Chapter 0002

~Daphne~

‘’Alpha!’’ My mother bowed her head as she greeted him. ‘’wha?...what brings you to my home?’’

Alpha Dane pushed me towards her. ‘’your whore of a daughter is pregnant, and she wouldn’t tell me who the child belonged to. If you care about your daughter, then tell her to confess to her sin right now!’’

My mother’s beautiful green eyes almost popped out of their sockets as she turned to look at me, and I could see the disappointment in her eyes. ‘’Alpha….D…ane. That is not possible. My daughter could never do that to you.’’ She trusted me—at least one person trusted me.

" So, you are trying to say that I am lying?" Alpha Dane asked and then chuckled. I should have known that having omegas like you, too, was a wrong choice. I should have gotten rid of you when that stupid mate of yours died, and this wouldn’t have happened."

‘’Alpha Dane,’’ my mother shouted and fell to her knees. ‘’please have mercy alpha,’’ she begged. ‘’I... I will try to find out why my daughter has…'’

‘’There is no chance for you to find out about anything!’’ Alpha Dane shouted at her. ‘’since you have nothing to say, I already ordered the pack guards to have you and your whore of your daughter arrested for breaking the law!’’ he stated. I never expected that he would be quick to make such an announcement.

‘’Alpha Dane!’’ my mother and I both shouted. ‘’have mercy!’’

‘’I didn’t cheat on you, Alpha; I could never do that.’’I just wished he could believe me for once and see me for what I was and not others' opinions about me. That was how mates were supposed to act with one another.

‘’shut up, you stupid mutt!’’ he kicked me in the stomach.

I fell to the ground and groaned in pain, clutching my stomach as the pain intensified. I bite my lower lips, drawing blood to suppress the pain that I felt at that moment. I wanted to tell him I had caught him and Alexa in his room, but I couldn’t. If I made any mistake, he was going to kill my mother, and I was never going to allow that to happen.

‘’You will be locked in the dungeon tonight and tomorrow. Once the evidence is out that you cheated, then I shall pass my judgment on you!’’ he declared and turned to leave, but I rushed towards him and grabbed his legs.

‘’Alpha Dane!’’ I shouted his name. ‘’I have remained faithful to you all these years. There is no way I can be...’’

‘’shut up, you whore!’’ he screamed at me and then kicked me away with the sole of his shoes. ‘’I am so glad that I finally have a way to get rid of someone like you!’’ he said and grinned wickedly as he turned to leave.

As he walked out of the house, the pack guards grabbed my mother and me pulled us out and paraded us in front of all the pack houses. Members of the packs came out of their homes, pointing fingers at us for being pitiful and making comments about us.

‘’They should have gotten rid of them a long time ago.’’

‘’Omegas should have never existed in the first place!’’

‘’I hope that they are banished.’’

‘’like mother like daughter!’’

Stones were thrown at us, and eggs hit our faces and hair. Today was supposed to be a happy day, but somehow, it had turned into the saddest day of my life. I had put my mother to shame, and now, everyone hated us more than they did.

I had been accused of infidelity.

The Alpha valued the infidelity rule so much that he broke it and made it seem as if I had committed the crime. I was a fool. I could have ignored it and escaped with my mother, but I had waited behind, and they took it as their perfect option to get rid of me. Now we were in a mess because of me.

" You will get punished tomorrow," the pack guard told us as we were pushed into the dungeon.

Once my mother and I were alone, I burst into tears. ‘’Mum, I didn’t do it! Believe me and I…’’

My mother also burst into tears and pulled me into her arms. ‘’ I believe you, my child,’’ she said, rubbing my hair. ‘’ I truly believe that you could never do this.’’ I didn't care about what others thought if she was the only one who trusted me.

After a few seconds, I lay on my mother’s leg as she rubbed my stomach. She sighed. ‘’I don’t know why it had gotten to this,’’ she lowered her head as if thinking. When she raised it again, tears flooded her eyes. ‘’If anything should happen to me, then you must survive on your own no matter what, Daphne. You have to stay alive!

