004

"Thank the goddess for Ava," Alpha Damien sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. "I was foolishly blinded by your deceptive innocence, but she opened my eyes to the truth about you. You're nothing more than a gold-digging daughter of silver."

Stephanie’s head shut up at Alpha Damien’s word, she should have known that Ava was behind this.

Since her marriage to Alpha Damien, Ava has accused her of taking what belonged to her. But it was not Stephanie’s fault that the goddess chose her to be the mate to Alpha Damien and Luna of the Eclipse Pack. even though alpha Damien had prevented her from performing her duties as the Luna and instead appointed others to do tasks she could have easily done, she was still Luna although it was mostly by title.

Stephanie wondered now if Ava was behind her not getting her full rights as Luna, if she was capable of making alpha Damien accuse her of killing his father then she must have done worse in the past.

Stephanie could feel her fury building up, it was as if something cracked within her.

“And you believe your mistress above me your mate and wife.”

He slapped her again harder this time. “It seems you like been smacked,” he growled at her. Alpha Damien had been shocked by her response, she never responded to anything he did to her, and worse she rightly brought up his affair with Ava. He had to tame her before she turned wild.

“Keep Ava’s name out of your mouth.” he sneered pacing the room, he felt worked up suddenly.

“Am I wrong or is it assumptions on my part, if not why do you smack me for saying the truth for what it is? You have soiled our bed and made me the scapegoat.”

“You have not seen anything yet, a murderer pretending to be the victim. I will ensure you pay with your last breath for killing my father.” Alpha Damien's face remained hardened, his eyes filled with a cold resolve. He stormed off, leaving Stephanie alone with her broken heart,

*************

NEXT DAY

*************

Stephanie was summoned in the early hours of the morning the next day. Her eyes were puffy from crying but she did not make any attempt to mask it. She felt broken and targeted, there was no need to try to hide her pain and brokenness any longer. Alpha Damien had once again in the most brutal form shown her that she meant absolutely nothing to him.

“Take a seat Luna Stephanie.” one of the elders said. But she shook her head, preferring to stand. While other elders persuaded her to sit, alpha Damien got angry and scolded them all.

“Let her stand, and as I said earlier to you all, she is no longer my mate and Luna.”

Stephanie gasped in disbelief.

“Alpha Damien, you can’t just reject her after accusing her of killing your father without proper trial and investigations.” another elder said.

However, alpha Damien remained adamant and unyielding. “What other proof do I need to know that she murdered my father, she took his food to him and my father trusted her. Also, Ava….” he trailed off, not completing his words.

“Alpha, you need to think this through don't make irrational decisions.” Beta Chris pleaded through the mind link. “She might be innocent”

“Spare me the lecture.” Alpha Damien mind linked his beta and abruptly shut down the mind link to prevent further communication. He was not about to let anyone including his beta make him change his mind.

“What do you want to do?” The eldest among the elders asked, his eyes focused on Alpha Damien.

“I can't have her staying in the mansion with me after what she did, I want her out.” He raked his hands over his hair, as he fumed.

After some moments of silence the elders spoke “It's your decision to make at the end of the day, whatever you decide is binding” They all stood up and left the room without sparing Stephanie another glance.

Beta Chris left too, it was a private moment between the alpha and his luna.

Alpha Damien looked at Stephanie, her eyes shone red from unshed tears even though they did not spill, for a second he wondered if he was right if what Ava said was true, she was sometimes dubious, yet his father's image as he lay dead flashed over him and hardened his heart yet again.

“Please think this through, you can blame me for anything but not your father's death,” Stephanie said her eyes meeting his and staying

Alpha Damien did not bulge as he held her gaze “It was all a mistake, I shouldn't have married you Stephanie, today I set you free; I Alpha Damien of the Eclipse Pack reject you Stephanie as my mate and Luna.”

Stephanie froze for an instant but quickly regained her composure “If marrying me had been your mistake, mine was loving you, and deluding myself that you could one day love me too. I... accept your rejection."

Stephanie left the office and as soon as she closed the door behind her, she rested her body on the door and cried, her whole body feeling the pain of rejection. It almost wrecked her.

The body pain was less than the heartache she felt, she had only wanted to love and be loved by Alpha Damien but he never loved her and never would. Once she regained her strength, she left the office for the mansion, she knew that the word would spread soon that she was no longer the pack Luna, and the disrespect towards her would only increase.

Meanwhile, Alpha Damien had been shocked by Stephanie’s reaction to his rejection, he had thought she would grovel at his feet and beg him for mercy, maybe he would have reconsidered and given her lesser punishment but she had rejected him back. The abruptness of her rejection did not help as he felt a deep ache and detachment from her, as if a love so powerful had been cut off from him, draining him of his strength, if not for his position as alpha he would have squealed out in pain and loss of breath. When he felt better, his anger toward Stephanie only grew worse, and he made his way to the mansion to deliver more punishment to her.