Every face in the room blurred as her eyes burned with tears she refused to let fall. They had all chosen. Her parents. Her Alpha and Luna. Her sister.
Even him. She was utterly, devastatingly alone. “Sister-” Kathy’s voice was small, trembling as she tried to speak. But she stopped the moment she saw Elaine’s face. The fury.
The heartbreak. The silent demand: Do not speak to me. Elaine’s head snapped toward Michael, her voice breaking with equal parts love and rage. “And what are your thoughts on this, mate?” Michael finally looked at her, his eyes hard though his voice softened with regret.
“I know this is painful for you. But I cannot let my heir be born illegitimate. I have to think of the pack.” Elaine’s chest ached so fiercely she thought it might split. “You can claim your son or daughter as yours,” she said, her voice trembling with desperation.
“You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to throw me away.” The words she wanted to say-reject me, end us-burned on her tongue, but she bit them back, terrified that once spoken, they would become irrevocable truth. Michael’s jaw tightened. “Kathy has been preparing for this role for years.
She’s trained to be Luna, and-” “I can train!” Elaine cut him off sharply, her voice rising in a cry that cracked the silence. “I can learn, I can work harder than anyone. I can put in the hours, the sacrifice. Don’t say I can’t.”
But Michael’s face only hardened with finality. He shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, Elaine. I cannot abandon Kathy. She will be my Luna.
It is the best choice for the pack.” “The best,” Elaine repeated, her voice hollow, breaking. Just this morning, she had woken with joy in her heart, dreaming of being the best-the best Luna, the best mate, the best support for Michael. She had pictured a future where she was loved and honored, standing at his side. But now, she realized, there was already someone else on that throne.
Someone who had taken her place long before she even knew it. The room spun around her, the voices of her family nothing but distant echoes. Betrayal cut into her deeper than any blade could. Her whole world had collapsed. he pain coursing through Elaine’s chest was unbearable-raw, searing, a torment she would not wish upon even her worst enemy. It hollowed her out from the inside, leaving her gasping, as though every breath might shatter her further. Her eyes, glossy with unshed tears, clung desperately to Michael’s face, silently pleading with him to take it back, to change his mind, to see her as she truly was-his fated mate, chosen by the Goddess herself. But the hardness in his eyes told her everything. His decision was made, resolute and cruel.
He had chosen Kathy, her own sister. Elaine’s voice broke as she turned to her family, her last thread of hope dangling by a fragile thread. “How about you?” she asked, her gaze moving from her father to her mother, searching, begging. “Do you agree to this?”
Her father’s shoulders sagged under the weight of her gaze. His tone was steady, but his words cut deeper than any blade. “We have to think of the pack, Elaine. Not just our family, but all of the wolves who depend on us. This… is bigger than us.” Her mother’s eyes brimmed with sorrow, but her words struck like a hammer. “Your sister is pregnant, Elaine. There is a baby to think of as well.” Elaine’s heart clenched so tightly she thought it might stop altogether.
She turned to Kathy, desperate for her sister to deny it, to cling to sisterhood, to stand with her. But Kathy’s eyes were shimmering pools of regret. “I am so sorry this happened, sister,” Kathy whispered, her voice trembling. “I love you. I didn’t know Michael was your mate.
If it weren’t for my pup, I would step aside… I truly would. But I can’t-not now.” Each word was another knife driven deep into Elaine’s chest. The betrayal was unbearable.
Her family-the ones who were supposed to protect her, to shield her from pain were now the very ones destroying her. And the worst part? They spoke as if their cruelty was duty, as if sacrificing her happiness was noble. Something inside Elaine hardened. She felt her heart begin to freeze, as though her soul itself was retreating behind icy walls.
