THE WORTHLESS LUNA THEY BURIED

Angeline's POV   “Move it, Angeline. Your time’s up.”  The jailer’s voice was a rusty scrape against the silence of the cellblock. The heavy barred door groaned open. I stepped out, the coarse fabric of the state-issued pants and shirt feeling alien after two years. Two years for a crime that still made my stomach heave to think about: the poisoning of six pack elders. They’d survived, barely, but the intent had been deemed monstrous. I hadn’t done it. But I’d taken the blame.  Chad, my husband, the Alpha, had begged me. His eyes, the warm amber I’d loved since we were pups, had been wide with a fear I’d never seen. “They’ll strip my title, Angel. I'll lose all I've worked for. But they can’t touch you the same way. You've got nothing to lose so take the fall. Do this for me, for us. When you get out… it’ll be different. I swear on the moon. I’ll love you the way you deserve. We’ll finally have our life.”  I’d believed him. I’d loved him my whole, pathetic life. So I stood in front of the Pack Council, head bowed, and confessed to a crime that made my skin crawl. I’d endured the horrified stares, the disgust from my own pack. For him.  The prison gate clanged shut behind me. The free air was cold, sharp with autumn. I hugged myself, scanning the empty parking lot. No black SUV. No Chad leaning against the hood with that lazy, apologetic smile.   My heart gave a little squeeze, but I smoothed it flat. It’s fine. He’s probably arranging a surprise. He’s never been good with time. At least I’ll get his love now. I don’t mind the little acts. We’ve been married four years. A lot has happened. This will be the change.  I hitched a ride with a wary-looking trucker, paying with the few dollars I’d earned in the prison laundry. The familiar woods of Black Dawn pack closed in, the towering pines like sentinels. The packhouse came into view, a sprawling lodge of dark wood and stone. My chest tightened. Home.  But something was different. Colourful letters were strung across the broad porch. I squinted as the truck rattled away.  “Welcome Back, My True Luna.”  A smile, real and trembling, broke across my face. He had planned a surprise. A welcome party. My feet carried me faster up the gravel path. The main door was unlocked. I pushed it open.  The grand hall was decked with more streamers, a few balloons tied to the antler chandelier. A banner with the same phrase hung over the fireplace. But it was silent. Eerily so. No servants bustling. No pack members milling with glasses of wine. He must have sent them all away. To make it special. Just for us.  “Chad?” My voice echoed in the vaulted space.  No answer. The silence felt heavy, watchful. I walked through the empty rooms, my sneakers silent on the polished floors. Maybe he’s upstairs. Getting ready.  The staircase to our wing seemed to stretch forever. My hand slid on the smooth oak banister. At the top of the stairs, the door to our bedroom, the Alpha’s suite, was closed.  I paused.  A sound. A low, rhythmic creaking of bedsprings. Then a moan. High, feminine, and achingly familiar in a way that iced my blood.  No.  My heart wasn’t beating; it was trying to claw its way out of my throat. This wasn’t the first time. There had been others, whispers in the pack, the scent of strange perfume. I had looked away. I had told myself it was the pressure of being heartbroken. But here? In our bed? The bed he’d barely shared with me?  Another moan, louder. “Oh, Chad, ah, yeah… don’t stop!”  My hand was on the doorknob, cold as death. I turned it slowly, pushing the door open just a crack.  The sight hit me like a physical blow.  Chad, my husband, naked, his muscular back gleaming with sweat, was moving over a woman sprawled across our sheets. Her legs were wrapped around his hips, her head thrown back in ecstasy. Red hair fanned out over my pillow.  “That’s it,” Chad groaned, his voice thick with a pleasure he’d never used with me. “You’re so damn perfect. So tight for me.”  The woman beneath him laughed, a breathy, thrilling sound. “You make me feel so good, Alpha.”  “It’s been two years with you again,” he panted, driving into her harder, making the headboard slam against the wall. “But you always taste better than I remember.”  Two years?  “You’re such an angel, Louisa,” he murmured, dipping his head to kiss her neck.  Louisa?  The world tipped sideways. He shifted his position, angling his body, and I saw her face. Flushed, beautiful, cruel. My older sister. Louisa.  My hand slipped from the door. It swung open with a soft thud.  They froze. Chad’s head snapped up. His amber eyes, which I’d dreamed of for two years, found me in the doorway. There was no shock. No guilt. Just a flicker of irritation, then cold disdain.  “s**t,” he cursed, pulling out of her with a slick sound that made me want to vomit. He grabbed his briefs from the floor.  Louisa just sat up, pulling the duvet to cover her breasts, a smirk playing on her lips. “Oh. Angeline. My dear sister is back.”  “How dare you just walk in?” Chad snarled, stepping into his briefs. “Did you forget all manners for your Alpha in jail?”  I stared, my mouth dry, my brain refusing to piece it together. “What… what the hell is going on here?”  Chad barked a laugh. “What does it look like?”  “Why is Louisa here?”  Louisa gave a little shrug, pulling an innocent pout. “Oh, sweetie. I’ve been back for a couple of years now. We’ve been together while you… well, while you rotted in jail.” She feigned a look of remorse. “I am sorry I never came to visit. It just seemed so… depressing.”  She rose, gloriously naked, and sidled up to Chad, running a hand over his chest. “Baby, you can’t just attack her the minute she walks in. She just got out.”  I looked at Chad, my voice trembling. “She left you at the altar. She humiliated you before the entire pack. I saved your dignity. I married you. And you’re… back with her?”  “So what?” Chad sneered, wrapping an arm around Louisa’s bare waist. “She came back. I forgave her. She truly loves me. Now you can learn your place.” He c****d his head. “What? You thought I was actually going to love you because you went to jail for me? You, an undeserving, wolfless b***h? Nah, Angeline. Wake up from dreamland.”  They burst into laughter, a harmonious, cruel sound.  I felt it then. A splintering deep in my chest, as if a thousand knives had been plunged in and twisted. A single, hot tear escaped, tracing a path through the grime from my journey.  Louisa clicked her tongue, stepping forward. “Oh, don’t be a cry-baby now. You were never anything special. You couldn’t keep him. I’ll save you the embarrassment. Just sign the divorce papers and disappear quietly. Let me reclaim the Luna title which is rightfully mine officially.”  Rage, black and boiling, erupted through the pain. She had always done this. Set me up to fail. Sabotaged my friendships. Stolen my things. But this… My fists curled at my sides. “You b***h!”  I lunged for her, my hand swinging. But Chad was faster. He caught my wrist in a grip of iron and flung me backwards as if I weighed nothing. I stumbled, hitting the dresser with a jarring thud.  “Get lost,” he spat. “Pack whatever trash is yours and get out of my pack! The divorce papers will be ready by morning.”  I pushed myself up, wiping the tears away with the back of my hand. The pain crystallized into something hard and sharp.   “No. I’m not going quietly. I’ll expose you. The entire pack will know what their Alpha really did. Let’s see how you keep your title when the Alpha King hears about the crime you committed.”  His face changed. The disdain melted into something predatory, dangerous. I turned for the door.  I didn’t make it two steps.  He moved with Alpha speed. A hand tangled in my hair, yanking me back. “I won’t let you do that, Angeline.”  Then, darkness. A blinding pain exploded at the back of my skull.