Chapter 1
Lyria’s POV
Something felt wrong.
I noticed it the moment I stepped into the pack hall.
It wasn’t obvious at first. Everything looked the same—the long wooden tables, the guards by the walls, the elders seated in their usual places. But the air felt different and too quiet.
My steps slowed as I walked further in, my eyes moving across the room. Conversations that should have been happening weren’t.
People who normally greeted me avoided my gaze. Some even looked away quickly, like they didn’t want to be seen looking at me at all.
A strange feeling settled in my chest.
“What’s going on?” I murmured to myself. No one answered.
At the front of the hall stood Darius.
My mate.
My Alpha.
My husband.
Relief should have come at the sight of him. Instead, the uneasy feeling only grew stronger. He wasn’t looking at me the way he usually did with recognition.
I stopped a few steps away from him, my fingers curling slightly at my sides.
“Darius?” I called softly.
He didn’t respond right away and that alone made my chest tighten.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, my voice a little firmer now.
No response.
The silence stretched longer than it should have. Then slowly, his gaze lifted to meet mine, completely cold.
My stomach dropped.
That wasn’t the man I knew, it wasn’t the man who once held me close and told me I was his.
“Why is everyone staring at me like this?” I asked quietly, glancing around.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
It was like the entire hall was waiting for something.
Waiting for him.
I turned back to Darius, confusion slowly turning into unease.
“Darius, what’s going on?” I asked again.
This time, he answered. But not in the way I expected.
“You’ve already embarrassed me enough.”
The words caught me off guard.
“…What?” My brows furrowed as I stared at him.
“Embarrassed you?” I repeated. “What are you talking about?”
He didn’t explain. If anything, his expression hardened.
My chest tightened.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “If something happened, then tell me. We can fix it.” Fixing anything between us is what I always believed. That no matter what happened, we would face it together.
That made us a team.
That made us… mates.
But the way he looked at me now—It felt like none of that had ever existed.
“You don’t get to act innocent,” he said.
Something in his tone made my heart drop.
“I am innocent,” I replied, my voice firm despite the confusion building inside me.
“Whatever you think I did, it’s not true.”
A few people shifted uncomfortably in the room. That didn’t go unnoticed.
“What did you hear?” I asked, my voice softer now. “Who told you something?”
Still no answer. The silence pressed in around me.
Then—
A soft voice spoke from behind him.
“You really don’t know?”
I froze.
That voice.
Slowly, I stepped to the side just enough to see past Darius.
Selene.
She stood there like she belonged. Like this was her place, that has always been my place.
My chest tightened painfully.
“What is she doing here?” I asked, my voice quiet but tense.
Selene smiled faintly, her eyes fixed on me.
“You should be asking yourself that,” she replied.
“I don’t have time for games,” I said. “If there’s something going on, then say it clearly.”
She didn’t argue. Instead, she walked forward, straight to Darius. And without hesitation, she placed her hand on his arm like it had always been hers.
My breath caught.
No.
That wasn’t right.
“Darius,” I said, my voice sharper now. “What is she doing?”
He didn’t move away from her. Didn’t remove her hand. Instead, he let her stay.
Something cold spread through me.
“This isn’t funny,” I said. “Whatever this is—stop it.”
The silence was becoming unbearable. I looked around again, searching for someone—anyone—to say something. But all I saw were lowered gazes.
Avoidance.
Judgment.
Fear.
Why are they looking at me like that?
A small crack formed inside my chest.
“Darius,” I said again, quieter this time. “Talk to me.”
He finally did.
“You’ve done enough damage already.”
My heart skipped.
“What damage?” I asked. “I haven’t done anything.”
He let out a slow breath.
Like he was losing patience.
“Don’t make this worse.”
“I’m not making anything worse,” I said quickly. “I’m asking you to tell me what’s going on.” because none of this made sense.
Something deep inside me was starting to understand. Not the truth, but the feeling that something had already been decided without me, without my voice, and without my side of the story.
Selene’s fingers tightened slightly on his arm. It was a silent signal and Darius noticed it.
His expression shifted, it wasn't softer but final.
The air in the hall seemed to freeze, and suddenly I realized that this wasn't a conversation, it wasn't something to fix, but it was something already done.
My chest tightened, my breath slowing as a strange sense of dread crept in.
“What are you about to do?” I asked quietly.
Darius didn’t answer immediately but I saw it in his eyes, in his posture, and in the way the entire room seemed to hold its breath… waiting for him, for his final words that would change everything.
Darius took one slow step forward, his voice cold and steady as it echoed through the silent hall—
“You’ve already disgraced me enough.”
The words hung in the air like a final judgment.
For a moment, I couldn’t move.
I stared at Darius, waiting—still hoping—he would explain, that he would say something that made sense.
“Disgraced you?” I repeated slowly. “What are you talking about?”
A ripple of whispers moved through the hall, low and uncomfortable. No one spoke directly.
But I could feel it, that something had already been decided about me.
“I think you’ve said enough,” Darius replied, his tone cold.
“No,” I said immediately, shaking my head.
“No, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to accuse me of something and not explain it.”
His expression hardened.
“You were seen,” he said.
My heart skipped.
“Seen doing what?” I asked.
“Seen betraying me.”
