After My Mate Killed My Father, I Found a King

Pain tore through me like liquid fire. I awoke screaming, my body convulsing as if electricity coursed through my veins. The infirmary ceiling swam above me, blurry through tears I didn't remember crying.

"Emily, calm down," Allyson's voice cut through my agony, her hands pressing on my shoulders. "You're going to hurt yourself."

I tried to speak, but another wave of pain crashed through my abdomen, stealing my breath. Something was wrong—terribly wrong. I could feel it deep inside me, a burning sensation that seemed to be eating me alive from within.

"What did you do to me?" I gasped, finally finding my voice.

Allyson's expression shifted to practiced concern. She smoothed back my hair with gentle fingers that made my skin crawl.

"You had a reaction to the vitamins," she said softly. "I had to perform an emergency procedure to save your life."

"Emergency procedure?" I tried to sit up, but my body felt hollow, violated. "What procedure?"

Her eyes flickered with something—triumph? Pity?—before she leaned closer.

"I'm so sorry, Emily," she whispered, her breath hot against my ear. "The infection had spread further than I thought. There was nothing I could do to save your womb."

The words hit me like physical blows. "My womb? What are you talking about?"

"Concentrated wolfsbane poisoning," she said, her voice dropping even lower. "Someone must have exposed you to it. I managed to save your life, but..." She shook her head sadly. "You'll never be able to carry pups."

I stared at her, unable to process what she was saying. Wolfsbane? Barren? This couldn't be happening.

"You're lying," I whispered.

Allyson's mask slipped for just a moment, revealing the satisfaction beneath. "I'm afraid not. You should be grateful I acted quickly."

---

The whispers started the next day.

"Poor Luna," they said, not bothering to lower their voices when I passed. "The Moon Goddess cursed her."

"I heard she can't have pups," someone else murmured.

"It's because of her father's failures," another added. "The Alpha's been patient, but..."

I kept my head high, though each whisper felt like a knife twisting in my chest. My wolf whimpered inside me, sensing the shift in the pack's attitude.

"Emily," Allyson approached me in the hallway, her smile sympathetic. "How are you feeling today?"

"Like I've been poisoned," I replied coldly.

She laughed, the sound like breaking glass. "Oh, you're still so dramatic. Come, let's get some tea."

I refused to move. "What have you been telling them?"

"Telling who?" Her eyes widened innocently.

"The pack. About my... condition."

A shadow passed over her face before she recovered. "Only what they need to know. That you're unwell, and that perhaps the Moon Goddess has her reasons for everything."

Through the pack mind-link, I could feel the whispers spreading like wildfire. Allyson had been busy, planting seeds of doubt, turning my private trauma into pack gossip.

"They're saying I'm cursed," I said flatly.

"Some people will always find reasons to talk," she replied, her voice dripping false sympathy. "But the Alpha stands by you."

---

Three days later, I stood in the Great Hall, surrounded by the entire pack. Aden had called an unexpected gathering, and the tension in the air was thick enough to choke on.

"Brothers and sisters of Silver Lake," Aden's voice boomed across the hall. "We gather today to address an important matter."

He stood on the raised platform, every inch the powerful Alpha. Beside him, Allyson smiled serenely, her hand possessively on his arm.

"Our pack has always valued strength and continuity," he continued. "A pack needs an heir to secure its future."

My stomach twisted as his eyes found mine across the crowd.

"Emily," he called, gesturing me forward.

The crowd parted as I walked to the platform, my legs somehow supporting me despite feeling like water. Something was terribly wrong. I could feel it in the air, in the way the pack watched me with a mixture of pity and judgment.

When I reached him, Aden took my hand, his touch cold and formal.

"It is with great regret," he announced, his voice carrying to every corner of the hall, "that I must inform the pack of our Luna's condition."

He turned to face me directly, his eyes hard as flint.

"I, Alpha Aden, reject you, Emily, as my Luna and mate."

The formal words of rejection hit me like physical blows.

"You are a dry branch that bears no fruit," he continued, the ancient phrase echoing in the silent hall.

The mate bond between us snapped with an audible crack that only I could hear. Pain exploded through my chest, radiating outward until every cell in my body screamed in agony.

I gasped, doubling over as the bond—the connection I had cherished despite everything—died within me.

Through tears of pain, I saw Allyson step forward, her hand sliding possessively into Aden's as the pack watched in stunned silence.