"You want to know the truth?"

I wiped the blood from my cheek, my voice chillingly calm.

"The truth?" Riven scoffed. "What lies are you going to spin now?"

"That man with the golden hair," I pointed at Damien in the vision. "He's my brother..."

"Making up more stories?" Jenna cut me off, her eyes shining with triumph. "Is that what you call them all? Every Alpha you crawl into bed with is your 'brother'?"

The pack burst into jeering laughter.

I closed my eyes. The memory hit me like a physical blow. My father, the Alpha King, on his throne. His voice like ice. "You will be a political pawn."

"I won't be a political pawn!" I had shouted. "I'll prove my own worth!"

"Enough! You are a princess. You don't have a choice!"

That night, I ran away from the capital.

I came to this barren wasteland and hid my identity.

I just wanted to prove I could build something on my own, without the shadow of my royal blood.

Then I met Riven, a desperate, failing Alpha.

When I felt the fated bond snap into place between us, I chose him. I chose to trust the Moon Goddess.

For five years, I used all my knowledge, my resources, and my connections.

Every strategy, every battle, every negotiation—I poured my soul into them.

I thought our bond meant something. I thought he would cherish me.

I was going to give him the world. An introduction to my father. A chance at the throne itself.

And now, the future I had planned for us, the ultimate surprise... he had just burned it all to the ground.

"That man is my brother!" I opened my eyes and screamed, my voice raw. "Crown Prince Damien! "

"Hahaha!" Jenna laughed so hard she cried. "The Crown Prince? Are you saying you're a princess?"

"If you're going to dream, at least make it believable!" Mark mocked.

The pack’s laughter was a tidal wave. It crashed over me, pulling me under. Drowning me.

Riven walked up to me.

For a flicker of a second, I saw something in his eyes beyond the coldness—a flash of insecurity, of resentment.

He hated that I was the reason for his success.

He hated the way other Alphas looked at him, with a respect he knew was meant for me.

He needed to prove, not just to the world but to himself, that this glory was his and his alone.

That flicker vanished, replaced by a sneer as he looked down his nose at me.

“Renata, I thought you were just vain. I didn’t realize you were insane, too.”

He turned and took Jenna’s hand, his grip almost possessive, as if she were a prize he had truly won on his own.

“Tonight, I have another announcement,” his voice boomed across the camp. “Jenna will be my Luna!”

They raised their wrists. Freshly inked Blackmoon tattoos marred their skin—the black crescents that marked them as intended mates.

"Congratulations, Alpha!"

"Congratulations to our future Luna!"

The pack surged forward, offering their blessings.

Jenna leaned against Riven, smirking at me.

"See?" she whispered, her voice a venomous caress in my ear. "This is where a true Luna stands. You? You were just a means to an end. A tool to be discarded."

Riven wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"From now on, the Blackmoon Pack has only one Luna. And it's Jenna."

I watched it all, and my heart died.

Five years of devotion. Five years of fighting side-by-side. Five years of weathering every storm.

In his eyes, I was just a pawn to be discarded.

I stumbled back, away from the roaring bonfire and the cheerful crowd.

The wind howled across the snow, the biting cold a brutal slap of reality.

Oh, Riven. Was it power you wanted? Status? Glory?

I gave you all of it.

But you were greedy. You had to trample my dignity and steal everything from me.

I looked back at the couple embracing in the firelight.

If you can be this heartless, then don't blame me for what comes next.

I dragged you from the mud and lifted you to the heavens.

Now, I will personally drag you down to hell. And I will bury you myself.

I turned to leave the sickening celebration.

"Stop!" Mark's voice shouted from behind me.

I didn't turn around.

"I said, stop!" He strode forward to block my path. "You think you can just walk away?"

"Move," I said coldly.

"Move?" Mark snarled. "You know too much. You really think we're just going to let you walk away?"

Several large wolves closed in, surrounding me.

"What are you doing?"

"Make a blood oath!" Mark pulled a silver dagger from his belt. "Swear you'll never reveal any of the Blackmoon Pack's strategies or secrets!"

The silver blade gleamed.

"In your dreams," I said, taking a step back.

"Then don't blame us for being rough!" Mark lunged at me.

I dodged, but another wolf grabbed my arm.

"Let her go!"

Everyone froze.

Not because someone was defending me. But because the person who spoke was Riven.

He strode over, his eyes burning with fury.

But the fury wasn't for Mark. It was for me.

"What are you all doing?" Jenna followed him. "Just get rid of her already."

"Wait," Jenna said. Her eyes locked on the faint glow at my chest. "What is that?"

I looked down. A delicate crystal pendant was glowing faintly.

"A communication crystal?" Mark narrowed his eyes. "You've been wearing this the whole time?"

"So what if I have?"

"What's on it?" Jenna shrieked. "Filthy little secrets with all your other Alphas? You're disgusting!"

"Get it!" Riven ordered.

Mark reached for it, but I clutched the crystal to my chest.

"It's private!"

In the struggle, the crystal was ripped from my neck.

Riven took it and tried to activate it.

Nothing happened.

"What's wrong with it?" he scowled.

"It's sealed," I said, my voice ice. "It requires a key. A memory only we should share."

"What memory?"

"You've forgotten?" A hollow, cruel laugh escaped my lips. "The first words you ever spoke to me. The moment our bond snapped into place."

