The Alpha’s Bought Luna

Chapter2

Ava's POV

The hall was too quiet, even though it was full of people, elders, warriors, pack members, and strangers. I couldn’t hear anything except my heartbeat. It pounded in my ears like a drum, it was loud and frightening.

I stood in the center of the council floor, shaking. My hands trembled at my sides, I didn't know if it was from fear or sorrow, maybe both.

I still had Damien’s scent on my skin from that last moment in the woods. When I thought he loved me, when I believed he would protect me. That memory burned in my chest like fire now.

“Please…” I said again, my voice cracking.

No one moved, no one blinked, no one cared.

I turned my head slowly, trying to find just one kind face. One person who believed me, but all I saw were cold eyes, turned lips, and judgment. They had already decided, I was already guilty.

I looked at Damien.

My heart twisted in my chest, in a tight painful knot. He stood tall beside Lydia, his jaw clenched, his arms crossed. His eyes, those once soft, silver eyes, were now like stone.

“Damien,” I whispered, the name falling from my lips like a broken prayer. “Tell them the truth, please. You know I didn’t do it, you know me.”

He didn’t answer, he didn’t even look at me. Instead, he spoke, his voice cold, louder than mine, carrying across the entire hall.

“Ava should no longer be a part of our pack,” he said. “She is a traitor, she is not my mate. She is nothing to me.”

Everyone in the room gasped, I felt like I had been slapped. The pain was instant, sharp, and it was deep.

I felt my knees wobble weakly, and for a moment, I thought I would fall. My breath hitched, t

Caught in my throat like glass, but I didn’t cry. The tears were stuck somewhere inside me, frozen with shock.

Lydia stepped forward, her long blonde hair perfect, her face full of fake sorrow.

“She needs help,” she said, sniffing softly, pressing a hand to her chest like she was the one in pain. “Ava hasn’t been well for a long time. She is… confused, delusional. She…..is dangerous.”

“She attacked Lydia,” Beta Gideon said. “She stole from the pack treasury. Spied alongside her parents.”

“She lied to Damien,” Lydia added.

“She is a disgrace.”

“She is unstable.”

“She is a traitor.”

Their voices echoed together, and I couldn’t keep up with them. They felt like knives, stabbing me over and over again.

“No,” I whispered. “That’s not true. None of that is true. I never hurt Lydia. She…..she set me up! You have to believe me, please…

Please just listen!”

But no one listened, they never did.

My legs gave in, I sank to the ground, shaking. Tears finally fell, hot and silent. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think. My chest was hollow, my heart was like a broken drum.

The lead elder stood from his chair. His eyes were sharp, unfeeling.

“By the decision of this council,” He said, “you, Harlow, are hereby stripped of all rights as a member of this pack. You are no longer part of the Silverclaw lineage.”

My breath stopped.

“No,” I whispered.

“To repay your family’s debts and your betrayal,” He continued, “you will be sold at the Black Market. Your price will be used to compensate for the damages you and your family have caused.”

“No!” I screamed, louder now. “Please! No! Not that!”

The Black Market was not a market. It was a cage. A dark, underground place where broken wolves were sold like cattle. Beaten, owned, and abused.

“I didn’t do anything!” I cried. “Please! You are sending me to my death!”

The guards walked toward me with heavy boots.

“No,” I said again, crawling back, trying to get away. “Please. Damien, look at me! Just look at me!”

He didn’t, they grabbed me, big, rough hands pulled me up. I fought, I screamed, I kicked, and thrashed.

“LET ME GO!” I cried. “I’M NOT A TRAITOR!”

The chains clicked around my wrists and ankles. Cold iron, they were silver laced. I screamed as it burned against my skin.

A thick, tight band was forced over my mouth, holding back the words I still wanted to scream. Words like innocent, words like Damien, words like please.

I couldn’t say anything anymore, I could only cry, and they dragged me outside.

The crowd was waiting, all of them, my pack, my people, my home.

“Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!”

I stumbled behind the guards, my feet were barely moving. My vision blurred with tears. I could see children, parents, wolves I had once trained beside.

I saw my mother’s old friend spit at my feet, I saw my childhood friend look away. I saw Lydia, standing at the top of the stairs, Damien’s hand in hers, smiling.

I stopped walking.

The guards yanked at me, but I let my knees fall. My body dropped like a rock, I didn’t care if they hit me. I didn’t care if they broke every bone in my body.

.

One of the guards cursed and hit me with the end of his rod. Pain exploded in my side, but I didn’t move. I closed my eyes, I thought of my mother’s smile, my father’s laughter. I thought of Damien’s arms around me on cold nights. I thought of all the lies, all the trust I gave.

And I thought… What did I do to deserve this?

The truck waited at the edge of the woods, its back door open, the guards finally lifted me, throwing me inside like trash.

The door slammed shut behind me. Darkness, Chains, Silence.

I had lost everything.