His Mate, But Not His Luna

On the night meant to mark her awakening, Lysera loses everything.

Ignored all her life, the quiet twin watches as her sister Isyra is celebrated as Luna-to-be, until a single scream turns the pack against her. Accused of attacking her “pregnant” sister, Lysera is beaten, humiliated, and condemned. Even the bond meant to save her betrays her, because the Alpha she is mated to chooses Isyra.

Then the truth surfaces at the worst possible moment.

As punishment shatters her body, a secret is revealed: Lysera is pregnant. In a pack where harming a pregnant woman invites calamity, her sentence is suspended—but mercy is replaced with something far crueler. The pack demands she give her baby to Isyra, to replace the child Isyra claims to have lost.

Trapped among those who see her only as a vessel, betrayed by her own blood, and bound by ancient laws she cannot escape, Lysera must survive long enough to give birth… knowing the child she carries may never be hers.

Because Isyra’s crown was built on lies.

And because the Alpha who condemned her may one day realize the truth—when it is already too late.

Lysera is irrelevant

Lysera

It was my twenty-first birthday.

A day I had been anticipating for the past three years. The day I was supposed to finally get my wolf. Instead of my family celebrating me, they were throwing a party for my twin sister because she was finally pregnant for our Alpha.

“The Moon Goddess has been so good to us.”

“Thank the Moon Goddess for blessing our pack with Isyra.”

“She will finally become Luna. It was only a matter of time.”

“An heir is exactly what the pack needs. With all the rogue trouble, we need something to celebrate. Something to lift our spirits.”

Yes. Tonight, on our twenty-first birthday, my twin sister would be crowned the Luna of our pack.

I walked past pack members as they rushed around my father’s compound, bustling with excitement as they prepared the hall for the celebration. A few bumped into me in their hurry, but none of them stopped to apologize.

I didn’t mind.

I was used to being invisible. It was better than having their attention on me.

“Lysera!”

I flinched, snapping out of my thoughts as my mother’s sharp voice cut through the noise. She stood at the entrance of the house, her expression tight with impatience.

“Hurry up. Isyra needs you to fetch her shoes from the top of her dresser. She’s pregnant, after all, so no strenuous activity for her.”

She disappeared back inside before I could respond.

I bit down on my bottom lip at the jab in her words and followed anyway.

When I entered Isyra’s room, the difference between our lives was impossible to ignore.

My room was the smallest in the house, barely half the size of Isyra’s closet. Hers, however, was the largest room in the compound. Even bigger than our parents’.

It looked like something out of a fairy tale. Soft pink walls and silk curtains. A bed fit for a princess.

The brightness of it all made my stomach turn and it was not because I hated pink, but because it wasn’t my sister’s color.

Isyra liked purple. I liked pink.

But my father said pink was for girls, so Isyra liked pink now.

She had always been like that. The perfect people pleaser. And there was no one she wanted to please more than our father.

Isyra and I may have shared the same face, but we were opposites in every way that mattered.

From the moment we were born, my parents noticed the difference. Isyra was loud, smiling, and demanding of attention. She laughed easily, cried beautifully, and reached for everyone who looked her way. I was quiet. I observed before I spoke. I preferred corners to crowds and silence to noise.

To them, that made Isyra perfect.

They praised her confidence, admired her charm, and called her special. They said she was born to lead, born to be seen. I was called difficult, strange, and too withdrawn.

So they chose her.

They gave her their time, their affection, their pride. They dressed her in fine clothes and paraded her before the pack. They taught her how to smile, how to speak, how to be loved.

And I was slowly pushed into the background and forgotten because I did not shine the way she did.

Isyra learned early that love was something she could earn and wield.

I learned that love was something I would never be given.

I dragged a stool closer to the dresser, climbed onto it, and reached for the beautiful pink heels I knew my father had bought specifically for this occasion. I placed them neatly on Isyra’s bed before leaving her room.

“What are we going to do about this?” my mother’s panic-filled voice reached me as I approached the living room.

“Stop panicking, Lovett,” my father snapped impatiently.

I froze.

