After a desperate Luna awakes

"Six weeks," Selena sobbed, her fingers clawing into Evan's bare arm as blood pooled around her knees on the marble floor. "I’m six weeks pregnant, Evan! Our baby... please don't let our baby die!"

The pack house went dead silent.

The guards at the entrance froze. Elders pushing through the front double doors stopped in their tracks, staring at the stain spreading across the hem of Evan's white shirt.

The air turned to ash in my throat.

Six weeks.

I had been in the recovery cabin for twelve. He hadn't reached for Selena out of sudden grief. He hadn't sought comfort in a moment of weak longing. He had climbed into my sister's bed before my core even stopped bleeding from the rogue blade.

"Get Dr. Robert here right now!" Evan shouted, his Alpha aura crushing the foyer with raw fury.

Elder Gregory shoved past the guards, his gray brows drawing together as he pointed a gnarled finger toward the landing. "Who did this? Who attacked the Luna?"

"Diana," Selena choked out, burying her bloodstained face into Evan's collarbone. "She caught us talking. I tried to beg her to stay... I told her the pack needed peace. But she screamed at me. She said no bastard of mine would ever take her throne, and then... then she shoved me down the stairs!"

"You lying bitch!" The words tore from my throat. I gripped the banister, leaning over. "I didn't touch you! You threw yourself down!"

"Silence!" Elder Gregory bellowed. He looked up at me with open disgust. "You dare shed the blood of the Alpha's child under this roof? You lost your wolf's strength in the border skirmish, Diana. You are crippled, useless to the front lines, and now you attack the future of the Red Moon Pack out of spite?"

"I saved this pack!" I shouted down at them, my voice echoing off the stone walls. "I took that blade for Evan! Evan, tell them! Look at me and tell them!"

Evan didn't look at my face. His gaze was fixed entirely on the red smears between Selena’s thighs. His shoulders rose and fell in jagged breaths, his jaw set like iron.

"Evan?" My voice dropped, cracked at the seams. "You know me. You know I would never—"

"Enough," Evan cut in. He scooped Selena into his arms, rising from the floor. He finally lifted his head, his eyes cold and flat. "Guards. Take Diana to the south holding cells."

"The cells?" My chest heaved. "Evan, my core isn't healed! The damp down there will destroy my wolf!"

"Until the council decides your punishment for attempted murder," Evan said without a flicker of remorse, "you will stay in the dark. Move her. Now."

Hands grabbed my arms.

Two enforcers twisted my wrists behind my back, dragging me away from the balcony stairs. I didn't fight them. I couldn't. The moment their grip tightened on my shoulders, a spasm of phantom pain shot through my ribs, right where the rogue's silver blade had splintered my strength three months ago.

The south holding cell was carved directly into the mountain bedrock beneath the pack house. Frost coated the iron hinges. Water dripped somewhere in the shadows, steady and freezing.

They shoved me inside and slammed the heavy iron gate shut.

Within hours, my body betrayed me. Without an intact core to regulate my temperature, the bone-chilling damp seeped straight into my veins. A violent fever took hold, turning my skin burning hot while my teeth rattled together from the cold. I curled up on the moldy cot, shivering until my muscles locked up.

Footsteps echoed down the stone passage outside. Voices drifted through the small barred window at the top of the corridor.

"Is the girl going to lose the pup?" one guard muttered.

"Doubt it. Dr. Robert is running tests now," another voice answered, full of sneering amusement. "Honestly, it's about time we had a proper Luna. Selena is whole. Selena can shift and breed strong pups. What was Diana going to give the pack? A broken wolf who can't even stand guard on a border patrol?"

"Evan should have cast her out the day her core broke."

"He was too soft on her because of past debts. But this stunt finished it. Who wants a crippled Luna?"

Their laughter echoed off the stones before fading away.

I pressed my forehead against the rough stone wall, digging my fingernails into my palms until skin broke.

*A past debt.*

That was all three years of mating amounted to. That was all my shattered core was worth.

By the time the heavy lock clicked again the next morning, I could barely hold my head up. The fever pounded behind my temples like a war hammer.

The door swung open, and Evan stepped inside.

He had changed into a clean charcoal suit. His hair was combed back, but dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes. He stopped two paces from my cot, looking down at me with crossed arms.

"How is she?" My voice sounded like gravel scraping together.

"Resting," Evan said. "The bleeding stopped."

