Chapter 1: The Coronation Massacre

"I, Damoew Herstrong, Alpha of the Strong Black Clan, reject you as my mate and Luna."

Jasmina heard the words but couldn't process them. She stood at the edge of the coronation platform, watching Damoew pull Arlene Swinkstrong into a kiss that made the entire hall go silent.

Arlene's fingers tangled in his hair. Her body pressed against his like she belonged there.

The mate bond tore. Jasmina felt it rip through her chest, a physical wound that no one else could see. Her wolf screamed inside her, clawing to get out, to fight, to make him remember what they were supposed to be.

But Damoew didn't even look at her.

"This woman," he announced, his arm around Arlene's waist, "is stronger, smarter, and more worthy of leading beside me. Jasmina Lesvendstrong is weak. She's always been weak."

The crowd erupted. Elders shouted in protests. Pack members who'd known Jasmina since childhood stared in shock. Hardy Armstrong, the oldest elder, stepped forward with his staff raised.

"Alpha, this violates sacred law! The mate bond cannot be…"

"I am the law," Damoew cut him off. His eyes flashed gold. "Anyone who questions me can join Jasmina in exile."

Hardy's mouth snapped shut. Jasmina's hands shook.

Since two months, she had kept the secret, waiting for the right moment, waiting for today when everything was supposed to be perfect.

She'd imagined telling him after the coronation, watching his face light up when she showed him the healer's confirmation.

With all the pains and ache, she managed and slowly stepped forward. "I'm pregnant." Jasmina yelled.

The hall went dead quiet. Damoew's face twisted with shock. Then it turns to rage.

"You think a bastard child will change anything?" He stalked toward her, and Jasmina's wolf whimpered. Her mate had never looked at her like this—like she was prey. "That thing dies the moment it's born. I want it dead before it takes its first breath."

Jasmina stumbled backward. "It's your heir. Your…"

"It's nothing." Damoew turned to the guards stationed at the platform's edge. "Theo Walstrong. Take her to the servants' quarters. Starting tomorrow, Jasmina Lesvendstrong works for this pack like any other omega. She cleans, she serves, and she keeps her mouth shut."

Theo, barely twenty years old, looked between them with wide eyes. "Alpha, she's…"

"Did I stutter?"

Theo grabbed Jasmina's arm. His grip was gentle, but it didn't matter. The crowd parted as he led her away, their faces filled with pity.

Arlene's laughter followed her all the way down the hall. With her saying’’’

“Does she think she will be coronated.” And her laughter echoed out. “I’m the rightful person to be crowned as the Luna, and my lover her…. The Alpha.”

Jasmina stopped listening and told the guard to help her move faster.

The servants' quarters smelled like mildew. Theo brought her to a small room at the end of the corridor—barely large enough for a cot and a wooden chest. There was no window, not even a single candle on the floor.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, then left before she could respond.

Jasmina sat on the cot. The thin mattress offered no comfort. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, feeling the slight curve that nobody else had noticed yet.

Two months along. The healer had confirmed it, he had also promised to keep the secret until Jasmina was ready to tell Damoew.

She'd wanted it to be special. She wanted to see him smile the way he used to when they were younger, before he became Alpha, before everything changed.

And now, he wanted their child dead.

The door opened again hours later. An older woman with graying hair entered, carrying folded uniforms.

"You start tomorrow," the woman said, dropping the clothes on the chest. "Kitchen duty first. You'll scrub pots until your hands bleed, then you'll move to the laundry. Meals are twice a day in the servants' hall. You eat what we eat, no special treatment."

"I understand," Jasmina said.

The woman studied her. "You really kill someone to get the Alpha's attention?"

"What?"

"That's what they're saying. That you were so desperate to be Luna, you tried dark magic. That you put a curse on that Arlene girl." The woman shook her head. "But it didn’t work, clearly."

Jasmina wanted to scream that it was a lie, that she'd never touched dark magic, that Arlene had stolen everything from her. But the woman was already leaving.

She lay down on the cot, staring at the ceiling. And for some reasons she doesn’t understand, the mate bond was gone.

She could feel the emptiness where it used to live, a hollow space in her chest that ached worse than any injury. Damoew had severed it completely, but the pain and agony was supposed to last till two full nights but it was gone beginning the first night.

Well, Jasmina appreciated it. Because now, there was no going back from that. She just have to think about her baby.

She'd figure out how to protect it. How to survive long enough to make sure her child had a chance at life, even if she didn't.

Jasmina lay awake through the night, listening to footsteps in the corridor, voices murmuring behind closed doors, the distant sound of Arlene's laughter echoing from the main hall where the coronation celebration continued without her.

When dawn finally broke, thin light seeping under the door, Jasmina stood and tied her hair back with a strip of cloth.

She was a servant now. A disgraced and rejected omega now, carrying a child marked for death.

But she wasn't dead yet right? Neither was her baby.

That would have to be enough, because the Moon Goddess just gave her enough time to figure her life.