Arrested

 Ivanna

“No, I didn’t!”

The fog in my mind cleared, and my voice finally broke through the shock. But the moment the words left my mouth, I knew it was already too late.

The guards glared at me with bared fangs, their muscles tense, itching to tear me limb from limb. Why was June lying? Why was she blaming me for Luna’s death?

“Yes, you did,” June said, her voice steady and unyielding. She pointed an accusing finger at me. “Luna Eleanor died seconds after drinking the juice you brought her. Stop lying, Ivanna! We both know what you did. It was you. It couldn’t have been anyone else!”

“I didn’t poison her!” I cried out.

CRACK.

“Shut the fuck up, you lying bitch!” June shrieked, swinging her arm back and landing a hard, stinging slap across my cheek.

My head snapped to the side. I gasped, clutching my burning face as my eyes dilated in shock. What?!

“How dare you slap me?” I whispered, staring at her in utter disbelief.

June was an Omega. In all the years I had known her, she had never spoken to me without adding a respectful ‘Miss’ to my name. She had never even possessed the courage to look me directly in the eye. Now, suddenly, she had enough guts to strike me.

I looked frantically at the soldiers, expecting someone to step in and put her in her place, but not a single guard moved. And somehow, overwhelmed by shock and grief, my own strength completely deserted me.

Heavy, commanding footsteps echoed down the corridor. Alpha Dean strode into the room accompanied by his personal guard. The ambient pressure in the room plummeted instantly, forcing everyone to bow.

“What is going on here?” Alpha Dean demanded, his voice a low, gravelly growl that rattled the windowpanes.

“It’s the Luna, Alpha,” one of the soldiers reported, stepping aside.

“What about her? Where is my mate?!”

“She’s... she’s dead, Alpha. Look.”

Alpha Dean stepped fully into the room, his eyes locking onto his wife’s lifeless body stretched across the rug.

“Eleanor!” A guttural, agonizing howl tore from the Alpha’s throat as he dropped to his knees, pulling her into his arms. The sound of his raw, broken weeping sent a cold shudder down my spine.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face, my skin breaking into chills. I closed my eyes, desperately praying that June wouldn’t repeat her horrific lie to the Alpha. Please, Goddess. Please don’t let him believe her. I didn’t do it. I had no reason to.

Alpha Dean snapped his head up, his bloodshot eyes burning with unbridled fury. “What happened to her?! What happened to my mate?!”

“She was poisoned, Master,” June spoke up instantly.

No. Merciful Goddess, please...

“Poisoned?!” Alpha Dean roared, standing up as a wave of killer intent flooded the room. “Who would dare poison my mate in my own home?!”

“It was her!” June pointed straight at me. “It was Ivanna, Alpha! She gave Luna Eleanor poisoned juice. I saw her with my own eyes. I was right here in the room!”

“No...” My lips quivered as I scrambled to find the words. “I—I would never—”

“Arrest her!” Alpha Dean ordered, his voice echoing like thunder. “Drag her family here, too! Her entire bloodline will pay for murdering my mate!”

“Yes, Alpha!”

Rough hands grabbed me by the arms, yanking me to my feet. I screamed my innocence over and over, begging someone to listen, but Alpha Dean didn’t even turn to look at me as I was dragged away into the dark.

By nightfall, my parents and I were forced onto our knees at the center of the pack’s execution grounds, trembling before the Alpha’s dais.

“Alpha, please! My daughter is innocent! She was framed!” my father begged, his hands bound behind his back.

Surrounding the stage were thousands of pack members. The very same people who had smiled at me, complimented my hair, and showered me with gifts only hours ago were now staring at us with pure, spiteful malice.

“Framed by whom?” Alpha Dean sneered from his throne. “My Luna’s own handmaiden witnessed your daughter feeding her the poison! Ivanna is a murderer, and she will die for it!”

Alpha Dean was deaf to my parents’ desperate pleas, and the bloodthirsty crowd only fueled his rage. They chanted for our blood, demanding an immediate execution.