I forced myself to sit up, leaning my spine against the damp wall to keep from collapsing. "Did you come here to execute me yourself, Alpha?"

"Stop being dramatic, Diana." Evan let out an irritated breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I kept the council from stripping your pack rights this morning. Do you have any idea how much political capital that cost me? Gregory wanted your head mounted outside the gates."

A dry, bitter laugh rasped in my throat. "Am I supposed to thank you?"

"You're supposed to act like a woman with sense." He stepped closer, kneeling down so his eyes were level with mine. His voice softened into that smooth, persuasive tone he always used when he wanted my compliance. "I don't want to throw you to the wolves, Diana. But you crossed a line. The pack saw you push her."

I stared right through him. "Do you believe I pushed her?"

The question hung in the freezing air between us.

Silence stretched. One second. Five seconds. Ten.

Evan's jaw tightened. He averted his gaze for a fraction of a second before looking back at me.

"It doesn't matter what I believe," he said quietly. "What matters is what the pack saw. Selena is hurt. The elders want blood. But I worked out a compromise."

"A compromise."

"Apologize to Selena," Evan said, his tone matter-of-fact. "Sign a formal statement admitting you acted out of temporary emotional distress. Kneel before her and the council at tonight's assembly, ask for her forgiveness, and I will let this whole thing go. I'll send you back to the villa with a monthly allowance. You will be safe there."

A sob broke from my lips—not from grief, but from pure, hysterical disbelief. Tears spilled down my cheeks, burning hot against my freezing skin.

"An apology?" I choked out, laughing until my chest burned. "You want me to kneel before my little sister? The sister who stole my mate while my blood was still wet on the grass?"

"Diana—"

"I took three silver arrows through my back at the Black Ridge for you!" I screamed, lunging forward until the chain at my ankle jerked tight. "I lay in the snow for six hours holding my guts in so your vanguard could flank their line! I destroyed my wolf to keep you on that throne! And you want me to kneel to a thief?"

Evan stood up abruptly, his expression darkening into a mask of pure annoyance. "That was war, Diana. This is politics. You are being stubborn for the sake of your pride, and pride won't keep you alive down here."

Before I could answer, frantic footsteps clattered down the stone stairs.

"Alpha Evan!"

Dr. Robert burst into the cell corridor, clutching a folder of parchment sheets to his chest. His coat was rumpled, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

"What is it, Robert?" Evan snapped, stepping out of the cell toward the iron door. "I told you not to disturb me."

"It's about the Lady Selena's medical examination," the doctor panted, thrusting the folder forward with trembling hands. "The lab results just came back from the northern clinic. Alpha, the blood on her clothes from yesterday... it wasn't human or wolf blood."

Evan froze. "What are you talking about?"

"It was animal blood. Pig blood, specifically," Dr. Robert hurried to explain, his voice trembling under Evan's darkening presence. "And when I checked the registry for the pregnancy scan she presented to the council... there is no record of an ultrasound. The clinic's seal was forged. Lady Selena was never pregnant."

The world seemed to stop spinning.

I gripped the iron bars of the gate, dragging myself to my feet. A fierce, vindictive rush flooded my veins.

"Did you hear that, Evan?" I whispered, my voice shaking with vindication. "Did you hear him? She wasn't pregnant! The blood was fake! She staged the entire fall to frame me!"

Dr. Robert nodded nervously. "Alpha, this is severe fraud against the council. If the elders find out—"

*Rip.*

Evan reached out, his thick fingers clamping onto the edges of the medical files. With a single, sharp jerk of his wrists, he tore the papers in half.

Then in half again.

"Evan?" I stared at him, the triumph dying instantly in my chest. "What are you doing?"

Evan pulled a silver lighter from his trouser pocket. With a flick of his thumb, a small flame danced in the dim corridor. He touched the fire to the torn edges of the report.

The paper caught immediately, curling into black flakes that drifted down to the damp stones.

"Enough," Evan said, his voice flat, hollow, and utterly void of surprise. "This ends right here. I don't want to investigate this any further."

The firelight flickered across the hard lines of his face, illuminating the dead calm in his golden eyes. There was no shock. No rage at Selena's betrayal. No relief that his mate had been proven innocent.

Nothing.

A horrifying coldness settled into my gut, colder than the stones beneath my feet.

He knew.

He had known from the very beginning.