2. SIENNA

The pack house is alive with celebration. Laughter echoes through the corridors, music reverberates through the stone walls, and the air smells of food, wine, and triumph. Every sound feels louder than it should, sharper, like it is scraping against my skin. This place has never felt more crowded, yet I have never felt more alone. Everyone is celebrating the rise of a new Alpha and Luna. Everyone except the girl who was supposed to stand there beside him.

I am sitting on the edge of the bed in my childhood room, staring at walls that have seen too much of me. This room has held my tears, my fears, my small hopes that I never dared speak aloud. I take it in slowly, like I am memorizing a place that will soon no longer exist for me. Maybe now I understand. Maybe everyone was right about me all along. I should have never been here. I never truly belonged. I should have never believed him. I should have never believed his promises of me being his Luna, of us standing together, of forever.

Bitterness fills my mouth until I can taste it. I trusted him so completely that now there is nothing left inside me to hold onto. The emptiness is worse than anger. Worse than pain. It is quiet and consuming.

My stomach twists violently. Bile rises in my throat, sudden and unforgiving. I barely make it to the washroom before everything I ate in the morning comes back up. My body trembles as I grip the sink, panting, struggling to breathe through the nausea and the ache in my chest. When it finally passes, I rinse my mouth and lift my head slowly.

The girl staring back at me is unrecognizable. Her eyes are hollow. Her face looks older, harder. The softness is gone. The belief in love, mates, and promises has been stripped away in a single night. What stands here now is what is left of her. A ghost wearing my face.

My hands move without thought, resting over my stomach. My touch softens there instinctively. I swallow hard. I had wanted to give him a gift today. Something pure. Something that came from love and hope. A symbol of what we were building together. My throat tightens as realization settles in. He does not deserve it. He does not deserve this life. He does not deserve us.

I step back into the room, wiping my face, determined to leave before I lose the little strength I have left. I am packing the last of my things when I sense him before I see him. The air shifts. My heart stutters. Then he is there, standing near the doorway.

A gasp escapes me before I can stop it.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, my voice sharper than I feel, as I throw the towel onto the bed and shove the remaining clothes into my trunk.

“Are you leaving?” he asks, disbelief heavy in his voice. “Where are you going to go?”

Something inside me snaps. I fling the T-shirt in my hand into the trunk with more force than necessary.

“What do you mean?” I turn to face him fully now. “You think I would run back to you after what you did today? You think I would beg you to take me back and live like a dirty secret while you parade Eloise around as your Luna? You think I cannot exist without you?” My voice rises despite my effort to control it. “Huh?”

I shove him hard, tears finally spilling over. I hate that he can still do this to me. I hate that my body remembers him even now.

“Si, baby,” he says quickly, reaching for me. “That’s not what I meant. Please. Why are you leaving? Let me fix this. Just hear me once.”

Every cell in my body screams at me to listen. To believe him. To stay. But I can’t. I slam the trunk shut, the sound echoing through the room, final and unforgiving. I lock it. The click feels like a sentence being passed. As I bend to lift it, his hand grabs my arm, spinning me back toward him.

I glare at him, pure fury burning through the pain. He lets go immediately, as if realizing too late what he has done.

“I was trapped,” he says desperately. “You know how hard it was for me to become Alpha. If I didn’t choose the right Luna, someone else could have challenged me. I had to secure my position. I had to choose the Head Beta’s daughter. Else—”

A bitter laugh tears out of me. I can’t stop it. It sounds broken even to my own ears.

“Until today,” I say, voice trembling now, “even at this moment, I believed you. Every word. But now I see it clearly. You’re just like the rest of them. Power hungry. Greedy. Empty words and empty promises.” I step closer, pointing at him. “Am I not the Head Beta’s daughter? Or did you forget that too? Oh, right. I’m no longer his daughter. I’m just the curse his fated mate left behind.”

I clap slowly, mockery burning through the tears. “I’m so sorry, Your Highness.”

He takes a step forward.

“No,” I snap. “Don’t come closer. Don’t touch me.” My chest heaves. “If this is the kind of Alpha and man you are going to be, then I am grateful you didn’t choose me. I gave my heart, my soul, my body to a kind and honorable man. Not a coward who sells his mate for power.”

I look at him one last time. “From today, don’t look for me. Don’t search for me. You got what you wanted. Your throne. And you used me to get there. Goodbye, Your Highness.”

“Si, please, don’t misunder—”

“No.” I cut him off sharply. “You don’t get to call me that. Not after choosing my own stepsister, knowing exactly what she did to me. Not after replacing your fated mate for power.” My voice breaks, dropping into a whisper. “I wish I had never trusted you. And I wish you had never saved me that day. If killing me was all you were going to do in the end, you should have let me die then.”

The words hit him hard. He stumbles back like I struck him.

I lift my trunk and walk past him, out of the room, out of the only place that ever felt like home. I do not look back.

I don’t know where I am going. I don’t have a plan. All I know is that I have to live. For the life growing inside me. For the life born from what we once had. For the tiny soul trusting me to bring it into this world.

My steps grow heavier. My vision blurs. The noise of celebration fades until there is only ringing in my ears.

Then my strength gives out.

The world tilts.

And everything goes dark.