The Rise of a Betrayed Luna

Leila.

The moon hung heavily in the sky, the silver glow spilling over the dense forest, illuminating the path to the pack house. The faint howl of wolves echoed in the distance, like a song of unity that I had once found peace in. Usually the moon’s radiant light brought me peace, it reminded me of the bond I had with Derek, my Mate, my Alpha, my love.

Tonight it felt different, the air was thick with unease and my wolf paced restlessly within me.

The whispers started slowly as I stepped into the grand entrance of the pack's hall, eyes darted away from me as murmurs filled the air. My heart tightened once more, something felt off, something wasn't right. My wolf whimpered sensing the tension in the air.

Then I saw them.

My mate, Derek stood in the center of the room, his golden eyes crinkling with laughter, but it wasn't me he was smiling at… it was her.

Vivienne.

Her perfectly manicured hand rested lightly on his arm, her body angled towards him in a way that made my stomach churn.

I couldn't breathe, my lungs felts like the air was sucked right away from it.

“Derek,” I called, my voice steady despite the fact that my heart was pounding heavily.

He turned his gaze towards me, surprise flickering through his eye or was it….guilt.

“Leila,” he called, his tone clipped. “What are you doing here?”

Wasn't I supposed to be here.

“I could ask you the same,” I replied, my voice trembling now. “What's going on?”

Vivienne’s lips curled up in a smirk.

“Don't be so dramatic, Leila, can't you see we were just talking.”

“Talking?,” my fists clenched at my sides.

“Is that what you call this?” I gestured at the way she was clinging to him, the way he didn't even seem to mind the fact that she was practically untop of me

“It's not what you think, Leila,besides you weren't supposed to be here, this is an important pack gathering,” he said.

Pack meeting, my foot!

“Why not, am I not allowed to be here, as your mate am I not supposed to be by your side?”

Vivienne snickered and angled her self more closely as if to prove a point.

“Don't be like that, Leila, we were just discussing important matters, right, weren't we, my dear Alpha?” her voice dripping with mockery

My dear Alpha?

“She's right, we were only just discussing important matters, something you wouldn't quite understand.”

That jab was a low blow, most especially when it was coming from him, I couldn't believe my ears

“Derek…”

“Relax, you're always so suffocating with your dos and don'ts, Derek's just trying to find some kind of comfort else where, free from all your regulations and pressure.”

Her words hurt me, but I refused to let her see the pain it caused me. My wolf growled pushing toward the surface and I let a low warning sound. “I don't understand what kind of game you're playing Vivienne, but need I remind you, Derek's mine.”

She let out a sharp cruel sound that made my blood boil.

“Yours? He doesn't think so, as you can see, he's here with me and not with you!”

My wolf snapped. I lunged at her before I could hold myself, wrestling her to the ground. The entire room erupted in chaos as we collided, claws and teeth bared.

I was so ready to end her miserable life right there and then, how dare she try to mock me right in the presence of everyone.

I had overlooked every of her insults but this was the last straw!

“Enough Leila!” Derek's voice thundered through the chaos. His strong hand gripped my arm, yanking me away from her, the contact burned, not in the way it used to.

It was like he meant to hurt me.

I turned to him, my chest heavy with anger and heartbreak.

“Let go of me!” I said, not ready to let go yet, even though my face visibly hurt from all the scratches I've received.

“Behave yourself Leila!” He growled.

My heart stopped.

“You're defending her, why?”

“She's not the one making a scene, you are,” he said coldly, his golden eyes hard and unyielding. “You need to control yourself, Leila, this behavior is beneath you and not worthy of a Luna.”

His words hit me harder than any blow, my wolf whimpered, retreating into the shadows of my mind. I stared at him in disbelief as pain threatened to choke me.

“I didn't start this, she provoked me.” I said my voice trembling.

“And you fell right into it, you have her exactly what she wanted!” He snapped.

I stumbled back, it was as if he'd struck me, his reprimand, his coldness, it was a betrayal I didn't see coming.

The bond between us, the connection, I thought we had, that was unbreakable felt like it was crumbling before my very eyes.

How could he? How could he defend someone else instead of me his own mate, he is supposed to be taking my side, instead of hers.

I glanced at Vivienne who wore a triumphant, smug expression on her face and back to Derek whose face held no trace of the man I thought I knew.

“Derek…”

“This is the main reason why I didn't want you here, somehow you always managed to humiliate me in front me in front of the whole pack,” Derek said, berating me unrelentlessly and worse still in the presence of everyone, not even minding the fact that my heart was breaking to pieces at his feet.

“Apologize to her right now!” He ordered.

“I will do no such thing!” I growled.

Over my dead body.

“Leila…” he said warningly.

“No I will not, how dare you even suggest that, is this how low you think of me.”

“It doesn't matter Derek, it's no big deal, I'm not all that injured, besides let's not ruin the event because of her, I'm okay” Vivienne said.

“See, look how Vivienne is so well mannered and cultured where as you're the exact opposite, I have no idea how in the world the gods saddled me with someone like you, you are not even worthy enough to be my Luna!” Derek said.

Those words where the final nail to my already broken heart, without another word, I turned and fled, the whispers followed me as I ran out of the pack house, my vision blurred by tears.

They came down in rivulets down my cheeks.

I was always an ugly crier.

The forest was silent except for the sound of my ragged breathing. I collapsed to my knees under the moonlight clutching the pendant Derek had given me when we first discovered our bond. It's silver surface glimmered cruelly in the light, a reminder of promises that were now broken.

Tears streamed down my face as I cried my heart out into the night, “Why Derek, why did you do this to me!”

I felt utterly, devastatingly broken, rejected and humiliated by my very own mate.