Layla
[I accepted to become his rightful heir. Obey his every command— even if that meant bonding someone I didn’t choose.] My heart pounded as I typed my text.
Aiken Irwine—my father’s Beta—typed a message: [My old friend, Layla Dawson-Watts, has finally returned to who she used to be.]
[Tell my father to give me nine days. I need to break the bond with Alpha Tristan. After that, I’ll claim access to Naomi’s treatment.]
Aiken typed again: [Request Accepted. I’ll do as you say.]
Each keystroke was a quiet surrender—one last show of duty before everything changed.
It happened during the ringed lunar eclipse—nine years since I was bonded to Alpha Tristan.
That night, I watched him throw Naomi into a pool of starving piranhas.
“Where did you hide your mother’s heart?” he barked. “You can’t even hear me, can you?”
His hand closed around my throat, cutting off my breath.
“You’re deaf, not mute, Layla. I’ll ask again—where the fuck is it?”
Warm blood slid down my neck. I wanted to scream, but what for?
He had already chosen Rovena. The witch who twisted his mind with illusions and lies.
She made him believe I’d cheated—edited a video of me visiting an old friend and his mate, Naomi’s heart donor.
It was all a lie. But he saw what she wanted him to see. He didn’t question it. Didn’t ask me. He just… turned cold.
Then came the chains to my body. I couldn’t fight back.
Alpha Tristan let out a satisfied laugh as he watched me struggle against the chains.
He forced me to gave them my mother’s heart—the one I created after to save Naomi—or watch her die.
I swore I wouldn’t give in. Not even my life.
But when I saw Naomi, crying, pale, tied up like an offering—my heart broke.
“I don’t need to protect a sickly brat who’s not even my blood,” Alpha Tristan spat, lowering the pulley.
The fish tore into Naomi’s leg.
And I screamed—louder than I ever had. Not from the chains. From helplessness.
He walked away—left Naomi screaming, left me bleeding inside, just to save that treacherous bitch he fucked behind my back.
Nine years of loyalty, paid back with two years of betrayal. And to add insult to agony, I was made to care for his bastard son—while mine bled.
In my heart, I swore—Alpha Tristan would pay for what he did. To me. To Naomi.
In nine days, I’d sever the bond that tied me to the devil in Alpha’s skin and walk away from the abyss he shoved me into.
And when I return under the next lunar eclipse, I’ll drown Alpha Tristan into a pool of blood—one he carved with his own sins.
**
"It's for Naomi. How could you be so cruel, Alpha?" My voice breaking with every word.
"I don’t give a damn if she dies—or you, for that matter. Now for the last bloody time, where’s the heart?!"
His claws were already digging into my chest.
Above Naomi, the pulley creaked as the rope holding Naomi began to lower further.
I gave in. My eyes stung, raw from the flood of tears that had long dried on my cheeks.
On my knees, I whispered, “The heart’s in my mum’s old lab.”
My heart sank, rage tangled up in helplessness.
Five bloody years of fighting—gone. All because Alpha Tristan took my mum’s heart… just to save another woman’s.
I remembered he used to be just a lone he-wolf with no name and no past. No parents. He drifted into my world of elite heirs and gifted misfits.
He stood on the fringes, afraid to touch anything too bright—until I told him I didn’t give a damn about his bloodline, or the fact he was a hybrid. A taboo but I didn’t care.
That’s when he started believing in me. In us.
We stopped hiding. When my father—the Supreme Alpha—discovered our relationship, Alpha Tristan didn’t back down.
He challenged our strongest warrior. Ligaments torn. Shoulder shattered. He was hospitalised for weeks.
“I’m not giving up,” he’d whispered through gritted teeth. “This injury won’t stop me loving you, Layla.”
I’d cried that day. Pride and gratitude overflowing.
And when he built his pack from the ground up, I was right there with him—Naomi still growing inside me.
“I’ll give you the world, and our pup too, Luna Layla.”
