Alpha's Betrayal Omega´s Revenge

5

I climbed into the luxury vehicle waiting at the building’s entrance, parked right next to mine. What I didn’t expect was for shameless Serena to get in too—let alone have the audacity to take the wheel.

I rolled down the window so her nauseating perfume could escape—the same one she’d left clinging to the wedding chamber door.

She started the engine, and I quickly realized we weren’t heading toward the pack house.

“Where are you taking me?”

“To where criminals belong, omega.”

I stared at her in disbelief. Criminals? She had slept with my mate—my husband—and I was the one being labeled a criminal?

“This is a sick joke, right?”

Serena stepped on the gas, her eyes fixed on the road, avoiding mine.

“There’s evidence that you tried to leave the pack with your parents—without the Alpha’s permission.” That’s when she turned to look at me, and I saw how much she was enjoying every word. “That’s a crime for an omega.”

“I’m not—” I almost said the phrase I’d grown used to in recent weeks, the one that reminded everyone I was the Luna—but it was clear that I no longer was. “Why are you doing this to me? I thought we were friends. You were even a bridesmaid at my wedding.”

Serena returned her eyes to the road, and I noticed a faint blush on her cheeks.

“What Ethan and I have is special. It goes beyond what was nothing more than a stroke of luck.”

“A stroke of luck? You’re calling my bond with Ethan a stroke of luck?”

I wanted to leap at her and wrap my hands around her swan-like neck—the one Ethan had surely kissed more than once.

Serena gave me a cold stare.

“Of course it was. You’re just a lowly omega who happened to meet her mate while on shift as an ordinary nurse. And it just so happened that your mate was the Alpha. Isn’t that the very definition of luck? And now, as if that wasn’t enough, you have the nerve to want him all to yourself, without even showing the humility expected from someone whose life was turned around by such blind fortune.”

I couldn’t believe her shamelessness—that she actually believed that just because my bond was a twist of fate, I should share it with her.

“Do you actually believe the crap you’re saying?”

“Ethan was supposed to be mine!” she shouted, nearly losing control of the car. “Everything would have been perfect—just like it was meant to be. Claire wouldn’t have mocked me the way she did the moment I received my wolf. I still remember her face—at my celebration—when it became clear I wasn’t Ethan’s fated mate. That smug look has never left her since, because to her, her son deserved an Alpha. It’s been humiliation after humiliation. People whisper behind my back, calling me the fool who thought she’d be the Alpha’s mate and ended up as nothing more than a shadow of that dream. And you know what, Nell? I was starting to come to terms with that, to live with it, even ignore it—but then you had to show up.”

I started to fear for our safety. Serena was now driving like a madwoman.

“That was the worst part, Nell! You destroyed my happiness! Because just when Ethan and I had accepted that we might never find our mates and could live with our secret love—you showed up, out of nowhere, and claimed him in the blink of an eye.”

“Out of nowhere? I saved his life. Or did that part conveniently slip your mind? If I hadn’t been on duty at the hospital that night, maybe Ethan wouldn’t have survived his wounds. He might be dead now.”

My words seemed to calm Serena down a little, but I knew her rage was far from gone.

“That doesn’t change anything, Nell. In fact, it made it worse. Because you couldn’t be an Alpha—or even a Gamma—no, you had to be a damn omega, the very bottom of the hierarchy. How do you think that made me feel? Knowing that I, a Beta, wasn’t his fated mate, but you were? You, just a pathetic omega. It was... it was beyond humiliating, Nell.”

“And yet you welcomed me with a smile, all while hiding the dagger behind your back.”

The nostrils of her perfectly upturned nose flared slightly.

“What choice did I have? I had learned to smile through bitterness. And if I behaved, stayed close to you, and made you like me, I could stay near him. The only thing I didn’t plan for… was you finding out so soon.”

“You used my bed. Not exactly the cleverest move.”

I noticed Serena’s knuckles turning white on the steering wheel.

“It doesn’t matter anymore what you say. It’s all going to be taken care of now.” She slowed down, and I saw we were nearing the district where the pack’s prison was located. “You’ll be charged with trying to leave the pack without authorization. That’s a crime of high treason, Nell. You know what happens to traitors, don’t you?”

I didn’t respond, so Serena, relishing every second, answered for me.

“Death, Nell. You’ll be executed. Or—if Ethan takes pity on you and commutes the sentence—you’ll be sent to a forced labor camp, where you probably won’t last long either.”

The car finally came to a stop in front of the prison gates.

“Do you really think it’ll be that easy to get rid of me? You have no proof of anything. Just because I was at my parents’ apartment with a suitcase doesn’t prove a thing.”

Serena snorted.

“Wow, you really still think like an omega. Just proves that even dressed in silk, you were always one.”

“What are you talking about? Be clear.”

Serena smiled.

“You don’t think there are hidden recorders in your parents’ apartment?”

“What!?”

“They were installed as part of the Luna’s security protocol—standard procedure. They always go in the homes of immediate family of high-ranking pack members. Their purpose is to prevent attacks—but from the moment you rejected Ethan, you were no longer the Luna. So now, those recordings are evidence against you, Nellie. Every word you said to your parents… is on tape.”

I felt like the car seat collapsed beneath me, dragging me all the way into the ground—and it just kept sinking.

“And that’s not all,” Serena continued, her cold, hysterical smile returning. “If you don’t cooperate and confess your crime, your parents could be charged with treason too. They talked. They said they wanted to leave the pack with you… and they’re omegas.”

Two guards approached the vehicle, greeted Serena, and pulled me out—already in handcuffs.

I still couldn’t believe what was happening.