BETRAYED BY HOCKEY STAR: LOVED BY ALPHA KING

Elara's POV “You bastard daughter of a w***e!” At the sound of that, my head snapped to the side as a palm cracked across my face, pain searing so deeply it felt like fire burning through bone. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, forcing my eyes wide open. It wasn’t a dream. No, it was real. Every strike, every sting, every ache. I trembled as the chains binding my wrists rattled with my movement, their cold bite sinking into my skin. Bound, shackled, but why? The last thing I remembered was walking toward my fiancé’s room. The last thing I recalled… “No… no…” My voice faltered, breaking as I protested. “This can’t be happening…” Tears blurred my vision, spilling hot down my cheeks as the memory came crashing back. Tonight I was supposed to be mated to the Alpha’s son.Jackson of the Bloodmoon pack. Tonight was supposed to be my bond consummation ceremony, the night fate promised me belonging, something more than suffering. I was supposed to be lost in the pleasure of my mate’s touch. So why? Why did bad things always happen to me? Why did the goddess always mock me? All my life had been misery. From the moment my parents were executed for treason, leaving me to bear their shame. From the years of abuse and mistreatment as an orphaned omega, living like dirt even though the pack had pardoned me. And just when the Moon Goddess finally decided to smile at me, granting me the fated bond with the Alpha’s son, he died. He died before the ceremony. And I… I was the suspect. Why do bad things keep happening to me? “Where is that cursed girl? Where is that demon incarnate? Where is that treacherous thing who killed my son?” The voice froze me. Ice spread through my veins as I realized who it belonged to. Luna Marissa who was Jackson’s mother. My head lifted slowly, dread clinging to my bones and I saw her walking into the cell where I was locked. Fear rippled through me, tightening my throat and choking me. I knew what she was capable of. Damn me, I knew. This woman once pressed a hot iron to my face simply because I missed a speck of dust while cleaning her room. And when it was revealed that I was her son’s fated mate at twenty, her protest had been the loudest, the cruelest. She never wanted me for him. So what had I been expecting from her now? That she would show me mercy? That she would believe me, when I was accused of killing her only son? “Luna…” My voice trembled, weak and desperate, before her palm came crashing across my face again and again. Three times, each slap ringing in my ears. Then her hand fisted into my ceremonial dress and she dragged me forward. It was the most beautiful gown I had ever worn. The only beautiful thing I had ever been given. I had lived all my life in brown, tattered servant gowns and last night had been the first time I had worn silk, pure, shimmering silk. I should have felt like someone. Instead, it had marked me for doom. “I didn’t do it. Luna, please, believe me,” I whispered, my voice breaking, though deep down I knew it was useless. She had never listened to me before. She had never seen me as anything more than filth. Why would she see me now as anything but her son’s murderer? Her only son. “You’re still talking?” Betty spat angrily as she stepped closer, shoving her clenched fist against my mouth before slamming a punch so hard beneath my jaw I thought my teeth would scatter across the floor. Betty, the Beta’s daughter. By tradition, she was supposed to be Jackson’s mate. The Alpha’s heir and the Beta’s daughter, a bond perfectly arranged by custom. But the Moon Goddess in her cruel twist had chosen me instead. Me, the wolfless omega, the outcast. And now, with Jackson lying dead, she had every reason to hate me more. The memory replayed again, sharper than the pain in my jaw, I had walked into his chamber before the mating ceremony, summoned there by a servant who said the Alpha heir was calling for me. I had walked in expecting my mate. Instead, I found him in a pool of blood. And seconds later, the soldiers rushed in catching me there, standing over his body. Accusing me of the very crime that shattered me. “I swear it! I didn’t! I only went there because the servant told me he called me. I walked in but he was already in a pool of—” My voice cracked, but Betty cut me off with venom. “Luna, she’s still lying! She refuses to admit who sent her! She should be beheaded for this crime, left to rot until she confesses the name of the one who put her up to this!” Betty snarled. Her hatred had always burned too bright. She once told me she would rather see Jackson dead than mated to me. Was it truly impossible to believe she had a hand in this? She had never been straightforward after all. “No! Please, believe me! I didn’t do anything. I’m wolfless. I’m just an omega, remember? How could I have possibly harmed him?” My chest heaved, my heart pounding against my ribs, begging to burst free. “I didn’t do anything!” But no one moved. No one flinched. Not even