Becoming Lucien's Bride

chapter 4

Jane ~

I didn’t know why I’d been summoned.

The council hall was packed—elders, warriors, betas, even a few from neighboring territories. A summons like this was never casual. It was usually to throw accusations at me or question my decision. Again.

But this silence? This stillness?

Something was wrong.

I stood at the front of the chamber, back straight, though my heart rattled in my ribs like a caged thing. I scanned the faces for some kind of clue. No one would meet my gaze.

Then the doors opened.

And Serana walked in.

Wearing white.

Not soft linen or silk, not something warm. But ceremonial white—the color of mourning. The color of righteous grief.

My stomach dropped before my mind could make sense of it. But then I saw what she held in her arms—small, bundled in silver wrappings. Still. Too still.

And red....blood?

No.

She walked slowly, every step deliberate, carved from pain, like she wanted the entire room to feel it. And they did. No one looked away.

When she reached the center, she laid the bundle on the black stone slab—the altar reserved for trials, oaths, executions.

The coldest place in this hall.

Then she turned.

“I never meant to return,” Serana said, voice trembling but clear. “I came back last year. Quietly. To make peace. To find my place again.”

My skin prickled.

Last year?

“I laid low because I didn’t want drama,” she continued. “But something happened between us—between me and Alpha Grey.”

“I got pregnant,” she whispered, glancing down at the bundle. “He told me to keep it hidden for now… until after he marries me. We wanted to do it right. Announce it together. When things calmed down.”

The world tilted under me. My fingers went cold.

Pregnant?

My lips parted but no sound came out.

“We were going to tell everyone. But she found out.”

She didn’t look at me, but I felt every word slicing into me.

“She found out… and she couldn’t bear it. That I carried what she couldn’t. That I held a part of him she never would. So she had my child taken. Killed. Maybe she didn’t do it with her own hands, but she gave the order.”

Gasps rippled through the chamber. Disgust. Pity. Judgment.

My voice cracked out of me before I could stop it. “That’s not true. I… I didn’t even know you had a child—”

My voice broke on the last word.

But it didn’t matter. Her grief was louder. Her white robes were brighter. Her pain was believable.

And I had nothing.

Then the doors slammed open again.

Alpha Grey.

He moved through the room like thunder. Eyes locked on mine. Jaw clenched. Shoulders stiff with fury. He went straight to the altar, didn’t even glance at me. He stood beside Serana, beside the bundle of death, and said coldly:

“We found the man who did it.”

He motioned to the guards, and they dragged in a bloodied rogue. Bruised. Barely conscious. But alive enough.

“They tortured him,” Grey said, tone calm and merciless. “Stripped him down until he begged. And then he spoke.”

The rogue fell to his knees, looked right at me—eyes swollen, lips trembling and cried out:

“Please, ma’am! Please tell Alpha the truth. I only did what you asked! I only followed your order!”

The world blurred.

What—?

“No,” I whispered, stumbling back a step. “I didn’t—” My voice broke again. “I swear I didn’t. I didn’t even know there was a child…I don't know you...”

But Grey turned to me. No warmth. No mercy. Nothing, “You always envied what you couldn’t have,” he said, voice low and sharp. “She gave me something you never could. And you destroyed it.”

Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not in front of them. Not like this.

“This is a setup,” I said, voice shaking. “This is a lie. That man is lying—”

“Take her,” Grey ordered.

Guards moved before I could process it. Cold metal clamped around my wrists.

“You’re making a mistake!” I choked out, struggling against them. “I didn’t do this! I didn’t even know—!”

No one listened.

The cuffs cut into my skin, but I barely felt it.

Grey

He didn’t flinch. Didn’t hesitate. Just handed me over like I was nothing. Not someone he used to trust. Not someone who held his secrets. Who stayed up with him when the nightmares got too loud.

Like I hadn’t mattered at all.

I sat on the cold floor, knees pulled to my chest, wrists bound, cheek still stinging from where I’d hit the ground.

My head was spinning.

Not from the fall. Not even from the weight of the accusations.

But from the finality of it.

How easy it was for everyone to believe I’d do something like that.

Kill a child.

A f*****g child.

God, I didn’t even know she was pregnant. I didn’t know she was back. And that baby—

I didn’t even get a chance to understand before it all hit me.

They looked at me like I was a monster.

Even when I said I didn’t know.

Even when I could barely get the words out, they didn’t care.

And that bastard—

That rogue. The one they tortured—

He looked at me like he wanted to be saved, like throwing my name out would buy him mercy.

And maybe it did.

I leaned my head against the wall, trying to keep it together, but I could feel it starting to crumble. Not dramatically—just the quiet kind. The dangerous kind. That creeping pressure behind your eyes and throat when you’ve been too strong for too long and your body finally calls your bluff.

My jaw trembled.

I clenched it tight.

Not here. Not yet.

But it still came—hot, stupid tears sliding down my face, and I didn’t bother wiping them. No one was watching now. No one to impress. No one to fool.

I didn’t even know who I was trying to convince anymore.

That I was innocent?

That I could fix this?

That he’d come back through that door and say he was wrong?

He wouldn’t.

Grey believed her. Believed all of them.

And maybe the worst part wasn’t the cell or the cold floor or the way my life just burned down in the span of ten minutes