‘’Mother,’’ I raised my head from her legs. ‘’Don’t talk about death like that in front of me!’’ I yelled at her. ‘’There is nothing that Is going to happen to you!’’

My mother pulled me into her arms. ‘’I am sorry, my child, for bringing you into this world where everyone is hating us. I am sorry.’’ She was crying, and it breaks my heart to see her like that. I never wanted to see my mother cry because of me.

‘’ I will ensure that nothing happens to us tomorrow, Mother. I promise you,’’ I assured her and rubbed her back gently. ‘’we won’t perish. This is not the end for us,’’ I believe. ‘’I will make sure that we are freed, Mother, and there will be no evidence because I had never cheated on the alpha, so there will be no evidence,’’ I promised her.

That night, as I slept on the cold ground with my mother, I thought about what could have happened, and if, indeed, they would find evidence, then it would mean that my mother and I could die, but I made up my mind that no matter what happened, I was going to save my mother.

Morning came quickly, and we were being dragged out again and taken to the center of the town, where everyone had gathered to watch us. Alpha Dane, Luna Muna, and Alexa were seated on different chairs at the center of the arena as we were dragged to kneel in front of them. Like the day before, things were being thrown at us, including eggs and stones, and it all hit us. One stone hit me on my forehead, causing me to bleed, and when I turned to see who had thrown the stone at me, it was a little child. It disgusts me to see that a little child was also against me. Even the child sees me as a traitor.

‘’We are gathered here to announce that the luna of this pack has committed a huge atrocity!’’ Alpha Dane’s voice boomed, and he sounded excited as if he was happy to make the speech.

Luna? That was the first time I had heard him address me, Luna. What a hypocrite, I thought.

"The Luna has committed infidelity and broken the law set by the Alpha King himself, and you all know what it means when they are found guilty?" Alpha Dane asked.

‘’They are sentenced to death!’’ Everyone present in the arena responded with that, and Alpha Dane nodded in his head.

‘’Please, everyone, I want you to Judge the Luna according to what you want her to get after you see the proof,’’ he announced and pointed behind us.

Proof? My eyes widened in shock as I turned around to see what everyone was looking at. How could there be proof when I never cheated on him? I was shocked when I saw Fari, the servant who worked with me in Alpha Dane’s home. That was not all. Even the pack doctor was present and had come as a witness.

‘’How...’’ I muttered under my breath.

‘’Alpha!’’ The pack doctor knelt beside me and bowed her head. ‘’I have come to bear witness to what the luna came to do in my office yesterday.’’

My heart raced at her announcement. I was curious to find out why she had come. Was she going to help me out or ruin me?

‘’The Luna had come for a test, which was discovered that she was pregnant, but she told me that she was going to abort the baby soon because it belonged to him,’’ she pointed to Fari. ‘’They had come together,’’ she added to her lies.

‘’what!’’ I shouted, unable to hear any more lies again. ‘’That is a big lie, and you know it, Doctor Mary. I didn’t…’’

" Shut up!" Alpha Dane yelled at me. ‘’How dare you interrupt a witness to cover up your lies!"

‘’Because I am telling the truth,’’ I retorted. ‘’I didn’t do any of what they are saying! I…’’

Luna Muna slammed her hands on the table before her, cutting me short. ‘’Are you trying to say that they are lying against you and you didn’t do any of what they have said?’’

‘’yes. I didn’t ...’’

‘’Did you or did you not bring Fari with you to the pack hospital?’’

‘’I…’’ I stuttered and scratched the back of my head. ‘’ I had brought him there, but it was not because of my pregnancy. He had accompanied me because he saw how I was struggling, and he believed that I was sick. ‘’I had brought him with me to the hospital,’’ I replied.

The gathered crowd let out screams as they started murmuring amongst themselves. They all continued to throw things at us.

‘’I didn’t bring Fari because of that. He had…’’

‘’Fari!’’ Alpha Dane bellowed. ‘’Tell us if what the pack doctor had said is the truth?’’

