Love Vs. Vengeance

Get Lost!

I scrunched my eyebrows. What are you talking about, Mother? What is going on here?

“You can continue With the pretence, the moment you are out of this pack, you shameless thief.” Athena continued.

“I did not steal anything.” I protested.

“Liar!” she barked. “You stole my jewellery after the meeting with my husband. The guards told me that they didn't escort you out. You used that opportunity to break into my room.”

My throat constricted, each breath catching like thorns. The words I needed scattered like leaves in a storm, leaving me opening and closing my mouth like a landed fish. Ruby shifted uncomfortably in her chair, her fingers twisting in her lap.

"Oh, you can't speak now, can you? I thought you are tough?" Athena's lips curled into a cruel smile.

I shook my head vigorously in dismissal. "No, honestly," I said, my voice rising. "I did not take your jewelry. The moment I left your husband's office, I left the pack house.”

“You left the house to where? The jewellery store to sell it, right?”

“Of course not!” I answered her; the way the argument was going, anyone would think that I'm the culprit.

I looked at Orion, who was still sitting cross-legged, his knuckles white against the armrest. His jaw clenched and unclenched - a gesture I knew well from our years together. When our eyes met, his gaze flickered with something that might have been doubt, might have been pain, before hardening again. He turned away, but not before I caught the slight tremor in his hands as he adjusted his collar. The mate bond between us hummed with tension, like a string pulled too tight and about to snap.

"Orion," I whispered, my voice barely audible. He flinched at the sound of his name, but still wouldn't look at me. This was the man who once promised to stand beside me through anything, now sitting there like a stranger, letting his mother tear me apart.

“I'm sure she is not the one that took it,” Ruby spoke up for me.

“Shut up, you little girl!” Athena slammed, “What do you know?”

“Mom, I'm sure. Seraphina is not that kind of person. You can check the cameras.”

“Oh, you think I'm dumb, right?” She asked Ruby, and she shook her head, backing away from her mother, “You think I didn't check the cameras before calling this thief out?”

“She didn't take it.” Ruby defended again.

“You are calling me a liar…”

“Mom…”

“Ruby, get out of my sight now!” Athena yelled, and Ruby scampered away. I wiped at my face and saw that my face was wet. I didn't know when the tears had slipped from my eyes. My heart ached so badly. Words can't really… describe how broken I was.

Athena called the pack police on me.

“I need to speak to my husband.” I said to one of the policemen as my hands were being handcuffed.

“Orion,” I reached out, but he was not willing to pay attention to me. He stood up and walked away.

I let out a broken laugh as the cuffs clicked around my wrists. How fitting - I'd started the day as Luna and would end it as a prisoner.

I never stole her jewellery, but somehow I ended up with a sentence even without facing the pack's court.

Everyday, I felt myself slipping. My mental health took a huge hit. One moment I was fine, the next I was going crazy. The memories and images of his cheating and betrayal kept rehashing in my mind.

It was bad enough to be in jail, but Orion didn't even check up on me, not even once. Ruby didn't come too, but I was sure that it was because of her mom.

That was when reality hit me. If I kept going down that path, I was headed for disaster.

***

Six months bled together in a haze of gray walls and hollow echoes. Every night, the cold concrete leached warmth from my bones, leaving me as empty as the metal bowl they called a dinner plate. The worst part wasn't the hunger or the cold - it was the silence. No mind-link, no pack bonds, nothing but the endless drone of my own thoughts.

The prison walls had worn away my anger like water smoothing stone. What remained was a hollow ache where my pride used to be. Maybe if I could just see him, just explain... The memory of him with her still burned, but wasn't a mate's forgiveness supposed to be endless? Even if I wasn't worthy of being Luna, I could still be worthy of his love. Couldn't I?

The day of my release came, and I hoped he would come and pick me. My hope dwindled affter several hours of waiting. Luckily, I knew my way to the pack house from there. I put my legs to work and began trekking under the scorching sun. After about what I estimated to be two hours and thirty minutes of trekking, I got to the gate of the pack, all drenched in sweat.

But the treatment I got from the securities was one I did not expect.

“We have been given orders not to let you in, my lady,“ one of them said, yet politely.

I couldn't believe my ears. I requested to see the head security because I had more rapport with him.

“Alex, what are your men saying?”

He bowed to me, “I'm so sorry, ma'am, but it is a direct order from Alpha Orion.” I felt a sharp pang in my chest. Was I supposed to be surprised by his behaviour?

Even at the news I was still yearning to see Orion badly, after six months of being locked up in jail. There was this pain I felt in my heart, and I believed that seeing him would ease the pain a little.

I remained at the gate, bleeding internally, expressing the cry of my heart.

I was there till evening. It was not until then that Orion arrived. The horn of his Porsche woke me up from my sleep where I had snuggled behind a broken penthouse.

"Orion." His name escaped my lips like a prayer. I scrambled from the floor but my legs gave out but I lay back on the wall catching myself.

“Sera?” I heard his voice when he wound down his glass.

For a moment, just a moment, I saw something flicker in his eyes - recognition, maybe even pain. But it vanished so quickly I might have imagined it.

He stepped from his car, keeping it between us like a shield. "What are you doing here?" The words fell flat, emotionless, as if I were a stranger who'd wandered onto his property.

I was taken aback by his question. “What do you mean? I was just released from jail, and I'm back. This is our home, isn't it?” I asked, and he turned his gaze to Alex.

“Let her in.” He got into his car and drove in while I walked down the long driveway to the packhouse. The guards stopped me from entering the pack house all over again.

In a few seconds maids I have never seen before came down with my belongings outside in two travelling suitcases.

“Wh... What are you doing?” I asked them and they ignored me.

Jane came out in time, “My lady!” She squealed and hugged me despite all the people around watching us.

“I missed you, my lady.”

“Me too.” I smiled faintly. Then she frowned, looking sad. “I'm sorry this is happening to you, but the Alpha asked that we bring your things out for you.” I stood there mute for a while.

“It's fine, Jane. I understand perfectly. You can go back in; I understand.”

It took a lot of coaxing before she went back in. I could see through her. She really loved me and felt so bad for me, but what could she do?

It was then I heard Orion's voice from the balcony on the second floor.

“Take your things and leave, Sera. I never want to see you ever again. The guards will bring you the divorce papers to sign. I already signed my own part, so do yours before you take your leave.