IVY
"I didn’t poison her, but the way Caleb looked at me made me feel like I had already been sentenced to death."
The room felt suffocating, packed with pack members who seemed to relish my downfall. Their gazes burned into my skin—pity, contempt—all directed at me as Caleb stood at the center, his golden eyes blazing with fury.
Right now, he didn’t look like the man who had promised me forever moments before he marked me. He looked every bit the Alpha he was trained to be—the kind who crushed threats with ruthless precision—and right now, all of that venom was aimed squarely at me.
"Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?" His voice snarled, low and cutting, but carrying across the room like a lash.
I blinked, my heart pounding in my chest. "Caleb, I don’t even understand what’s happening. How can you accuse me of poisoning my own sister? And why are you making this a public spectacle? I don’t—"
"Stop speaking!" His hand shot up, silencing me with one brutal gesture. "And don’t lie to me, Ivy."
Lie?
What was he talking about?
My thoughts raced, scrambling to make sense of the nightmare unfolding before me. It had started like any other day, me perfuming my duties as the Luna of the Silver Moon pack until two warriors had practically dragged me to the pack hall only to be accused of poisoning my sister.
My sister, Lila, who had made it clear from the start when we were little that she despised me for no reason, and who now lay across the room draped on a chaise, pale and trembling. Her dark hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, the picture of a damsel in distress. Her hand rested protectively on her stomach, and that’s when it hit me. Like my wolf suddenly picked up the change in her scent.
Pregnant.
She was pregnant.
The weight of the realization crashed over me like a tidal wave, and when she met my gaze, a smug smile flickered across her face. For a brief moment, I saw it—the malice behind the act. Then she quickly masked it, slipping back into whatever role she had decided to play today, to make me look like the villain in front of everyone else.
I found my voice again, refusing to believe the crushing truth unfolding before me. "I don’t know what’s going on, but I didn’t do anything. And if you won’t speak to me in private about this, then I’m leaving."
Without another word, I turned on my heel, ready to walk away, but then his growl echoed off the walls, freezing me in my tracks.
"Take another step, and it will be the last thing you ever do."
My eyes snapped back to him. "What?"
His eyes narrowed, his gaze cutting through me like a blade. "Don’t act like you didn’t know. Don’t pretend you weren’t aware of what I have with her."
I froze. His words stuck in my throat. No. The crushing truth began to settle in. This is why he was so furious. But it couldn’t be possible. He couldn't be…
"You—"
"She’s carrying my child!" Caleb shouted, his voice vibrating with fury, and it felt like someone had just ripped my heart out. "And you—my own mate—you tried to take that from me. From her. You think I don’t see through you? You knew about us all along, didn’t you? You knew about me and Lila, and you stayed silent along just to kill her. To take away my heir."
"No," I whispered, my voice trembling as tears streamed down my face.
I glanced back at Lila. No. She couldn’t hate me this much. Could she?
How had I not noticed this had been happening?
How was this happening?
"You’re barren, Ivy," Caleb spat, his words cutting deeper than any blade. "You couldn’t give me what I needed, but I was willing to keep you when we eventually told you. I was even willing to make it work, despite everything. But this—this is unforgivable."
The pack murmured around us, their voices a cruel soundtrack to my humiliation.
"You’ve been sleeping with my sister? And she’s pregnant?" I looked back at her, “You’re pregnant? With my mate’s child?"
Caleb scoffed, his eyes filled with disgust like he wasn’t the one sleeping with my sister behind my back, "Don’t act innocent with your fake tears. I know you tried to kill her. The omega you sent confessed, Ivy. Luckily, Lila caught the wolfsbane in time before she ingested it, and now you’re exposed. I never thought you could be this heartless."
I was the heartless one?
"I didn’t poison her. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know! I didn’t—" My voice faltered, so weak I could barely hear it myself. Tears blurred my vision, and I couldn’t think straight. My mind screamed the same question, over and over: Why? Why had he done this to me when he swore he would love me till the end of time? Why was he humiliating me in front of everyone? Why did my sister hate me so much?
Just… why?
His voice broke through my fog of questions. "I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe if you had confessed, I would’ve reconsidered, but no. Your lies have sealed your fate."
He looked me in the eyes, and I somehow knew what was coming before the words left his lips.
"I, Caleb Vaughn, Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, reject you, Ivy Hayes, as my mate," he said coldly, his voice devoid of warmth.
The pain hit again, worse than before and my knees gave out, my world shattering, and just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, he spoke again, delivering the final blow.
"You are hereby banished from the Silver Moon Pack. You have three days to leave, and if you are found within the borders after that, you will be executed."
