Betrayed and Bound in Silver
1400 Words
Serena
I froze in my tracks, my heels rooted to the ground as my mind struggled to process what I had just heard.
Me? An impersonator?
How?
I looked at them, and it felt like everything was moving in slow motion as they advanced toward me. My brain scrambled, trying to make sense of the scene unfolding before me.
“You! You dared to impersonate our Alpha and take her seat after trying to kill her!”
The accusation came from Malek, the pack’s trainer and one of its most respected elders. His voice was filled with certainty, like there was no room for doubt in what he was saying.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I couldn’t defend myself. I couldn’t even understand what was happening.
Yes, I had once doubted whether I was truly a Rivera, but I never knew where she had gone if I wasn’t her. They were the ones who brought me in. They were the ones who ran the tests, who claimed that the DNA proved I was their Alpha’s long-lost daughter. They were the ones who insisted I take over the pack. And we all knew the truth, the pack had flourished under my leadership.
So why… why was I being accused now?
“We should head back. They’ll be looking for you.”
Darius’s words from earlier echoed in my mind.
How did he know?
Was this what he meant?
Was this why he insisted on walking me back?
Before I could even ask, before I could say a single word, a sharp slap landed across my face.
My head snapped to the side as pain exploded through my cheek. For a moment, I just stood there in stunned disbelief.
Five years.
Five years, and no one had dared treat me like that.
My wolf roared in fury, clawing to the surface. Before I could react, the same woman kicked me, and I stumbled back with a pained cry as my wolf surged forward.
My eyes burned, turning amber as I looked up at her. She was an Alpha. Just like me.
“How dare you hit me!” I demanded, my Alpha voice ringing with authority.
But she didn’t even acknowledge my question. Her eyes burned with hatred, pure and unfiltered rage, as if I had stolen something precious from her.
“You dared to impersonate me and take over my pack, and you still dare to ask that?” She spat. “I hit you because you’re a murdering b***h!”
Her words hit like blows.
“You ran away after your Alpha rejected you, and then you came to steal my pack?”
Rage boiled inside me.
“For your information,” I snapped, rising to my feet, “he did not reject me. Second, I didn’t take anything from anyone, and I certainly didn’t try to kill anyone.”
My claws itched to come out.
“How dare you accuse me of such things?”
“Because it was me you poisoned!” She shot back. “It was me you tried to kill. And after making sure I was almost dead, you ran to the Crimson Shadow Pack and impersonated me!”
Her words rang in my ears and then I saw him.
Valek, my beta.
He stood behind her, silent.
Hope surged in my chest. He had been there since the beginning. He knew everything. He would clear this up.
“Valek?” I called out but he didn’t answer.
He didn’t even look at me. Instead… he stepped back. As if he didn’t know me. As if I was nothing.
His words echoed in my mind:
If I could turn back time, I would come into your life earlier… maybe then, I would have made a different choice.
Was that what he meant?
“Do you trust your beta?”
Darius’s voice from the night before echoed in my head.
Did he know?
Had I trusted too easily?
That moment of distraction cost me. Something struck the back of my neck. I gasped, my hand flying back as I pulled out the dart embedded in my skin. I turned sharply and lunged at the man holding the weapon.
One of my guards.
One of my warriors.
The one who was supposed to protect me.
I moved with supernatural speed, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him off the ground.
I could take them. All of them. I wasn’t afraid.
Then another dart hit me. This time in my upper back, just below my spine, out of reach.
Then another.
And another.
My grip loosened.
My body betrayed me.
As I staggered, my vision blurred and that was when I saw him. Valek, holding a dart gun and our eyes met.
For a moment… just a moment… I thought I saw guilt in his gaze but it vanished. Gone like it had never been there.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
When I woke up hours later, everything had changed. I was no longer the mysterious Alpha everyone admired. No longer the Alpha Rivera, the one feared and respected across the wolf world. No longer the woman Kael once wanted back. No longer the woman the Lycan King claimed as his own.
Why? Because I was lying in a small, dark cell that smelled like death.
My clothes were torn, barely clinging to my body, as if someone had deliberately stripped away my dignity.
The darkness didn’t bother me. My wolf’s vision cut through it easily.
The cell was tiny, barely five feet by five. Too small for me to shift. Too small for my wolf. A cage designed to trap me in my weakest form.
I tried to move, but pain rippled through my body. That’s when it hit me.
Poison.
I scanned my body with my senses. Wolfsbane. Of course. They wanted me dead.
They probably didn’t even expect me to wake up. Luckily for me… I wasn’t just any wolf.
Alpha blood ran through me and wolfsbane wouldn’t kill me but it would hurt. It would weaken me and it would take time to purge.
Maybe it was a good thing I had never told anyone, not even Valek, about this ability.
I pushed myself up slowly, wincing as my muscles screamed in protest. My hand brushed the wall and I jerked back instantly.
Silver. Of course.
The entire cell was lined with silver bars. If I wanted to survive, I had to stay in the center away from the walls.
I let out a bitter laugh.
“What a fitting place for an Alpha,” I muttered.
Settling down, I folded my legs beneath me and focused. Slowly, carefully, I began circulating my blood, forcing the poison out.
I had trained myself for this. I was the only wolf who could do it and that was exactly why I had kept it a secret because power like this?
It didn’t make you special.
It made you a target.
Or worse…
A witch.
I exhaled slowly. So much for staying unnoticed.
Time passed, I wasn’t sure how long, before I sensed someone approaching.
A woman. An Alpha and she carried nothing but hatred for me. I kept my eyes closed, my senses alert. The dungeon door creaked open. Footsteps echoed as she descended the stairs. She stopped outside my cell.
I opened my eyes. She was holding the bars, wearing gloves.
Smart.
“I see you’re as strong as they say,” she said mockingly. “I’m impressed. Most wolves wouldn’t wake up after that much wolfsbane.”
I said nothing. I wasn’t wasting my strength on her.
“Why did you impersonate me?” She demanded.
I looked at her, the woman who had turned everyone against me but I wasn’t surprised. Betrayal didn’t shock me anymore.
Didn’t my own mate betray me once?
“Both of us know you’re lying,” I said calmly. “I just don’t understand where you think this will lead.”
I needed strength. Not anger.
“I want you dead, Serena,” she said flatly. “I hate you. I don’t even know why… but the sight of you makes me sick.”
And just like that, she turned and left leaving me alone confused and one question burning in my mind…
Why would someone who doesn’t even know you want you dead?
- Writer
