"You sent your pack - lackeys to mock me when I was bleeding out my unborn pup!"
The instant Alpha Daniel's eyes scanned those damning words, a primal fury consumed him.
"By the Moon Goddess!" he roared, his voice booming through the pack house. "How could you be so heartless?"
In his hand, a clay bowl sloshed with a thick, reeking liquid. "This is for beasts, to rid them of unwanted litters. And you, you'll drink every drop!" he snarled, lunging at me. His hands dug into my jaw, forcing my mouth open. "You'll pay for what you did to Snow!"
The cold, bitter liquid touched my lips. Just then, a tiny flutter, like a soft paw - pat, stirred in my belly. "No!" I cried out, "My pup!"
Alpha Daniel froze.
Our eyes locked, and for a split - second, I saw a flicker of something in his gaze. "What...?" he muttered.
Then, with a guttural growl, he hurled the bowl across the room.
And he stormed out, leaving me sobbing on the floor.
Weeks passed in a blur of pain and despair. I found myself back at the manor, broken - spirited and broken - legged.
The butler, a scrawny wolf with a sneer, blocked my way. "Alpha's orders. No main - entrance for you."
I hobbled in, using a gnarled staff.
Every step sent jolts of pain up my spine.
In the main courtyard, Alpha Daniel sat with Sherry, his arm around her possessively. "Look who's here. You thought you could run to my mother and get away with it? You scared Sherry half to death!" he barked.
"Apologize. Now!" he demanded.
My leg throbbed, and my heart ached. But I bowed my head. "I'm sorry, Sherry," .
Alpha Daniel stared at me, stunned. "What...? You never back down. What's going on?"
I said nothing, just turned to leave.
But his voice stopped me. "Wait. Why are you bleeding? I only broke your leg."
I closed my eyes, swallowing the lump in my throat. "It's nothing," I whispered, praying he'd let me go.
With a single, searing glare that could freeze the very marrow in one's bones, Alpha Daniel flicked his wrist in a menacing gesture towards the serving maid cowering nearby.
The maid, a young and skittish she - wolf whose entire body trembled like a leaf in a storm, scurried forward with a terrified whimper.
With a savage yank, she tore it from my shoulders.
In an instant, my now - flat abdomen was bared to the frigid air and the cold, calculating gaze of the alpha.
Alpha Daniel's pupils constricted to pinpricks, and in a blur of supernatural speed, he shot to his feet.
"WHERE IS THE PUP?!"
The nearby maids cowered in fear.
I lifted my head slowly, my eyes as dull and lifeless as the dead of night.
"Left in the castle," I replied woodenly.
Alpha Daniel's mother, the former luna, a figure of great authority within the pack, had issued a solemn decree. The child, bearing the sacred royal werewolf blood, was to remain within the hallowed castle walls.
After a grand ceremony, filled with ancient chants and rituals to honor the spirits of our ancestors, the child would be laid to rest with all the respect befitting a member of the royal line.
But Alpha Daniel, consumed by his blind rage and the lies fed to him by Snow, misinterpreted my words.
"I KNEW IT!" he snarled.
"You knew going to the castle to plead your worthless case was a waste of time, yet you went anyway. So, you gave birth in the castle. How utterly pathetic. Do you really think anyone in this pack is as vile, as heartless as you, willing to harm a helpless, newborn pup?"
It was all a diabolical setup masterminded by Snow.
One of her spies, a conniving and treacherous she - wolf who had infiltrated the manor, had engaged in a secret tryst and gotten pregnant.
After callously drowning her own newborn in the frigid waters of the nearby stream, she had woven a web of lies, framing me for this heinous act.
Alpha Daniel grabbed me into the wild, untamed forest.
There, he dropped me unceremoniously, leaving me to fend for myself, at the mercy of the savage creatures that lurked in the shadows.
When Alpha Daniel's mother finally, after days of searching, sent a search party to find me, I was on the brink of death.
I had wept and pleaded my innocence then, my voice hoarse from screaming. But now, after all the pain and betrayal, I was numb.
Now, I just stared blankly at Alpha Daniel. I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break again.
I stood there, my body a hollow husk.
The world around me dissolved into a hazy.
Alpha Daniel loomed before me like a colossal.
His brows knitted together in a fearsome scowl.
"Who in the name of the moon do you think you're fooling with that pitiable display of heartbreak? Be gone from my sight this instant! I will not have Sherry, my precious mate - to - be, subjected to the stench of your wretchedness,"
With every ounce of my waning strength, I managed to drag my broken, battered body back to what was once my cherished castle.
As I crossed the threshold, I was greeted by a scene of absolute, nightmarish chaos. My belongings, once carefully arranged now lay strewn about haphazardly.
A servant, emboldened by the new, cruel hierarchy that had taken root within the pack, stepped forward with a sneer
"Alpha Daniel has decreed that Sherry has claimed this castle as her own. You are to vacate immediately, scum,"
The steward sidled up to me with a leer .