"Let it go?"
The words echoed in my head like a cruel joke.
What exactly had Lewis ever let go of?
I stared at him, confusion twisting through like a restless current. Julian’s face darkened beside him, his jaw tight, eyes burning with sothing raw sothing dangerous. The tension between them wasn’t just human frustration; it pulsed with power, thick with Alpha dominance and unspoken history. My wolf bristled beneath my skin, sensing that this wasn’t just a petty disagreent. Sothing deeper was buried beneath their words sothing that slled of betrayal and blood ties.
Across the clearing, Camilla basked in the pack’s attention like the perfect Luna-to-be. Her smile glowed under the moonlight as pack mbers from the Morrigan lineage surrounded her, showering her with praise.
My mother Vivian, Beta of the Crescent Claw Pack stood proudly at her side, her voice honeyed with false warmth.
"Camilla, you’re truly gifted," she said, practically glowing. "Only a few hunts, and you’ve already brought honor to the pack. You’re thoughtful, disciplined, everything an Alpha could ask for."
Then her tone hardened cold enough to freeze the blood in my veins.
"Not like Elena," she added, her eyes flicking to like a blade. "That girl always drew the wrong kind of attention. Her ntors said she had potential, but I’ve yet to see anything worthwhile. You’re miles ahead of her, Camilla."
My younger brother Nolan chuckled, a cruel sound. "Speaking of Elena has anyone even seen her lately? Her scent’s been cold for days. Probably sulking in the border woods again. Always unreliable, always causing trouble."
Soone nearby muttered, "I heard she ran off to the Cloudridge territory."
And then it began.
"She’s selfish does whatever she wants."
"Always plays the victim when things don’t go her way."
"When she finally cos crawling back, she should be ready to submit properly."
"If you ask , she needs a good beating to rember her place."
Laughter rippled through them like a pack chorus.
I stood there, silent an invisible ghost among my own blood. Every word sliced deeper than any claw. They weren’t strangers. They were my family. My pack. My supposed ho.
And still, they shredded like prey.
Camilla smiled sweetly through it all, her wolf purring in satisfaction. That flawless, innocent act the radiant Luna image she’d perfected. If only they knew. If only they saw the darkness in her aura, the manipulation in her gaze.
But no. They believed her every word. To them, she was light, and I was shadow.
Being betrayed by Julian my fated mate, the one my soul had recognized and burned for was agony enough. But hearing my own mother speak about with such contempt... that was sothing else entirely.
I was her daughter. Her blood. Her wolf.
How could she despise so completely?
I had always loved to paint the colors, the emotion, the freedom. My wolf found peace in it. But one year, on Camilla’s celebration night, everything changed.
Vivian had stord into my art room, fury rolling off her like wildfire. She didn’t let explain. She ripped through my canvases, claws out, paint splattering across the walls like blood.
"Your sister nearly died on patrol, and you sit here painting?" she scread. "You heartless creature!"
That night, I realized sothing brutal Vivian had never truly loved .
She had always wished it was who’d fallen that night, not Camilla.
It was Camilla and Julian who betrayed , who wove lies until I beca the villain of their story. And yet, the pack blad .
Now, I was gone. Truly gone.
And what was my family doing?
Not mourning. Not searching.
Plotting how to break when I returned.
I touched my face. No tears ca. Only the hollow ache of sothing shattered beyond repair.
Outside, the snow began to fall the kind that silences everything. The moonlight painted the world white, eerily still. The sa kind of night I’d been cast out.
Would they ever realize I wasn’t coming back?
Soon, the pack network buzzed with whispers. The human world caught on too my na, my story, twisted into gossip.
#ElenaExposed
#DisgracedOga
#CamillaTheChosen
#FatedBetrayal
The world had chosen its Luna and its villain.
And I? I was the shadow they erased.
I stood silently behind Julian, his scent still familiar cedar, storm, and sothing that once used to calm my wolf. Now, it only burned. His fingers scrolled rapidly across his phone, eyes narrowing as his brows drew tighter with every passing second. His Alpha energy pulsed with restrained anger, dark and magnetic, filling the room with dominance I used to crave.
