My Mate’s Shadow in My Bed

Seeing my hesitation, he continued.

"If you don't want to join my pack, I can also send you to the Healers' Guild in Europe. I can't stand by and watch your talent be buried."

My heart skipped a beat.

The European Healers' Guild.

It was the sacred place every healer dreamed of.

"Okay."

I wiped away my tears, my voice hoarse but firm.

I owed the Silver Moon pack nothing.

Mom was gone. It was time for me to go too.

I had to protect my child.

"Give me an hour," I told Maxim. "I need to go back and get my mother's things. Then we'll go. We'll leave this place forever."

Maxim gave me a long, deep look. "My men will wait for you outside the Silver Moon estate. If anything goes wrong, shatter this."

He handed me a communication crystal engraved with his family crest.

When I returned to that so-called "home," the air was thick with the nauseating smell of champagne.

The living room was brightly lit.

Tristan, Ronan, and that damned Arabella were all there.

They sat on the sofa, waiting for me like judges at a trial.

Seeing me covered in mud, a complete mess, Arabella pinched her nose dramatically.

"Gods, Lucia, did you take a roll in the mud? You're a disgrace to the Luna title."

"I'm here for my things."

I didn't look at her, heading straight for the stairs. "I'm getting my mother's things, then I'm gone. I'm not sticking around for your bonding ceremony."

"Stop."

Tristan's voice was ice. A chill shot down my spine.

Two guards blocked the stairs.

"You think you can just walk out of here?" Tristan stood, stalking toward me with a dark look in his eyes. "What do you think the Silver Moon pack is? A place you can come and go as you please?"

"I don't want to be your Luna anymore, Tristan." I looked him straight in the eye, for the first time without fear. "You can give the title to your precious Arabella."

"I don't want your scraps!" Arabella shrieked, her eyes blazing with raw jealousy. Her whole demeanor shifted. Suddenly, she looked hurt and afraid, pulling something wrapped in a black cloth from her pocket.

"Tristan... I... I haven't been feeling well today. My wolf... it feels suppressed. And then... then I found this in Lucia's room..."

She pulled back the cloth. Inside was a small wooden pendant, carved with a moonflower.

My heart stopped. That was my mother's pendant!

"Look," Arabella handed it to Tristan. She ran a finger over it, and a dark red, foul-smelling liquid seeped from the carvings. "It's... it's a cursed token. Soaked in black magic! How could you, Lucia? How could you try to hurt me with something so vile!"

"I didn't!" I lunged for the pendant, but Ronan grabbed my arm, holding me back.

Tristan looked at the pendant, then at Arabella's pale face. The last trace of doubt in his eyes was replaced by disgust. He slammed the pendant on the floor. The wood shattered into pieces.

"No—!" A desperate scream tore from my throat. That was the last thing... the last thing my mother gave me...

"Still playing the victim!" Tristan roared.

Arabella chose that moment to pick up a bowl of soup from the coffee table, her face a mask of sweet forgiveness.

"Lucia, I know you're jealous of me, but I'm willing to forgive you. Just kneel and apologize. Then drink this purification tonic to wash away the curse you put on me, and we'll pretend this never happened. Tristan will still go through with the bonding ceremony. After all... you two are destined mates, a gift from the Moon Goddess, aren't you?"

"Look at her, Lucia," Tristan's voice was merciless. "Look how forgiving Arabella is. Kneel. Apologize. And drink the tonic. This is your last chance for forgiveness as my mate."

I stared at the shattered pieces of my mother's pendant on the floor, at their ugly, twisted faces. The last shred of hope I had for Tristan turned to ash.

My child, my mother, my dignity... They were trying to take everything from me.

"No... I'll never..." I cried, ready to die before I'd bow to these monsters.

"Make her drink it!"

Tristan's patience was gone.

He grabbed my jaw, forcing it open with a sickening crack.

Pain exploded behind my eyes.

Arabella lifted the bowl, pouring the scalding, bitter liquid down my throat.

Cough... GAG...

I tried to spit it out, but Tristan clamped his hand over my mouth, forcing me to swallow every last drop.

In that moment, my world shattered.

A violent cramp shot through my stomach like lightning.

It was a thousand times worse than a broken bone.

It was the pain of life being ripped away.

I collapsed, a piercing scream tearing from my lungs.

A warm liquid trickled down my thighs.

Bright red blood stained the carpet.

My baby.

My child I would never meet.

Ronan saw it first. His face was a mask of restrained pain. "Blood... is there something wrong with the tonic?" His voice trembled.

Arabella smiled and lied. "Don't worry, Ronan. The tonic makes any wolf who's used witchcraft bleed. It's just a side effect. Proof she cursed me. Her wolf will be purified now."

Tristan looked down at me in disgust, as if I were vermin dirtying his carpet.

I curled up in a pool of my own blood, completely hollow inside.

The tears were gone.

All that was left was a cold, dark abyss of hatred. Deep enough to swallow the world.

My child was gone.

My mother was gone.

The last piece of her I had... and they crushed it with their own hands.

I had nothing left to lose.

Maxim's crystal was hot in my pocket, but I didn't crush it.

Escape?

No.

I wasn't leaving.

I would stay.

And I would return this hellish pain to these monsters, ten times, a hundred times over.