Rejected once, Accepted By His Rival

Chapter five

/-Ariana-/

“That’s… not real.” My voice trembled.

Benita shrugged. “The evidence says otherwise. No wonder the pack has been facing frequent attacks. It was all because of you!”

“No! You're lying! Those pictures are fake!” I yelled. “Raymond please…”

Raymond turned to me, his eyes cold as death. “Did you really think I would believe you over the truth?”

I grabbed his arm, desperate. “This isn’t truth! I love you. I would never do something like this!”

His grip tightened around my wrist.

Then, in front of the entire pack, he slapped me.

Gasps rang through the crowd. My vision blurred from the impact. My knees buckled, but I forced myself to stay upright.

Raymond towered over me, his voice venomous. “You’re nothing but a lowly omega who got lucky. I gave you everything, and you betrayed me. You betrayed your people! And you still have the audacity to lie?”

Tears burned my eyes. “I didn’t…”

“You’re no longer my Luna.” His voice was final, cutting through me like a blade.

The words sealed my fate.

I was nothing now.

Nothing but a traitor in the eyes of my pack.

And traitors didn’t get to live.

“Guards,” Raymond commanded. “Take them to the dungeons. Their execution will be at dawn.”

My son screamed as warriors grabbed us, yanking us away. His tiny hands reached for me, but I was powerless, shackled, and dragged like an animal.

As they threw me into the cold, damp cell, Benita’s voice echoed in my mind.

She had won.

And I had lost everything.

*******************

The dungeon was damp, cold, suffocating, the air pressed against my skin like unseen hands, digging into my flesh, my soul. My son shivered in my arms, his tiny fingers curled into my torn dress, his breath coming in soft, uneven sobs.

“Mama… when can we go home?”

Home.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. How could I tell him the truth? That there was no home waiting for us, no warm embrace at the end of this nightmare.

I pressed a trembling kiss to his hair. “Soon, my love.” A lie. A desperate, helpless lie.

I had screamed for him. Begged for my mate, my Alpha, to give me a fair test. At least for the sake of his son.

But Raymond never came.

And in his silence, I found my answer.

This was never about proof.

They were going to kill me, no matter what. I was that pest they wanted to get rid of.

The day of my execution dawned red and my heart pounded hard against my ribcage.

I barely noticed when they wrenched me from the cell, my limbs too weak to fight, my soul too shattered to resist. But when they tried to rip my son from my arms, something inside me snapped.

I kicked, I clawed, I sank my teeth into the hand that dared take him from me.

A sharp slap echoed in the air. The force of it sent me staggering, the taste of iron flooding my mouth.

“Filthy traitor,” a guard spat. “Act like the animal you are, and we’ll put you down like one.”

I didn’t care about the pain. I held onto my son as tightly as I could, whispering soft comforts as we were dragged through the streets.

Faces blurred around me, twisted in disgust, in hatred. These were the same people I took care of every day of my life. The people I dedicated my life to.

Now, they threw stones.

The first one struck my shoulder. The second, my ribs. A third caught my temple, and the world spun.

My son clung to me, sobbing. “Mama, why are they doing this?”

Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. “Close your eyes, baby. Don’t look.”

Don’t see what they’re turning me into.

The execution stand was carved from ancient wood and stained with the blood of the condemned.

Raymond stood above it all, draped in power, in cruelty. His blue eyes, once filled with warmth, held nothing for me now. Just spite.

I forced myself to meet his gaze. “Please,” I whispered. “If there’s even a shred of the man I loved left in you, don’t do this.”

A smirk curled his lips. Cold. Mocking.

“Did you really think I loved you?”

Time stopped for a long second and then my world crumbled to my feet.

He stepped closer, his voice smooth, taunting. “I only used you to make myself look like a benevolent Alpha.” He turned to the pack, a showman playing his grandest act. “I took in an omega. Gave her a title, a life she never could have earned on her own. And this is how she repays me?”

His words slashed deeper than any blade.

“You were never worthy.”

The crowd roared its approval.

I swallowed the scream rising in my throat. I would not let them see me break.

But my son, my innocent, precious boy, looked up at me with wide, tear-filled eyes, and asked, “Mommy… does Daddy not love us anymore?”

My heart cracked open.

The warrior approached, the execution blade gleaming in the morning light, ready to drop on my head and end the misery.

I held my son tighter. If only there was a way to spare his life at least, I didn't mind offering mine.

The blade rose and then...

A voice, dark and thunderous, yet silky and rich, shattered the air.

“I heard that you have my kid and my woman.”

Silence crashed over the crowd.

Gasps rippled through the pack as a figure emerged out of nowhere. He walked with majestic strides, exuding an aura with the kind of power that made the earth tremble beneath his feet.

My breath caught in my throat as the sun hit his face.

Him.

A man I never thought I’d see again.

Damon Atherhys.