Chapter-3*The Heartless Mates And Their Evil Mother*

Zelene Sallow:

I stood in the corner of the grand living room, my hands bound before me in obedience. It had only been a day since I found myself caught in a web of deceit and traps. After confessing to Ray that I felt a mate bond with his brothers, he stormed off our property and blocked my number, only to inform my parents that his mother had summoned me the next morning. And here I was, standing in the royal mansion, sleep-deprived and with bags under my eyes. I was starving, but no one seemed to care.

My father had dragged me here to present me before the Royal Mother.

"That's Alpha King Shane Cage!" Her voice hit me before her sight as she entered the room. I was shaken from my daze. The Royal Mother, dressed in her usual black attire, commanded attention. The crimson dots in her green eyes reminded me of her heroic role in saving the packs. Her pale skin appeared even paler against the black dress, and her jet-black hair had a single streak of white.

She must have noticed my gaze shifting towards the portraits adorning the wall. "Your Highne—" I began to bow to show respect, but a sudden hand gesture from her silenced my words.

"You know what you've done, right?" she asked, stopping a few feet away from me. Her sons began to enter one by one, and the sight of them, with Ray refusing to look at me, felt like the ultimate defeat.

"I haven't done anything. I was drugged," I repeated like a broken record, refusing to take the blame for someone else's malicious plans.

"You're not going to stand here and steal my sons' genuine excuses. They were drugged, and you did it to them," she dismissed any further explanation from me, declaring me a liar and a manipulator.

"I did—" I tried to speak, but Ray grunted, cutting me off.

"Don't talk back to her," he yelled, causing me to gulp and lower my head.

"Thankfully, my sons still love me. You see, they are young and impressionable. I'm sure you met them at the party, before you drugged them and forced yourself on them," she paused, sighing in disgust at my presence.

"If not, let me tell you a little bit about them. Shane is a playful young lad. He desires anything that catches his eye, whether it's a property or a she-wolf," she mentioned the tall Alpha blue eyes and roughly styled blond hair.

"Axel Leon is loving and compassionate. He doesn't believe in second chances. He makes up his mind, and then nothing can be done to change it. He enjoys being in the mountains, hiking, and finding solace. But he wants what's his to be his alone," she continued, and the hazel-eyed Alpha nodded in agreement when she spoke about him, his sharp jaw clenching when our eyes briefly met.

"My son Oscar Reese seeks attention for all the right reasons. Apart from being a street fighter, he craves adoration from his mother and his brothers," she forced a smile when she pointed at the black-haired, green-eyed Alpha, bearing visible injuries from his fights the previous night. I could tell the last night's fight must have been rooted in the deep anger he had for me.

"And finally, my loyal and hard-working son, Alpha King Ray Steele. I'm sure you knew him. You visited his office and were stunned by his dedication to his business, so you decided to lure him into a trap of love," she continued with her own wild theories about my love for her grey-eyed son with black hair, prompting me to intervene. "Every one of my sons is outstanding. How dare you even think of being with them? You are simply not worthy!"

This was her way of telling me how special her sons were and how I could never be with them.

"It's a mate bond! It's created by the Moon Goddess, not me," I interjected, watching her raise an eyebrow in response.

"Listen, Zelene. When the red riot happened between packers and fosters, and we lost many warriors and alphas to those rogue guzzlers, I took it upon myself to keep what was left of the werewolf packs safe," she dramatically sighed, reminiscing about the devastating war that resulted in a major shift in power.

The pack members are collectively called packers, and the white rogue wolves are called fosters, or guzzlers.

"These rogue wolves were vicious and extremely powerful. I faced numerous challenges. Many smaller packs lost their alphas and betas, and they didn't have anyone to guide them. I took them under my wing and brought them to our pack," she pointed to herself, her sons bowing their heads in respect. They all wore black clothes, as if preparing for a funeral. In their mother's presence, they seemed devoid of compassion for anything else, which worried me.

"At that time, I had just suffered the loss of my beloved mate, my Alpha King. But I kept going for the sake of the packers. That's why all the packs respect and love me so much. That's why I'm called the mother of werewolves, the Royal Mother. I hold second place after the Moon Goddess herself," she spoke with pride, indicating that she would not tolerate anyone crossing her.

