BETRAYED: The Night That Changed It All

One Month Ago…

~ANORA~

“Stop right here,” I instruct the gamma controlling the carriage.

The carriage rolls to a halt, wheels crunching over loose gravel, and another older gamma opens the door from outside, offering me a hand to help me come down. Evening is settling in, painting the sky in deep oranges and pinks.

“Luna, are you sure you want to stop in the outer bailey?” the older gamma asks, his brows pulling together with worry.

I nod with a smile, gathering the gifts I have bought for Rorik’s name-day and our first anniversary against my chest. “Do not worry, Henri. I want to surprise Rorik,” I say.

“Ah, young love,” he says, with a knowing smile. “Reminds me of my early days with Isolde.”

We both laugh, and he starts leading me towards the pack house castle. Henri is my father’s trusted gamma. After my parents’ death, he retired from active duty and chose to guard me instead. He is one of the men who watched me grow, who taught me to sit a horse before I could properly walk, and I trust him more than most of the wolves inside these walls.

I had travelled to Moon Shadow Pack for the Lunar Ball preparations. All the Lunas from the Western packs have gathered for three days for the preparation of the Grand Masquerade Ball.

In these three days, the Lunas discuss the exchange of grain and medicinal herbs between packs, bless silks and decide on the colours that represent the unity of the packs for the next year. The final night is marked by the Grand Masquerade, where the Alphas arrive in their finest furs to reclaim their Lunas.

Each season is hosted by one of the Alphas in the Western Packs. Moon Shadow Pack is hosting it this season, so all the Lunas have travelled there for the three-day gathering.

Wanting to surprise Rorik, my husband, for his name-day, I come home early, instead of waiting for him to arrive tonight. That’s the reason I decide to alight the carriage in the outer bailey and continue the rest of the way on foot. My heart is already beating faster than it should, silly and girlish, as though I am eighteen again and not a married Luna.

I have commissioned a leather belt embossed with the Crimson Moon crest, and a fine golden-hilted dagger. I imagine his face lighting up when I walk through the heavy oak doors of our chambers with gifts in my arms. I imagine the way his mouth will curve in surprise, before he pulls me into him.

I want us to share a private feast, make love to each other, before going back together for the masquerade. The plan feels perfect.

When I finally reach the private Alpha quarters, the air changes. A different scent hits me. It is thick, musky, and intimate. Then I hear the sounds drifting from our bedchamber. Moans. Groans. Low, desperate gasps. My husband’s scent is wrapped tightly around my best friend’s.

“No,” I whisper, my heart dropping into my stomach like a stone. I squeeze my eyes shut, then open them again, praying it is just my imagination playing tricks. It has to be.

My first instinct screams at me to turn around and walk away. What I don’t know can’t destroy me, right? But my legs move forward anyway, almost against my will. I pray to the moon goddess that it should just be a vivid dream.

Then I push the door open, and reality crashes over me like ice water. Rorik is on top of Lindis, my best friend, thrusting into her with raw, passionate intensity. His mouth is on her throat, kissing and biting as Lindis moans beneath him.

“Oh, yes, Rorik…goddess yes!” Lindis purrs, her voice thick with pleasure. “Fuck, yes, YES!”

Her nails rake down Rorik’s bare back. Her legs are locked around his waist, toes curled tight in ecstasy.

“RORIK!” My scream tears from my throat before I can stop it.

The gift parcel and the dagger fall from my hand, hitting the stone floor.

Rorik startles, pulling out of Lindis, his face a mask of shock. Lindis scrambles to drag a fur throw over her nakedness, her eyes wide.

“You bitch!” I yell like a deranged woman. I cross the room in three furious strides and lunge at Lindis, grabbing a fistful of her hair and yanking hard.

“Anora, wait! I can explain!” Rorik stammers, his hands hovering uselessly in the air.

But I can’t hear him over the roaring in my ears. Lindis doesn’t fight back; she only sobs dramatically, reaching for Rorik.

“Help me, dear!”

“You shameless harlot!” I scream. “I trusted you—”

A strong hand suddenly wraps around my waist, and I am yanked backwards. I fly through the air for a heartbeat before landing hard on my backside. Rorik has just pulled me off Lindis. I stare up in stunned silence as Rorik wraps protective arms around Lindis, glaring down at me with eyes already flashing gold, his wolf dangerously close to the surface.

Rorik is protecting Lindis from me, I think. Only mates protect each other like that.

“Don’t you dare hurt my mate!” Rorik snarls, the words landing like a death blow.

I clutch my chest as a sharp, physical pain rips through my ribcage. Tears stream down my face in hot, uncontrollable rivers. I look up at the two people I have loved most in the world: my childhood best friend and the man I have loved for years and have given everything to. Both of them are staring back at me like I am the enemy.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

The word hammers inside my skull like a nail being driven deeper with every repetition.

How?

“I was going to tell you,” Rorik says. His voice has gone calm now, almost gentle. “But I didn’t know how. Lindis is my mate, and… I’m glad you know now.”

I stare at him. There is no guilt in his eyes. No trace of the man who once held me through every storm.

“You… you said you would reject your mate for me,” I whisper brokenly. “You promised. You love me, Rorik. I know it. You said it didn’t matter that I didn’t have a wolf.”

Rorik looks at me for a long moment. “I don’t need your wolf to see that you are nothing to me, Anora. My mate is Lindis. I’ve just been… keeping up appearances. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

The words land like blows. So easy. So clean. So final.

This isn’t what he whispered to me on my eighteenth birthday, when I stood trembling after failing to shift. He took my face in his hands and swore he would love me forever. That he would reject his true mate if he ever found her. That I was enough. My mind reels. If Rorik and Lindis are mates… that means they already know. Before he ever courted me. Before he let me fall in love with him. I have been played from the very beginning.

I clutch my chest and sob aloud at the knowledge. Rorik shifts as if he might reach for me, but Lindis tugs him back with a smug little smirk curling her lips.

“Let her be, my love,” Lindis coos, her eyes locked on mine. “She’ll be fine. Heartbreak doesn’t kill anyone.”

To twist the knife, Lindis leans up and presses a lingering kiss to Rorik’s jaw, her hand sliding down beneath the furs. Rorik lets out a low, guttural moan, his eyes rolling back as she begins stroking his still erect dick, right there, in front of his wife. Rorik groans low in his throat as Lindis kisses her way down his chest and wraps her lips around his shaft. His head falls back, eyes rolling shut in pleasure as her head begins to bob up and down. Lindis lets out a soft chuckle.

I watch in frozen horror as my childhood best friend, the girl I have shared every secret with, someone I have loved like a sister, does this to me without a shred of remorse.

“You can leave or stay and watch,” Lindis murmurs in a sultry voice, pausing only to trail her tongue slowly up Rorik’s shaft. “The choice is yours.”

I can’t breathe. The air in the room feels like poison. I stagger to my feet in a daze, turn, and run. I don’t stop until I reach the stables. Ignoring the startled looks from omegas and warriors, I throw myself onto a horse and spur the animal forward.

Then I ride into the woods. Fast. With no idea where I am going, only that I need to get as far away from that bedchamber as possible.