I Faked Death, My Alpha Went Insane

Chapter 2

After discussing it with my parents, I decided to return to the manor for now—back to the place Aeon and I used to call home.

Behind his back, I had already submitted my formal application to the Pack Council of Elders, requesting to dissolve our mate bond and cancel my identity within the pack.

The Council's secretary warned me, however, that processing the paperwork would take two full weeks.

Terrified that Aeon might stop me or hurt my parents again, I knew I had to act completely normal. I had to go back and play the dutiful wife so he wouldn't suspect a thing.

The second I stepped inside the house, I dragged out every single keepsake I had hoarded over the years.

Photos of us running wild across the plains, his cheesy, passionate love letters, hunting trophies we'd won side by side... and the notebook where I had meticulously tracked every little detail of his likes and dislikes.

I stared into the fire roaring in the hearth and fed every last trace of us into the flames.

The fire tore through it like a starving animal, and years of memories were nothing but cold ash in seconds.

Like all that sweetness between us had never happened at all.

Outside the bedroom window, the shadow of an old tree swayed in the wind. I let my hand shift into razor-sharp claws and raked them across the thick trunk, over and over, vicious.

Back when Aeon first found out how much I loved apples, he'd paid a small fortune to bring in this tree, the rarest heirloom variety there was, the sweetest fruit anyone had ever tasted.

Back then, he swore our love would always stay as sweet and rich as those apples.

Not a single servant or guard in the pack house dared to approach me. They just stood by, watching as I smashed, trashed, and tore apart everything that had anything to do with him.

To them, it was just another one of my typical, fiery tantrums.

The next day, I walked alone to Moonlight Meadow Park.

This was the exact spot where Alpha Aeon and I had our Moonlight Mating Ceremony.

Right in the middle of the heart-shaped lawn stood a twin-wolf statue he'd paid a fortune to have custom-made.

Whenever the moonlight caught the stone, the grass beneath it would light up, spelling out the vow he'd once whispered to me, "Till death do us part. Never to betray."

I swung a heavy sledgehammer and drove it into that statue again and again, until there was nothing left but a heap of broken rubble.

By the time I got back, Aeon, who hadn't set foot in the manor for days, was sitting in the living room, waiting for me.

And curled up against his chest was Susan, crying.

Ignoring them completely, I turned to head up to my bedroom. Aeon's icy voice sliced through the air, stopping me dead in my tracks.

"Get over here! Do you seriously have no idea what you're supposed to do right now?"

I turned around calmly to face him. Aeon stood up, towering over me with a venomous glare.

"Susan was ambushed by rogues on the outskirts of town! Her wolf spirit was almost shattered! Anna, get on your knees and apologize for your reckless behavior!"

"What does that have to do with me? She's the one who decided to run away in the middle of the night," I said, tilting my head up to meet his furious gaze.

Susan let out a fragile cough, gently tugging at Aeon's arm as she stepped between us.

"Aeon, please don't be so harsh on Anna. It was my own fault. I just couldn't stand how clumsy and useless I was..."

"I didn't want you two fighting and walking on eggshells in your own home because of me."

Aeon pulled her gently against his chest, looking utterly devastated, and carefully guided her back onto the couch.

"Susan, stop putting yourself down like that. This pack house needs you. I need you. No one here will ever look down on you again. I promise you that."

A bitter chuckle escaped my lips. The whole scene playing out before me was downright absurd.

I guess he completely forgot he had whispered those exact same words to me years ago.

The Alpha's personal healer brought in a bowl of scalding hot medicine. Aeon took it, ignoring the heat searing his palms, and carefully blew on every single spoonful before feeding it to Susan.

When Evan bowed from the doorway, Aeon finally set the steaming bowl on the table and stood up to step outside.

Aeon used to say that home was for family, and that he hated bringing pack business into his sanctuary.

Yet, here he was, tearing down his own long-held rules just for Susan.

As I blankly watched his back disappear out the door, Susan dropped her fragile act and shot me a smug, triumphant smirk.

"Get the picture now? So what if you're the Luna? His heart, his soul, his love—they all belong to me. No matter how hard you fight, it's useless. Aeon only has eyes for me."

I stared at her impassively, like I was watching a cheap sideshow that had nothing to do with me.

"You want him so badly? You can have him."

Susan froze, her face contorting with sudden rage.

"I don't need your damn charity! He's mine, and the Luna title will be mine soon enough! You're going to end up with nothing!"

Exhausted by the drama, I turned around to walk away.

Outside, Aeon and Evan's voices grew louder. They were walking back into the room.

Susan gritted her teeth, snatched the scalding bowl of medicine off the table, and splashed it straight onto her own face!

"Agh! My face!"

Susan let out a bloodcurdling scream, both hands clutching her face as tears poured down her cheeks. In an instant, white smoke was hissing up off the skin of her neck.

Silver? Why in God's name would there be silver in that potion?

I could only stare at her, stunned. Aeon came tearing into the room, shoved me hard out of the way, and started roaring for the healer.

"Anna! Have you lost your mind?"

He glared at me, his face full of disbelief and pure, burning fury.

"It wasn't enough to refuse to apologize, now you're trying to kill Susan with silver? When did you turn this cruel?"

"It wasn't me," I said, my voice cold.

I held up my hands and made him look at every last finger.

"If I'd thrown it, my own hands would be burned raw from the silver too. Take a good look, Aeon. Other than the wounds that scabbed over days ago, do you see one fresh burn on me anywhere?"

The healer worked fast, smoothing a soothing salve over Susan's burns. Eyes swollen and wet, Susan swallowed back her sobs and turned to plead with Aeon.

"Aeon, please... I know Anna didn't mean it. Don't be angry with her, please don't punish her. It's all my fault anyway. I was careless earlier, I gave Anna the wrong potion... This has to be Goddess Selene punishing me. It's all on me. Maybe I should just go back where I belong..."

Susan made a big show of bolting for the door, but Aeon caught her around the waist and pulled her back against him, wrapping her up tight from behind.

"No, Susan! I didn't drag you back from the borderlands just to watch you go off and die! Are you trying to drive me insane?! I will personally get to the bottom of this and make sure you get justice!"

Aeon gestured sharply, and several guards stepped forward to drag me down to the dungeons.

I thrash against their grip, screaming at Aeon.

"It wasn't me! She did it to herself! Aeon, reopen our mind-link! You can hear my actual thoughts!"

He didn't even spare me a glance, his voice slicing through the room like a blade.

"Anna, my eyes don't lie to me. I saw what you did with my own eyes."

I curled into a ball, hugging myself in the dark corner of the dungeon cell.

So this was the "eternal love" Aeon kept professing to me.

Cold, biting, and dead—just like this damp cellar.

I had always been terrified of the dark.

After I became his Luna, he had installed custom, warm lighting all over the house just for me.

On full moon nights, he used to wrap me tightly in his arms, sitting on the roof with me to gaze at the stars.

"Anna, from this day on, I'll be your knight in the dark. I'll protect you for the rest of my life."

And now...

Heartbroken, I stared at the heavy iron door of the dungeon.

I guess the blood oaths sworn under Goddess Selene were only real at the exact moment they were uttered and marked.

And the mournful wails of my inner wolf, combined with the agony of a fracturing mate bond, were only just beginning.