Something in his tone warned me not to move any closer. It felt like I was about to step into a conversation I was never meant to hear. As much as I wanted to escape this house—this place that suddenly felt too small, its walls pressing in on me—I knew better than to cross my father when he was in this mood.

My presence would not be welcomed.

My back throbbed with phantom pain from a few days ago, when he had whipped me for not bringing his beloved princess Isyra’s water fast enough. He had been in a snappy mood then too.

I turned, ready to retreat to my room and hide until I was summoned again, when a familiar voice stopped me.

Isyra’s.

I hadn’t even known she was home. I thought she was with the Alpha.

“If you keep panicking like this, Mom,” Isyra growled, irritation thick in her voice, “everyone will find out that I’m not pregnant.”

I gasped loudly, then slapped my hand over my mouth and pressed myself against the wall, out of their sight.

“Who is there?” my father called.

I held my breath and willed my heart to stop. One wrong move and I’d be found out.

My father was a powerful wolf. He could smell me. Hear my heartbeat. And what I had just overheard was not something I was meant to hear.

“Nobody is in the house with us. Lysera is outside helping the servants arrange everything for her celebration,” Isyra said.

In that moment, I could have kissed her.

“If only your sister could be more like you,” my father scoffed. “But she turned out useless. Does she even have her wolf yet?”

Pain sliced through me.

Nobody ever gets used to being hated by their parents.

A big party was thrown when Isyra and I turned eighteen, but the celebration was more for her. Everyone was certain she would be Alpha Henry’s mate. Everyone acted like it was her Luna’s party.

They forgot she had a twin.

Three things happened that night.

Isyra got her wolf.

I didn’t.

Nobody knew I was a late bloomer. Nobody noticed. The disappointment belonged only to me.

Isyra and Henry found out they were not fated mates.

The pack was disappointed. Alpha Henry’s parents were disappointed too. I thought he would break things off with Isyra.

He didn’t.

It was taboo for an Alpha to choose a woman who wasn’t his mate as Luna, but the rule bent for him. The pack allowed it. His parents encouraged it.

I told myself it didn’t matter.

I told myself it had nothing to do with me.

And that was true.

I never wanted what my sister had. But seeing her beside him still hurt. Not because I wished to take her place, but because it made it painfully clear that there was never a place meant for me.

So I stayed away.

From the pack house, from pack gatherings. And from anywhere I might be reminded that I didn’t belong.

But three months ago, something inside me finally broke.

After my parents chose Isyra again without even hearing me out, I did something reckless. Something I never thought I was capable of.

I left pack territory.

I went downtown to a bar where nobody knew my name, where nobody measured my worth against my sister.

I drank until the noise in my head quieted. Until the ache dulled. Until everything blurred.

And in the middle of all that haze, I saw him.

A stranger.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and devastatingly handsome. He looked a little like Henry, and my pulse spiked so violently it hurt, but I knew he wasn’t him.This man looked at me like I was important. He made me feel seen and looked at me like I mattered.

I can’t remember much of what happened that night but I remember warm hands, a deep voice against my ear, the scent of cedar and smoke. And then… nothing.

When I woke up the next morning, he was gone.

No name and no goodbye.

Since then, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about that stranger. And that only made being near Henry hurt even more so I stayed away.

“Lysera had her wolf at eighteen. But that doesn’t matter,” Mother said lightly. “As long as Isyra remains Luna, Lysera is irrelevant.”

My chest tightened until it hurt to breathe.

Even the woman who brought me into the world didn’t know I had never gotten my wolf.

Teaching her a lesson

Lysera

“What are we going to do about this whole thing?” Mother asked. “The pack would be expecting Isyra’s bump to show in a few months.”

“We’ll just arrange for Isyra to have a miscarriage after her party. We’ll say it came from the stress of the party and the pressure of having the pack’s future resting on her shoulders.” Father’s tone was smug. “The pack will feel sorry for Isyra, and it will finally silence the mouths of those who have been saying you’re not the Alpha’s mate, so you shouldn’t be the Luna.”

Only a few people were saying that. In the pack, anything the Alpha said went. Everybody followed without questioning.

“Father, you always have the most brilliant ideas.”

