1

My world came crashing down around me as I stood in the dark hallways, frozen as my worst nightmare came to pass.

"What if your Luna sees us?" Ivy's voice was barely audible, laced with desire.

My heart raced as I pressed my ear against the door of my Alpha's chambers. The sound of their heavy breathing and whispered words sent a chill down my spine.

"She wouldn't," Tyris replied confidently. "Besides, we sleep in separate rooms now, and she wouldn't dare come unannounced." His words dripped with disdain, and I felt a stinging sensation in my chest.

The thought of him with another woman, in our pack house, on our matrimonial bed, devastated me.

My mind raced with images of their betrayal, and my body trembled with anger and hurt. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, unable to catch my breath.

"But what if she does?" Ivy asked, her voice laced with concern, not wanting to let go of the question until she got a satisfying response.

Tyris's response was venomous. "I don't love her anymore. She can go to hell. The marriage was forced on me, anyway." His words cut deep, and I felt like I was drowning in a sea of pain. My hand flew up to grip my chest. “I told my late parents I didn't want to marry her, but they insisted, saying we were betrothed as kids. Bullshit.”

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He never loved me? Was I just a plaything to him? The memories of our time together, the laughter, the adventures, the intimate moments, all seemed like a lie. Yet, he had made love to me just last night, with such passion and tenderness, making me believe I was his forever.

Ivy's next words were like a knife twisting in my heart. "You have permission to make sweet love to me." The sounds that followed were unbearable - their grunts, moans, and whispers of pleasure. I felt like I was dying inside, my heart shattered into a million pieces.

Anger seared through my veins and my jaw clenched as I pushed the door and jumped into the room to behold a breathtaking sight.

“Tyris!” I exclaimed, tears racing down my cheeks as I saw him entangled under the sheets with Ivy under him, her legs propped on his shoulders. “What the hell are you doing?”

They both snapped their heads in my direction. His brows were drawn together into a frown of disapproval, and my heart constricted at his cold and wicked eyes.

“Get out!” He thundered, his face reddening, veins bulging like snakes under his skin, and sweat glistening on his forehead.

My heart sank, nose-diving into a dark abyss of devastation. I staggered back, feeling woozy in my head.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, my voice trembling like a leaf, barely audible over the storm that was raging in my chest. “I thought you loved me. We were just together yesterday, and—”

But he cut me off, his voice a dagger to my soul. “Get out of my room or I'll have the guards drag you out like the trash you are!” Tyris roared, his eyes cold, empty, and devoid of any love or compassion.

I flinched, my heart shattering into a million pieces, like a mirror dropped on the floor. The shards of my heart pierced my very being, leaving me bleeding and gasping for air.

“Leave,” Ivy stated, smirking at me like she had just done something worth applauding for.

With a chest heaving, I fled the room, my slippers slapping the ground in a rhythmic echo of the pain I felt within. The sound reverberated through the halls, a haunting reminder of my heartache. On reaching my room, I collapsed onto my bed, tears streaming down my face like a river of sorrow, my stomach twisted in knots of anguish.

“Was this why he wanted us to have separate rooms?” I asked my wolf, but when I didn't get any response, I sobbed even harder.

I usually forgot my wolf was no longer with me. I had given it up as a sacrifice on behalf of that bastard, who constantly put my heart in a cage of thorns. The memory of my wolf's absence added another layer of pain to my already battered heart. I wept, my body shaking with sobs, my mind reeling with the realization that I was trapped in a loveless marriage, one filled with deceit and constant betrayals.

My heart writhed in pain. I knew there was something with Ivy from the very first day she walked into our pack, claiming to be the Alpha of her pack and wanting to form an alliance with my husband.

All our pack members were surprised to have seen a female Alpha, some disliked her, occasionally whispering that a she-wolf was tied to her duties of pleasing her alpha in bed and carrying his pups. While some loved her, they wanted sophisticated women like her, especially my husband. He was marveled by the sight of her.

I sniffed, sitting up and resting my back on the headboard of my bed. I had tried to be like Ivy. I had tried to dress and speak with confidence like her to please my husband, but I failed woefully and often got yelled at by him.

“I should take a shower,” I said to myself, hoping it would ease my nerves.

*****

I had put myself in another compromising situation. It had been two weeks after I caught Tyris and Ivy together making love.

I had tried to get his attention, and even when I tried to act and talk like her, he shoved me aside like I was trash. I noticed how sneaky she had been for a while–creeping in and out of the pack house. I tried to discuss this with Tyris, but he paid deaf ears to me.

“My lady,” the voice of an unfamiliar man from meters away brought me back to reality.

I pressed my back against the tree with my heart in my throat as I hid from Ivy. Sweat slid down my spine, causing my floral dress to stick to my back.

My eyes caught sight of Ivy sneaking out of the palace, and curious to know where she was heading to, I followed suit.

My throat ran dry and I squeezed my eyes shut, instantly regretting putting myself in such a dangerous state.

“Hope no one saw you,” Ivy's rough voice caused the hairs on my nape to rise as she spoke to the man I had seen creeping out of one of the caves.

My eyes popped open when a gruff voice responded, saying, “No one saw me.”

Slightly, I poked out my head from behind the tree and peeked at them from over my thick lashes.

“Did you bring it?” Ivy inquired, dressed in a black cloak with its oversized Cape hanging over her head.

“Yes, my lady,” said the man covered in a black parka and faded jeans.

"Who is this man Ivy is sneaking out to meet?" I asked myself underneath my breath.

My mind raced with possibilities. Was he a lover, a spy, or even something more sinister? I watched with held breath as they conversed in hushed tones, their body language spoke volumes, and I squinted my eyes, trying to read their lips.

Ivy's eyes gleamed with excitement, her lips curled in a menacing smile as her canines glinted under the moonlight. The man's expression was more mellowed, but his eyes gleamed with a knowing intensity.

My thoughts were interrupted when the man reached into his bag and pulled out a syringe filled with a deep purple liquid. My heart skipped a beat as Ivy's eyes lit up with glee.

"What could that be?" I wondered, my mind racing with worst-case scenarios.

"Yes!" Ivy cackled, snatching the syringe from the man's hand.

She examined it with an unsettling enthusiasm, her eyes gleaming with a malevolent intensity. "I can't wait to see Tyris' face when I inject him with this wolfsbane."

My heart dropped like a stone, all the air leaving my lungs. Wolfsbane? The very word sent shivers down my spine. I knew that Ivy and her pack had been acting strange, but I had no idea they were capable of something so sinister. My mind raced back to all the times Ivy had been around my husband, Tyris. Had she been plotting something all along?