Chapter 8
All eyes turned toward the shadowed corner of the Alpha’s chambers.
Charlotte knelt there like a broken doll, her hair a tangled mess, her once–perfect face streaked with blood. She was trembling, slack–jawed, and…
Between her teeth, clenched in blind panic, was a severed hand.
Her eyes stared blankly ahead, glassy and unfocused, as if her soul had already fled her body.
It wasn’t until Alpha Raymond stepped forward–knife glinting in his fist–that Charlotte seemed to snap out of her daze. She gagged, spitting out the blood–soaked
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hand with a wet smack against the floor, then scrambled forward on her knees, reaching toward Beta Gordon with a desperate, quaking arm.
“Gordon–help me!” she sobbed, voice high and shrill. “He’s lost his mind! The Alpha’s gone mad–completely mad!”
But no one moved to save her.
When the divine storm had finally ended, Charlotte and her pet Omega had barely staggered back to the packhouse before a squad of warriors dragged them both before Alpha Raymond.
The Omega had barely opened her mouth, trembling as she pleaded, “Alpha… you can’t treat Charlotte this way… she’s carrying your
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She hadn’t even finished the sentence when Raymond’s claws flashed.
The Omega’s tongue hit the floor in a spray of blood, followed by her hands and feet. The girl had writhed and screamed for two endless hours before death finally claimed her.
That hand… the one Charlotte had been forced to chew on… belonged to her.
Now, in front of the gathered pack, Charlotte was hysterical, shaking so badly she could barely stay upright.
The room was silent, suffocating.
And then-
Raymond’s lips curled into something far worse than a snarl.
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A smile.
Mad, cold, utterly humorless.
“A lunatic?” he said softly, stepping closer until the scent of blood hung thick between them. “Grace is dead. If that makes me a lunatic…” His eyes burned like hellfire. “…then so be it.”
Charlotte whimpered, crawling backward on her hands.
“You spun a web of lies that blackened my mate’s name,” Raymond growled, his voice shaking with fury, claws flexing at his sides. “Every scar on Grace’s body–every drop of her blood–I thought was spilled for you. I thought you bled for this pack. But it was all her.”
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He pressed a hand to his chest as if trying to tear out the ache clawing through him, then raised the dagger high.
“So now…”
The blade flashed down, silver slicing the air.
“…every wound Grace suffered… I’ll carve into you!”
“No!” Charlotte shrieked, rolling aside just in time to avoid the strike. Her sobs turned frantic, high–pitched, echoing off the stone walls.
“Please! My family–my father–our loyalty to Shadowmoon has never wavered! Raymond, I beg you–spare me for their sake!”
A sharp drip… drip… broke the tense silence.
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Charlotte’s scent shifted, acrid and sour.
She had pissed herself in fear.
Gordon let out a long, weary breath.
“Your family,” he said flatly, his voice like a death bell, “no longer exists. A landslide wiped out your territory. Fifty–four souls, gone. Not even a body left to bury.”
Charlotte’s sobs hitched, faltered.
She stared up at him, her bloodshot eyes searching wildly, disbelieving. She looked to the Elders, to the warriors… anyone.
No one met her gaze.
And that was when it sank in.
If her father had survived… he’d already be
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here.
“Justice,” Charlotte whispered, voice
cracking. Her laugh bubbled out in hysterical, broken gasps. “Hah… it’s justice… the Moon Goddess finally judged me…”
When the heavens had burned, when fire had rained down, she had prayed for it to end. She had sworn she would repent if only she survived.
But the Moon Goddess had stripped everything from her anyway.
Images flashed behind her glassy eyes -her father’s steady hands, her mother’s gentle smile, the laughter of tiny nieces and nephews running through the packhouse.
All gone.
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“My Luna!” she screamed, voice raw and shattering. “Moon Goddess’s chosen one- I was wrong! I was greedy! I couldn’t stand to see him love you more than me. I was wrong!”
The confession ended in a choked scream as Raymond’s dagger slashed downward, tearing across her perfect face.
Her cry echoed through the chamber, a sound that made even hardened warriors flinch.
And still, he didn’t stop.
Slash after slash carved crimson lines into
her skin.
From where my spirit lingered, I didn’t bother listening to her desperate pleas. I didn’t care how she begged or how much blood stained
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the floor.
I only lifted my gaze to the heavens, wondering why the Moon Goddess still refused to open her gates for me.
Perhaps once Charlotte finally drew her last breath…
Only then could I truly let go.
But suddenly, her screams ceased.
Charlotte curled protectively over her swollen belly, clutching it as if it were her last lifeline.
“You can’t kill me,” she sobbed, rocking herself backward. Her wild eyes locked on Raymond’s dagger, its tip now hovering just above her stomach.
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“This pup… this pup is destiny’s Alpha! He’s the only one who can save Shadowmoon Pack!”
The steel trembled in Raymond’s grip, frozen above her womb.
Charlotte whimpered and scooted back, desperate to keep the blade from biting into her flesh.
“It’s true! You have to believe me–I swear I’m not lying!” Charlotte sobbed, clutching her belly like a shield. “My father… he secretly summoned the witch Herbert years ago to divine this child’s fate. She said… she said he’s destined to become the future Lycan King!”
The name alone made a ripple of unease pass through the room.
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Herbert–disciple of the last great Seer, vanished since the old oracle’s death. The kind of witch whose prophecies could topple packs or crown kings.
Beta Gordon stepped forward quickly, voice tense. “Alpha… what if she’s telling the truth? Shadowmoon’s future may depend on this pup. We can’t risk destroying our only chance at a true heir.”
For a long moment, the chamber was silent- until Elder Alonso finally broke it.
The old wolf slammed his cane hard against the stone floor, his voice low and heavy as thunder.
“Alpha Raymond… you’ve already spilled too much blood and invited the Moon Goddess’s wrath. If you continue down this reckless path…” His eyes narrowed to slits, fangs
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glinting in the dim light. “…then we’ll have no choice but to convene the council and strip you of your title as Alpha.”
Raymond stared at the Elder in disbelief, his jaw tightening until his teeth creaked. But Alonso wasn’t bluffing–and the silent, grim expressions of the pack’s senior leaders standing behind him made it clear they shared his stance.
Raymond had never imagined that killing his Luna would lead him here–cornered, defied, his power slipping like sand through his claws.
He growled low, a bitter laugh twisting from his throat, just as he opened his mouth to speak-
A shrill voice shattered the tense stillness.
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197
100bha! Disaster!” a warrior howled from
stside the great hall. “Lightning’s struck the
cestral crypt–it’s been split wide open!”
bla!
99/ he sound of steel rang out as Raymond’s sagger slipped from his grasp and clattered eoudly onto the stone floor.
Br
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