After My Mate Accused Me of Attacking His Luna

The dead leaves of the outer woods crunched beneath my worn boots. I had fled the pack house just to breathe, to escape the suffocating scent of Duncan and Anais that clung to the hallways. But I wasn't alone.

"Running away so soon, Emilia?"

I froze. Grayson stepped out from behind a massive oak, a sickeningly smooth smile playing on his lips. His Beta aura pressed against me, but it was the small glass vial in his hand that made my blood run cold. The liquid inside was a thick, sludgy black.

"What is that?" I whispered, my voice hoarse.

"An upgrade," Grayson purred, closing the distance between us. "Your little rejection stunt was entertaining, but you're still a threat to my plans. And Duncan... well, my dear brother's wolf is hanging by a thread, isn't he?"

My breath hitched. "Leave him out of this."

Grayson chuckled, a cold, hollow sound. "I hold his fate in my hands. One word to the Lycan Council about his pathetic, cursed wolf, and he loses his Alpha title. Or better yet, I could just end his misery myself. Unless, of course, you take your medicine."

He shoved the vial toward my chest.

I stared at the toxic brew. The previous doses of wolfsbane had already left my inner wolf weak and whimpering. This new strain looked lethal. But then I thought of Duncan. Even after the humiliation, even after he replaced me and stripped me of my dignity, I couldn't let his wolf die. I couldn't be the reason he lost everything.

With trembling fingers, I took the vial and uncorked it. I didn't hesitate. I tipped my head back and swallowed the poison.

Fire. Immediate, blinding fire tore down my throat. I collapsed to the damp forest floor, gasping for air that wouldn't come. It felt like swallowing liquid silver. Deep within my mind, my silver-white wolf let out a broken, agonizing howl before collapsing into a silent, shivering heap. The severe physical deterioration had truly begun.

"Good girl," Grayson sneered, stepping over my writhing body. "Keep your mouth shut, or my brother pays the price."

It took me an hour to drag myself back to the pack house. Every step was a battle. My veins throbbed with a toxic, burning ache. But there was no rest for a disgraced servant. The moment I stumbled into the infirmary, I was ordered to the second floor.

Anais had requested a healer.

I pushed open the heavy mahogany door to her suite. The overwhelming stench of heavy roses hit me, making my roiling stomach churn violently. Anais sat at her vanity, brushing her golden hair. She didn't look sick. She looked victorious.

"You still smell like him," she said, her voice dropping its usual sweet cadence. She stood up, her eyes flashing with pure malice. "That lingering mate bond of yours. It's a stain on my future as Luna. I need you completely out of the picture."

"I'm just a servant now," I rasped, gripping the doorframe to keep from collapsing. "I'm no threat to you."

"Oh, but you are."

Before I could blink, Anais snatched a silver-plated letter opener from her desk. She didn't hesitate. She dragged the jagged silver edge violently across her own forearm.

The scent of her blood and burning flesh hit the air. I lunged forward out of pure healer's instinct. "What are you doing?!"

The moment I stepped close to her, Anais dropped the blade at my feet and let out a blood-curdling, terrified scream. "Help! Somebody help me! Please!"

The door behind me slammed open with enough force to crack the wood.

Duncan stood in the doorway. His chest heaved, his eyes wild and feral. He took in the scene in a fraction of a second: Anais bleeding and crying on the floor, the bloody silver blade resting at my worn boots, and me, standing over her.

"Duncan!" Anais sobbed, crawling toward him. "She attacked me! She said I stole you from her! She tried to kill me!"

"Duncan, no," I choked out, taking a step toward my mate. "I swear to you, she did it to herself. Please, you have to believe me—"

"Silence!"

His Alpha command hit me like a physical blow. Because of the new wolfsbane ravaging my system, the command didn't just force me to submit; it shattered my defenses. My knees slammed into the hardwood floor. A sharp, metallic taste flooded my mouth, and I coughed up a splatter of dark blood onto the floorboards.

Duncan didn't care. He was blinded by a toxic mix of jealousy over what he thought he saw with Grayson, and a misplaced, fiery vengeance for his new chosen mate. He stalked toward me, his aura suffocating the air right out of my lungs.

"I gave you mercy by letting you stay in this pack," Duncan snarled, his voice vibrating with a hatred that tore my soul in two. "And this is how you repay me? By trying to murder my Luna?"

"I didn't..." I whimpered, the wolfsbane making my vision blur.

He didn't listen. Duncan grabbed me by the upper arm, his grip bruising my flesh. He dragged me out of the room, down the grand staircase, and past the staring, whispering pack members. I was too weak to fight, too broken to cry.

He hauled me down into the bowels of the pack house, where the air turned freezing and smelled of mildew. He threw me onto the hard stone floor of the pack dungeons.

I landed hard, my bones aching, my poisoned blood burning. I looked up at the man I loved, the man I was currently dying to protect.

Duncan stared down at me, his eyes devoid of the warmth that had once saved me. He slammed the heavy iron door shut, the lock clicking into place, leaving me alone with my dying wolf and a shattered heart.