“Of course I do. I’ve contacted the doctors and arranged everything already, so that’s settled.” Father spoke to Isyra. “All you have to do is make sure you do a lot of laborious things tonight, and then we’ll talk about the particular day you’ll pretend to have the miscarriage.”

“After this, Henry would never leave me. He’d feel sorry for me and keep me by his side forever.”

“That’s my girl.”

I stayed pressed against the wall, my heart hammering loud and fast in my chest. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

Isyra was not pregnant. My parents and sister were fooling the pack and deceiving the Alpha.

I shook my head, not wanting to think about what would happen to my family if this was discovered or if Isyra was unable to pull off the miscarriage.

I could run to Alpha Henry right now and tell him everything… but would he believe me?

Alpha Henry would think I was jealous of my beautiful and radiant sister, who shone brighter than the stars. They would say I was angry that she was going to become the Luna while I was nothing.

But if they were discovered, I could be punished alongside her.

There was nothing I could do but hope and pray that Isyra would pull it off and become the Luna, even if that was what I had always wanted for myself.

I slowly pushed myself off the wall and retreated to my room, moving as soundlessly as I could.

_____

I stood at the sideline, trying my best to appear smaller than I was.

Tonight was supposed to be mine too. My twenty-first birthday. The day I had prayed for, the day I had counted down to like it was salvation. But nobody was here for me.

Nobody even remembered that today was also my twenty first. All eyes were on Isyra.

The pack circled Isyra like she was the Moon Goddess herself, laughing, cheering, clapping as though they hadn’t just stolen something from me. Their voices rose in a chorus of admiration and gratitude that made my stomach twist.

“Happy birthday, Luna-to-be!”

“May the Moon Goddess bless you!”

“You’re glowing, Isyra!”

“And congratulations to you too, Alpha Henry.”

The last part always came with grins and bows.

Alpha Henry stood beside my sister, tall and powerful, dressed like the king he was. The moonlight kissed the hard edges of his face, making him look almost unreal. His hand rested on the small of Isyra’s back, steadying her as the elders spoke blessings and prayers around them.

Isyra leaned into him like she belonged there. Like he was hers.

My chest ached in a way I didn’t have words for. It wasn’t anger or bitterness, it was the hollow pain of being forgotten. Not a single person had looked at me tonight.

Getting your wolf was supposed to be a moment your family celebrated, a night where you were talked about and your existence mattered. But for me, there was nothing. No smiles and no pride or even an acknowledgment that this night was mine too.

I stood there surrounded by people and felt completely alone, like I had always been—seen only when I was useful, and invisible the rest of the time.

But I did none of that.

I swallowed my bitterness and forced it down until it sat like poison in my chest. I pressed my lips together and stood still.

The moon rose higher, bright and round, watching from above like it didn’t care who suffered under it. And the longer the ceremony dragged on, the more restless I became.

Something inside me was clawing.

A strange heat stirred in my blood. My bones ached—subtle at first, then sharper—like my body was impatient… like it was waiting.

Waiting for something.

My wolf.

It was almost time.

I glanced around carefully. My father’s eyes, the ones that had been warning me to behave, were no longer on me

.

He was busy laughing with the elders, his voice loud and proud as if he had personally gifted the world my sister. My mother hovered around Isyra, adjusting her gown, smoothing her hair, smiling widely like a proud mama.

No one was watching me.

This was the perfect opportunity to sneak away, get my wolf, and return before my father noticed I was missing. If I stayed here, the moon would force me to shift, and it would take attention from Isyra. My father would kill me. The pack would say I was trying to steal the spotlight.

So I slipped away quietly.

I moved behind the crowd and into the shadows, keeping my head lowered and my footsteps light as I headed in the direction of the woods just behind where the celebration was taking place.

It was close enough that I could change and return before anyone noticed I was gone.

My heart raced with excitement.

This was it.

I ran deeper into the trees where moonlight broke through the branches in silver streaks. The air was colder there. It was sharper, clean, freeing. My lungs filled with it like I was breathing freedom for the first time.

Then the heat inside me surged.

It wasn’t painful the way I had imagined it would be.

It was… wild.