"Because even after so much destruction, I stood firm. I searched far and wide, bringing in these four orphans who were born on the same day, year, and time, tied by elemental birthmarks on their necks. The Moon Goddess wanted me to be their mother, and I found them on my own. They had lost their parents and packs during the red riot. I molded them into who they are today. I created a brotherly bond between them, connecting them with love and trust as if they were truly blood-related. I made them soul brothers so they could grow up strong and take over the East, West, North, and South as Alpha Kings, reclaiming what was rightfully ours. But what did you do?" She hissed, her self-praise coming to an end.

"I saw my son look at his brothers with disdain after I had worked so hard to ensure they never turned their backs on each other. All because of you," she cupped my face suddenly, her nails digging into my cheeks before releasing her grip and regaining control.

"I am their mate," I managed to utter under the harsh gazes of so many Alphas and their controlling mother. The Royal Mother took a double take, making sure she heard me correctly. Her eyes then shifted to her sons, who, despite her claims, had not shared this important information with her.

"What is this girl saying?" Her anger must have been overwhelming, as she couldn't even bear to look at her sons' faces.

Ray closed his eyes, taking steady breaths.

"She is lying," Oscar, the one who aimed to please their mother, was the first to lie. I stared at him, unashamed of our intimate encounter, and from the way he glared back, I could tell he remembered it, too. There was no way an alpha king would forget something so pertinent when an Omega's wolf remembered it so well.

"I didn't feel it either," Shane Cage, the pack's notorious womanizer, muttered.

"Neither did I," joined Axel Leon, the toxic and unstable Alpha King.

"They are lying. I don't know why, but—" I began to panic, realizing that they were willing to hide such a significant truth to avoid appearing weak for having an Omega as a mate and, of course, not to upset their mother and the brother they were trying to reconcile with.

"Did you really think you would be special enough to have so many mates? Huh!" Lady Jewel finally yelled. She had once again cupped my face; this time her expression became cold. "In your eyes, I see only a restless soul, craving to be shared among different men, instigating their conflicts, all for the sake of gaining power for yourself.".

"But—" I stammered, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Hush! My son spent the whole night at my feet, trying to convince me to let him accept you. But now I understand why I wanted to choose their mates. You see, the Moon Goddess can make mistakes, but a mother never does. Hence, Ray—-do it," she pushed me back, and I landed on the cold white tiles, watching Ray obediently step forward and tower over me.

"I, Alpha Ray of the Venom Eclipse Pack, reject Zelene Sallow as my mate," he announced, stepping back as my body felt the pain of a million stabs.

"I'm not ly—" I began, my quivering lips making one last attempt to tell the truth, even though everything had already ended.

"Her fate is decided. Just like any other traitor, she will be sent to the deadliest of prisons, the Dark Hole," Lady Jewel shrugged and patted her son's back, attempting to comfort him in the calmest way possible before motioning to the others to open the door and summon the guards to take me away.

"She will rot there for the rest of her life, while my sons will continue to live their best lives with the mates I choose for them," she yelled from the other corner of the living room as she walked away.

"No! This is unfair. I wasn't the only one involved. If you want to continue being seen as a person of justice, hold your sons accountable for their actions too," I protested, but the guards paid no attention as they grabbed me and began dragging me out of the living room. "Wait, let me explain," I begged, forcing myself to remember the details of that night. "Please!" No matter how much I yelled for them to listen, they didn't care.

The brothers, who were equally responsible for that night's disaster, didn't even bat an eye. I was the only one being punished. As the guards dragged me out of the mansion, I found myself surrounded by angry pack members.

"Slut!" a woman yelled.

"Don't end up like her," another woman warned her daughter, pointing a finger in my direction.

I was petrified by the anger in their eyes.

"She was so lucky to be accepted by Alpha Ray, and then she decided to go out and have a gangbang with those guards," another pack member twisted the truth, making me realize how much they were distorting the events. Lady Jewel withheld her sons' names and instead threw the accusations at some random guards.

"That's not true! It was—" I made one final attempt to make the brothers pay for lying, but a woman from the crowd hit me in the eye with her shoe.

Dizziness overcame me, and darkness enveloped my vision.