Chapter 2: Plan Escape
1042 Words
EVA
Morning had come quicker and I still couldn't believe that Xavier had me locked down here in the dungeon surrounded by guards.
They no longer even acknowledged me as their Luna anymore.
"Hmm, I'm so hungry," I whispered to myself while holding my tummy.
"Mommy will get you food ok," I said to my little bean growing inside my stomach.
I wasn't going to let my baby die.
The dungeon was cold, damp, and silent except for the occasional drip of water from the stone ceiling.
I crawled to where the water was dripping and brought my hands together to gather some of the water.
My hands got filled with the dipped water and I gulped it all down to my throat. After I was satisfied I went back to where I was.
I sat curled against the wall, my wrists bruised from iron shackles and my heart shattered by a pain far worse than any physical wound.
Three months ago, I had been the Luna of the pack.
Three months ago, I had believed my mate loved me.
Now I knew better.
"I understand that he and my step-sister were lovers, but then we were mates, how is all this my fault," I said to no one but myself.
Nancy had accused me of sending in men to r**e her. There had been no evidence, no witnesses, and no investigation.
But then the men had testified that I sent them. I knew she paid them to lie, and I knew she voluntarily slept with them.
Nancy had been nothing but a w***e, even when she was dating Xavier back then. Yet the moment Nancy pointed her finger, Alpha Xavier looked at me with disgust instead of trust.
The memory still cut deeper than any blade.
"I never thought you could be this cruel," Xavier had said.
"Guards!!! Take her to the dungeon."
I had begged him to listen. I had cried, pleaded, and sworn on the Moon Goddess herself that I was innocent.
But Xavier had chosen Nancy.
Just as he always had.
Before Xavier and I discovered we were mates, Xavier had openly pursued Nancy since childhood. Even though I always had a crush on him, I never sabotaged their relationship.
Xavier had intended to reject me when he found out I was his mate but was stopped by his parents.
Everyone in the pack knew he intended to make Nancy his Luna. The only thing that changed his plans was the mate bond.
I had spent years believing I was second best.
After we sealed our mate bond, Xavier started treating me kindly. He smiled at me. Protected me. Shared quiet moments beneath the moon. He even whispered once that perhaps fate had known better than either of us.
For the first time in my life, I allowed myself to hope.
I had fallen completely in love.
Now that hope lay dead.
The dungeon door creaked open.
A guard stepped inside and tossed a stale piece of bread onto the floor.
"Eat," he growled.
I stared at it. The bread landed in a puddle of dirty water.
The guard laughed and left.
The heavy door slammed shut.
Tears burned in eyes.
Not because of the bread.
Not because of the cold.
But because the man who was supposed to be my mate knew exactly how I was being treated and had done nothing to stop it.
I stretched my hands to take the bread and used my cloth to clean the mud.
"Xavier now is this what you give to your wife to eat?" I whispered to myself.
I ate the bread for the sake of my little bean growing inside me.
Outside my tiny window, I could hear distant music.
The pack was celebrating.
Celebrating Nancy.
Word had spread that Xavier intended to reject me as Luna once my trial was over and make Nancy his chosen mate instead.
But what they didn't know was that I would be out of here before the trial.
The entire pack already viewed me as a criminal.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips.
How quickly people forget.
I closed my eyes and placed a trembling hand over my stomach.
No one knew my secret.
Not even Xavier.
" You are Xavier's heir," I smiled while holding my stomach.
"But it is too late for him to claim you as his Heir."
" He will never have access to you. I cut every bond between both of you," I declared to the moon goddess.
I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and I knew it was done.
A child who would never know kindness if it remained in this pack.
A child whose father had chosen lies over love.
At that moment, something inside me broke.
Not my spirit.
Not my strength.
My love, I had no bit of love for Xavier again. He tortured his Luna, my whole body was filled with cuts made by him.
The last fragile piece of it shattered.
When I opened my eyes again, they were dry.
Cold.
Determined.
I reached beneath a loose stone I had secretly worked free over the past several days.
Hidden inside was a rusted key stolen from a careless guard.
My escape.
Every night I had planned my route.
Every shift change.
Every blind spot.
Tomorrow would be the night.
I would leave this pack.
Leave Xavier.
Leave every painful memory behind.
No one knew I had powers. I could read other people's minds what they are planning and saying. And that was how I knew what they were planning for me tomorrow. And I wouldn't be here to carry out their so-called plan.
And I would never look back.
Xavier
Far above her, in the Alpha's mansion, Xavier stood on a balcony staring at the moon.
An uneasy feeling twisted in his chest.
The mate bond had been growing weaker every day.
He told himself it didn't matter.
Eva was guilty.
That Nancy was telling the truth.
Yet deep down, a terrifying fear whispered in his heart.
What if he was wrong?
What if the woman suffering alone in the dungeon was innocent?
What if he had destroyed the only person who had ever truly loved him?
- Writer