Like something that had been asleep for years finally woke up and stretched.

My skin tingled. My spine arched. My muscles tightened as though they were being pulled into place by invisible hands. I quickly pulled off my clothes.

And then—

A sharp crack.

A rush.

I fell forward, breath stolen from my throat, and when I landed, it wasn’t on hands and knees anymore.

It was on paws.

I blinked once.

Twice.

The world looked different.

Larger… brighter.

I could smell everything—the damp earth, the sap in the trees, the distant scent of smoke and roasted meat from the celebration, the perfume on the pack members carried by the wind.

I lowered my head and stared at my legs.

Fur.

White fur, clean as snow under the moonlight.

My chest swelled with something so intense it nearly shattered me.

I did it.

I finally had my wolf.

A sound escaped me—half laugh, half choked sob—but it came out as a soft whine. I threw my head back and let out a low howl, quiet enough not to be heard over the celebration, but full of everything I had ever wanted.

My wolf.

I leapt forward, running through the woods, paws barely touching the ground. I was so fast, it made my stomach flip with thrill. I darted between trees, jumped over fallen branches, rolled in the grass just because I could.

My heart felt light.

Like I could fly.

Like nothing could touch me.

A snap of a twig sliced through the night.

I froze instantly, ears pricking.

The smell hit me before I saw her. It smelled of sweet floral perfume.

Isyra.

Her gown was white and flowing, shining against the darkness. Her hair fell over her shoulders like silk, and on her lips sat a wide smile—bright and beautiful, the kind that made everyone fall at her feet.

For one stupid moment, hope surged.

Maybe she followed me because she realized today wasn’t supposed to be only hers. Maybe she wanted to see me shift. Maybe she was happy for me. Maybe she—

“Well,” she said lightly, clapping her hands once. “Look at you.”

Her gaze dragged over my white fur with open amusement, slow and deliberate, as if she were inspecting something beneath her. Then she laughed. The sound was soft and mocking.

“So this is what you ran off to do while everyone was celebrating me?” she asked. “Turning twenty-one and still no one even bothered to look for you. How sad.”

She circled me, her heels crunching against the fallen leaves.

“Did you notice?” she continued casually. “Not Mother. Not Father. Not a single soul remembered you existed.”

Her smile sharpened.

“Of course not. Tonight is mine.”

I stayed where I was, my heart thudding painfully against my ribs.

Isyra stopped in front of me and placed a hand over her stomach. The gesture was gentle, almost reverent. Her smile softened, her eyes drifting, unfocused, as if she were staring into a future only she could see.

“My baby,” she murmured. “The future Alpha.”

There was pride in her voice. Something almost dreamy.

For a fleeting moment, I wondered if she believed it herself—if she had told the lie so many times it had become real to her.

Then her gaze snapped back to me, sharp and accusing.

“And you,” she said coldly. “Standing there, pretending you don’t want what’s mine.”

I stiffened.

“You’ve always wanted my life, Lysera,” she went on. “Don’t deny it. You’ve always been jealous. Of me. Of Henry. Of everything.”

Jealous?

The word didn’t make sense. I had never reached for Henry. Never competed. He had chosen her openly, broken ancient laws for her, damned the consequences without hesitation. I had accepted that long ago.

But Isyra had never believed that. And I was finally beginning to understand that she never would.

She had taken everything from me—love, attention, even space to exist—and still she feared I would steal from her in return. Because to her, that was how the world worked.

“You can’t stand it, can you?” she said bitterly. “That I’m getting married. That I’m carrying his child. That I’ll be Luna… and you’ll be nothing.”

I wanted to tell her she was wrong. That I had never wanted her life. That I had only ever wanted peace. But before I could speak, Isyra tilted her head, studying me with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Did you really think I didn’t know you were listening earlier at the house?” she asked lightly.

My blood ran cold. I took a step back, claws digging into the soil. She laughed softly, as if my fear delighted her.

“I saw you,” she continued. “Hiding there like a little rat. But don’t misunderstand me, Lysera.”

Her eyes gleamed under the moonlight with a dark light.