Fari lowered his head to the ground, and when he raised it, he looked at me. Please don’t tell any more lies. ‘’Yes, Alpha. I had taken Luna to the hospital yesterday because…’’ he paused as he looked at me, and I wished he could see my eyes pleading for him to tell the truth. He lowered his head again, and what came out were lies that changed everything. ‘’I had taken her there because she is pregnant with my child!’’

Everyone gasped again at the newest discovery and started pointing fingers at my mother and me.

‘’Are you sure, Fari?’’ Alpha Dane asked.

Fari nodded in response. ‘’Yes, Alpha. Luna Daphne and I have been going out for months now.’’

Lies. I was frozen, my eyes fixed on him as my world shattered. He was one of those that I had trusted with everything. I feel like I have been punched in the gut, my breath knocked out of me. My mind races with questions, but the only answer is Betrayal. How could they do this to me? How could they lie in front of everyone? Tears streamed down my face as I realized the truth. I was blind to their deception. I was foolish to trust them. The pain I felt was suffocating, a weight crushing me. I felt like I was drowning in the sea of Despair, unable to escape the agony of this moment. I couldn’t bear to see them laugh at me, point fingers, or make accusations at me like that, so I jumped to my feet and rushed towards Fari and grabbed the collar of his shirt. ‘’how could you lie like that against me!’’ I screamed at him. ‘’how!’’

Fari held my hands. ‘’Stop trying to deny me, Luna. You love me as much as I love you, and…’’

" Lies!" I shouted at him. ‘’Tell everyone the truth! How could you have done this? You too, Doctor Mary!"

The pack doctor looked away from me while Fari tried to hug me until the Alpha came towards us and pulled us apart. He kicked Fari in the stomach and then grabbed me by the hair, pulling me to the center of the arena.

‘’The Luna is a whore, and since she had committed a huge offense, what do you think should be her punishment?’’ he asked.

‘’kill her!’’ They are chanted.

I clenched my fists tightly as I raised my head to face Alpha Dane. ‘’how could you do this to me!’’ I screamed. ‘’After all these years. After I caught you and Alexa committing the same infidelity. You decided to...’’

He didn’t wait for me to finish as he slapped me in the face, silencing me. He didn’t want them to discover what he had done, yet he treated me like that. I was a fool who couldn’t see the traps set for me, and now, I have pulled my innocent mother into it.

‘’The Luna had committed infidelity, and according to the law of the werewolves, she and her mother are sentenced to death by hunt or survive!’’ Alpha Dane announced and let go of my hair, and then he pulled me up, pushing me towards the crowd. ‘’she has to be shamed before her death!’’

Before I could figure out what was happening, the crowd pounced on me, slapping, kicking, and throwing things at me. I couldn’t see anything momentarily as the hitting came from all sides until Alpha Dane stopped them.

" Now that she is no longer the Luna, I will break our bond and announce the new Luna. Alpha Dane king, I reject you, Daphne Edwards, as my mate!"

I let out a scream when I felt the bond break. It felt like hell, and my heart was racing fast. I had been rejected. My wolf, who had not spoken to me in a long time, cried out. I never imagined that the day that I had announced my pregnancy to everyone would be the day that I would have to die. Just how? Why did I only have to suffer when Dane had also committed infidelity?

" Why!" I screamed. " Why am I the only one suffering when you also... ‘’

Dane leaned in closer to where my ears were and muttered, ’’ If I were you, I would start running now. Who knows if you might survive the hunt-or-die method?’’ he chuckled and then announced. ‘’Guards! Release the rogues!’’ he grinned wickedly at me as if saying this was the end. ‘’Archers! Get in position and let the hunt begin!’’ he laughed and walked back to his seat, crossing his legs and watching like the rest of the gathered pack members.

The gate leading to the dungeon creaked open, and loud footsteps sounded as the archers positioned themselves in every area of the town. Three werewolves with blood-red eyes advanced toward my mother and me. I could feel their hunger, their desire to tear us apart, and it was like a cold hand gripping my heart. They growled at us, and when I tried to stand up, I couldn’t. Then one of the werewolves jumped at me, and I closed my eyes, but someone grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

‘’Run, Daphne!’’ it was my mother.