Mated to my murderer

Chapter One

The Sentencing

Rhea

The silver mist of the Noosewood forest didn’t just cling to the trees, it filled the air with the thick scent of pine leaves, damp earth, and my own blood.

"Kneel, trash," a heavy boot slammed into my small back.

I hit the frozen ground, the sharp rocks cutting through my clothes into my knees making them bleed out but I didn’t cry out.

My ribs were cracked, my face swollen, and my vision blurred as I looked up at the gathering of Bloodrose Pack. Hundreds of wolves stood in the shadows of the ancient trees, their eyes glowing with sadistic anticipation.

To them, I was just Rhea Wolf… the broken, fragile omega who was too weak to even transform into her wolf. That's if I had a wolf. I was a cosmic mistake and an embarrassment to the bloodline.

"Rhea Wolf of the Bloodrose Pack," a voice echoed, vibrating through the very marrow of my bones.

I forced my chin up, shivering from the biting cold. Standing on the dark ritual platform was Alpha Darius Vale. At twenty-five, he was like a god among monsters. He was six-foot-five with huge military muscle, his jawline as sharp as the surrounding mountains.

His raven-black hair was windswept, and his icy-blue eyes bored into mine, filled with a lethal, suffocating hatred.

Next to him stood Beta Julian Vance. He was a physical perfection masked in a flawless three-piece suit. Julian’s emerald-green eyes met mine with a charming, sympathetic smile on his lips that made my stomach turn.

He was the one who had asked me to sleep with him several times and the one I had said no to multiple times.

And right beside him, draped in an expensive fur coat that smelled of suffocatingly heavy floral perfume, was Lady Celine Dupont.

Celine leaned forward, her platinum-blonde hair catching the moonlight, her icy grey eyes gleaming with excitement as she mouthed two words to me

“Die, rat.”

"You stand accused of high treason," Darius’s voice tore through the misty clearing. His Alpha aura flared throughout the courtyard, a crushing weight that forced the omegas in the crowd to their knees. "You drugged my chalice with an aphrodisiac wolf's bane and attempted to force a mate-bond upon the Alpha of the High Conclave Court and Bloodrose pack to elevate your status."

"I didn't..." My voice was a cracked whisper, swallowed by the wind. "I didn't do it, Alpha. I was framed."

"Silence!" Julian stepped forward, his tone dripping with anger. "The vials were found under your thin mattress, Rhea and the guards caught you escaping the Alpha's chambers just before the incident happened. Your jealousy of Lady Celine about her being the next lady in line for the throne and your desperation to escape your rightful place at the bottom of this pack have driven you to madness."

"She’s a parasite!" Celine cried out, her voice carrying beautifully across the clearing, drawing murmurs of agreement from the crowd. "She has defiled the Bloodrose name and she deserves to die in the Noosewood Forest!"

The crowd erupted into a frenzy of snarls and howling demands for blood. Our pack law didn't require a boardroom or a jury. Power was decided here, in the dirt, under the judgment of the moon.

I looked at Alpha Darius, begging silently with my wide, fearful eyes. He had been drugged that night, furious but he didn't see a victim, so when I was presented as the culprit…. he saw a threat to his absolute authority.

"By the law of the High Conclave Court of the Bloodrose Pack," Alpha Darius declared, drawing a heavy, silver-plated blade from his belt, "you are hereby sentenced to death. May the Moon Goddess show your soul the mercy your flesh denied."

My breathing stopped as two executioners hauled me up by my arms, dragging me toward the ancient oak tree whose branches hung heavy with the invisible weight of past traitors who had died on it. A thick, silver-infused rope was looped around my neck. The silver burned instantly, blistering my skin and making me gasp for air.

"Any last words, you weak, pathetic omega?" Julian asked, stepping close under the guise of adjusting the rope. His breath hit my ear, cold and venomous. "You should have crawled into my bed when you had the chance, beautiful. This is what happens to girls who say no to me."

My eyes widened in horror.

It was him. He had planned the whole thing because I refused to have s*x with him.

I looked at Darius one last time as he raised his hand to signal the drop.

"Julian... did it..." I choked out, but Celine's triumphant laugh drowned out the words.

Darius’s hand dropped and the floor beneath me vanished. The snap of the rope was instant as pain shattered my spine. The silver rope dug into my throat, suffocating my screams and cutting off my air in my lungs as the world spun into darkness.

My heart gave one final, desperate thud against my broken ribs, and the misty clearing of the Noosewood faded into total, icy blackness.

******

I didn't know how much time had passed in the dark, but suddenly the void cracked open, and a blinding, ethereal silver light blasted out so bright it burned.

That's when I realized that I wasn't in the forest anymore. I was floating in a vast, endless ocean of starlight.

‘Rhea,’ a voice echoed.

It didn't come from around me but it resonated from deep within my own soul. It had a thunderous, majestic purr that made the stars vibrate.

‘Your journey does not end in the dirt of the Noosewood Forest.’

I tried to speak, but I had no body, only my consciousness was suspended in the light.

‘They called you weak. They called you a mistake by the goddess,’ the voice grew louder, shaking the ethereal space.

A massive, radiant silhouette began to form within the silver light. I looked closer and I saw a mythical, silver-white wolf with eyes like burning gold.

‘But I am Astraea. I am your wolf, and the Moon Goddess has judged your execution as a sin to be redeemed.’

The light began to swirl violently, transforming into a roaring vortex.

‘The threads of time are weaving backward, Rhea. The night of your murder is gone. We are going back. This time, we crave blood.’

Just then the vortex pulled me in as the silver light turned into a raging fire that consumed my consciousness. My soul felt like it was being violently dragged through a tunnel of light and burning fire, the agonizing pain of my broken neck reversing, my lungs suddenly gagging for an air that didn't exist yet.

‘Wake up, Rhea,’ Astraea’s roar was the last thing I heard before the light shattered.

‘It’s time to wake up and burn them all.’