CHAPTER ONE
1122 Words
Blackthorne Pack, Midnight
Snow fell like ash. Soft. Silent. Final.
Elara stood barefoot in the middle of the Alpha Hall, her breath misting in the cold as the warriors lined up along the stone walls, eyes full of judgment. Her jet-black hair clung to her damp face, the silver streaks glinting like war paint under the torchlight.
Every breath she took turned to mist in the cold air, but she didn’t shiver. She couldn’t. Not when they were looking at her like she was already dead.
“Say it again,” she whispered, voice raw, cracked “so I know I didn’t mishear you.”
At the far end of the hall, standing on the raised platform meant for Alphas and judgment, was Kieran. Her mate. Her torment. The man she’d trusted with everything.
Kieran stood above her, broad-shouldered, golden-eyed, carved from authority. But tonight, he didn’t look at her like a mate. He looked at her like a threat.
“You are banished, Elara Vayne,” he said. “Effective immediately. For betrayal, conspiracy with rogue wolves, and bearing the child of another.”
The words struck her like a blow to the chest.
Gasps echoed along the walls. Someone whispered her name, barely audible. Another said, “Traitor.”
Her knees buckled slightly.
“That’s not true” She turned toward him, hands trembling. “You can’t believe that.”
Kieran didn’t move. His golden eyes, once so warm, so alive when they looked at her, were now dull, shuttered.
“No what I can’t believe is how you can betray not just me but the pack who calls you Luna!” Kieran roared. Everyone went still and the mumbling stilled.
A sharp voice cut through the chamber. “We have proof too.”
Darius.
He emerged from the shadows, eyes sharp and unreadable. The pack’s Beta and Kieran’s second-in-command. The Beta stood at Kieran’s side, calm, polished, smug. He stepped forward with a folded parchment and a vial of dried blood.
“Letters recovered from a rogue’s corpse. Her handwriting. Her scent. Details only an insider would know.” He said loudly as he raised it up. “She’s been feeding them information, locations, routes, guard rotations.”
“And this,” he added, raising the vial. “Blood. Not Kieran’s. Not from our lines. It matches a rogue den just east of the outer woods. Likely the father.”
Elara could feel her whole world crashing before her an she could not do anything. Lies. All of it. Fabricated.
Kieran didn’t look at the documents. He didn’t need to; he trusted his Beta with his life and it would only hurt more to look at the evidence.
“Look at me,” Elara whispered. “Kieran. Please. Why would I even do this?”
His jaw clenched.
“You expect us to believe this child is mine?” Kieran asked, voice brittle. “You were never around. Disappearing without explanation. Tracking parties sent into rogue territory. What am I supposed to think?”
“I’ve led hunts for this pack. Killed for this pack. I’ve bled on this stone floor and earned my place beside you. And now, because of a rumor and a blood vial, you’ll throw me to the wilds like a dog?”
“The pack is scared, Elara,” he said, his tone clipped. “They need strength. Unity. Not questions.”
The words knocked the wind out of her. Her hands found her stomach; rounded and small beneath the loose tunic. Six months. A heartbeat beneath her own.
“I would never betray you,” she breathed. “I would die before I betrayed this pack.”
He looked away.
“And the child?” Darius pressed. “You still haven’t answered the question.”
Elara’s voice cracked. “It’s Kieran’s. You know it’s yours.”
Kieran turned to face her, finally. His eyes glowed faintly, amber and rage-filled. But not the rage of betrayal. The rage of shame.
“I have to protect the pack,” he said quietly. “They need to see strength. I can’t make an exception. Not even for you.”
“You’re not protecting them,” she said. “You’re protecting your pride.”
Something flickered in his gaze. Guilt, but mostly rage at her betrayal.
“Escort her to the border,” he ordered.
Two warriors stepped forward.
Elara backed away. “No. Don’t do this.”
Kieran nodded once.
“Alpha’s orders,” one of them said, voice low.
She raised a hand. “Don’t touch me.”
Still, they came.
“Kieran,” she said, her voice shattering. “Please.”
He looked at her then—but not as her mate. Not even as her Alpha.
As a stranger.
“Escort her to the edge of the territory,” he said. “She leaves tonight.”
“Let her keep her life,” Darius added smoothly. “That’s mercy enough.”
**************
The forest swallowed her whole.
Elara ran.
Branches tore at her skin, the snow burning her bare feet, the cold biting into her lungs. She didn’t know where she was going; only away. Away from the looks. The whispers. The betrayal.
A sob ripped from her throat. Her wolf usually coiled and vigilant inside her was silent. She had been since the Hall.
Even her wolf had given up.
He believes I cheated. That our child is someone else’s. That I fed rogues their kin.
She stumbled, caught herself on a tree trunk, breath hitching.
Her mate had chosen fear. Politics. Appearances. He had chosen Darius.
He never even asked me to explain.
The wind howled louder. Elara stopped, blinking into the shadows. Something shifted behind the trees.
“Who’s there?” she called out.
No response.
Her pulse quickened. Her hand moved to her side. No blade or claws. She was nothing now. No title. No power. Just a pregnant wolf exiled in the dead of winter.
A branch cracked behind her.
She turned again and a shadow lunged.
Pain bloomed at the back of her skull. The world flipped. Her knees hit the snow, hard.
The last thing she saw was the moonlight glinting off a ring, a Blackthorne heirloom dangling from a gloved hand. It reached down then it yanked something from her neck.
She tried to fight. But darkness closed in.
Then everything went dark.
*********************
By morning, the news spread like wildfire through Blackthorne territory.
The banished Luna was found dead outside the borders. Mauled. Barely recognizable.
And in the Alpha Hall, Kieran stood alone before the fire, staring into the flames.
No burial. No ceremony. Just whispers.
Just a quiet decree.
Elara Vayne is gone.
- Writer
