Chapter 2 of From Submissive Zeta to Ruthless Luna

Elara Thornfield

"Why is your face so pale, Elara? Are you feeling unwell?" Willow Ashbourne asked, her brow furrowing with sudden concern as she stepped into the corridor of the Moonstone Summit Lodge.

My breath caught in my throat, my Zeta wolf shivering with pure terror as the scent of Alpha Ronan's heavy tobacco and scorched cedarwood still clung to the lining of my mouth. Willow had been my close ally since our young pack days in the Ashbourne Pack, but right now, looking into her eyes made my whole four-foot-five body shake.

Seeing the sheer panic on my face, Willow grabbed my arm, her ears perking as she scanned the grand hallway of Blackridge Pack Officials.

"In here, now," Willow muttered under her breath, pulling me inside the private sanitation washroom and throwing the heavy iron latch shut. "What happened in Alpha Command? Did Alpha Ronan threaten your life?"

I collapsed against the stone wall, sliding down until my knees hit the cold floor, tears spilling hot over my cheeks.

"Elara, talk to me!" Willow hissed, kneeling beside me with a hand on my trembling shoulder. "If the Alpha catches you breaking down like this, he will execute you! You know how ruthless the Blackridge Bloodline is."

Every wolf in Moonhaven Ridge knew Alpha Ronan Blackridge showed zero mercy to weak Zeta lower-castes. Just last month, he stripped a whole high-ranking warrior line of their titles and drove them into the rogue wasteland because a maiden cried during a territory briefing.

"I cannot lose my position in the Blackridge Alpha Dominion, Willow," I choked out, my chest heaving as I pressed my palms over my face. "If I am exiled from Moonhaven Ridge, the Thornfield Council will starve!"

"What did you do to anger him?" Willow asked, her voice tight with rising panic.

"I... I slept with him," I sobbed into my hands.

Willow froze. The silence in the stone room became deafening.

"What?" Willow whispered, her hand dropping from my shoulder as if my skin had caught fire. "What did you just say?"

"I stayed in his den last night," I forced out through my heavy breaths, the raw memory of his massive hands tearing my Zeta shirt open flooding my mind. "After the Summit feast."

Willow recoiled, backing away until her spine hit the heavy oak door three meters away. "You slept with Alpha Ronan? Are you insane? Female wolves who try to trap him with claims of carrying his bloodline end up in Beta Kieran's execution pit!"

"It was an accident!" I cried out, my hands trembling violently in my lap. "The pack elders kept filling his cup with moon-ale. I stepped in and drank three golden goblets to protect his honor, but the heat effect took over my Zeta blood! My wolf went crazy, and it went completely out of hand!"

"Out of hand?" Willow gasped, her eyes wide with total horror. "You threw your four-foot-five self onto the strongest Alpha in the Grand Alpha Council?"

"I do not know what to do," I wept, rubbing at the red bite marks hidden under my collar. "He gave me twenty-four hours to find the female who pinned him down, or he will have Beta Kieran hunt her down and snap her spine!"

Willow blinked, her panic suddenly stalling as her eyes narrowed. "Wait. He gave you twenty-four hours to find the culprit?"

"Yes," I whispered.

"He does not know it was you?" Willow demanded, taking a slow step forward.

"No," I admitted, shaking my head. "He did not see my face clearly in the dark when my heat flared."

Willow let out a sharp breath of relief, smoothing down her robes. "Good. Because if the Blackridge Bloodline linked this to you, the Ashbourne Pack would be wiped out for recommending you to his service."

She unbolted the door, glanced down the empty hall of the Moonstone Summit Lodge, and locked it again.

"There is only one way out of this," Willow whispered, leaning down close to my ear. "We wipe the Pack Sentinels' records before Beta Kieran inspects the den."

"Will that really work?" I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"It has to," Willow gritted out, dragging me up by my arms. "Move fast."

Two hours later, Alpha Ronan finished addressing the Grand Alpha Council in the main hall.

I stepped into the Alpha Command break room right behind him, keeping my eyes locked on the floor and my submissive Zeta posture tight.

"Alpha Ronan," I reported, my voice synthetic and flat like a machine to hide the tremble in my lungs. "The investigation is complete."

Alpha Ronan sat on the dark leather couch, his broad shoulders casting a shadow across the room. He held a freshly lit cigarette between his thick fingers, blowing a slow plume of grey smoke toward the ceiling. His piercing black eyes settled on me, colder than frozen iron.

I swallowed the lump of fear in my throat, forcing my voice to remain steady.

"I accessed the Pack Sentinels' room and reviewed every record," I lied, holding out the blank parchment. "No wolf entered your private quarters after I left you last night. The silver pendant must belong to a Wandering Rogue from the previous moon cycle."

Ronan took a slow, deep drag of his cigarette, the tip glowing a harsh ember red in the dim light. He did not move. He did not blink.

"A Wandering Rogue," Ronan drawled softly, his deep Alpha voice vibrating straight through the floorboards and making my core ache with remembered heat.

He leaned forward, setting his cigarette in the tray, and pulled a piece of thick parchment from his inner jacket, sliding it across the table.

"Then explain why Beta Kieran just found your Thornfield Pack scent printed all over the velvet sheets," he said.