Camilla clung to his arm, her voice soft, syrupy the perfect imitation of a submissive Luna.
"Julian, I didn’t think things would get so out of hand," she murmured sweetly. "Maybe we should ask soone to take the trending posts down?"
Before he could respond, Vivian’s sharp voice sliced through the tension like claws through flesh.
"Take them down? Why?"
She stood regal and proud, her aura shimring with Beta authority the kind that demanded obedience, even from those she’d crushed beneath her heel. Her jewels sparkled beneath the chandelier, but her eyes were colder than ice.
"The pack’s not wrong," she said flatly. "Elena tried to pass off another wolf’s art as her own. Now that the truth is out, she has to deal with it. If she didn’t want this backlash, she shouldn’t have lied."
Her words hit harder than any blow.
Vivian reached for Camilla’s hand, pride gleaming in her gaze. "Besides, this is helping Camilla. Everyone’s praising her for being talented and kind-hearted. Why waste money clearing posts that are making her a star?"
Nolan’s deep voice followed, steady but cruel. "She’s right. The more the pack tears into Elena, the more perfect Camilla looks. Controversy draws eyes. Eyes build power."
Even in death, my pack still found ways to feed on what was left of .
They didn’t care about truth. Only status. Only image.
I thought back to the nights I spent in solitude, painting under moonlight, my wolf calm for the first ti in years. I’d poured my soul into every stroke, hoping soone anyone would see worth in what I created. But Vivian had always sneered at , calling it "a waste of an Alpha’s mate."
Now she called Camilla a prodigy. My wolf snarled in the shadows of my mind. It wasn’t that she hated art she just hated that it had co from .
Julian remained silent, but his jaw flexed, his aura simring with barely contained irritation. Camilla turned toward him, tilting her head, eyes brimming with mock concern.
"Julian," she said softly, "what do you think? Should we really leave those posts up? Elena’s still your mate. If she sees them while she’s away in Cloudville, she might get hurt."
For the briefest heartbeat, sothing flickered in his eyes. Doubt. mory. Bond. But then the bitterness took over again, flooding his scent with iron and resentnt.
"Hurt?" he repeated coldly. "She did this to herself. Let it stay. If she’s embarrassed, maybe it’ll make her co back faster."
His tone was detached. Empty. The warmth that used to echo in his voice was long gone, buried under ego and pride.
That was when I understood: I was nothing to him now.
Not his mate. Not his equal. Not even a mory worth defending.
They had the power to clear my na with a single command, a few words through the pack network. But instead, they let my na rot in the shadows, my spirit branded as a liar, so Camilla could shine brighter under their moon.
Was this what a family was supposed to be in the Hale Pack? Wolves who devour their own to feed their status?
I curled into the corner of the room, invisible and voiceless, my wolf pacing restlessly inside , the bond between Julian and now just an echo. They laughed, their scents mingling like a perfect pack, united in deception.
Maybe I was never ant to belong here.
Ti lost all aning. The hum of conversation faded. The warmth of the mansion’s lights dimd until only silence remained.
When I opened my eyes again, everything had changed.
The marble floor was gone. The laughter vanished.
I was standing in what looked like an underground den cold, damp, and heavy with ancient energy. The walls were carved from stone, etched with faint runes that pulsed faintly under the dim flicker of candlelight. The air was thick with the scent of earth and old magic.
And yet... my body cast no shadow.
The silence pressed down on , thick and suffocating. My wolf whimpered inside , uneasy. Sothing wasn’t right.
Ahead of stretched a long corridor lined with candles that swayed without wind. At the end of it stood a heavy stone door. Beyond it, I sensed sothing familiar. Sothing... wrong.
I followed the pull, heart pounding harder with every step until I reached the doorway. Inside, the air shifted cold, ancient, final.
On a stone altar lay a body. Pale. Still. Lifeless.
My stomach twisted as I stepped closer. The scent of death clung to the air like fog.
Then I saw her face.
Mine.
My breath hitched. The wolf inside howled, a sound of denial, pain, and rage. There I was motionless, draped in the sa torn dress I’d worn the night Julian betrayed .
The world seed to stop spinning.
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