Riven froze.

He struggled to remember, sweat beading on his forehead.

The pack members started whispering.

"What's wrong with the Alpha?"

"He can't remember that?"

"Did he really forget?"

Riven's face flushed a deep, ugly red. He couldn't remember. In front of his entire pack, he couldn't remember his first meeting with his fated mate.

"I remember!" he suddenly shouted. "You said—no, I said—"

The crystal remained dark.

"Wrong," I said flatly.

The whispers grew louder.

"He doesn't even know his own mate?"

"Are they really fated?"

"The Alpha wouldn't..."

"Enough!" Riven roared, snatching the crystal.

He forced his own energy into it.

The crystal finally lit up, projecting a memory.

But it wasn't a vision of me with another Alpha.

It was a vision of me fighting alongside Damien.

The golden-haired Prince wielded the Royal Sword while I unleashed powerful psychic energy beside him.

We moved in perfect sync, like partners who had faced death together countless times.

"What is this?" Riven's eyes went wide.

"That was two years ago," I said, my voice dangerously calm. "My brother and I were hunting rogues."

"Brother? That man really is—"

"The Crown Prince Damien," I snatched the crystal back. "And I really am a princess."

The color drained from Riven's face.

If I was truly a princess, then everything he had just done...

"No!" he suddenly exploded with rage. "Impossible! You're lying!"

He grabbed the crystal again.

"If you were a princess, why would you come here? Why would you suffer through all this?"

"Because I loved you!" The words finally tore out of me. "I wanted to prove myself! I wanted to build something with you!"

Riven froze.

But a second later, an even more insane fury lit his eyes.

"Lies! It's all lies!"

With a guttural roar, Riven snatched the crystal from my hand. He smashed it on the frozen ground. The goddess-blessed artifact shattered into a thousand glittering shards.

The fragments of the crystal scattered across the ground, catching the last of the firelight.

"No!" I fell to my knees, trying to gather the pieces.

It was a sacred object, blessed by the Moon Goddess herself. It was my only link to my royal family.

"Chain her in silver!" Riven commanded.

Two guards rushed forward, binding my hands with special silver chains.

The metal seared my skin, sending bolts of agony through me.

"Riven, are you insane?" I struggled. "I'm your mate!"

"Mate?" He walked up to me, his eyes full of loathing. "You think someone with your tainted blood is worthy of me?"

"What tainted bloodline?"

"A traitor's blood runs in your veins! Your whole bloodline is cursed!" he snarled viciously.

The pack members joined in.

"Curse her!"

"May her line end!"

"Filthy she-wolf!"

Listening to their vile words, a rage I had never known boiled up inside me.

"I'll appeal to the Alliance Council!" I shouted. "I will expose what you've done to me!"

"Appeal?" Riven laughed. "You think the Council will believe a she-wolf who sells her body?"

"They will!"

"Kill you? No," he knelt, his voice a venomous whisper in my ear. "I'm going to let you live. I want you to watch as I rise to heights you could only ever dream of."

I felt the malice in his words, and a fire ignited in my heart.

"Riven, you will regret this!" I stared him down. "I swear, your pack will never set foot in the central lands!"

"Hahaha!" The entire crowd erupted in laughter.

"She's lost her mind!"

"A she-wolf about to be exiled is still making threats!"

"This is hilarious!"

Mark walked over, looking down on me.

"Who do you think you are, threatening our Alpha?"

"I'm nobody," I said, slowly forcing myself to my feet. Even in silver chains that burned my skin, I held my head high. "But—"

"But what?" Jenna mocked. "Your prince brother is going to come save you?"

"That's right," I snarled back, a queen in chains. "Touch me, and the Crown Prince and the Alpha King will burn your entire pack to the ground."

Silence.

Then, even more manic laughter.

"Hahahaha!" Mark bent over, laughing. "Yeah, right. And if you're a princess, I'm the Moon Goddess herself!"

"A princess? You?" A pack member pointed at my torn clothes. "Look at yourself! Stop pretending!"

"Would a real princess suffer with a pack like ours?"

"You must have been poisoned. Your brain is full of delusions!"

Jenna was crying with laughter.

"Riven, look at your 'mate'! She can't even lie properly!"

"I knew you were a traitor," he said, his voice dripping with disgust. "I didn't realize you were insane, too."

He waved a hand. "Take her away. Lock her in the prison cart. We can't have a madwoman ruining the ceremony tomorrow."

"Yes, Alpha!"

The guards dragged me away toward the edge of the camp.

The crowd's mocking laughter faded behind me.

"A princess! Haha!"

"If you're going to dream, at least make it believable!"

"Pathetic, crazy woman!"

A guard threw me into the prison cart, and the cold iron bars slammed shut.

The laughter was cut off. The world was finally quiet.

But they didn't know. This quiet was the calm before the storm.

I struggled to lift my burned hands and felt for the hidden seam inside my collar.

Tucked inside was a small, smooth piece of obsidian. It looked like nothing. It was my emergency beacon.

My brother, Damien, had forced it on me before I fled the capital.

A pact. A promise. Only for the very end.

Back then, I was so sure I’d never use it. So confident my fated mate would never betray me.

He had failed me.

Using the last of my strength, I poured a short, lethal message into the beacon:

"Damien. The time has come. Unleash the contingency. All of it. I want them ruined."