Chapter 2

KARA

“Kieran….. how could you do this to me?” I murmured to myself as I stood in the midst of the pack members. My heart pounded in my chest. Unfit to be Luna. Unfit to lead, The words crushed me. He had turned the pack against me, built this lie.

The murmurs grew louder, then suddenly a loud voice spoke from the crowd. “Are we to believe this,Alpha?” One of the pack members asked, his voice filled with disbelief. “Is Luna really capable of this?”

Kieran didn't hesitate, his voice cold and cutting. “She is. She has betrayed me. I knew of her affair, and I let it go on for too long, but tonight it ends she can't be the Luna anymore”

I felt my knees buckle, and I crumpled to the ground. The states, the whispers, the looks all cut through me like a million daggers. But nothing hurt more than seeing the satisfaction in Kieran's eyes as he spoke.

Before I could gather my thoughts, the air pierced by a sudden howl. The sound was raw and guttural, filled with dangerous approaching. I stood shakily, trying to regain my composure, but it was too late. The door to the hall opened with a violent crash, and the rogues poured in.

Chaos erupted instantly.

The pack members screamed, some running for the exit, others shifting into their wolf forms in a desperate attempt to protect the hall. But Kieran, my Alpha, didn't even flinch. His eyes flicked to Izzy, standing near the front of the room, and he immediately moved to shield her. I watched as he left me, his Luna, to fend for myself while he protected the woman who had been sleeping in his bed. 

I barely registered the growls and the fighting around me. The rogues were everywhere, savage and hungry, tearing through the pack with brutal force. Every instinct screamed at me to shift, to fight back. But the energy in my body felt drained. I had nothing left but pain. 

As the rogues advanced again, I turned to run but Kieran, my Alpha, the man I had trusted above all, was too busy shielding Izzy, leaving me to fight for my life.

How could he betray me like this? How could he abandon me when I needed him the most?

Back at the mansion, the chaos had subsided. The pack members who hadn’t been killed or injured were gathering themselves, their blood staining the floors, their faces filled with fear. Izzy stood at Kieran’s side, her fingers clutching his arm, her expression a mix of concern and satisfaction. She had succeeded in planting doubt in the pack’s mind about Kara, and now, it seemed, the throne was within her reach.

"I don’t understand," Izzy whispered, looking around the room. "Where is Kara? She should be here. Where did she go? Or maybe she was the mastermind behind the attack?."

Kieran’s eyes flicked toward her, cold and distant. His anger was still simmering beneath the surface, but he kept it controlled, focusing on the task at hand. "I don't know," he muttered. "She’s probably hiding, trying to run. Let her. The traitor doesn’t deserve our help."

Izzy’s brow furrowed. "But what if she’s hurt? Or worse?"

"Then it’s her fault," Kieran said, his voice hard. "She made her choice. She betrayed me. She betrayed all of us."

The icy bitterness in his words hit Izzy like a slap, but she didn't show it. Instead, she glanced around the room, trying to mask her true emotions with concern. "But what if the rogues took her? What if they…?" She didn’t finish the sentence, but the implication was clear. Her voice was a soft, almost mocking tone, as if she was simply stating a fact. "It would be better that way, wouldn’t it?"

Kieran’s jaw clenched at the suggestion, but his expression hardened further. "We’ll see. I’ll have my guards find her. If she’s still alive, I’ll deal with her. If not, then the rogues will have done me a favor."

The guards had already begun scouring the mansion, but there was no sign of Kara. They checked every room, every closet, every corner. There was no trace of her.

One of the guards returned, breathless, his face pale with worry. "Alpha, Luna is not in the mansion. We’ve searched everywhere. She’s gone."

Kieran stared at him for a long moment, his expression unreadable. "What do you mean, gone?"

"We couldn’t find her, Alpha. There’s no sign of her. We couldn't even smell her blood, no trail, nothing. She’s vanished."

Kieran’s eyes narrowed. Vanished. He should have felt something—relief, perhaps, but all he felt was frustration and the faintest hint of regret. But only a faint one. He couldn’t afford to care about her anymore. Not after what she’d done. He shoved the feeling aside, pushing it down where it couldn’t reach him.

Izzy stepped closer, her voice soft and insidious. "Maybe the rogues took her," she said, feigning concern. "You know, it wouldn’t be the first time. She’s weak. They probably saw an opportunity."

Kieran’s eyes flicked to Izzy, and for a moment, there was something in his gaze that made her hesitate. But then he nodded, as though he were acknowledging her as more than just a potential ally. He was seeing the truth in her words. "Then we’ll leave her to them. If the rogues want her, let them have her. She’s no longer my problem."

Izzy smiled, the corners of her lips curving in a way that made her look more like a predator than a concerned woman. "Exactly. She was a liability anyway."

Kieran turned his back on the room and walked toward the door. "Send a team to patrol the perimeter. I don’t want any surprises."

—-

After everything, I could hear that there was silence everywhere and I ran into the woods, as I stopped, I fell to the ground and then I saw blood dripping down my white dress.

My baby, I lost it.