All Chapters of Alpha’s Betrayal: The rejected Luna’s Secret: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

I didn’t think the pack house would ever be this noisy after the attack.Laughter and voices spilled down the corridors, the smell of roasted meat and fresh bread drifting on the warm air. For the first time in weeks, I heard music—- a fiddle and a drum from somewhere in the hall, keeping rhythm with the hum of conversation.My mother in law had worked her magic.I stood in my room while she fussed over the fall of my pale blue dress, smoothing the fabric over my stomach as though willing the wrinkles away. My hair had been braided and pinned, and small silver charms of little wolves, moons, and stars that caught the lantern light when I moved were woven into the strands“You look absolutely radiant,” Catherine said, her voice warm but firm, like I wasn’t allowed to disagree.“I look like I’ve swallowed a barrel,” I muttered, though I smiled despite myself.She pinched my chin lightly. “You look beautiful. Allow yourself to be happy tonight okay? Tonight isn’t about plans or patrol sc

Emory’s grip was firm as he slid me into the back seat of one of Sebastian’s vintage two seater cars. I had no idea why we weren’t taking one of the more normal cars, but I guessed Emory just reached for the first car keys his hands could reach. The leather was cool against my overheated skin, but my wolf was pacing restlessly inside me, hackles raised. Something was very, very wrong, and I didn’t want to think that it had anything to do with my babies.Through the windshield, I saw Catherine climbing into her own car. She looked furious, her eyes flashing with the steely calm of a Luna who’d seen too much to panic. She pulled out right behind us as Emory started the engine.“Please,” I rasped, another contraction seizing me. My claws tore weakly at the seatbelt as I arched against the leather. “Hurry.”“We’ll get you there,” Emory said without looking at me. We pulled away from the pack house, gravel spitting under the tires. Catherine’s headlights stayed steady in the rearview mirro

Four days.It had been four days since my babies had been stolen from me. Four days since I’d smelled their sweet, milky scent. Since I’d pressed kisses to their damp foreheads and whispered promises I hadn’t even been able to keep.Now there was only silence. Silence and restraint.The doctors had ordered me to bed rest after I tore myself open half-shifting in the hospital. Catherine had enforced it. She said I was too weak, that my body was still bleeding and healing, that if I tried to fight I’d collapse or even worse.So they’d bound me with soft leather straps across my wrists and ankles, tied to the bedposts. It wasn’t tight, but it was firm enough to keep me from ripping myself apart in another wild attempt to leave.My wolf raged against them, snarling day and night. Our pups are out there. We should be hunting, tracking them down, and killing anyone in our way. She lunged at the restraints, snapping inside me, but my body had given out and it wouldn’t obey.I lay there, swea

LILITH I had taken extra care to prepare everything. The fire was lit low, the curtains were drawn, and the air was perfumed with crushed lavender and bergamot. On the table, two cups waited, one laced with the white powder I had crushed to dust with the edge of a spoon. I stirred it carefully into the darker cup, watching the swirl disappear. It was a sleeping draught, it wasn’t deadly, just strong enough to make even an Alpha sleep for days. My wolf purred at my feet. He’ll come. He always comes. I smoothed my hair one last time, and checked the angle of the mirror. My reflection smiled back at me. I looked composed and elegant, and nothing like the feverish hunger that gnawed inside me. Sebastian would see poise and calm. He would never know what waited underneath. And then the knock came. It was soft, almost hesitant. I swallowed my thrill and forced my voice into a gentle murmur. “Come in.” The door creaked open, and there he was. Sebastian filled the doorway lik

LILITHThe night wrapped around me like a cloak, thick and quiet, and I smiled at the thought that I didn’t need its protection. I had my own. Still, the black fabric of my hood draped neatly over my head, the hem brushing my cheekbones, my boots whispering against the stone as I slipped out of the compound gates. I didn’t look back. Looking back was for people who feared being caught.I didn’t fear.The guards at the gate barely lifted their heads. They were used to me by now — the grieving sister of their Luna, the pretty shadow who wandered in and out of the pack house at odd hours. If they thought anything at all, it was probably that I was restless and lonely. That I couldn’t quite fit anywhere, and so I drifted.And that was the beauty of it.They underestimated me. They all did. And when people underestimated you, you became invisible.My lips curled in a smile and satisfaction spread all over me.Everything was falling into place.Sebastian’s absence from the hospital, Alora’s