Betrayed on Mate Ceremony Eve

Pain throbbed behind my eyes, turning the smoke-filled interior into a nauseating blur. My fingers fumbled for the mind-link, that sacred thread connecting me to Edwin. He would feel my terror through the bond. He had to.

*Edwin!* I pushed the word through our connection with every shred of strength I had left. *Please, I need help—I've been in an accident, I can't get out, there's wolfsbane—*

The response came immediately, but it wasn't the rushing concern I'd expected. It was cold. Distant. And with it came something that made my blood turn to ice—an involuntary awareness of his location bleeding through the mate bond.

He was close.

Too close.

My wolf whimpered, the sound barely audible beneath the wolfsbane's suffocating grip. Through the psychic proximity of our bond, I felt him. Not miles away in the pack house where he should be. Not rushing to my rescue.

He was right there. Above me on the road.

And filtering through our connection came a sound that shattered what remained of my hope—Capri Castillo's distinctive laughter, bright and mocking and triumphant.

No. No, this couldn't be—

Movement on the embankment. Two silhouettes separated from the vehicle parked above, backlit by harsh headlights. They descended toward me with careful steps, shoes crunching on loose gravel and broken glass.

My hands pressed against the cracked windshield, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. The smoke stung my eyes, blurred everything, but I knew those shapes. I'd memorized every line of Edwin's body over the past year, learned every gesture of the man I thought was my future.

He stopped just beyond my wrecked car, close enough that I could see his face clearly. Those hazel eyes I'd once thought were warm now held nothing but cold calculation. No concern. No remorse. Just assessment, like he was checking to ensure a job well done.

Capri stood beside him, her designer coat pristine despite the rough terrain. Her beautiful face twisted with satisfaction that looked obscene in the moonlight.

*You're not worthy of being Luna, Aleah.* Edwin's voice sliced through the mind-link like a blade made of ice. *You never were. Tomorrow's ceremony will proceed as planned—with Capri by my side, as it should have been from the beginning.*

The mate bond screamed. My wolf howled weakly inside me, a sound of agony that had nothing to do with the wolfsbane poisoning my system. This was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. Fated mates didn't—couldn't—

"The Moon Goddess made a mistake with you, little late bloomer." Capri's voice rang out, clear and vicious. She took a step closer, peering at me through the broken windshield like I was an insect pinned under glass. "We're just correcting it."

Survival instinct overrode the shock trying to paralyze me. I couldn't think about betrayal. Couldn't process that my fated mate—the bond the Moon Goddess herself had blessed—stood before me with murder in his eyes. I had to move. Had to get out.

I twisted in my seat, ignoring the way my vision swam, and slammed my elbow against the passenger window. Once. Twice. The impact sent pain screaming up my arm but the glass held. I hit it again, putting everything I had left into the blow.

Crack.

A spider-web pattern spread across the surface. Not broken through, but weakened. A few more hits and I could—

"Oh, I don't think so." Capri's tone turned sing-song sweet.

She moved with deliberate grace, reaching into her designer purse. The roll of tape she produced gleamed silver even in the dim light. Silver-laced. Of course it was. She'd come prepared.

My wolf whimpered as Capri approached the cracked window, her heels somehow steady on the sloped ground. She pressed the tape against the glass with methodical care, sealing the crack I'd created. The silver's proximity made my weakened wolf curl into herself, adding a new layer of pain to the wolfsbane already coursing through my system.

"We can't have you crawling out, can we?" Capri said, smoothing the tape with manicured fingers. "That would ruin everything."

Edwin hadn't moved. He stood there, arms crossed, watching his chosen mate seal my death trap with the same expression he might use reviewing pack documents. Through the mind-link, his voice remained clinical, detached. *The wolfsbane will do its work. And if that fails, the fuel leak will finish things. It will look like a tragic accident—the poor late bloomer, couldn't even make it to her own ceremony.*

The smoke was thicker now. I could hear liquid dripping beneath the car, the sharp tang of gasoline mixing with wolfsbane's bitter poison. My head felt too heavy for my neck. The world tilted sideways.

"Goodbye, Aleah," Capri said, stepping back to admire her handiwork. "Tomorrow, I'll wear your crown."

They turned away together, climbing back up the embankment. Edwin's hand found the small of Capri's back, steadying her. The casual intimacy of the gesture hurt worse than the head wound, worse than the wolfsbane.

My fated mate. My Moon Goddess-blessed bond.

Leaving me to die.