After My Alpha Killed My Mother, I Escaped Him

I rushed through the corridors of the Pack House, my heart pounding against my ribs. The guards nodded respectfully as I passed, but their eyes held a pity I didn't understand. My mother had been imprisoned for three days now, accused of a crime I knew she couldn't have committed. Her fragile mind wouldn't allow her to harm anyone.

"Please," I whispered to myself, "let him listen this time."

I tracked Jaxxon's scent to his private office—the room where pack business was conducted, where decisions that shaped our lives were made. My mate, the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, had been avoiding me since my mother's arrest. Today, I wouldn't let him escape.

I didn't knock. The door swung open under my desperate push.

The scent hit me first—vanilla and musk, arousal and betrayal mingling in the air. My eyes confirmed what my nose already knew.

Jaxxon had Ashlyn pressed against his desk, her legs wrapped around his waist, his hands tangled in her golden hair. The papers scattered across the floor told me they'd been at this for some time.

"Eleanora." His voice held irritation, not shame. Not even surprise.

I stood frozen, unable to process the image before me. This was my mate—my fated partner blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.

"Jaxxon," I whispered, my voice breaking. "My mother—"

"I'm busy," he cut me off, not even bothering to disentangle from Ashlyn. She smirked over his shoulder, her perfectly manicured nails tracing patterns on his skin.

"She's innocent," I pleaded, taking a step forward. "You know she wouldn't hurt anyone. She's just a child in her mind."

Jaxxon's eyes flashed black—his wolf rising to the surface. "You dare interrupt me for this?"

"Ashlyn visited her yesterday," I said, desperation clawing at my throat. "She told me she'd help clear my mother's name."

Something flickered across Ashlyn's face—triumph, perhaps—before she buried her face in Jaxxon's neck.

"Leave," Jaxxon commanded, his Alpha tone vibrating through my bones. "Now."

My wolf whimpered inside me, the mate bond forcing obedience even as my heart shattered. I backed away, tears blurring my vision.

---

Hours later, I sat on my bed, staring at the wall. Jaxxon had left for the neutral territory resort—with Ashlyn. The pack whispers said they'd be gone for days.

A sudden, searing pain lanced through my mind-link—the connection I shared with my mother. It wasn't words but feelings: terror, despair, and a final, heartbreaking goodbye.

"No!" I screamed, bolting upright.

I ran barefoot through the pack grounds, ignoring the startled looks of pack members. The dungeons were in the basement of the Pack House—a place I'd never been allowed to visit.

The guard at the entrance blocked my path. "Luna, you can't—"

"She's my mother!" I shrieked, pushing past him.

The stench of death hit me first. Then I saw her.

My beautiful mother, her small body hanging from the cell bars, her face peaceful in a way I'd never seen in life. The moon stone pendant she always wore—the one she'd promised would protect me—dangled from her limp fingers.

"What happened?" I collapsed to my knees, reaching through the bars to touch her cold cheek.

"The Reed girl came to see her yesterday," the guard said quietly. "Through a mind-link projection. After that..."

"She told her things," another guard finished. "We couldn't stop it. By the time we realized what was happening..."

I clutched my mother's body, rocking back and forth as sobs tore through me. My wolf howled in agony inside me, the sound escaping my human throat as a keening wail.

---

"Luna Eleanora!" Marcus, Jaxxon's Beta, shook me roughly. "Control yourself!"

But I couldn't. The grief consumed me, pouring out in waves of anguish that disrupted the pack bonds. Every wolf in the vicinity would feel my pain.

"Jaxxon returned early," Marcus explained, his face grim. "The Alpha demands order."

Jaxxon stood in the doorway of the pack's common area, where my screams had drawn everyone's attention. His face was thunderous, his Alpha aura pressing down on us all.

"She's dead," I choked out. "She killed herself because of what Ashlyn told her."

"Lies!" Ashlyn hissed from behind Jaxxon.

"This display is unacceptable," Jaxxon growled. "You're disrupting the pack with your hysteria."

"Hysteria?" I laughed wildly. "My mother is dead!"

"You will calm yourself," he ordered, his Alpha tone crushing down on me. When I continued to sob, his eyes narrowed. "Or you will be made to calm yourself."

Marcus stepped forward, his expression troubled. "Alpha, perhaps we should—"

"Take her to the Silver Isolation Cell," Jaxxon commanded. "Three days. No food. No shifting."

The guards moved quickly, dragging me away from my mother's body. I fought them with everything I had, but it wasn't enough.

"Jaxxon!" I screamed as they pulled me down the corridor. "She was innocent!"

His face remained impassive as the heavy door of the isolation cell slammed shut behind me. The silver lining the walls immediately began to burn my skin, forcing my wolf deeper inside me.

"Three days," he said coldly. "Perhaps by then you'll remember your place."