THE ALPHA'S REVENGE

:Put her on her knees!” Alpha Damien Blackwood’s command thundered through the ballroom. Two guards forced me down before the assembled pack, and pain shot through my knees. Silver chains burned my wrists, weakening my wolf until she could barely answer my fear. I lifted my head toward Damien, searching for the man who had promised to protect me. His grey eyes were colder than winter. Beside him stood Selene Whitmore, a woman who had arrived three months earlier claiming to be the daughter of a neighboring Alpha. She held Damien’s arm as if she were already his Luna. The wolves who had once cheered for our mating ceremony now watched me as their enemy. “Elena Hayes,” Damien announced, “you are accused of murdering my father and conspiring with rogues to destroy my family. Do you deny these crimes?” “I deny them because I am innocent, Damien. You know I would never hurt your family.” His jaw tightened. “Then explain why the evidence says otherwise.” Selene stepped forward carrying a small wooden box. Inside lay a silver dagger stained with dried blood. “This weapon was discovered beneath Elena’s bed,” Selene announced. “The guards also found a letter in which she arranged to meet rogues on the night our former Alpha was murdered.” Murmurs spread through the crowd. The signature looked like mine, but someone had forged it. “That letter is a lie!” I protested. “Someone wants to frame me. Damien, please investigate this properly. Your father sent for me that evening because he needed a family ledger. He was alive when I left his study.” Selene moved closer. “How convenient that the only person who could confirm your story is dead,” she said. “Perhaps you murdered him because he discovered your plans.” “His father trusted me. He treated me like a daughter. Why would I kill him?” Damien descended the steps until he stood before me. His familiar scent of cedar and rain brought back memories of nights when he held me close and promised I would always be safe. “You were the last person seen leaving his chambers,” he said. “And now the murder weapon has been found among your possessions.” I reached for his hand, but he stepped away. “I loved you,” I whispered. “I still love you. Do not let someone else's lies destroy everything we have.” His expression hardened. “Whatever existed between us ended when my father died.” Three years earlier, Damien had found me injured near the northern boundary after a rogue attack. I had no powerful family, no wealth, and almost no memories of my childhood. He carried me into the pack house, stayed beside my bed until I recovered, and taught me how to control my wolf. His father welcomed me and said choices mattered more than bloodline. We fell in love despite objections from wolves who thought I was unworthy of becoming Luna. Damien silenced them by declaring I was the only woman he wanted. Now, in chains before his pack, I wondered whether he had ever truly known me. “If you believe I am guilty, question me,” I pleaded. “Search every room. Speak to every servant. Find the real killer. I have nothing to hide.” Damien stared at me, and for a moment hope returned. Then Selene leaned close and whispered into his ear. His face darkened. “My father gave you his trust,” he said. “I gave you my heart, and you repaid us by destroying my family.” Tears filled my eyes. “I did not kill him!” “Take her to the dungeon,” he ordered. “At sunrise, she will be executed for treason.” The guards seized my arms. “Wait!” I cried. “There is something you need to know.” I pressed my bound hands against my stomach. “I am carrying your child.” Damien stopped, and genuine shock crossed his face. Selene tightened her grip on his arm. “She is lying. She knows you might spare her if she claims to be carrying your heir.” “I am not lying,” I said. “I found out this morning. I wanted to tell you privately.” Damien looked at my stomach, then at me. I prayed that our unborn child would awaken the trust we had shared. Instead, he stepped back. “Even if the child is mine, it does not erase your crimes.” The floor seemed to disappear beneath me. “You cannot kill your own child because of an accusation you have not investigated.” His eyes turned cold. “My decision stands.” The guards dragged me toward the doors while I fought their grip. “Damien, look at me! If you ever loved me, tell me you truly believe I killed your father!” He stopped with his back toward me. I thought he would remember his promises, but he remained still. “The woman I loved would never have betrayed me,” he said. “That woman no longer exists.” The doors closed behind me, taking the last piece of my heart with them. The dungeon was dark and bitterly cold. Silver chains made every movement painful, and the guards left me alone in a narrow cell. I sank onto the stone floor and wrapped my arms around my stomach, silently begging my baby to hold on. My wolf was weak, but I could still feel her presence. We must survive, she whispered. Our baby deserves a chance. I forced myself to think. Someone had murdered Damien’s father, planted evidence, and persuaded him to condemn me. The crimes were too carefully arranged to be coincidence. I remembered the former Alpha’s troubled expression when I visited him that evening. Before I left his study, he had warned me that the Blackwood family had hidden a dangerous secret for generations. Perhaps he had been warning me about the people who wanted me dead. While searching the cell for an escape route, I noticed a folded piece of paper pushed beneath the bars. The message contained one sentence: YOUR MATE DID NOT KILL HIS FATHER. THE WOMAN WHO FRAMED YOU IS SLEEPING IN HIS BED TONIGHT. Beneath it was a crescent moon pierced by a black arrow. I had seen that symbol carved into a locked drawer in the former Alpha’s study. When I asked him about it, he warned me never to mention it again. Footsteps approached. A guard unlocked my cell and ordered me into the corridor. “Someone wants to see you,” he muttered. “Who?” I asked. “You will find out soon enough.” He led me to an abandoned room where a hooded woman waited beside a narrow window. When the guard left, she lowered her hood. A scar ran from her temple to her jaw. “Your parents were not killed by rogues,” she whispered. “They were murdered because they discovered a secret the Blackwood family would do anything to protect.” I stared at her. I had always been told my parents died when I was too young to remember. “Who are you? How do you know about my parents?” The woman placed a silver pendant in my palm. It bore the same crescent moon and black arrow as the note. “You are not the orphan this pack believes you to be, Elena. You are the last living heir of the Blood Moon Pack. Your family was betrayed, and the truth about your birth could destroy everyone who helped conceal it.” My hands trembled. The Blood Moon Pack had supposedly been destroyed fifteen years earlier, and its royal family declared dead. “That is impossible,” I whispered. “There were no survivors.” “That is what your enemies wanted everyone to believe.” She pressed a small iron key into my hand. “There is a tunnel beneath the ruined chapel. It leads beyond the northern boundary. Escape before sunrise, and do not trust Damien until you understand what his family has done.” A crash sounded outside. The woman turned pale. Before she could speak again, an arrow pierced her chest. She fell against the wall as two masked wolves burst inside. I fled through a side passage and stumbled into the ruined chapel. Beneath the broken altar, I found an iron ring and pulled open a hidden entrance. I was about to climb into the darkness when a familiar voice stopped me. “You really thought you could leave without saying goodbye?” I turned. Damien stood in the doorway, with Selene behind him. Her eyes fixed on the pendant in my hand. She went pale, lunged forward, snatched it from me, and threw it into the tunnel. “Damien, kill her now!” she shouted. But Damien was no longer looking at me. He stood frozen, nostrils flaring as a deep growl escaped his chest. “That scent,” he whispered. “It cannot be.” From somewhere beneath the chapel, a man’s voice called out the childhood name only Damien’s father had ever used. “Little wolf,” the voice said. “Your father is waiting.” END OF CHAPTER ONE