Chapter 3: The Tables Turn

Sadie’s POV

As soon as the words left his mouth, I was hit with a crippling pain. It felt like my heart was split right in half.

I let out a heart-wrenching scream and then I crumpled to the floor. I curled myself up into a ball while the pain of the mate-bond breaking ripped through me.

Delphine and Karter watching me writhe on the floor, smug smiles plastered on their faces. I became breathless, my heart hammering in my chest. I couldn’t believe it was over.

Karter was no longer my mate.

“What’s all this noise?” Luna Emma emerged at the door, a frown on her face.

I looked up at her, grateful to see her. I pleaded at her with my eyes. I knew she would be sympathetic. She’d always been so kind to me. Even though she was my step-mother, she’d always treated me as an equal daughter. She never slighted me in favor of her biological daughter, Delphine.

She would help me. I knew she would. She glanced down at me, her hands on her hips. I struggled to pull myself up to my feet, eager for Luna Emma’s warm embrace to help ease my pain.

“He broke our matebond,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I stumbled towards her. “I found Karter and Delphine together. They’ve betrayed me.”

I desperately tried to tell Luna Emma everything. She held up her hand, stopping me in place. I continued to tell her what had transpired here. But as I spoke, I saw a strange expression cross her face. It was an expression I’d never seen from her before.

She glared at me with cold, indifferent eyes.

“So what?” she scoffed. “Are you coming to me looking for sympathy? Is that it? You think you’re still a protected little princess?”

What? I blinked in disbelief. I opened my mouth but no words came out. She was being so…cruel. But why? What was happening? My mind spun.

“I don’t understand,” I said softly.

“Come on,” Luna Emma chuckled slyly, “What is there to understand? Your father is dead. He can’t protect you anymore.”

I stared at her. Karter and Delphine chuckled along. Their once familiar faces seemed unrecognizable now. Their expressions were hard and ugly. Evil even!

Protect me? Protect me from what? From them? But these were the people who had cared for me. I’d grown up, right here, with all of them. Karter was my mate, my love. Delphine was my trusted sister. And Luna Emma was my caregiver!

But they were being so cruel. All of them! Delphine had betrayed me. Karter had rejected our matebond. And Luna Emma glared at me with contempt in her eyes.

My once beautiful life was cracking apart at the seams. I felt like it was crumbling right in front of me. Had it all been a lie? My entire life? I grappled to understand.

“She slapped me!” Delphine said, rushing forward. She pointed at me as I stood on shaky legs.

“What?” Luna Emma said, her eyes now dangerous. “How dare you, you little bitch!” Before I could process what was happening, she lunged at me.

Whack.

She hit me hard across the face. My eyes grew wide. I cradled my cheek with my hand.

“You’re as worthless as your wretched mother!” Luna Emma cackled. Then she slapped me again across the other cheek.

Both my cheeks stung and my eyes brimmed with tears.

My mother? A worthless wretch?

How dare she? I was shocked to hear Luna Emma curse my mother like that. My mother had died when I was very young but I had a few vague memories of her. She was kind and gentle, with loving eyes and a warm touch.

My mother didn’t deserve this slander.

“Do not insult my mother,” I snapped back at Luna Emma. My pain and heartbreak gave way to anger. These were lies! All of them. My mother was a good, loyal Luna. She wasn’t anything like the picture Luna Emma was painting of her!

“Your mother was a treacherous woman,” Luna Emma seethed. “She used her ‘so-called noble blood’,” she used air quotes, her voice sarcastic, “to marry your father. Thankfully, she died though. The only real tragedy is that you didn’t die with her!”

“I…I…” I was shaking with rage, stunned by her true, wicked nature.

She was cursing me, too. Spitting out vile words about both me and my mother.

“I…I,” she taunted. Then she threw her head back and laughed. “What’s the matter, Sadie? Can’t handle the truth? You’re the daughter of a whore! And now that the King is dead, we can finally get rid of you once and for all. Your precious daddy can’t protect you anymore.”

I was so angry now, my hands were shaking.

“Call the pack doctor,” Luna Emma instructed Delphine. “Sadie is clearly mentally unstable. She needs some medicine.”

Delphine smiled sardonically, then she rushed out of the room.

“No,” I said, shaking my head and backing away. I wasn’t unstable. There was no need for the pack doctor. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening.

“Shut up and stay right there,” Luna Emma ordered, her voice firm.

I didn’t know what to do. Luna Emma was blocking the door and Karter would stop me if I tried to bolt. I wanted to get out of there but I couldn’t.

Moments later, the pack doctor rushed in, Delphine by his side. Luna Emma’s demeanor shifted. She smiled sweetly at the doctor.

“Poor thing,” she cooed. “I guess her father’s death was just too much for her. She’s lost her mind.”

The doctor glanced at me then back at Luna Emma.

“Look at her,” Luna Emma said. “She’s a complete mess. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“No,” I shook my head. Surely the pack doctor would see that Luna Emma was lying. I didn’t need medicine. I just needed to get out of this room. I needed time to sort out my thoughts and emotions.

But the doctor’s eyes narrowed. “Yes,” he nodded, slowly. “It appears she has. She’s distressed. Unhinged. She needs medicine to calm her nerves.”

He handed Luna Emma a vile.

I gazed at the purple potion, fear prickling through me.

I recognized it immediately. It wasn’t medicine, I realized, in horror.  

It was wolfsbane.