I stand there in numb horror. Didn’t they love me? How could they turn on me so quickly? Why won’t anyone believe me?

“Please, Alpha! Spare my daughter! She’s just a child!” my mother sobbed, her face pressed against the dirt.

“Then die in her place!” Alpha Dean growled.

“We will!” my father declared without a moment’s hesitation. “We will happily die in place of our daughter. Please, pardon her!”

Alpha Dean scoffed, leaning forward. “So be it. Guards! Drag the Beta and his wife to the execution block!”

The soldiers slammed my parents onto the cold marble blocks.

“As of today,” Alpha Dean announced to the roaring crowd, “I strip you of your Beta title. You will die as traitors, and your bloodline will be cursed forever. Execute them!”

“No! Please! Stop! Kill me instead!” I screamed hysterically, thrashing against the guards holding me down. “Don’t kill them! Please!”

My mother raised her head, locking her tear-stained eyes onto mine. “We love you, Ivanna,” she called out, her voice remarkably clear over the roar of the crowd. “Never stop fighting, my sweet girl. You will survive this. We promise!”

SWISH.

The executioner’s blade fell.

My mother’s head rolled onto the wooden platform. A second later, another blade came down, and my father fell lifeless beside her.

“NOOOOO!” A shriek torn from the deepest part of my soul burst from my throat. I collapsed to the ground, sobbing until I couldn’t breathe. The world shattered around me. My mother. My father. Gone.

“Shut up before I execute you too!” Alpha Dean snarled with disgust.

“Kill her! Avenge the Luna!” the crowd chanted in unison, their eyes burning with mob rage.

Alpha Dean raised a hand, silencing the arena. “I am tormented by the loss of my mate, but I must honor a sacred oath. Ivanna will not be granted the quick mercy of execution.”

He looked down at me with absolute contempt. “She will be demoted to the lowest rank of Omega. She will work as a maid for the rest of her miserable life. And starting today, she is stripped of her name. She will only be known as ‘The Luna’s Killer’—and treated accordingly.”

The crowd erupted into cheers, celebrating my eternal torment. I remained motionless on the bloody ground, my heart hollowed out, staring blankly at the sky as my world burned.

“Throw her into the deep dungeons!”

“Yes, Alpha!”

As the guards dragged me across the courtyard, my eyes never left my parents’ bodies. I watched in horror as their corpses were tossed carelessly into a roaring bonfire, their ashes rising into the night sky.

I couldn’t even give them a proper burial. I couldn’t say a final goodbye. They were gone. Completely gone.

Pack members hurled sharp stones and rotting garbage at me as I was hauled down into the subterranean cells. The heavy iron door slammed shut, plunging me into darkness.

Days bled into weeks. No one came for me. I was left in the cold without a drop of water or a crumb of food. Slowly, my body gave out. My breathing grew shallow. My eyes blurred. I was dying in the dark, forgotten by the world.

And then, one day, heavy footsteps echoed down the stone corridor.

“Open the cage,” a deep, dry voice commanded.

The rusted iron door screeched open. A tall, broad-shouldered figure stepped into the dim light of the cell.

Weak, breathless, and near death, I could barely lift my head. The man squatted in front of me. As my eyes slowly focused, a pair of piercing, emerald-green eyes met mine.

My heart gave a faint, painful leap.

“Ro... Rocco?” I rasped, my voice barely a whisper.

“Hello, Ivanna,” he spoke.

His tone was completely devoid of warmth—sharp, cold, and dripping with a venom that made me shiver harder than the freezing stone floor.

He held out a large, calloused hand toward me. “Would you like to come home with me?”

Without a second thought, I reached up with trembling fingers and took his hand. Relief washed over me in a wave of fresh tears. Finally. Someone came for me. Someone still cares. The boy I’ve loved my entire life is here to save me.

“Please... take me with you,” I sobbed softly.

Rocco didn’t smile. His cold, unblinking green eyes stared down at me like I was a piece of filth underneath his boot. Yet, he pulled me to my feet, lifted my fragile body into his arms, and carried me out of the dark.