. My crimson gown from the banquet was torn at the hem, stained with my father’s blood and my own tears. I hadn’t slept. I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t even screamed since they pried my father’s body from my arms.

I saved my strength. Because I knew what was coming.

They marched me through the mist-shrouded pines to the eastern cliff…the one the elders called Widow’s Drop. It was a place where adulterers and other offenders were killed. 

It was a sheer fall of three hundred feet onto jagged rocks and black water that never forgave. Rogues, traitors and those unwanted  crossed our borders ended here. 

I was all three now. I was being treated like an animal.

Smith waited at the edge with his backlit by the rising sun. He wore my father's alpha clock. A gown only real alphas deserved.

 Lila stood beside him, wrapped in a fur cloak that had once belonged to my mother. Her hand rested possessively on his arm. She looked radiant,  like the moon had personally kissed her good morning.

They hadn’t even let me change. My belly was still soft, still carrying the only piece of hope I had left. The pain felt heavier than the ropes. My eyes were red from crying. 

Smith’s eyes flicked to it once. Then away.

“Olivia Anderson,” he said, formal, cold, like he was reading a sentence instead of ending a life. “You stand accused of treason against the new order of Red Mist Pack. By refusing to accept the moon goddess’s true choice, you threaten the stability of the pack. For the good of all—”

“Spare me the speech,” I cut in, voice raw but steady. “You’re not doing this for the pack. You’re doing it because I carry something you can never have again.”

His jaw tightened. Just a flicker. But I saw it.

Lila stepped forward, lips curling. “You were never meant to be Luna. You were a placeholder. A pretty little princess who thought love mattered more than power.” She leaned closer, voice dropping to a venomous whisper. “He chose me because I’m strong enough to give him heirs. Real ones. Not… mistakes.”

My wolf which has been silent since the banquet finally stirred. She let out a low, dangerous growl built in my chest, weak but alive. Bond breaking was the most dangerous thing in the world. It was a miracle I even woke up. So many beloved died from a broken bond.

Smith raised a hand. “Enough.” He nodded to the enforcers.

They shoved me forward without caring about my pup.

I stumbled to the very edge, toes curling over crumbling rock. Below, the river roared, white foam gnashing like teeth. The wind tore at my hair, whipping strands across my face. I could smell pine, blood, salt. Freedom I would never taste again.

Smith stepped closer. Close enough that I could see the storm in his eyes flicker. The same eyes that softened when they stared into mine.

“Do it quickly,” he told the enforcers. “She doesn’t need to suffer.”

One enforcer grabbed my bound arms from behind. The other placed a massive hand on my shoulder. 

I twisted, just enough to look Smith in the eye one last time.

“You’ll regret this,” I said, quiet but clear. “ I swear… one day, when you’re alone in that big alpha bed with no heir, no mate who truly wants you, no pack that doesn’t whisper behind your back..you’ll remember the day you murdered your own child. And you’ll choke on it.”

His face didn’t change. But his hand twitched toward his chest, like the words had struck bone.

Lila laughed highly and brittle. “She’s delusional. Do it now.”

The enforcer behind me forced a stingy liquid that burnt my throat and made my stomach burn so badly that I had no time to cry. Hot tears flowed down my cheek, and before I could scream…He shoved me hard.

My body tipped forward as time slowed.

I felt the moment my feet left the earth and my pup dying inside me.

The wind rushed up to meet me, screaming in my ears. My bound hands flew out instinctively, useless. I saw their grinning faces from the cliff. Lila waved with a smile, kissing Smith. 

That was my last sight as Olivia Anderson.

My gown billowed around me like blood-red wings and inside me…I felt a tiny movement….my pup kicked once as if saying goodbye.

I closed my eyes…surrending to fate.

Flashes came then, bright and cruel:

Smith’s laugh when we raced through the woods as teenagers.  

My father lifting me onto his shoulders at my first shift.  

The way the moonflowers glowed the night Smith marked me, whispering promises when he marries me.

Lila’s smile when we were children, promising we’d always protect each other.

All lies.

The waves rushed up first.

I didn’t scream.

I simply had one clear, burning thought as the world tilted into black:

‘If I survive this… they will pay.’

The water hit like a thousand silver blades. It was freezing cold, dark.

Everything went quiet.