She realized then, with bone-deep certainty, that she could never look at them the same way again. They weren’t her family anymore. They were the Beta family, loyal to the pack above all else. The Alpha couple were just that-the Alpha and Luna, leaders, not protectors. And Michael… he was no longer her mate. He was simply the future Alpha, nothing more. Drawing in a shaky, deliberate breath, Elaine forced herself to stillness. She would not let them see her pain. They did not deserve it.
None of them deserved her tears, her love, or her trust. “So,” she said at last, her voice calm, almost detached, “what do you propose, Alpha?” The entire room fell into a stunned silence. No shouting, no tears, no desperate begging, just an icy calmness none of them had ever heard from Elaine. It unsettled them deeply, because Elaine had never been cold.
She had always been warmth and light, the spark that lifted others. Now, that spark was gone, buried beneath her broken heart. Alpha Efrein cleared his throat, his expression grim. “Michael and Kathy will have their mating ceremony next month,” he said slowly. “The pack already knows you are Michael’s fated mate.
We need you to be present, Elaine. We need you to show support for their union. The pack must remain united.” Elaine’s heart cracked again, each word another fracture. Not only did they want her to sacrifice her mate, her Goddess-given destiny-they wanted her to stand beside them, smiling, pretending to celebrate.
They wanted her humiliation to become her duty. “So,” she said softly, but with sharpness in her tone, “you want me to give up my mate, my Goddess-given mate… and be thankful for it?” “That is not what I said!” Alpha Efrein shot back, frustration flickering in his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter,” Elaine replied, her voice sharp and unyielding now. “You can do whatever you want. I don’t matter in this pack anyway.” “Don’t say that, sister,” Kathy pleaded, tears spilling freely down her cheeks. “That isn’t true.”
Elaine laughed bitterly, a hollow sound that chilled the room. “Sister, please,” Kathy tried again, stepping forward. “We love you. We know you’re hurting, but we all must do what is right for the pack. I never wanted to be the cause of your pain.
I never wanted this, Elaine. But please, please understand.” She reached out, trying to hold Elaine’s hand, her voice breaking as she whispered, “Please.” But Elaine recoiled, jerking her hand away as though her sister’s touch was fire. The very sister she had once idolized, cherished, loved beyond measure-was now the source of her deepest agony.
And Elaine could not bear it. Her voice was steady, final. “I need to think. I need to be away from all of you.” She turned on her heel, ignoring the chorus of voices calling her name, the desperate cries of her family trying to reach her.
Their words, their apologies, their pleas. None of it mattered anymore. She shut them out, sealed her heart, and with one final act of defiance, she slammed the door to her mind. The moment they tried to reach her through the mind-link, she blocked them all. For the first time in her life, Elaine was truly alone.
Elaine ran-ran as though the very air around her was suffocating, as though the walls of her world were caving in. She didn’t care where her feet carried her. She only knew she had to escape. Away from their voices, away from their justifications, away from the betrayal that had shattered everything she believed in. Her lungs burned, her chest heaved, but she didn’t stop until the familiar sound of rushing water reached her ears.
Her sanctuary. The waterfall stood tall and untamed near the border of the territory, its steady roar drowning out the noise of the world. It was her safe place, the one corner of the packlands where no one followed, no one demanded, no one judged. She stumbled toward it, her knees finally giving out beneath her as she collapsed onto the damp earth. Her hands dug into the soil, her body shaking violently, and at last, she let it out.
A raw, broken scream tore from her throat, echoing across the rocks and mingling with the thunder of the falls. She screamed again, louder, until her voice cracked, until it felt like the sound itself might rip her apart. Tears she had held back in that suffocating room now poured freely, unstoppable, spilling down her cheeks as relentlessly as the waterfall before her. The rushing water became the only witness to her pain, its endless cascade mirroring the endless ache in her heart. She wept for everything she had lost.
She wept for her family. The bond that had always defined her, the protectiveness of her father who once promised to keep her safe, the warmth of her mother who used to be her comfort, and the unconditional love of her sister who had always been her best friend. That bond was gone, severed cleanly and without mercy. What remained was only betrayal, duty spoken in cold voices, and the realization that her family had chosen the pack over her. She wept for Michael-her mate.