“I didn’t stop Father from catching you because I wanted to help you.” She stepped closer. “I stopped him because I have a better plan.”

A better plan? I was still trying to understand what she meant when Isyra lifted her hand. Her nails elongated and in one swift motion, she tore into her palm.

Blood bloomed bright and red beneath the moon.

I recoiled, my wolf jerking back as the metallic scent slammed into my senses.

Isyra didn’t flinch. She laughed.

She smeared the blood into the back of her skirt, staining the white fabric, then dragged her nails across her arms and face, tearing skin until crimson streaked down.

Then she dropped to the ground, rolling and smearing herself in dirt and blood.

I stood frozen, horror rooting me in place. What was she doing?

Isyra glanced up at me once, her mouth curving in a sharp smile.

And then she screamed.

“HELP!” she shrieked. “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”

She scrambled away from me like I was a monster.

“LYSERA! STOP! PLEASE—STOP!”

My heart stopped.

Lysera’s mate

Lysera

Footsteps thundered through the trees. Voices shouted Isyra’s name. Torches flared between branches, and the scent of other wolves filled the air.

I couldn’t move.

I stood frozen in shock, still in my wolf form, my paws planted into the soil like I had been molded to that spot.

This couldn’t be happening.

“ISYRA!”

The first set of people burst into the clearing, followed by more pack members in their wolf forms. And among them was my father.

He didn’t even pause to ask questions. His eyes snapped to Isyra on the ground, to the blood smeared on her skirt, and then to me who was still in my wolf form.

His face twisted with rage and before I could step back, before I could even process what was happening, my father lunged.

His claws collided with my side, knocking me off balance. Pain exploded through my ribs as I slammed into the ground. My wolf yelped, instinct screaming at me to defend myself, to fight back, to bite but I didn’t.

I couldn’t. My father was a very strong warrior. If I fought back it would provoke him into shifting and he would rip me to shreds.

I curled into myself, my belly pressed to the earth, ears pinned flat as he attacked again. His paws struck hard, his claws raking into my fur. The blows came fast and mercilessly, like he was trying to beat the life out of me.

No one stopped him. The pack stood around us, watching. Some with anger, some with disgust and others with satisfaction. They thought I was getting what I deserved.

Isyra’s sobs grew louder the moment she saw them, like she had been waiting for her audience.

“She attacked me!” she screamed, clutching her stomach as if she was protecting a child that didn’t exist. “Lysera attacked me!”

Gasps tore through the clearing. Growls rumbled through the wolves surrounding us.

“No—” I tried to move, tried to shake my head, tried to tell them it wasn’t true, but I was still a wolf. All that came out was a broken bark.

“She was jealous!” Isyra continued, her voice shaking perfectly, tears spilling like she was the victim of a tragedy. She clung to my mother as soon as she reached her. “I stepped out to be with her! I wanted to… to share her happiness because she finally got her wolf. I wanted to be a good sister!”

Her lie was so believable she was painting herself as kind.

“But she got angry,” Isyra cried, voice cracking. “She said I always take everything from her. She blamed me for having everyone’s attention. She blamed me for stealing Henry!”

“Oh dear goddess,” my mother cried.

“And when the moon rose… when she shifted…” Isyra sobbed harder, trembling like she was broken. “She attacked me. She tried to kill me!”

The pack’s fury rose like wildfire. Wolves snarled, pacing, waiting for someone—anyone—to give the command to finish me off.

My father struck again, harder this time. My wolf whined, body trembling, and I curled tighter, trying to protect my throat and my stomach. Trying to make myself smaller, harmless, invisible.

But nothing I did mattered.

The crowd shifted, parting as Alpha Henry pushed through.

He stood over a head taller than everybody and he looked every inch the alpha as pack members moved back with bared necks.

His eyes were darker than the night itself, burning with rage as they landed first on Isyra, then on the blood, then on me—

“Enough.” Henry told my father.

My father froze mid-strike, but because he wanted to.

My father’s chest heaved with anger, but he slowly stepped back, eyes still blazing as if he hadn’t gotten to punish me enough.

Henry stared down at me for a long second. There was no pity or softness in his eyes. There was only disgust and fury.

