After My Mate Crowned His Mistress Luna, I Fought Back

The humiliation didn’t stop at the tea party. It followed me to the pack’s administrative wing the next morning.

"I’m sorry, Luna... I mean, Ms. Knight," the pack treasurer stammered, refusing to meet my eyes. He sat behind his desk, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air conditioning. "The transaction was declined."

I stared at him, my hands flat on his desk. "Declined? I am authorizing the purchase of antibiotics for the infirmary. The funds come directly from the Knight family dowry account. That is *my* money, Mr. Henderson."

"Not anymore," a smooth voice interjected from the doorway.

I didn't need to turn around to recognize the oily tone of Elder Silas. He walked in, leaning heavily on his cane, a shark-like smile playing on his lips. "Alpha August has placed a freeze on all assets pending a review of resource allocation. We cannot have... unauthorized spending during this transition period."

"You’re holding my dowry hostage," I said, my voice dangerously low. "That is fifty million dollars meant for the betterment of *this* pack. You have no legal right."

"The Alpha has every right to secure pack assets," Silas countered, his eyes gleaming with greed. "Especially when the validity of the marriage contract is being... reconsidered."

I wanted to rip his throat out. They weren't just replacing me; they were stealing from me. Before I could shift and tear the office apart, a hand gripped my elbow. Beta Charlie was there, his presence a solid wall of calm against my raging storm.

"Luna," he whispered urgently. "Not here. Come with me. Now."

I let him pull me away, seething. We didn't go to my room. Charlie led me out the back exit, towards the dense forest bordering the northern ridge. We moved in silence, our wolf senses on high alert, until the trees thinned to reveal a secluded clearing.

There it stood—the Cedar Cabin. It was a private retreat, the place August had taken me for our one-year mating anniversary just two months ago. He had sworn then that he was beginning to love me.

Now, his black SUV was parked out front next to a flashy red convertible.

"Stay low," Charlie murmured.

We crept to the edge of the tree line. The window was open, carrying voices on the breeze.

"...hates that dreary wallpaper anyway," Violette’s voice drifted out, light and laughing. I peered through the glass. She was walking around the living room—*my* sanctuary—holding paint swatches. August was leaning against the fireplace, watching her with a sickeningly adoring look.

"Whatever you want, Vi," August said softly. "Make it yours."

"And the guest wing?" she asked, pausing to trace a finger down his chest. "When she’s finally gone, can we knock down the wall? I want a large nursery. Close to us."

My breath hitched. A nursery. They were already planning children before I was even out the door.

"Soon," August promised, pulling her into a kiss that shattered whatever remained of my heart. "Silas has a plan. We just need to provoke her a little more."

I turned away, nausea roiling in my stomach. "I’ve seen enough."

We returned to the pack house in silence, but the nightmare wasn't over. When I reached the guest room I had been relegated to, the door was wide open.

My belongings were strewn everywhere. Clothes ripped from hangers, drawers overturned. Standing in the center of the chaos was Elder Silas, flanked by two pack enforcers.

"What is the meaning of this?" I demanded, stepping over a pile of my own journals.

Silas held up a small, dark pouch dripping with a foul-smelling black liquid. "We received a tip," he announced loudly, ensuring the passing servants could hear. "Dark magic. A hex bag, found stitched into your mattress."

"That is a lie," I snapped. "I have never touched dark magic in my life."

"The evidence suggests otherwise," Silas sneered, tossing the bag to one of the guards. "It seems you used a love spell to ensnare our Alpha. That explains why he agreed to the union despite his grief. This is grounds for immediate annulment, Cecilia. And, of course, forfeiture of all assets as compensation for the... spiritual violation of our leader."

It was a frame-up. A clumsy, brutal frame-up designed to strip me of my title, my money, and my reputation in one stroke. If they branded me a witch, no pack would take me in. I would be a rogue.

"Get out," I whispered, my Alpha aura flaring so violently the lights flickered. "Get. Out."

Silas chuckled, signaling his men to leave. "Pack your things, witch. The tribunal meets tomorrow."

I stood in the wreckage of my room, trembling not with fear, but with a cold, crystalline clarity. They wanted a war? They had no idea what they had just started.

A shadow detached itself from the corner of the room. Charlie locked the door and pulled the blinds.

"They are sloppy," Charlie said, his voice grim. He reached into his jacket. "I had a chat with Elena. The Omega who spilled the tea."

"And?"

"Violette threatened to have her little brother sent to the front lines if she didn't do it," Charlie reported. "But that’s not the smoking gun, Luna."

He placed a manila envelope on the overturned desk.

"I had my scouts tracking August’s movements for the past week. We recovered security footage from a motel two towns over. And this..." Charlie pulled out a piece of fabric sealed in a scent-proof bag. It was a shirt August had worn three days ago.

"Smell it," Charlie commanded.

I cracked the seal. The scent hit me instantly—August’s musk, heavily intertwined with Violette’s arousal and the distinct, metallic tang of the Sacred Moon ritual oils.

My eyes snapped up to Charlie’s. "This was from three days ago?"

"The night of the Sacred Moon Festival," Charlie confirmed, a savage grin spreading across his face. "While the pack was praying for blessings, our Alpha was bedding his mistress."

Adultery was one thing. But copulating with a non-mate during the Sacred Moon was blasphemy. It was a crime against the Moon Goddess herself, punishable by stripping of rank.

I looked at the hex bag Silas had planted, then at the evidence in my hand. They tried to frame me for magic to steal my money. But they had handed me the power to destroy their entire hierarchy.

"Prepare the car, Charlie," I said, my voice steady and cold as steel. "And call my father. It’s time to bring the house down."