the elders gathered in the shadows, their faces carved in stone. “You are here for judgment, Elara. Not to defend yourself from a crime for which the evidence is clear,” one of them intoned, his voice deep and merciless. “Judgment?” My voice pitched higher, cracking with desperation. “What f*****g judgment?! I didn’t do anything, pleaseee!” They exchanged glances but offered no answer, no hope. My chest rose and fell in ragged breaths as despair clawed at my throat. Luna Marissa surged forward, her hand raised to strike again, but the Alpha, her mate, caught her wrist, shaking his head.He wanted the elders to decide. “I always knew she was cursed. A bad omen,” the Luna spat between sobs, her voice thick with grief and rage. “The moment the goddess tied my son to her, I knew he was doomed.” I still couldn’t grasp it. How had I become this? How had I turned from the grieving mate of the victim into the branded criminal? My body trembled as I sank to the floor, sweat dripping down my temples, my mind unraveling. Heavy footsteps echoed against the stone halls. A soldier emerged from the shadows, armor glinting in the dim light. He stopped before the guards, his hand lifting to point at me, his voice ringing like a verdict. “Drag the killer out.” Killer. My breath caught, my blood froze. No. No, they didn’t mean me. They couldn’t mean me. But before the thought even settled, the guards stormed forward. Their hands clamped onto me, rough and merciless, dragging me as though I were nothing more than a rag doll. I kicked and screamed but my limbs were weak, my strength spent. I was weightless in their grip, as if I didn’t even matter. I begged them to stop. I begged them to tell me what was happening, what their investigations had revealed, why suddenly I was the only one blamed while the real culprit remained untouched. But they didn’t listen. They dragged me through the hallways until the heavy doors of the council chamber loomed ahead. With a shove, they threw me onto the cold marble floor, the impact rattling through my bones. I lifted my head slowly, my vision spinning, heart hammering against my chest. I tried to take in the room—the stares of the elders, the oppressive tension thick in the air, the silence that weighed like iron. They studied me, my trembling, broken form, before one of them finally spoke, his voice low, cold, lethal. “This isn’t an interrogation, Elara.” The words echoed off the stone walls, reverberating through my chest. “This gathering isn’t for debate… or truth. We’ve already decided what we’re going to do with you.” I blinked, dry lips parting. “What?” “You can’t just—” I stumbled to my knees, dragging the chains with me. “You can’t judge me without a trial! I do not plead guilty! I am innocent! That’s not how things are done! It’s against pack law—” A sharp, mocking laugh cut through my plea, slicing into me. “The pack’s law?” one elder scoffed, leaning forward with a cruel smirk. “And who said you were ever truly part of the pack?” “You’re wolfless, Elara,” another spat, venom dripping from every word. “You were only tolerated out of pity. Forgiven because the pack found you useful as a servant. And now… now you’ve proven exactly what we always suspected—a traitor, just like your wretched father.” “No!” I shook my head violently, tears clouding my vision. “I didn’t kill him! I would never—I loved Jackson! You think I’d hurt him?! You think I could ever—?!” “Enough!” one of them barked, his voice thundering through the chamber like a storm. “You were the only one with him that night. The door was locked from the inside. No one entered after you. The evidence is clear enough.” The air felt like it was crushing me. My throat tightened; I tried to speak but no words would come. All I could do was stare, my body wracked with sobs. Truth had no place here. They weren’t here for it. Perhaps this was their perfect way to rid the pack of me. “Your punishment,” the elder continued, cold as stone, “is banishment.” Banishment. The word echoed in my skull, bouncing off my terror-stricken mind. My lips trembled. “No… no… no,” I stammered, my voice barely audible. “Please! You can’t! I didn’t do this! I didn’t kill him!” Tears fell freely, hot and stinging, as I sank fully to my knees. I wasn’t surprised my family hadn’t come. They never loved me. They never would. “You are sentencing me to death for a crime I didn’t commit. You know what waits beyond the borders. I’m wolfless… I won’t survive out there!” I pleaded, my voice cracking, begging them to feel the fear clawing through my body. A heavy silence filled the chamber, the elders exchanging glances. The air tasted of finality. Then one elder leaned forward, calm, mocking, his words dripping with menace. “I’ve heard tales,” he said, his lips curling into a sneer, “of killers in the woods. Spirits. Shadows. Things that rip flesh and howl beneath the blood moon.” He paused, letting the words sink in. Then, his eyes glinting with malice, he added, “Perhaps it’s time we put that myth to the… test.”