At our Mating Ceremony, he’d vowed, “I, Alpha Tristan, mark you as my mate and Luna of Rage Willow Pack.”
I was swept away.
Back then, I thought no she-wolf could be luckier—loved by an Alpha who would tear the world apart just to build a life with me.
But it all turned to ash. Jealousy, bitterness—something began to rot him from within.
And then she came. Rovena Everille.
With her cursed heart and twisted dark magic, she slithered into his life, all weakness and deception wrapped in soft words.
“She’s got a heart condition, Luna Layla,” Alpha Tristan had said. “She’s the last of the Sagittarius Coven-my Coven. She needs help.”
And I believed every damn word that left his mouth.
But the moment their pheromones mixed in the air—in our bed—I didn’t need proof anymore.
He lied. Over and over. Used our daughter as an excuse for his lust.
“You’re a mother too. You know what it feels like—helpless—when your child needs a donor, right, sweetheart? You always be in my heart. She will never replace you.”
I was numb. I buried my shattered heart beneath silence. Pretended everything was fine.
All for Naomi. She didn’t need to know what kind of monster her father had become. She deserved to believe he was still the hero she once adored.
“Mum...my, I’m scared.“ Her voice hoarse.
“Let Naomi go! Can’t you see she’s barely breathing?” I screamed, my voice echoing through the bitter night.
“She’s not mine,” he snapped. His eyes glowed blood-red.
He stepped closer—towering over our daughter as she gasped above the pool’s edge.
And he laughed.
Laughed like it was a game. A sick circus act testing how close she could get to death without falling in.
“She’s yours, Alpha Tristan! I swear on the Moon Goddess, she’s your daughter! Please… show mercy!”
I dropped to my knees, forehead pressed to his boots.
He didn’t blink.
Rovena had blinded his soul. She stole my mum’s heart—the one I’d fought to preserve so I could transplant it into Naomi.
“You pathetic bitch,” he growled. “You’ve already wasted enough of my time. When I return with Rovena, I want an apology—on your knees, mouth shut. Or with blood. Whichever gets the job done.”
Then he kicked me. Not like his kind. Like I was filth. Something to be scraped off his shoe.
My pelvis cracked against the steel pool edge. My elbow shattered. I couldn’t move my arm.
My head slammed down—And I lay there, crumpled. Useless. Broken.
“You should be thanking me,” he sneered. “For not ripping out your fucking heart, Luna.”
And with that, he left. A flick of his fingers—The pulley snapped. The rope dropped.
Naomi cried but couldn’t hear her voice.
Below her, piranhas churned the water. Their fins sliced through the surface, teeth gleaming as they swarmed beneath her dangling feet.
“Mummy. It hurts…” She shut her eyes. Still. Silent. So heartbreakingly small.
I screamed—until my throat felt like it was on fire.
Then… the moon shifted. The shadow moved.
And I felt it. My power surged back through me like a storm.
I tore through the chains, muscles burning as they snapped from my limbs.
I rose—feet off the ground, heart thundering.
I flew to Naomi. Caught her just as her tiny frame began to fall.
“Mummy’s here, love,” I whispered. “I’ve got you. Just hold on. We’re going to the hospital. You’re safe now.”
I rushed Naomi to the same hospital where my mother once received treatment.
Swallowing my pride, I called a number I hadn’t touched since the day I gave birth to Naomi.
“Hello, Beta Aiken. It’s me—Layla.”
“By the Moon Goddess,” he breathed. “Finally. I can bloody breathe again. This about the hybrid girl?” His voice curled with sarcasm at the end.
“Yeah. I need your help. Naomi’s in bad shape.”
“I understand,” Beta Aiken said. “I’ll make arrangements to bring you home. And I’ll submit Naomi’s case to the Elder Council for the best medical support available.”
I hung up the call with a steady heart. The nine years I’d spent bound to Alpha Tristan would be reduced to nine days, starting tonight.
