THE LUNA WHO ROSE FROM THE ASHES

2

She patted her belly proudly, her eyes shining with greed. "...I am carrying your true heir. Our child will be strong, powerful, and perfect. We are the ones who deserve to rule this pack. We are the ones who deserve this happiness."

Kaelen looked at her, and for a moment, I saw the way his eyes softened. He looked at her as if she were his entire world, while I was nothing but dirt under his shoes. He had been completely bewitched by her, blinded by her illusions and her lies. He had been manipulated into thinking that she was his savior, and I was his downfall.

He turned his gaze back to me, and the love was completely gone. In its place was only loathing.

"Enough talking," Kaelen commanded, his voice booming like thunder. He gestured sharply to the guards standing behind me.

"Take her away! Get her out of my sight! Throw her into the Death Forest! Let the monsters and beasts that live there deal with her! Let them devour her worthless body and her pathetic soul! I never want to see her face ever again!"

"NOOOOOO!!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs, hysteria taking over me as the large, burly guards grabbed my arms roughly. Their grip was iron-tight, hurting me, but I didn't care about the pain. I thrashed and struggled, kicking my legs, trying to free myself, trying to reach him.

"KAELEN! PLEASE! DON'T DO THIS! I AM YOUR MATE! I AM YOUR DESTINY! THE MOON GODDESS CHOSE ME FOR YOU! YOU CAN'T THROW ME AWAY LIKE THIS! PLEASE, HAVE MERCY!"

I begged. I humiliated myself by begging, because the thought of dying, of leaving this world while he lived happily with that woman, was unbearable.

But he didn't care. He didn't even flinch.

Instead, he threw his head back and laughed. A cold, cynical, and cruel laugh that echoed in the night air.

"Destiny?" he spat the word out as if it tasted like ash. "Destiny made a huge mistake when it paired me with you! You are a mistake, Seraphina! A mistake that needed to be corrected! If I could turn back time, if I could choose again, I would never, ever have looked at a woman as weak and useless as you! You are nothing but a plague in my life!"

His words broke me. They broke the last remaining piece of my heart.

The guards began dragging me away. My feet scraped against the rough ground, my dress tearing, my body aching, but my eyes were fixed on him. I watched him turn his back on me. I watched him wrap his arm around Valeria’s waist, pulling her close, protecting her.

And then, just before the massive iron gates of the mansion closed with a deafening BANG, my eyes darted to the side.

In the corner of the garden, under the pouring rain, there were two small mounds of fresh earth.

Two tiny graves.

My babies. My Leo, my little girl. They were gone. Kaelen had taken their lives with his own hands, or ordered it done, just to please that witch standing beside him. He had killed them without a second thought. He had murdered his own legacy because he was too blind and too stupid to see the truth.

The rain fell harder, washing away the dirt on my skin, but it could never wash away the hatred that was now boiling inside me. The thunder roared above, matching the chaos in my soul.

I looked up at the dark sky, at the gates that had shut me out, and I screamed. Not out of sadness, but out of pure, unadulterated rage.

"I SWEAR IT, KAELEN!"

My voice was hoarse, broken, but filled with a promise that came from the depths of hell itself.

"I SWEAR BY MY LIFE, BY THE SOULS OF MY CHILDREN, AND BY THE BLOOD OF THE GODDESSES! ONE DAY, I WILL RETURN! I WILL COME BACK FROM THE DEPTHS OF WHATEVER HELL YOU SEND ME TO! AND WHEN I DO... I WILL NOT LEAVE A SINGLE THING STANDING! I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU LOVE! I WILL MAKE YOU BEG FOR DEATH, BUT I WILL NOT GIVE IT TO YOU! YOU WILL REGRET THIS DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCE!"

My eyes, usually a soft brown, began to change. The irises turned darker, shifting into a deep, ominous blood-red color, glowing faintly in the night.

That night, under the rain and the thunder, something inside me died.

The kind, loving, and gentle Seraphina died. She was buried along with her children. She was killed by the man she loved, and by the woman she trusted.

And from that death, from that pain, and from that darkness...

A new being was born.

A devil.

A monster.

A force of nature that would not stop until the entire world burned.