The Luna's eyes flickered orange, and I swallowed hard, grabbing the doorknob behind me.

  “Do whatever you want with me, but please leave my grandma out of this." I pleaded, my chest rising and falling fast. Sia wanted me to attack them, but ever since three days ago, when I got her as my wolf, I had never fought before. My training started yesterday, so I didn't know what my full strength was, and those were a luna, two betas, and an entire pack I would have to deal with if I just attacked without any evidence of self-defense.

  “Leave the doctor to me, your highness; I will make it quick and painless.” Catherine vowed, a smile spreading over her face.

  “Make what quick? What is she talking about?”

  "Grab her!" Luna Aria ordered. The two betas approached, and before I could protest, they held me firmly and were going to drag me when Sia, who had been dying for a fight, growled within, and I began to transform. As my claws stretched out, the Luna sprinkled some liquid substance on me that caused my insides to burn like fire and my wolf to recede.

  She reached to touch my forehead and whispered words I couldn't hear. Suddenly my thoughts felt calm. There was no Sia to distract. It was as if she had left. I felt my chest burning and a strange cold settle within my beating heart, causing me to cough painfully.

  “W-what did you—" My strength dissipated abruptly, and I felt darkness cloud my sight as I grew weaker and weaker by the second till I could feel nothing.

  *****

  I heard the sound of someone pacing back and forth beside me. But I couldn't smell them like before. All I could smell was dust and decay.

  Decay? Where was I?

  I flicked my eyes open, only to feel the harshness of the sun's rays hitting my face as it burned with unforgiving intensity. I rubbed my eyes vigorously and felt all my muscles aching like I'd been beaten up by a mob.

  “Why did you do it?" A familiar voice questioned. Calum's Voice. It came with a tone of disappointment and anger. "Since when, Artie?”

  I opened my eyes slowly to adjust and found myself in the pack's prison cell. Calum's brows were furrowed, and his jaws looked tightened while his eyes were fixed on me as if he was reading my very soul.

  were

  “Do what?" I asked, “Why am I here?"

  "Oh, please, Artie," he scoffed. “It could've been anyone. Anyone but not you. I trusted you. How could you do this to me? To us?” His angry facade cracked, and for a split second, it gave way to sadness.

  "Do what, Calum? I haven't done anything. And why am I in a prison cell?”

  He shook his head in disgust, and his lips parted for what looked like ages, but he didn't know what to say.

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  "I hate you." He finally let out, “I should never have trusted you." His words cut deep, and although I didn't know what he was talking about, the pain of his anger ached more than the body aches I was feeling.

  The main gates in the south opened, and in walked the two betas I had seen with the Luna yesterday. I believed it was yesterday because the sun was already up.

  “Calum!" I screamed after him as he walked away. “Please, help me!"

  The two betas unlocked the cell and dragged me by the shackles around my hands into the council room, where, to my surprise, a pack member stood waiting for me.

  The betas threw me to the ground, and my forehead banged hard on the metallic shackles around my wrist, sending a jolt of pain through my skull. I choked on a lump in my throat and couldn't get a chance to catch my breath when one of the two held my wrist and pulled me up to stand and face the alpha and his Luna, who was disgustingly comfortably seated by his left.

  Alpha Asher stood up, and running the fingers of his right hand through his dark blond hair that's often messy, he fixed his bright blue, piercing, and intense eyes on me for what seemed like ages before speaking in a loud voice so everyone could hear him.

  “Artemis Starr, you stand accused of infidelity against your bonded mate. How do you plead?”

  Infidelity? What? Was it why Calum was angry at me?

  “Your Majesty, I have never been with anyone aside from Calum Gray, and I can swear that on my grave.”

  "Silence!" Alpha Asher's voice boomed. In the past, this level of anger of an alpha was supposed to cause me pain because my wolf was subject to him.

  My wolf. Where's Sia?

  “‘Not guilty or guilty’—those’ are the choice of words you're to voice back, and nothing more.”

  “She is innocent," I heard my grandma cry from my right.

  "With utmost respect, Doctor,” the luna interjected, "your granddaughter has lips and can defend herself. Another word and you will be sent out of this court."

  My grandma shot her an angry stare, grinding her teeth with barely contained rage. The alpha didn't say anything, and my guess was that it was because he owed my grandma for the countless lives she had saved or that it was because my grandmother served as his nanny when he was ten and I was seven.

  “Not guilty." I replied, my brows closing as I gritted my teeth.

  “Very well then, may our first witness step forward.” Alpha Asher commanded.

  For some reason, my gaze was fixed on Luna, who was standing as a witness against me, but it had to be that sniffer dog, Catherine.

  She stepped forward, giving a gentle bow, then began to speak, “Your Majesty, as surely as the moongoddess lives, I swear that I was out to train on my own close to the borders last night, then I caught the scent of my friend, Artemis—”

  "We are not even friends!”

  "Silence!” Alpha Asher's voice boomed once more, and I replied with a hardened frown, but soon, tears began to spill down as Catherine continued her lie, twisting everything to make me the cheat. When she was done, whispers rippled through the crowd, but it didn't last as the alpha's hand went up to silence everyone.

  "As evidence, your scent was all over the said place, and so was a jackknife that only you had. One last time, how do you plead?” He asked, grinding his teeth.

  “My Alpha, and my King,” I began, breaking down on my knees as the thoughts of an inevitable death or subjection to pack slavery started to play on my mind. “If the moongoddess lives, she is my only witness, and my justice will come only from her. If false witnesses claim I did it, I accept my fate, but may the untamed wrath of the goddess pour out on anyone who was part of the plan to defame me if I'm innocent.”

  The Alpha's eyes flickered with a yellowish intensity, and the crowd began to throw whatever they had at me to show their discomfort. I turned slowly to my right and saw my grandma run to me and throw her arms around me, sobbing while the noise in the council room grew.

  "I will do everything to prove your innocence." My grandma vowed, forcing me to kiss my dusty face as the betas came to drag her out.

  “For attacking your fellow omega to protect your harlotry and for lying before the entire pack, as according to the pack's laws and constitution, Omega Artemis Starr, you have been condemned to indefinite slavery. Your job from now on is to work day and night, cleaning the entire palace, the stables, and the training grounds, and eating from leftovers. All rights to the healer's services have been revoked, and from now on, you are subject to every member of this pack. So says the law, and that is your fate.”

  I felt my heart seize when the words sank in. Catherine smiled in my direction, but I didn't bother to look at Luna Aria.

  The worst part was already on its way. As part of the rules, in order for my mate not to be defiled, it was compulsory for him to break all ties with me.

  Calum walked up to me with hurt in his eyes and stopped about a foot away. I shook my head to beg him not to, but the crowd went mute, and all eyes turned to us. For a brief moment, his eyes searched mine, and then firmly he said, “I, Calum Price, sever the bond between us as mates. From now on, you're nothing to me.”

  I should have felt more pain, because the bond is not only between us but also between our wolves, but I hadn't felt Sia since the queen sprinkled whatever liquid that was a night ago. I didn't have my wolf anymore. I was but a mere human, but even so, the pain of heartbreak superseded the punishment from the pack. I scurried toward him to plead, but he pushed me away with his foot, which caught me by the jaw, causing me to bite my tongue.

  “Get to work!" A beta behind me ordered, and I dragged my chains, ignoring the fact that I was in pain.