After My Beta Betrayed Me, I Found Strength

I held Rose's burning hand through the night, whispering promises I wasn't sure I could keep. Ethan never left my side, his steady presence anchoring me as the moon's light faded and dawn's first rays crept through the healing den's small window.

Rose's breathing had grown more labored with each passing hour. The fever ravaged her fragile body, her wolf too weak to fight without the moon-herbs that had been used on Sophia instead.

"Luna," Rose whispered, her voice so faint I had to lean closer. Her eyes fluttered open, glassy with fever but somehow lucid. "Don't be sad."

"Save your strength," I begged, pressing a cool cloth to her forehead. "You'll get better."

She smiled, that same wise smile that always made her seem older than her thirteen years. "My wolf knows it's time."

"No," I choked, tears streaming down my face. "Please, Rose. Fight."

Ethan's hand came to rest on my shoulder, his touch grounding me as Rose's fingers tightened weakly around mine.

"You'll be okay," she whispered. "I saw it. You and him. The white wolf."

I didn't understand her fevered words, but I nodded anyway, desperate to give her peace. "I love you, Rose. More than anything."

"I know," she breathed, her eyes drifting to Ethan. Something passed between them, a look of understanding I couldn't decipher.

The sun broke fully over the horizon, bathing the room in golden light. Rose's eyes followed the sunbeam, a small smile touching her lips.

"Pretty," she murmured.

And then her hand went limp in mine.

"Rose?" I shook her gently, then more frantically. "Rose!"

But I knew. Her chest no longer rose and fell. The warmth was already fading from her skin.

A howl of anguish tore from my throat, primal and raw. Ethan's arms encircled me as I collapsed, my world crumbling for the second time in two weeks.

This time, there would be no putting it back together.

* * *

The pack gathered at dusk for Rose's funeral pyre. As her only family, I stood closest to the carefully arranged wood where her small body lay wrapped in white linen. Wildflowers and protective charms—the same ones I'd braided into her hair countless times—surrounded her.

I barely registered the pack Alpha's ceremonial words, my eyes fixed on Rose's peaceful face. She looked like she was sleeping, the pain and struggle finally gone.

Sophia and Alexander stood at the edge of the gathering. I felt their presence like a physical wound. Sophia's face was a mask of practiced grief, but I'd caught her smug glance when she thought no one was watching.

The Alpha handed me the torch. With trembling hands, I touched it to the pyre. Flames leapt eagerly to the dry wood, crackling in the twilight silence.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to Rose as the fire grew. "I failed you."

Ethan stepped forward, his face solemn in the flickering light. "You never failed her," he said, his voice carrying clearly to the gathered pack. "You were her strength, her protector."

He turned to face the flames, his profile sharp against the fire. "Two years ago, I found Rose during a shifting crisis. Her wolf was fading, slipping away. I used our pack bond to anchor her, to guide her back."

My breath caught. The memory he'd shown me in the forest.

"Her wolf made me promise something that night," Ethan continued, his eyes meeting mine. "She made me vow to protect you both. I've honored that promise as best I could."

He stepped closer, his silver-flecked eyes reflecting the flames. "I will continue to honor it, Luna Evans. If you'll let me."

The pack watched in silence as Ethan knelt before me, baring his neck in the ancient gesture of submission—a Delta warrior offering himself to an Omega. The ultimate reversal of pack hierarchy.

"My wolf has always known you," he said softly. "Let me be your strength now, as you were hers."

Tears streamed down my face as I looked from Rose's burning pyre to Ethan's bowed head. In that moment, I felt something shift inside me—grief transforming into resolve, pain hardening into purpose.

I placed my hand on Ethan's neck, feeling his pulse strong beneath my fingers. "Yes," I whispered.

He rose in one fluid motion, his eyes never leaving mine as he gently brushed my hair away from my neck. The pack collectively held their breath as Ethan lowered his head, his lips brushing my skin before his teeth sank into the tender flesh where my neck met my shoulder.

Pain flared briefly, then gave way to a flood of warmth that rushed through my body. Our bond, tentative before, now blazed to life, binding us together as the flames bound Rose's spirit to the Moon Goddess.

As Ethan's mark sealed on my skin, I caught Alexander's stunned expression across the pyre. For the first time since his betrayal, I met his gaze without flinching.

In the ashes of my sister's pyre, surrounded by the pack that had always dismissed me, I made a silent vow of my own: This was only the beginning.