“Guards,” he ordered, his voice cutting through the murmurs. “Surround her.”

The guards moved instantly, forming a tight circle around me until there was no means of escape.

I tried to lift my head and explain that it wasn’t what it looked like. I didn’t do what Isyra was accusing me of, but I was still a wolf.

“Shift,” Henry commanded.

The word was packed with powers.

Alpha authority crashed into my body, ripping through my wolf’s resistance. She howled inside me, claws digging into the soil, trying to hold on—

But I couldn’t fight it.

Pain tore through me as bones snapped and reshaped. Fur disappeared and my paws became hands. My breath tore out of my lungs as I fell onto the cold earth—

Naked.

The cool air hit my skin and moonlight washed over me, exposing everything, and I folded into myself instantly, arms wrapping around my chest, knees pulled tight to my stomach.

Nudity was normal during runs. But this wasn’t a run.

This was humiliation.

Dozens of eyes stared at me with hatred and hostility, like I was filth. Tears burned behind my eyes. My throat tightened until I could barely breathe.

I looked up through trembling lashes. My gaze found Isyra.

She was in my mother’s arms, sobbing softly, trembling like a wounded bird. Her face was turned slightly, hidden from everyone else but not from me.

And when she saw I was looking, her lips curved into the faintest smile.

Then she buried her face again and continued wailing, louder than ever.

Henry’s footsteps crunched as he moved closer. His shadow fell over my naked form, and I shrank into myself, arms clutched to my chest, humiliation burning my face.

Then the air shifted and what I was feeling was not linger fear. It was a strange pressure that made my wolf stir beneath my skin.

Henry froze and so did I.

My breath caught as something deep inside me reached for him like it had been waiting my whole life.

A white light flared at my neck—bright and searing—and the same light ignited on Henry’s. A thin glowing beam linked us, binding us.

Then the whole pack gasped.

“Mates…”

Henry’s eyes widened in shock. Mine did too but before anyone could speak, Isyra screamed.

“AHHH!”

She collapsed, clutching her stomach, writhing like she was in agony. “My baby! Henry—it hurts!”

Everyone was thrown into panic and the pack surged toward her.

“Call the healer!”

“She’s losing the baby!”

“She’s bleeding!”

My mother began to wail and my father rushed to pick Isyra up but he was looking at me and screaming that Isyra better be fine or he would kill me.

Henry’s attention remained on me as he watched me with furrowed brows but then someone tapped him and he tore his attention away and rushed to gather Isyra in his arms.

Just as he was about to carry her off, he turned to face me.

“Lock her up,” he told her guards, “and make sure she does not escape.”

Then he turned, and I watched as my mate walked away with my sister in his arms.

Isyra wasn’t even pregnant

Lysera

The underground dungeon was cold, damp, and suffocating.

I lay on the bare floor in a fetal position, my hands bound with heavy chains that felt like they were made to crush every last hope inside me. The only salvation I had been given was that they allowed me to put on my clothes before dragging me down here like a criminal.

That was the only mercy but even that felt like mockery because they all stood around and watched me.

I cried until my throat was sore, until my chest hurt, until my eyes burned and my body shook with every breath. I didn’t know how I still had tears left, but they kept coming anyway.

I couldn’t understand why my own twin sister would do this to me?

How could Isyra look at me—someone who had spent her whole life being ignored and pushed aside—and decide I was worth destroying?

The fact that she wasn’t even pregnant made it worse. There was no baby. No heir or future alpha in her womb. No life I could have harmed. Only lies and deception.

I didn’t know how much time had passed. Everything was dark. There was no window, no crack for light to slip through, nothing to tell me whether it was day or night. Time down here felt like it didn’t exist.

And I had no visitors. Of course I didn’t. Who in this pack cared about me?

I swallowed back another sob, my throat aching painfully, and buried my face into my knees.

My head jerked up when I heard approaching footsteps. I pushed myself into a sitting position so quickly the chains clanked loudly against the floor.

The footsteps grew louder and closer. My heartbeat sped up as the door creaked open and torchlight spilled into the cell.

Two guards stepped inside.

