1. The Betrayal

CLARA.

"What the fuck is happening, Alaric?!"

The door slams open under my hand, the sound echoing through the room, loud and violent, matching the storm raging inside me.

“What is going on?!”

My voice cuts through the air, sharp, shaking with fury I can’t control, burning my throat raw as it tears out of me.

The fuck. I can’t believe my eyes.

Alaric turns sharply, Emma freezes beside him, stepping away a second later, fixing her dress, but it's too late, I have already seen enough, the scent of sweat and sex still thick in the air.

“You said…” My voice trembles in fury. “You said you were just friends.”

My supposed husband doesn’t answer, just looks at me with that same calm expression that makes something tighten in my chest.

That same look.

He knows. He fucking knows.

"You know?" My nostrils flare.

“Choose your accusation carefully, Clara.”

"You know, Alaric!" I snap, my steps heavy as I move closer, each step echoing too loudly in the room, like I’m the only one making noise in a world that’s gone still.

"I just came from the grounds. I saw them. Humans chained like animals. And my father—my father was on his knees. Why is my father chained?!”

My nails dig into my palms, yet not a single muscle in him moves.

Nothing, not even guilt, not even a flicker.

“Answer me, Alaric!”

The slap comes out of nowhere.

My head snaps to the side, pain exploding across my cheek, a sharp ringing fills my ears, drowning everything else out, and for a second, I can’t feel anything but the heat spreading across my skin, my vision flashing white for a heartbeat, the taste of iron flooding my mouth as my teeth cut into my lip.

Then his voice cuts through, cold, detached and commanding as always.

“With whose permission did you enter my office first?”

Slowly, I turn back to him, my cheek burns, my vision blurs for a moment but I don't look away when I say this.

"I am your WIFE."

"Wife?" Emma laughs. "Wake up, bitch. You were just a pawn, something that was useful."

No.

This… no. How could this be true?

"No," the word leaves me, even though I know what's happening.

“You really thought you meant something, didn’t you?” Alaric says, stepping closer, his presence suffocating now as his shadow falls over me.

“I built everything to destroy them,” he adds. “And you… you helped me do it.”

My breath catches. What have I done? Just because of my foolishness, now all the people who trusted me are suffering.

My father..my cousins... friends.

Emma moves close to Alaric again, whispering something in his ear, which I no longer care about.

I caused this. All of this is because of me… they're suffering because of me.

Alaric crouches down, watching me like I’m nothing more than the dirt on his shoes. “You can stay,” he says casually. “But don’t question me again. I will let you live. You will keep your rooms, your comforts… everything but not your title.”

Title? I had one?

His fingers brush my chin, forcing me to look at him.

“Be quite. Be obedient. And I may still keep you as my breeder.”

My hands shake before I slap him hard with all the strength I could gather, the crack echoing in the silent room.

“I would rather die.”

His jaw tightens, his hands fisting into my hair, yanking painfully at my scalp, forcing my head back, pain shooting down my spine.

“Then die.”

—--

It's been a week since I was brought here. And the most pathetic thing is, I didn't even know there's a place like this here even though I have been here for almost a year now.

Too much for being the Alpha King's wife.

My body aches, every inch of me sore and heavy, chains biting into my wrists every time I move, cold metal scraping against raw skin, the wounds never fully closing, always tearing open again. I don’t speak, even when my throat is dry and my body screams for rest, each breath scraping through my chest like broken glass, I don't beg.

I am going to die and I will die with my fucking dignity. At least I have that left, not that it means much here.

Footsteps echo and within minutes I see her. Emma, the new Luna of this place. On a second thought, she has always been the Luna, all I did was hold a place.

Now it all makes sense, why they were too sweet, why they cared too much… but it's too late. Should’ve known. People like them don’t do kindness without a reason.

Her nails press into my hollowed cheeks as she forces my face up, her grip digging into bone, sharp enough to make my vision blur again.

"What have you decided, bitch?" she asks, her voice filled with disdain.

I look right into her eyes and spit into her face. A sharp slap echoes a second later but I'm used to it now, my head snapping again, the sting blooming across already bruised skin.

"Grab her!"

Rough hands grab me, dragging me forward. My knees scrape against the ground, sharp pain shooting up my legs, skin tearing against rough stone, but I barely react.

The open air hits me, cold and harsh, everyone is gathered here, their eyes fixed on me, their whispers like distant noise in my ears.

And then I see him. My father.

The man who never cared if I lived or died. The man who sold me to this animal. And yet… I haven’t even seen him enough in my life to remember his face clearly. But this—him on his knees, chained—will stay etched in my mind forever.

'Stop with that attitude and do what they say. Peace is all that matters, Clara.'

Those were his words, and now look where that brought him, brought me.

Why did you marry me to that animal, father?

The one standing at the center watching everyone like he owns them. Soon his Luna joins him, whispering something in his ear.

And when he looks at me again, his eyes burn with anger.

Yes, I did spit on your fucking Luna. If my hands were free, I would show him a fuck off sign too.

“Finish it.”

The Gamma steps forward, and then in a blur of a moment he turns into a full wolf, bones cracking, flesh shifting with a sickening sound.

My head turns sharply to Alaric who has that same cold look, and beside him Emma smirks.

This… this is—

I was prepared to die, but this cruelly…

The thought doesn't finish, as the wolf lunges at me.

Pain explodes through me, teeth sink into my flesh, tearing, ripping. A scream rips from my throat before I can stop it, raw and broken, my body jerking violently, but there’s no escape.

It hurts. God, it fucking hurts.

Warm blood spills, soaking into the dirt beneath me, the metallic taste filling my mouth. My vision blurs, the world spinning as agony consumes everything.

But worse than the pain—

Is him.

I force my eyes open, Alaric stands there, arms around Emma, no signs of regret on his face.

The man I chose, I trusted, the one who killed me and my people.

If I get another chance, if I live even as a ghost, I will destroy you, just the same way you did.

I will protect them, every human, every life you ever took.

And I…

My breath falters, each inhale weaker than the last, slipping away from me.

I swear… I'll… kill you with these very hands.

And I will never… make the same mistake again… to trust.

I'll… kill.

Even if it’s the last thing I do.