Scapegoat for My Sister's Miscarriage? No Way!

CLAIRE'S POV

I was falsefully charged with murdering Alpha Jason’s heir so I was beaten and thrown into the dungeon.

The guards shoved open the door and threw me roughly unto the floor of the dungeon.

“You bastard!” I wheezed, my voice barely audible.

One of them laughed as they entered into the dungeon and shackled me into chains.

“So you still have the guts to talk? You should be glad you're not dead.”

“And you should learn to keep your sharp tongue to yourself. We can kill you here now and no one would care.”

The pain of my earlier beating at the square had seeped into my bones but I managed to say, “I'll get you for this, I promise.”

They laughed some more. “How?”

“When you're dead and nothing but dust and bones?”

They laughed some more but stopped when someone appeared at the entrance of the dungeon. It was my sister,

Petra. But not only was she my sister, she was also the reason I was here.

“I need to exchange some parting words with my sister. Leave us alone,” she said to the guards, her tone low and mournful as if she was sad I was in here.

But I knew she wasn't. It was a ruse — one that had fooled everyone and landed me here.

They bowed. “Yes, Luna,” and left the dungeon.

When she had made sure they were gone, her face changed and she moved towards me with a smirk.

When she got to my front, she bent low.

“Well, my dear darling little sister. Who would have thought?”

“W—why d-did you do it, Petra? Why did you lie that I caused your miscarriage? Wh—why are you letting them punish me for a crime I didn't commit?”

The smirk stayed on her face — exactly the same smirk I had seen her throw at me when the judgment was being passed on to me.

“Why do you think, little sister?” she asked back.

“I —” I broke off and coughed, blood splattering out of my mouth and unto the floor. “I never did anything wrong to you.”

“Oh, you did. You were always the perfect little daughter,” she replied, a hard glint creeping into her eyes. “Mom and dad's favorite. The prettiest, the smartest who got everything she wanted. You could never do anything wrong in their eyes.”

“Petra, that's not true!” I denied.

She stood up. “Well, nobody cares about that anymore. See you in our next life, little sister. Thanks for all the help you gave me.” She came to me, kissed my eyebrow mockingly and left the dungeon.

The door slammed shut and I was all alone.

I had always done everything Petra wanted, even after she had taken my mate from me.

She had made up horrible lies against me and told him that I was too slow to be his Luna, too weak to lead his pack with him.

Jason had swallowed every lie she told him hook, line and sinker and had immediately dumped me, taking my sister for his mate.

It didn't end there. Shortly after they got married, Petra took a lover and began to cheat on Jason, and anytime Jason asked her about her movements, she would say that she was with me, that it was I who always needed her attention. She would use me as an excuse to meet with her lover.

I was nothing but a scapegoat for her use.

Over time, Jason began to resent me for it, saying that I was the reason why his mate was never at the house and that she was always saving me from my scrapes.

Once, she had taken her husband's card and maxed it to the limit for her lover, Nick, for his birthday. When asked by Jason about it, she had tearfully told him that she used it to settle my shopping debts.

She had also once sold her wedding jewelry to get a new car for her lover. Again, when Jason asked about it, she said I had demanded them as birthday gift.

When she got pregnant, she continued fooling around with her lover and soon got a miscarriage. This time, she said she had caught me trying to steal and when she demanded that I put the money back, I had pushed her down the stairs, causing the miscarriage.

During the sentencing at the court, with pure hatred and anger in his voice and eyes, he had pointed a finger at me and said, “This greedy, needy little bitch deserves to have her head cut off right here, right now!”

Even if I hadn't been on the verge of death before, the act of seeing him —the only man I had ever loved— demanding for my death would have caused me to die.

I had thought that Jason would be my happily ever after, the only man for me but, oh, how I had been mistaken.

I coughed violently again and more blood came out, this time, staining the wall.

I wasn't going to make it.

The scent of damp stone filled the air as I struggled to breathe, each inhale more difficult than the last. I could hear the distant chatter of the guards, laughing, living their lives as if I wasn’t lying here, dying for something I didn’t do.

I wondered if it was worth fighting for —fighting to stay alive, even for a few more moments, when there was no one left who cared whether I lived or died.

Then suddenly, a soft and lilting voice whispered at the back of my mind. It was so gentle that I almost missed it.

“It wasn’t your fault. You did nothing wrong.”

I immediately knew it was the moon goddess. I had heard stories about her reaching out to people on the verge of death, but never had I thought that it could happen to me.

Peace washed over me then, and I closed my eyes, letting the darkness take me.