The Alpha Who Engineered My Murder

“Please, do not do this.” My voice cracked, raw and shredded, bouncing off the sterile concrete walls. No one listened. My limbs fought against the heavy iron restraints, but they might as well have been welded to the table. “I am your Luna. I carry the bloodline of the pack!” I shrieked until my throat tore, but the low, mocking chuckle echoing from the adjoining room completely shattered what little fight remained in me. “Matheus, please!” I sobbed one last time. “Tear it from her. Cast her out into the frost once it is over. She can fend for herself and her sins in the wild.” He could not possibly mean that. This was our child—flesh of our flesh. “Our baby!” “Is an abomination spawned from infidelity. A blemish I will purge,” his voice boomed through the open door. He refused to even grace me with his presence, hiding in the shadows. “Do it now. That is an order.” “Yes, Alpha.” How foolish I had been to walk willingly into his den. How naive to lay my entire soul at his feet. “Oh, and doctor?” A sickeningly sweet, honeyed voice drifted from the other room. My step-sister, Yara. I clenched my jaw so hard I tasted copper. “Make sure you skip the numbing agent. She needs to feel every single second of her punishment.” “Yes, Luna.” The pack physician turned back to me, his gaze swimming with profound pity, but when his gloved hand closed around the gleaming surgical steel, I knew there was no escape. I am so sorry, my little one. Momma wanted you more than breath itself. I tried desperately to slide my bound hands down to shield my swollen stomach, but the leather straps held fast. As the doctor stepped forward, the horrific glint of the instrument caught the light. It wasn't standard steel. “Silver?” My whisper barely registered above my own ragged breathing, but the doctor's solemn nod confirmed my nightmare. Yara hadn't just wanted me broken; she wanted me dead. She had coveted my title and my mate so desperately that she fabricated an elaborate web of lies, forging fabricated evidence that I had lain with another wolf. But I had never strayed, nor would I ever, least of all after binding my soul to Matheus. Why, Mother Moon? Why bestow him upon me only to rip him away through such cruelty? I wept silently as the cold edge bit into my abdomen. I felt my poor pup thrash frantically within me, sensing the danger, knowing it was far too early for the world. It was a death sentence for both of us. “Bring me the infant when it is out.” “Yes, Alpha.” Every agonizing slice tore through my nerves. I could no longer hold back the screams. Blood cascaded over my sides, pooling beneath the table in heavy, rhythmic drips. I thrashed violently against the iron, but the toxic burn of the silver had leeched my strength away. Forgive me, my baby. They weren't trying to preserve my life—a mercy I had secretly hoped for, yet deep down knew was impossible. I had adored my mate once, but that love withered and died the instant I heard my child being violently torn from my womb. “Please... just let me hold him once.” I strained against the straps, weeping. The doctor, tears carving tracks through the grime on his face, gently lifted my tiny son and laid him against my chest. He was absolute perfection. I pressed my nose to his crown, desperately stamping my scent upon him and inhaling his. He would forever be anchored to my soul. My missing piece. “Doctor. Now.” “Yes, Alpha.” The physician scooped the baby up and fled the room, leaving my body desecrated and exposed to the cold air. Life was slipping away from my fingertips when the heavy door swung open and Yara glided in, a triumphant, venomous smirk plastered across her face. “I told you I would take everything from you, Lisandra. Your crown, your title, and your mate. He has been mine in the dark every night since I 'discovered' your betrayal.” Yara stepped closer, leaning down to press a mocking kiss to my clammy cheek as I bared my teeth in a silent snarl. “And look at him. He is perfection. Don't fret, though—I will give him another heir.” She pressed a hand dramatically to her flat stomach, and a dry, breathless laugh bubbled up my throat. “What is so amusing, you dying animal?” “I can smell the Beta on you. That is Thiago’s bastard, and it’s a female. Good luck explaining that one.” Yara’s face twisted with rage; her claws shot out, lengthening to deliver a fatal strike to my throat. But before she could move, the door was violently blasted off its hinges. Matheus strode in, his eyes glowing a manic, blood-red, and I laughed aloud again. “You treacherous b***h!” Matheus roared, his heavy hand catching Yara across the face and sending her crashing into the far wall. “Matheus!” Yara shrieked, sliding down the masonry. “What are you doing?” She staggered up, but a fresh surge of dark crimson spilled from my body, and my vision began to tunnel. “You lied to me!” He shook the foundation of the room with his Alpha aura, though I barely felt it now. The silver was freezing my sluggish heart. “It was my son! I can smell my own blood on him. He was mine!” Tears mingled with the blazing red in his eyes. “You swore she betrayed me!” “She did! I must have... I was mistaken about the child!” “You claimed you smelled another wolf!” He lunged for her throat, but the sight of him clutching our lifeless baby in his massive arm was the final straw. I wanted the darkness to swallow me whole. He caused this c*****e. Not just Yara. She played her venomous part, yes, but his utter lack of trust—his refusal to wait a single day to verify the truth with his own senses—was his downfall. And ours. I silently prayed for the Mother Moon to claim me. I refused to exist in a world stained by their betrayal. I wanted to hold my pup in the stars. “Save her!” Matheus bellowed over his shoulder. “No!” Yara shrieked, clawing at his sleeve. “I am your Luna now! You marked me last night!” Ah, so that was the phantom pain I felt rippling through our bond. Bitterness and bile flooded my mouth. “I am carrying your true heir!” I laughed again, coughing up a spray of dark blood. I forced my heavy eyelids open to glare at the man hovering over me. “The Beta’s spawn... she is w*****g with Thiago.” I choked out the words, smiling as absolute terror drained the color from Matheus’s face. “Save her!” Matheus screamed at the physician. “No!” I projected every ounce of my remaining life force, slamming out a wall of pure Alpha dominance that froze every person in the room solid—including my mate. “How?” Matheus stared down at me, his expression fracturing into sheer desperation. “Please... let me save you.” “I am a direct descendant of the Moon Goddess, and you are unworthy of saving me. You never deserved our son. You were weak, blind, and cruel. And now, you have lost everything.” I smiled up at the ceiling as my spirit detached from the heavy, ruined cage of my flesh. And then, finally, I was free.