Murderer

Freya's POV

A choked gasp escaped my lips as I squeezed my eyes open.

It felt as if I had been running from a demon in my sleep before I snapped back to consciousness.

Confusion coursed through me as I scanned the exquisite ceiling of the room, from where I was lying.

Realization hit me like a wicked stepmother and I became aware that I was neither in my bedchamber at the servants quarters, nor was the cold, hard surface on which my back was glued to my bed.

"Danger, Freya. There's danger." My wolf, Ana, chanted from within.

I immediately tilted my head sideways, and as soon as I did, I wish I had never done so.

The gory sight that met my eyes caused me to jump as a frightful mewl emitted from my mouth.

I was lying in a pool of blood I presumed wasn't mine, beside the dowager luna.

The mother of the Alpha king.

Luna Lorelei.

Her face was deathly pallor, her eyes were open but they weren't moving, and there was a wide gash on her chest where blood was still oozing out in copious amounts.

Harsh cognition briskly dawned on me, and I realized I had been lying in the luna's pool of blood.

And she was most likely dead.

As I made to stand up, the blood vessels at my temple began to painfully throb, causing my vision to spin.

Through clenched teeth, I struggled to sit up and that was when, I heard the loud clattering of an object beside me.

For the umpteenth time that day, I gasped as I saw the object.

It was a bloody knife.

I realized something for the second time that day, my hands were drenched in blood, same as my uniform and socks.

Although, my pumps were nowhere to be found.

"N-No. This can't be." I muttered to myself like a senile widow who couldn't accept the news of her husband's death.

Something wasn't right.

In the past ten years that I had been a maid at the palace, I had never had the opportunity to visit the main palace, talk less of entering the luna's chambers.

The most frustrating aspect of the whole thing was that I couldn't remember how I got into the chamber.

The only thing I remembered was that yesterday had been the dowager luna's sixtieth birthday, and I was in the kitchen doing dishes with some maids after the party ended.

Apart from that, I couldn't remember anything else.

And now, I was in her bedchamber with a bloody knife in my grasp, looking disheveled.

"Dowager Luna's bedchamber is on the ground floor and the window is open. We can run away from here before we get framed, Freya." Ana suggested.

"No. That'd make it seem as if I have something to hide. I didn't do it, so there's no reason why I should run away." I countered, and I felt her bristle within me.

"You are fucking stupid at times. That's your problem." She bit back, and as I made to snap at her, the door creaked open and an elderly woman, who I presumed was the dowager luna's lady in waiting, strolled in.

Good. I could explain myself to her. I reassured myself, ignoring my wolf's grumble.

I guessed my wolf was right and I was really stupid because I didn't expect her to scream in terror or for her eyes to widen into saucers as she saw me.

I was foolish enough to think she'd have helped me without being scared or shocked by the unpleasant sight.

"M-Ma'am, calm down. I didn't do it. Please believe me." I started like an imbecile.

The elder woman shook her head in disbelief, her eyes darting between the dowager luna's corpse and I.

"You bloody murderer. What have you done? How could you do this?" She spat, tears rolling down her cheeks as she cradled the dowager luna's body.

"Murderer? I-I didn't do it. I swear to the moon goddess. I work here in the palace as a maid. I also have no idea how I got here, but I-"

The rest of my words flew back into my mouth as I heard a knock on the door.

"You should have escaped when you could." Ana taunted, and I ignored her.

"Are you alright, mother? I heard a scream from my study. Can I come in?" The gravelly baritone of a man came from behind the door.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

My wolf was beside herself with happiness as she chanted the word like a mantra.

How perfect. My mate had all these years to show up, but he didn't, he just had to show up on the worst day of my life.

But wait, "mother?"

Did that mean my mate was the alpha king?

"He's here, Freya. Our alpha is here." Ana swirled in excitement within me.

"You are not answering me, ma. I'm coming in." The voice wafted into my ears again, and I exchanged startled glances with the elder woman.

I squeezed my eyes shut in surrender as the door creaked open, and the man, my mate, strolled in.

So, that was him. 

The alpha king who my best friend, Ivy, had an unhealthy obsession with.

I wondered how she'd take the news that he was my mate.

"Alpha." The elder woman bowed, and I found myself doing the same.

Without uttering a word, he gazed at his mother's corpse before diverting his focus on me.

I had come across various men from all walks of life in the one decade and nine years that I had been alive, but never had I seen a man as gorgeous as him.

Four years had passed since I started working as a palace maid, but I had never had the opportunity to see him because he never partook in festivals and rarely went out.

Alpha was a mysterious enigma to us all.

He had emerald eyes that looked stunning but empty and distant. His auburn hair was slicked back with a stray strand hanging beautifully on his forehead.

His ethereal face seemed as though it was carved by the moon goddess herself. His pointed nose sat perfectly on his face like a button, h-

"Mate?" His voice drew me out of my thoughts, back to the harshful reality of my miserable life.

His handsome facial features contorted into disgust as he glared from the dowager luna's body to me.

"My alpha." I whispered, forcing my aching body up from the floor.

As asinine as I was, my wolf still yearned for my alpha's mating mark.

She yearned to proudly wear the mark like it was a gift bequeathed to her by the moon goddess herself.

I craved to submit to him. It was a weird feeling and I didn't know what to do with myself.

"What happened to my mother, Arabella?" His thunderous voice reverberated across the room.

"Alpha, the evil maid wench killed her. I walked in on her removing the knife from her throat." Arabella lied, and I couldn't help the huff that left my throat.

"I-I ne-"

I was forced to swallow the rest of my words when I was forcefully yanked up from the floor and slammed against the cold hardness of the wall.

His emerald eyes had changed into an icy black void that seemed to suck my soul in, the more I stared at him.

"P-Please let me explain, Alpha. I-I"

"Keep your mouth shut, you darn murderer. To think the moon goddess decided to ridicule me by making a worthless omega wench like you my mate." He spat, curling his hands around my neck.

Instantly, I knew I was in deep trouble.

Ana whimpered softly inside me as he bore his fangs to me in a murderous way.

"Your name, what is it?" He growled.

Sniffing, I stuttered. "F-Freya Delaney."

"I, Luciano Marchetti, Alpha king of the Crescent Moon pack, reject you, Freya Delaney, as my mate and luna." His husky baritone scratched my ear, as he strangled me and glared downward at me.

"A-Alpha, i-it hurts." I whimpered, gazing up at him tearfully.

So tight that I was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"I-I accept your rejection, Alpha." I cried, and he finally let go as the excruciating ache I felt in my chest gradually fizzled out to a dull one.

I wasn't allowed to sympathize with myself for long before I was roughly hauled against the wall again by Luciano. 

"I will make you regret this, you vicious killer." He whispered in an eerily-calm tone.

I fluttered my eyes shut in silent resignation as I awaited my brutal fate.