claimed by my mate's enemy

BLOOD BETRAYAL

I looked at Selene, and the tears I had been holding back finally broke free, slipping down my cheeks against my will. My sister. The one who should have stood beside me, defended me, shielded me from the world’s cruelty. Instead, she was the knife that cut into me the deepest. Out of every wolf in the world, she had chosen him. Out of every Alpha she could have, she wanted the one the Moon had already bound to me, my mate.

The sight of her standing there, wrapped around Kaelric’s arm, cut into me in a way rejection alone never could. The sting of betrayal from a mate was unbearable, but betrayal from blood—my own sister—was soul-crushing.

“Why, Selene?” The words tumbled out of me, shaky, torn straight from the wound inside my chest. My throat burned as I forced myself to speak. “Why would you do this to me? You were supposed to protect me, to stand by me. Even if Kaelric rejected me, even if the whole world turned against me—I never thought you would.”

Her eyes flicked toward me, and for a fleeting second, I thought I saw hesitation. A flicker of guilt, maybe. But then she leaned into him, pressing her body closer to his as though my pain was nothing but entertainment.

The crowd murmured, whispers darting back and forth like knives. I stood frozen in place, every pair of eyes on me, watching my heart splinter. I wanted her to answer me. To explain. To reach for me the way she had when we were little girls.

I could remember—I was twelve when Selene pulled me behind the barn after a pack scuffle. My lip and knees were bleeding, and I had wanted to cry. She wiped my face with the hem of her sleeve and held my chin up. “Don’t cry, Lyra,” she whispered firmly. “If anyone ever tries to hurt you, they’ll have to go through me first.”

I believed her.

That memory burned now, mocking me as she stood by Kaelric’s side—the man who had just ripped my soul in half.

“Answer me!” My voice cracked in the hall, bouncing off the stone walls, trembling from the force of my anguish. “How could you?”

But she didn’t answer. Instead, she turned her face upward, lips parting, and Kaelric bent down without hesitation. Their mouths met in a kiss so slow, so deliberate, so shameless it tore through me.

I gasped. The sound was loud, raw, animalistic, and broken. The world tilted on its axis. It wasn’t just betrayal—it was annihilation.

My sister’s lips on my mate. My mate’s hands are on my sister’s waist.

Kaelric kissed her as though I had never existed. As though the years I gave him were nothing but dust in the wind.

I could still remember—seven years ago, he had kissed me for the first time beneath the oak tree behind the Alpha’s house. He had cupped my cheeks in his hands, smiling against my mouth. “You’re mine, Lyra. My forever. No one could ever replace you.”

I remember clinging to those words like scripture, believing them, shaping my life around them. I had turned down others. Sacrificed dreams. Poured every ounce of my being into him.

Now those same lips pressed against Selene’s, sealing my death sentence in front of the whole pack.

I could still remember every single sweet word they said to me.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest caved in, sharp pain spearing through every nerve. My heart beat frantically as though trying to escape the prison of my body, trying to flee before Kaelric could crush it again.

The hall roared around me—some with gasps, some with laughter, others with pity. But none of it mattered. All I could hear was the shattering inside me.

I kept quiet. My silence wasn’t calm—it was the silence of a storm seconds before it breaks.

My eyes fell to Selene’s stomach, and that’s when the final dagger pierced me. The curve was small but obvious. Her hand rested there protectively, almost proudly. The swell of three months’ worth of life growing inside her. His child.

My knees nearly buckled.

Three months. That meant the affair didn’t start today. It hadn’t started yesterday. It had been living, breathing, blossoming behind my back while I slept beside him, while I smiled at him, while I dreamed of being his Luna.

The memories struck me like whiplash—me serving him dinner, me massaging his shoulders when he came home tired, me whispering my devotion while he was already leaving pieces of himself with her.

The nausea hit me hard. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, bile rising in my throat. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to claw this reality off my skin.

Slowly, I sank to my knees, the cold stone floor biting into them. Tears streaked down my face, hot and relentless. My hair fell forward, hiding me, but I didn’t care anymore. The hall could see me break.

Let them see.

Let them drink it in.

“Selene…” My voice was a whisper, hoarse, almost gone. “For being the reason for my pain…”

I paused, choking on my own breath, every word dragged from a place inside me that had been torn open. My tears dropped to the floor like blood.

“I will return. And when I do…”

I forced myself up, every muscle trembling, my legs shaking as though they belonged to someone else. My vision blurred, but my voice grew stronger, fueled by the fire of betrayal and rage.

“…you both will be at my feet. Even your tears won’t move me.”

The hall went deadly silent. Every eye was fixed on me, their gazes heavy, but I didn’t care anymore.

I stood tall, one last look at Kaelric and Selene searing into me like a brand. Then, with the weight of their betrayal pressing on my back, I turned.

“You both have this in mind—my revenge will be more painful than the betrayal and rejection I received.”