Kacie POV:
The sun was blinding when I woke up, still curled on the rug where I had fallen. My body ached, a deep, bone-weary soreness that came from the Wolf's Wither.
I heard the front door open downstairs.
I scrambled up, splashing cold water on my face to hide the puffiness. Maybe he had come back. Maybe he realized he was wrong.
I walked down the grand staircase of the Moon Estate. The house was modern, all glass and steel, designed to look like a fortress.
Cedric was in the living room. He looked disheveled, his shirt unbuttoned.
My nose twitched. It wasn't just whiskey. Clinging to his skin was the cloying, artificial scent of vanilla and overly sweet peaches.
Jayden.
He had spent his wedding night with her.
"You're back," I said, my voice hollow.
Cedric looked up, rubbing his temples. "Not now, Kacie. I have a headache."
"I want her transferred," I said, gripping the banister. "Jayden. She works as your personal executive officer. It's inappropriate. Transfer her to the logistics department."
Cedric laughed, a harsh bark. "You want me to demote the woman who saved my life because of your petty jealousy? You have no Luna's grace, Kacie. A true Luna puts the pack first."
"A true Alpha doesn't abandon his Mate on their wedding night!" I snapped.
Before he could respond, his phone buzzed. He looked at it, and his expression darkened.
"What did you do?" he growled.
"What?"
He turned the screen toward me. It was the pack's internal social media forum. A video was playing. Jayden, looking pale and fragile in a hospital bed, tears glistening in her eyes.
"I just... I don't want to cause trouble," Jayden sobbed in the video. "I know Kacie is the Luna now. But telling me I don't belong in the pack... telling me I should just go Rogue and die... it hurts so much."
My jaw dropped. "I never said that! I haven't spoken to her in days!"
"The pack is furious," Cedric said, his voice dropping an octave. His eyes began to glow a menacing gold. "They think their Luna is a tyrant bullying a hero."
"It's a lie, Cedric! Can't you smell the deception on her?"
"The only thing I smell is your jealousy," he roared.
Then, the air in the room changed. It became heavy, thick like molasses. Gravity seemed to increase tenfold.
"Get dressed," Cedric commanded.
His voice wasn't human. It was the Alpha Command. It bypassed my ears and resonated directly in my bones.
My body moved against my will. My legs marched me up the stairs. I tried to stop, to dig my heels into the carpet, but my muscles obeyed him, not me. Tears of humiliation sprang to my eyes. To use the Command on your own Mate was the ultimate sign of disrespect. It was used for criminals and enemies.
Ten minutes later, I was in the passenger seat of his car, my body frozen in place by his lingering order.
We arrived at the pack hospital. He dragged me by the arm, marching me past whispering nurses and glaring warriors.
We entered a VIP room. Jayden was lying there, looking perfectly fine, but the moment we entered, she let out a dramatic cough.
"Cedric," she whimpered. "Please, don't be mad at Kacie. I'm sure she didn't mean it."
Cedric softened instantly. The monster who had dragged me here vanished, replaced by a worried protector. He went to her side, brushing hair from her forehead.
"I will handle this, Jay," he murmured.
He turned to me, his face hardening again. He pulled out his phone and started a livestream on the official pack channel.
"Apologize," he commanded.
The weight crushed me again. My knees hit the cold linoleum floor with a sickening crack. My throat constricted. I tried to clamp my mouth shut, to bite my tongue, anything to keep the words in.
But the Alpha's will was absolute for a wolf of lower rank. Even a White Wolf, sealed and weakened as I was, couldn't fight a Prime Alpha directly.
"I..." My voice shook. "I apologize... Jayden."
"Louder," Cedric hissed. "Tell them you were wrong."
"I was wrong," I choked out, tears dripping off my chin, splashing onto the floor. "I am sorry for... for hurting you."
Jayden looked at the camera, then at me, a small, triumphant smirk playing on her lips that only I could see.
"I forgive you, Luna," she said sweetly. "We are family, after all."
Cedric ended the stream. He looked at me kneeling on the floor, broken and weeping. For a second, his hand twitched, as if he wanted to reach out. But then he looked at Jayden, and the impulse died.
I remained on the floor, staring at my knees. The countdown on my chest felt like it was searing through my skin, ticking away the seconds of a life I was beginning to hate.