Their expressions were cold, their mouths curled into sneers as if looking at me disgusted them. One of them grabbed my arm roughly and yanked me up.

“Get up.”

My legs trembled beneath me as they dragged me out, the chains scraping the ground.

“Please,” I whispered, voice hoarse. “Is Isyra… Is she okay?”

The guards didn’t answer at first. They only continued to drag me.

I kept asking anyway, because I needed to know. I needed to hope—no matter how stupid it was—that my sister wouldn’t truly go that far.

“I didn’t touch her,” I said desperately. “I swear I didn’t. Please… just tell me she’s fine.”

One of the guards laughed, low and cruel.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

My stomach sank and I felt faint.

We climbed up stone steps for what felt like forever, the cold air shifting gradually until warmth brushed my skin.

The guards dragged me out of the dungeon, and I squinted against the brightness that flooded my vision. The sun was high up in the sky, glaring down hard. That meant I’d been down there for hours.

The guards pulled me forward, dragging me across the pack grounds. Everybody was already there.

Pack members stood gathered in a wide circle like they were waiting for a show. Their eyes followed me as I stumbled into view, chains rattling, humiliation crawling up my throat.

Their hatred rolled off them in waves, thick enough to choke on. Some spat as we walked past. Others threw sand on me and others cursed me.

I searched instinctively for familiar faces. Isyra wasn’t there, neither was my mother.

My mother wouldn’t miss this, not unless she was too busy holding Isyra and crying for her like she was the only daughter she ever had.

My lips trembled as my gaze landed on him.

Alpha Henry stood at the center of it all, tall and rigid, like a judge ready to pass a sentence. My father was nearby, his face hard and unfeeling.

And on either side of Henry stood the elders.

They were the law of the pack. It was rare for all of them to appear for a pack members trail but this had to do with the pack’s future Luna and heir so of course they all came out.

My heart pounded so hard it hurt. The guards dragged me into the middle of the circle, then shoved me forward.

I nearly fell but I caught myself in time. I was trembling as I lifted my head slowly. My wolf perked up as Henry’s scent hit us, wrapping around us like a warm blanket.

Henry’s eyes met mine. They were cold, hard and full of fury, I flinched.

My mate, the man who was supposed to love me, was glaring at me like he wanted to reach over, wrap his hands around my neck and throttle me.

My wolf whined silently as she crept to the back of my mind. It wounded her to see that her mate despised her.

An elder stepped forward, and the crowd hushed at once. The elder wasted no time.

“Isyra has lost her baby,” he announced, his voice loud and cold. “She miscarried a few hours after the accident… after Lysera beat her up.”

The crowd erupted instantly. Growls, curses, furious shouts filled the air.

“Murderer!”

“Witch!”

“She should die!”

I flinched at the sound of their rage, my knees trembling, but the elder raised his hand. Silence fell again.

Then he walked toward me. Each step was deliberate, and like he was drawing everything out for his own cruel satisfaction.

He stopped right in front of me and spat at my feet.

“All the elders have agreed,” he said, “that Lysera will be caned publicly, a thousand strokes before she is sent to the underground dungeon for life imprisonment.”

My blood froze. The crowd exploded into cheers.

One thousand and life imprisonment? For a crime I did not commit?

My vision blurred and my body shook violently as terror ripped through me. I’d spend my whole life in that cold, dingy place?

“And Alpha Henry has approved,” the elder added, turning slightly so the pack could see Henry standing there like stone.

More cheering followed his words.

“No!” I screamed, voice breaking. “No! I didn’t do it! I didn’t kill her baby!”

My chains clinked as I stumbled forward desperately. I was no longer scared to tell them everything. I couldn’t spend my life in that dungeon when I was innocent.

“I never touched her!” I shouted. “I swear I never touched her!”

The elder’s face twisted with disgust as he stepped back, putting space between us. But I didn't stop, I followed him.

“She wasn’t even pregnant!” I cried. “Isyra was never pregnant!”

Lysera is pregnant

Lysera

The pack gasped and I saw my father stiffened where he was standing. Instead of listening to me, my words only seemed to fuel their hatred and fury.

“She’s lying!”

“She’s trying to save herself!”

