My Mate Tried to Kill Me

The servant's quarters smelled like bleach and desperation. I knelt on the cold stone floor, scrubbing champagne and my own blood from my hands with a rag that had seen better days. The glass cuts stung, but I welcomed the pain. It was real. It was something I could understand.

The door swung open without a knock.

Ava.

She stood in the doorway like a vision in white—her mating gown was all lace and pearls, probably custom-made in Paris or Milan. The kind of dress I'd once imagined wearing. Her blonde hair cascaded in perfect waves over her shoulders, and her smile was sugar-sweet poison.

"Oh, Estelle." She pressed a manicured hand to her chest, eyes wide with fake concern. "Are you alright? That was such a terrible scene you caused."

I kept scrubbing. Didn't look up. "I'm fine."

"Here, let me help you." She crossed the room in a whisper of silk, kneeling beside me. Before I could move away, her fingers dug into my shoulder—nails biting through the thin fabric of my dress like claws. The pressure was just shy of drawing blood.

I sucked in a breath.

"You should be grateful," she whispered, her voice dropping to something cold and sharp. "Grateful that Kieran is merciful enough to let you serve at our ceremony. Grateful that you're even allowed to breathe the same air as him." Her nails pressed harder. "He's mine now, Estelle. He always was. The Moon Goddess just needed time to correct her mistake."

I jerked away from her grip, my wolf snarling weakly inside me. "Get out."

Ava stood, smoothing her dress with deliberate care. "Clean yourself up. You're bleeding on the floor again." She paused at the door, glancing back with that perfect smile. "Oh, and Estelle? Don't even think about approaching him tonight. Security has orders to remove any... disturbances."

The door clicked shut behind her.

I waited until her footsteps faded before I let the tears come.

---

I shouldn't have gone to the Alpha guest wing.

I knew it was stupid. Reckless. The kind of thing that would get me thrown out or worse. But I couldn't stop myself. The mate bond was screaming inside me, demanding answers, demanding him. My wolf—weak as she was—kept pushing me forward through the darkened corridors.

The moon pendant burned against my palm, the silver warm from my grip. He'd given it to me on my sixteenth birthday, the night my wolf first emerged. "So you'll always have a piece of the moon," he'd said, fastening it around my neck. "And a piece of me."

I had to make him remember.

The guest wing was quiet, lit only by sconces that cast long shadows across expensive carpets. I pressed myself against the wall as voices echoed from a nearby room—pack business, probably. I waited, heart hammering, until the door opened.

Kieran stepped out, alone.

He was adjusting his cufflinks, his profile sharp in the dim light. For a moment, he looked exactly like the boy I'd loved. Then he turned, and I saw the stranger he'd become.

"Kieran." My voice cracked. "Please. Just listen—"

He moved faster than I could track. One second I was standing in the hallway, the next my back slammed against the wall, his hand beside my head, caging me in. His eyes flashed gold—his wolf rising to the surface.

"You don't get to say my name." His voice was a growl, barely human. "You lost that right when you sold us out."

"I never—" I fumbled with the pendant, holding it up between us with shaking hands. "Look. Remember? You gave this to me. You promised we'd always—"

His hand shot out, snatching the pendant from my grip. He held it up to the light, his expression twisting into something cruel. "A trophy of your betrayal. I should have taken it back the night I found out what you really are."

"What are you talking about?" Tears streamed down my face. "I never betrayed you. I never betrayed anyone!"

"Liar." He leaned closer, his breath hot against my cheek. "I remember everything, Estelle. Every. Single. Thing. I remember you handing those patrol routes to the rogues. I remember the money changing hands. I remember your face when you thought no one was watching."

"That's not—that never happened!" My wolf whimpered, confused and hurt. "Kieran, please, you have to believe me—"

But something was wrong. His scent—it should have been cedar and rain, the smell that had always meant home. Instead, there was something else underneath. Something cloying and sickly sweet, like flowers left too long in a vase.

Wolfsbane.

"You're being poisoned," I whispered, the realization hitting me like ice water. "Kieran, someone's been giving you wolfsbane. That's why you can't—"

His hand wrapped around my throat. Not squeezing, but the threat was clear.

"Enough." His eyes were pure gold now, his wolf fully present. "You had your chance to tell the truth three years ago. Now you'll watch me mark my true mate tomorrow, and you'll know exactly what you lost."

He released me, shoving the pendant into his pocket.

"Stay away from me, Estelle. Next time, I won't be so gentle."

He walked away, leaving me gasping against the wall.

And I knew—with horrible, crushing certainty—that the Kieran I'd loved was gone.