Chapter 2: The Truth in Darkness

I sat frozen on my bed for hours after Elena left. The small clock on my wall ticked toward midnight, each second a hammer against my skull.

She was lying. She had to be lying.

But deep down, I knew she was not. Every strange look, every whispered conversation that stopped when I entered a room, every time Damien disappeared for hours with no explanation. The signs had been there all along. I had just been too afraid to see them.

My wolf whimpered inside me, weak and broken. The mate bond should have warned me. It should have shown me Damien’s betrayal. But my connection to my wolf was so damaged, so suppressed, that I barely felt anything anymore.

The clock struck eleven thirty.

I should not go. I should stay in my tiny room and pretend I never heard Elena’s words. Ignorance was easier than truth.

But something stirred inside me. A tiny spark of something I thought had died long ago. Anger.

I stood on shaking legs and left my room.

The packhouse was quiet at night. Most wolves were asleep or out on patrol. I moved through the shadows like a ghost, which was fitting since I had become invisible to everyone here anyway.

The Lunas’ chambers were on the second floor in the east wing. My old room. The place where I had once dreamed of building a life with my mate.

I climbed the stairs slowly, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might burst from my chest. Part of me hoped Elena was playing a cruel joke. Part of me already knew what I would find.

The hallway was empty. Moonlight streamed through the tall windows, casting everything in silver and shadow. I reached the ornate double doors and pressed my ear against the wood.

Silence.

Maybe no one was inside. Maybe I could return to my room and pretend this night never happened.

Then I heard it. A low moan. A feminine laugh.

My hand moved to the door handle before I could stop myself. It was unlocked. Of course it was. They did not expect anyone to interrupt them. Who would dare?

I pushed the door open slowly, the hinges silent.

The room was lit by candles. Dozens of them, creating a romantic glow that made my stomach turn. The massive four-poster bed dominated the space. My marriage bed.

And there, tangled in silk sheets, were my husband and my sister.

Damien’s lips were on Elena’s neck. Her hands were in his hair. They had not noticed me yet, too lost in each other.

I stood frozen in the doorway, unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to do anything but watch my entire world crumble.

Elena saw me first. Her eyes met mine over Damien’s shoulder, and she smiled. Actually smiled. Then she moaned louder, making a show of it.

“Damien,” she purred. “You are so much better than her. So much stronger.”

He pulled back to look at her, his face full of desire I had never seen directed at me.

“Do not speak of her,” he said. “You are everything she could never be.”

“Tell me you love me,” Elena demanded, her eyes still locked on mine.

“I love you,” Damien said without hesitation. “I have loved you since the moment we met. Being bound to Aria was the Moon Goddess’s cruellest joke.”

Each word was a blade. Each word drew blood.

“And the baby?” Elena asked, placing his hand on her stomach. “You are happy about our baby?”

Our baby. Not his and mine. His and hers.

“I cannot wait to meet our son,” Damien said softly, tenderly, in a voice he had never used with me. “You will be a perfect mother. A perfect Luna.”

“But you are already mated,” Elena said, playing her game. “What will you do about poor, pathetic Aria?”

Damien’s face hardened. “I will reject her. I should have done it years ago. She is nothing. A mistake. A burden I have carried too long.”

Something inside me snapped.

I did not realise I had made a sound until they both turned to stare at me. Damien’s eyes widened in shock. Elena’s smile grew wider.

“Aria,” Damien said, climbing out of bed without an ounce of shame. He did not even bother to cover himself. “What are you doing here?”

What was I doing here? In my own room, in my own home, discovering my own husband betraying me?

“How long?” My voice came out as a whisper.

“Does it matter?” Elena said, sitting up. She made sure the sheet fell just enough to remind me of everything I lacked. “It has been long enough. Long enough for us to fall in love. Long enough for me to give him what you never could.”

“Two years,” Damien said coldly. “I have been with Elena for two years. The whole pack knows. Everyone except you, apparently.”

Two years. Seven hundred and thirty days of lies. Of humiliation. Of everyone knowing except me.

“Why?” I asked. “Why did you not just reject me when you met her?”

Damien laughed, a harsh, cruel sound. “Because rejection is public. It requires witnesses and a ceremony. I was not ready to deal with that complication. It was easier to just keep you hidden away while I lived my real life.”

“You are a coward,” I said, and was surprised by the steadiness in my voice.

His eyes flashed with rage. In two steps he was in front of me, his hand around my throat, slamming me against the wall.

“What did you say to me, Omega?”

I could not breathe. His grip was crushing my windpipe. My weak wolf could do nothing to help me.

“Damien, do not kill her yet,” Elena said lazily from the bed. “We need to do this properly. A public rejection. Let the pack see you cast off the defective mate and choose me instead.”

Slowly, Damien released me. I collapsed to the floor, gasping.

“You are right,” he said, his eyes never leaving mine. “She deserves to be humiliated one final time.”

He crouched down, forcing me to meet his gaze.

“Three days from now, at the full moon gathering, I will reject you in front of the entire pack. I will announce Elena as my true mate and future Luna. And you, Aria Moonstone, will be nothing. Not even a memory.”

He stood and returned to the bed, to Elena, dismissing me completely.

I pulled myself up and walked out on shaking legs. Behind me, I heard them laugh.

Three days. I had three days before my life ended completely.