1: Sofia
“I, Lucas Marcus, reject you, Sofia Kieran.”
I clutch my chest as hot tears of betrayal rush into my eyes.
“Lucas, you can’t do this,” I whisper.
He smirks as his hand slips around Alice’s waist and pulls her closer to him.
She leans on his shoulder as if it’s the most natural thing ever, and it makes me wonder how many times they have been in this position before.
“I can, Sofia. I just did.”
A few tears roll down my cheeks. In front of me, are my best friend and lover, the two people I have known and loved my whole life. My vision starts to go blurry as the realization of the betrayal sinks in deeper.
“I mean, Sofia, you weren’t actually expecting Lucas to marry you, were you?” Alice throws her head back as she lets out a cackle. “I mean, come on. Did you really think you were going to be crowned as the Luna of the pack?”
“It’s my father’s pack,” I mumble looking down at my feet. I clench my hands to form fists. “It’s my right.”
“Your father is dead,” Lucas replies blankly.
I look up, disbelief written on my face. “How could you?”
“Yes, Sofia. Your father is dead,” Lucas lets go of Alice and walks forward towards me. “The sooner you accept it, the better. Your father is dead and has been dead for a while now. This throne is no longer your right, you do not have a wolf. The pack does not want a Luna that can’t defend them when the need comes to. The reign of the Kieran family is over.”
My nails are digging into my palm at this point. “I agree that I do not have a wolf, but I am not weak. I can defend my pack if need be, Lucas,” I say calmly, looking into his icy blue eyes. “We were brought up as chosen mates, Lucas. You accepted me all those years ago, you can’t just reject me now!”
“Yes, I can,” Lucas pointedly states with a smirk. “I do not want a weak wolfless Luna, and neither does the pack.”
With each word uttered, a crack appeared in my heart.
“I can defend my pack, Lucas,” I weakly argue.
“You can?” I hear Alice call out from behind him.
Lucas steps to the side, out of my view, and turns in the process. We are both looking at Alice who has a bored expression on her face.
“Not like it will change the outcome, but I have an idea on how you can prove you can defend the pack,” she says as the corner of her left lip turns up. She doesn’t wait for a reply, before she continues, “Beat me in a duel.”
There is a collective gasp from the crowd I forgot was present.
“What?” I gaped.
“Beat me in a duel,” she repeats, the smirk still fixated on her face.
Alice, the daughter of Omega Lord Thorne, has been my best friend since I was in diapers. Also, she is the best female fighter in our entire pack, and even during practice, I have never been able to land a hit on her.
There is no way I’m going to win this, I think as we maintain eye contact.
“What, are you scared?” she sneers, as if reading my thoughts.
I am. I am scared. But I have to win this. For my father and for my pack.
“No,” I answer, with what I hope sounds like unshakable confidence. “Bring it on.”
She lets out a cackle and immediately morphs into her wolf. Alice’s wolf’s fur and hair were the same shade of golden brown. Her eyes, though, were an icy blue in wolf form, in contrast to her regular coffee brown.
Her eyes lock into mine, cold and predatory, and the weight of her gaze keeps me rooted in place. A chill snakes down my spine, spreading through my body like frost creeping over glass.
Slowly, she shifts her weight forward, her massive paw pressing into the dirt. My breath catches as the corners of her mouth draw back, revealing sharp glistening fangs.
Instinct screams at me to run, to save my life, but I don’t want to go down without a fight. I adopt a fighting stance, one shaky leg spaced out from the other, slightly bending my knee.
Dodge. All I’ll do is avoid getting hit till I get an opening.
And then she howls. The sound is raw and haunting, ripping through the silence like a blade. Before I can blink, she surges forward.
Pain explodes in my shoulder as her fangs pierce through skin and muscle. The force knocks me off balance and my knees buckle beneath me. Blood seeps down my arm as I let out a guttural scream.
She lets go of me and morphs back into her human form. Holding my gaze, she sticks out her tongue and licks the blood trailing from the corners of her mouth, the motion slow and deliberately.
“At least you’ll make a delicious meal,” she winks.
My gaze falls to my knees, pressed into the dirt. Blood is streaming down the wound, soaking into the earth beneath me and darkening the soil. The sting of pain is nothing compared to the weight of humiliation bearing down on me.
I failed. I failed Dad. I failed the pack.
My eyes prickled with tears.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
I lift my gaze to see Lucas walking towards us, the corner of his lips curved to form a sinister smile.
“Point proven,” he says as he comes to a stop beside Alice. “If you can’t stand your ground against one wolf, how will you defend your pack?” He sneers.
I clench my fists as tight as I can. My vision is blurry, my heart a whirlwind of emotions. Anger. Betrayal. Heartbreak. My head is spinning.
I watch in silence as Lucas slips his hand around Alice’s waist, then drags her closer to him. She turns and faces him. He wraps his other hand round her waist and she holds his face with both hands.
I close my eyes immediately, trying to avoid imprinting in my brain the image of them inevitably kissing. A tear runs down my cheek as my heart shatters into pieces.
A familiar cackle cuts through the silence. I open my eyes.
“What a coward,” Alice jeered. She is looking down at me, her eyes filled with ridicule.
“The pack no longer needs you, Sofia Kieran. You’re banished.”