The man who was supposed to be her forever, her partner, her other half given by the Goddess herself. She wept for the stolen future she had once dared to dream of: the companionship, the partnership, the nights of laughter, and the pups she imagined they would raise together. All of it, ripped away before it could even begin. Her wolf howled inside her, keening with agony, mourning their mate in a voice that resonated deep into her bones. The sound was so piercing it nearly brought Elaine to her knees all over again.
‘He did not abandon us,’ her wolf whispered desperately. ‘His wolf still wants us. It was Michael who chose this, not his wolf.’ But the words brought no comfort. They only deepened the wound.
If it was Michael, the man, the leader, who made the choice, then it meant he had looked at her and decided she was not enough. Not even worth fighting for. She remembered last night. The fire in his eyes when they had discovered they were mates, the heat of his touch, the way their bodies had fit together like they were meant to. For a moment, she had believed in it, in them.
But now she understood the truth. That was why he had not marked her. That was why he had held back, why something had felt restrained even in their passion. He had already chosen Kathy. He had already decided to betray her.
A sob shook her shoulders. He hadn’t just rejected her. He had used her. Used her body, her heart, her trust, knowing full well he had no intention of staying. She had given him everything, and still it wasn’t enough.
And worst of all, everyone in that room had agreed. Her father. Her mother. Her sister. The Alpha.
The Luna. All of them had stood by silently, justifying it, as though her pain was a fair price for the sake of the pack. Her chest heaved, her breath coming in shallow, uneven gasps. She curled forward, clutching her stomach as though she could physically hold herself together, as though her body might unravel completely if she let go. But slowly-so slowly-the tears began to dry.
The waterfall still roared, steady and indifferent, as if reminding her that the world would not stop for her pain. The night deepened around her, stars beginning to glimmer faintly above the trees. She forced herself to sit straighter, though her body still trembled. She could not stay here, drowning in grief. If she remained in the pack house, surrounded by their lies and betrayal, she would wither.
She would break beyond repair. No, she needed a plan. Her mind began to turn, shaky at first, but with growing determination. She could not live another day under the same roof as the Beta family. Every glance, every whispered word would suffocate her further.
She could not watch Michael parade around with her sister, pretending nothing had happened. She would not survive it. But she could not leave the pack entirely. Not yet. Not until after the mating ceremony.
They would force her to attend. She knew it, and if she vanished before, they would hunt her down. But afterward… afterward she could leave, and she would never return. There was no one here worth staying for anymore.
Her mind drifted to a place she had once heard about, a half-forgotten structure at the far edge of the border. A house where wolves awaiting punishment used to be kept, abandoned now, its walls left to the wild. No one went there anymore. That was where she would go. A month.
That was all she had to endure. A month hidden away, alone, far from the eyes of those who betrayed her. There, she wouldn’t have to plaster a smile, wouldn’t have to choke down her grief. She could be herself. Broken.
Angry. Free. The only time she would need to pretend was when the Alpha summoned her presence. She would make those appearances minimal, bear them in silence, and then vanish again. But that would require preparation.
She would have to resign her position as the Beta’s secretary. The thought stung. It was the only role that had once made her feel useful, important. But she could no longer serve them, not after what they had done. Hours slipped by as she sat at her sanctuary, the waterfall’s endless rhythm anchoring her as she pieced together the fragments of her plan.
Only when the moon stood high and the night was thick around her did she notice how much time had passed. The world was quiet now, save for the water and the faint whisper of wind in the trees. Through the bond, she felt the faint pressure of her family’s voices. Beta Richard, her mother Lucille, even Kathy, all trying to reach her, asking if she was safe. But her mind was locked down, sealed.
She would not let them in. Not tonight. Tonight was for mourning. Tonight was for her grief. Tomorrow… tomorrow she would be stronger.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.