“Kill her!”

I shook my head wildly, tears pouring down my face.

“I overheard them!” I screamed. “I overheard my parents and Isyra! They were planning it. She was going to fake a miscarriage after the party. Isyra did this on purpose. She pinned it on me because she knew I overheard them.”

My throat burned as the words rushed out, raw and desperate.

“They were going to lie to the pack!” I cried. Then I looked at my mate. Maybe he would feel pity. The mate bond might help.

“Alpha Henry, please, listen to me! You have to save me. I’m your mate. Isyra is not pregnant with your child.”

Henry looked away like he could not even stand the sight of me.

The elder’s eyes narrowed, his face turning hard as he shoved me back and prevented me from rushing forward to Alpha Henry.

“Shut up,” he snapped.

But I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop because the truth was all I had.

“Isyra wasn’t pregnant!” I repeated, sobbing. “I heard them say it! She hurt herself and screamed on purpose. She injured herself and—”

“Enough!” the elder roared.

A guard stepped forward.

And before I could even blink—

WHACK!

A heavy blow landed across my back and pain exploded through me.

I screamed, stumbling forward, but another strike came.

WHACK!

I cried out again, body shaking violently as the guard hit me like.

“Stop!” I begged. “Please stop! I’m telling the truth!”

I tried to speak again but a cloth was shoved into my mouth.

My eyes widened in horror as they tied it tight, gagging me until my breath came sharp and forced through my nose.

The cane was brought out. A long, thick rod. The crowd leaned forward eagerly, eyes shining with glee as I was forced down.

Hands grabbed my shoulders, my arms and my waist.

They pushed me until I was bent forward, my body held in place, chains digging into my wrists.

I shook violently, trying to fight, but I was too weak.

The first strike came.

WHACK!

Agony tore through me. My scream was muffled by the gag, but it still ripped out of my chest like a wounded animal.

“One!” the crowd shouted happily.

The second strike came before I could breathe.

WHACK!

“Two!”

Again.

WHACK!

“Three!”

The blows blurred into one endless wave of pain.

My back burned, my legs shook, my eyes flooded with tears until I could barely see.

But they kept counting. They counted like it was celebration and like my suffering was their entertainment.

“Fifty!”

“One hundred!”

“Two hundred!”

I lost track of time.

Lost track of breath.

Lost track of myself.

All I knew was pain—hot, sharp, unbearable pain tearing into my flesh until my body felt like it was splitting apart. When they reached three hundred, my head spun violently.

The world tilted and my stomach clenched. A wave of dizziness washed through me, making everything go blurry. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore.

But they didn’t stop, neither did they slow down.

“Four hundred!”

My knees gave out completely.

“Five hundred!”

The next strike hit—

And the world went black.

⸻

When I woke, pain greeted me before light did. My entire body felt heavy and broken. Even breathing was a punishment. My skin burned and my back throbbed in deep, pulsing waves that made my vision swim.

I was still on the pack ground. I could smell the crowd, hear their voices and feel their eyes on me. Hands grabbed me roughly, forcing me upright. My head lolled weakly, my breath coming out in broken gasps.

I couldn’t even lift my arms. I couldn’t even cry.

My body was dragged back into position.

The crowd began cheering the moment they saw I had opened my eyes.

“Continue!”

“Finish her!”

“One thousand!”

My stomach twisted violently. Bile rose in my throat, but I couldn’t even gag with the cloth still tied over my mouth.

I shook my head weakly.

No.

Please—

But the elder didn’t care. He raised his hand again and the cane was lifted. The crowd roared with delight.

“Stop!”

A loud voice cut through everything like a blade. The cheering died instantly. The elder turned sharply, irritated. The pack healer pushed forward, face pale, eyes wide. He dropped to his knees beside me, pressing fingers to my wrist, then my stomach.

His expression changed. Horror flashed across his face.

Then he looked up at the elders, at Alpha Henry, and his voice came out shaking.

“I needed to confirm it again when she opened her eyes.”

“What’s the matter?” The elder snapped in irritation at the healer.

“Lysera is pregnant.”

Silence crashed over the pack grounds.