Betrayed and Broken: The Lycan King's Slave Mate

“Seize her!! Take her to the dungeons.”

“Thud…” The sound of my knees hitting the stone floor echoed through the pack hall as the guards forced me down.

My hands were stained with blood that wasn’t mine and my body was shaking uncontrollably.

Everyone was staring at me with horror and disgust written all over their faces. The pack members who had been celebrating just moments ago now looked at me like I was a monster they had never seen before.

How did everything go so wrong in just one night when i was supposed to be the happiest girl in the world?

My name is Ariana Nightfall and I am the cursed daughter of the pack’s greatest traitors according to everyone who knows my story.

My parents were exiled from the pack when my mother was pregnant with me but the pack council decided that I must stay behind to pay for my parents’ sins. They said I was a symbol of shame and punishment that the pack needed to remember.

I was supposed to shift into my wolf form when I turned sixteen like every other Alpha’s child but nothing happened on my birthday. The pack believed I was wolfless and cursed by the Moon Goddess for my family’s crimes. They treated me like a servant and made me work in the kitchens from dawn until midnight every single day.

But on my eighteenth birthday two months ago, something incredible happened when I was alone in the forest gathering herbs for the pack kitchen. My bones began to crack and reshape as golden light surrounded my body, and suddenly I was standing on four powerful legs with fur as black as midnight and eyes that glowed like silver stars.

My wolf was not only present but incredibly strong and beautiful, with an aura that spoke of Alpha bloodline running through my veins despite what everyone believed about my cursed nature. I knew immediately that I had to keep this secret hidden because revealing my true nature would either get me killed or cause even more problems for the pack that already hated me.

The only person who knew about my wolf was Owen Steele, the future Alpha and my fated mate who had felt our bond the moment I shifted and came to find me in the forest that night. He promised me that he would acknowledge our mate bond publicly after his father’s retirement ceremony, and finally give me the acceptance and love I had been craving my entire life.

“Ariana, you worthless girl, get up and go wash these dishes before I decide to make your punishment even worse!” Luna Margaret’s harsh voice brought me back to the present as she threw a bucket of scalding hot water over my head and shoulders.

“Sorry I will do that right away!” I said quickly while running cold water over my burned hands to stop the pain from spreading. The other kitchen workers laughed at my clumsiness and went back to preparing food for tonight’s celebration ceremony while I washed the dishes.

I was doing all this backbreaking work with hope and excitement filling my heart because tonight Owen would finally claim me as his mate and Luna after the retirement ceremony.

Soon I would no longer be the pack’s servant and scapegoat, but the respected and loved Luna who would help lead our people into a brighter future alongside the man who had shown me kindness when no one else would.

After finishing all the dishes I quietly sneaked out of the kitchen and made my way to Owen’s room where he had told me to meet him.

My hands were shaking with nervousness and excitement as I climbed the stairs because this was the moment I had been dreaming about for so long.

I reached his door and took a deep breath before slowly turning the handle and stepping inside his room. What I saw there destroyed every dream I had ever dared to have about my future with the man I loved.

Blood was everywhere covering the walls and floor like someone had painted the room red with death. Owen stood in the middle of the horror holding a silver knife that dripped with fresh blood while his eyes looked wild and desperate like a trapped animal.

On the floor beside him lay Mara who was one of the few pack members who had ever shown me any kindness in my miserable life. Her throat had been cut so deep that blood pooled around her head like a dark halo and her eyes stared at the ceiling seeing nothing.

"Owen what did you do." My voice came out as a strangled whisper as I stared at the scene that looked like something from my worst nightmares. He turned to look at me with panic written all over his face and I could see his hands shaking as he held the bloody weapon.

"She tried to force herself on me and there was a struggle." His words tumbled out fast and desperate as he tried to explain what had happened in his room. "I didn't mean for this to happen Ariana you have to believe me it was an accident."

I stood there frozen in shock as he continued talking about how Mara had cornered him after the ceremony and tried to seduce him even though he was supposed to be with me tonight. He said she became violent when he rejected her advances and attacked him with the knife before he managed to take it away from her.

"They will exile me from the pack if anyone finds out what happened here." Owen's voice broke as he looked at me with desperate eyes that begged me to understand his situation. "I'm finally so close to having everything I've worked for and now this."

I stared at him and then at Mara's lifeless body while trying to process what he was asking me to do without actually saying the words out loud. Then

“So what do you want me to do?” I asked him quietly while my heart began to break into a million pieces.

Owen looked directly into my eyes with desperation and fear written all over his handsome face.

“I’m asking you to take the fall for me.”