The room erupted—gasps, murmurs, and the clinking of glasses as wolves turned to gawk. I stood frozen, every eye shifting to me like I was a spectacle. The fire in my body burned hotter, sharp pain shooting through my chest as the emeralds’ power overwhelmed me.
Lucas rejected me. Publicly.
“Lucas…” I managed to croak, but my voice cracked under the weight of humiliation and pain.
He didn’t even look at me.
“Guards,” he said softly, “escort Catherine out.”
Two wolves approached, their hands outstretched toward me. The emerald stones seared against my collarbone, the heat unbearable now. My vision blurred slightly, but I forced my feet to move back, holding onto the last shred of my dignity.
“Don’t touch me,” I snapped, my voice laced with a strength I didn’t feel. “I can walk myself out.”
My legs trembled, every step a battle as I walked away. My heart pounded against my ribs, and the whispers behind me felt like daggers.
“She was rejected?”
“A failed Luna.”
“She couldn’t even give him a child?”
I swallowed against the burning lump in my throat. Every nerve in my body screamed in agony, but I didn’t let them see me falter. Not yet.
I walked out of the grand hall with my head high, but as soon as I was alone, I ripped the moon emerald earrings off and flung them to the ground. The searing heat subsided slightly, leaving only a dull ache in its wake. My skin throbbed as if branded, but I gritted my teeth.
I wouldn’t cry. Not for him. Not for them.
Lucas Gray had just made the biggest mistake of his life.
The cold air bit at my skin as I walked away from the Alpha Summit, each step carrying the weight of Lucas’s betrayal. My legs were shaking, but I refused to stop.
My tears that burned down my face felt like salt in a wound that would never heal, but I didn’t care. I needed to get home, away from all of them.
But then, I smelled it.
The faintest hint of another scent in the air—something off, something wrong. It wasn’t a wolf I knew, and it didn’t belong to anyone from the pack.
I stopped in my tracks. My senses were on high alert now, every hair on my body standing up. Something wasn’t right.
My heart raced. I glanced over my shoulder but saw nothing. The shadows seemed to stretch and twist unnaturally around me.
‘Calm down, Catherine.’
But my instincts screamed at me to run. I turned quickly, my footsteps echoing in the silent night, but before I could make it even five more steps, the scent became stronger—more pungent, more dangerous.
And then I heard it. The sound of footfalls behind me, moving swiftly, stealthily.
I whipped around, but I never saw the figure before they lunged at me.
A sharp, searing pain shot through my neck as something cold and metallic sank into my skin. I gasped, my vision blurring.
I tried to push back, to fight, but my body refused to cooperate. My legs gave out from under me, and I crumpled to the ground, the world spinning out of control.
“W-What…?” My words were slurred, confusion flooding my mind.
I struggled to stay conscious, but my limbs felt like they were made of lead. The last thing I saw was darkness.
***
I don’t know how long I was out.
When I woke, my body felt like it had been set on fire. My neck and chest ached, raw and seared from the stones, and my head throbbed like it had been split open. Everything was blurry, my senses dulled, like I was underwater.
The pain was suffocating, but distant footsteps pulled me out of the haze. Slow. Heavy.
Diana.
She stepped into view, her figure sharp against the dim light, her smirk like poison. A knife gleamed in her hand, the blade catching the flicker of a nearby torch.
“I knew you wouldn’t go quietly,” she sneered, her voice dripping with venom. “But I didn’t need you to. You’re already as good as gone.”
I tried to lift my head, but my body was too weak. Still, I forced my lips to move. “You… bitch,” I growled through gritted teeth.
Diana’s smirk widened. “Lucas is my Alpha now, Catherine. He rejected you in front of the entire Summit, didn’t he? You didn’t think he’d stay with a failed Luna, did you?”
Her words stabbed into me, and I froze. The humiliation from the Summit still hung over me like a storm cloud, but she wasn’t done.
She leaned closer, her voice taunting. “He’s happy now. Last night… Oh, he couldn’t even keep his hands off me. Sex until dawn, Catherine. That’s what it’s like when he’s with someone who can actually give him what he needs. You? You couldn’t even give him an heir after all these years.”
The fire in my body felt sharper, almost as if her words fed the burn. My breath hitched, the pain in my chest far worse than the physical agony.
“You’re cursed, Catherine. You’re nothing but a failure,” she added, her voice filled with cruel satisfaction.
I clenched my teeth, but the sting of her words broke through my defenses. I could feel my heart breaking, the rejection, the humiliation, and now her taunts pressing down on me. My body felt heavy, too heavy to move, but my eyes stayed locked on the knife in her hand.
She saw where I was looking and smiled wider. “This is the end for you. The blade will sever your connection to your wolf. You’ll be human—useless. Nothing more than a weak, broken woman.”
