Chapter 4: Beta Jay

Sadie’s POV

“NO!” I cried out. Luna Emma clutched the vile of wolfsbane tightly in her hand.

“Oh yes,” she said joyfully. “Now come here, you little bitch. Take your medicine like a good girl.”

I stumbled backwards. I looked at Karter.

“Please,” I begged. “Don’t let them do this to me.”

For a brief moment, I thought I saw a flash of sympathy. But then he averted his eyes.

“Don’t make this difficult,” he said dryly.

Luna Emma and Delphine charged at me.

“Open your fucking mouth,” Luna Emma snapped. They forced my mouth open. Then Luna Emma shoved the vile between my lips.

The wolfbane burned my throat as it slid down. They released me and laughed. I coughed, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

The effect was instant. A weakness spread through my muscles. My body felt heavy, fatigued. The potion pulsed through me.

“There now,” Delphine said smugly. “You can’t compete with me in the Luna Selection.”

I felt pins and needles in my fingertips. I needed to lie down. I felt like I’d just run a marathon. Every muscle in my body ached.

“If you want to be Prince Griffin’s Luna so badly,” I said weakly, “then why are you with Karter?”

Delphine leaned in and whispered, so that only she and I could hear.

“To make. You. Suffer.”

My stomach turned.

“Who knows?” she continued, her breath hot on my ear. “Maybe I’ll give him back to you. Once I become the Prince’s Luna. How about that? You can have my pathetic, sloppy seconds.”

She stood back and smiled slyly.

Her words were so cruel. This girl standing in front of me was nothing like the sister I’d grown up with. I was shocked. I didn’t even respond. What was the point?

Delphine laughed. Then she crossed the room and hooked her arm in Karter’s. But before Delphine left, she glanced over her shoulder and tossed me one last triumphant smile.

That left only Luna Emma and I in the room. I searched her face for any sign of the loving, kind step-mother I once knew.

But her face was cold.

“I’m locking you in here,” she said, her voice dry. “Until I figure out what to do with you.”

The door shut and the lock clicked.

I stumbled over to the bed. I was weak and dizzy, both from the rejection and from the wolfsbane. 

I curled myself into a fetal position. I was drenched in sweat and yet I was freezing. I shook so badly my teeth chattered. My body ached.

I tried to sleep but the pain kept me awake.

The sun set outside the window. The minutes crept by. The moon rose. The stars came out. I’d never felt so miserable in all my life. I tossed and turned. I prayed to the Moon Goddess to let me sleep. But instead, I laid awake all night, alone, hurting, in pain.

Eventually, dawn broke.      

When the door creaked open a few hours later, I assumed it was a maid bringing me food. So I was surprised to see my father’s Beta.

“Beta Jay?” I asked. Hope rose within me. Beta Jay had been my father’s trusted friend. He was loyal and strong. Surely he’d come to rescue me.

He walked straight across the room and sat on the edge of my bed.

“You look like hell,” he said.

“I feel even worse,” I replied, offering him a half-smile.  

But instead of helping me off the bed to rescue me, he fixed me with a hard look.

“I need you to tell everything you know about Madeline,” he said.

“Madeline?” I asked, confused. Madeline was my mother, Luna of Night Shadow Pack before she died and Emma took over.

“What pack did she come from?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I told him.

“Nonsense.” He narrowed his eyes. “Answer my questions truthfully. Why did she come here?”

His voice was firm. He fired off several questions about my mom. But I cut him off.

“She died when I was very young. I don’t have very many memories of her,” I explained. “And my father, well, he didn’t talk about her very much. I would answer your questions if I could, but I’m afraid I simply don’t know.”

He pressed his lips together and locked his eyes on mine.

“You’re lying,” he said.

“I’m not,” I gasped. “Honestly, I don’t know…”

“What are you hiding?” He had a dangerous look in his eyes. I suddenly realized that he wasn’t here to save me after all.

He was here to interrogate me about my mother.

But why?

“You better start talking,” he threatened. “Or I’ll make you talk.”

I recoiled. Beta Jay had never spoken to me like this. He was scaring me.

“I can’t answer your questions,” I told him again.

He lunged at me then, grabbing my jaw. He squeezed it hard. I looked at him with wide eyes.

“Ow. Stop. You’re hurting me,” I pleaded, through my clenched teeth.

“You think that hurts?” There was violence in his tone. “If you don’t answer my questions, I’ll show you what real pain is.”

My heart pounded against my ribs. He was going to hurt me. I struggled to escape his grip.

“Help!” I cried out, panicked.

“Be quiet,” he hissed at me. But I cried out again. I had no idea what Beta Jay was going to do to me, but I was terrified.

My screams must have attracted the attention of a few nearby maids. They burst into the room.

“What’s going on here?” one of them asked. Beta Jay was still holding my face.

I opened my mouth to holler for help, but Beta Jay slapped me hard.

“You shameless bitch,” he snapped. “Stop trying to seduce me.”

He climbed off of me and made a show of straightening his clothes.        

“I came in here to help her,” he told the maids. “And she was all over me. She’s a whore!” He glared at me.

“What?” I asked. “No, that’s not what happened,” I said to the maids. They stood, frozen in spot, unsure of what to do.

“I’ll get Luna,” one of them whispered, scurrying away.

“Why are you doing this?” I pleaded with Beta Jay.

“Don’t talk to me, you disgusting harlot.” He turned away from me.

Luna Emma and Delphine rushed in.

“She tried to Seduce me,” Beta Jay, pointing at me. “I’m disgusted.”

“It’s not true,” I tried to defend myself. I blinked back tears.

This was all too much. Why had everyone turned on me? What had I done to deserve this?

“Of course it’s true,” Luna Emma said. “Beta Jay wouldn’t lie. He’s an honest man. I tried to give you a chance. But you leave me with no choice, Sadie,” Luna Emma said sternly. “As Luna, I publicly denounce you, Sadie Ambrose, as a harlot. You are hereby disqualified from the Lycan Prince’s Luna selection.”

I couldn’t hold back the tears. They spilled from my eyes. I clutched my chest. I felt like her words had knocked the wind right out of me.

But the worst was yet to come.

“I am stripping you of your royal title and demoting you to a maid.”

And just like that – poof - everything I’d ever loved…

was gone.