I stormed out, heading straight for Lukas’s quarters. My blood boiled with every step. When I burst into his room, he looked up from his desk with a calm expression, as though he had been waiting for me.
"You’re late," he said.
"You think you can exile me?" I snapped, slamming the letter onto his desk. "For what crime?"
Alpha Kane leaned back, his icy blue eyes piercing mine.
"Lukas has chosen a new mate. You’re a distraction, Ayla. And distractions weaken the pack."
"A distraction?" My voice cracked. "I gave everything to this pack. To Lukas. And now I’m tossed aside like trash?"
Kane’s lips twitched into a small smirk.
"Life isn’t fair, Ayla. But you knew that."
Something inside me broke. I lunged at him, claws out, but before I could reach him, he grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the wall.
"You’re lucky I’m not killing you," he growled, his breath hot against my ear. "Leave. Now. Or you’ll wish you had."
He released me, and I collapsed to the floor, gasping. But even as I lay there, humiliated and broken, something inside me settled. A strange calm.
The crimson light of the Blood Moon washed over me. This wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.
I forced myself to my feet and met Kane’s gaze with defiance.
"You’ll regret this," I said, my voice steady. "I swear it."
He chuckled and waved me off.
But as I left the pack’s territory, one thought burned through me: They would all regret it.
Under the Blood Moon, I swore vengeance—not just on Lukas and Celeste, but on the entire pack that had betrayed me.
The game wasn’t over. It was just beginning.
The tension in the air was sharp enough to cut as Lukas stood in the doorway, his amber eyes glowing with barely restrained anger. "You forget yourself, Ayla," he hissed, his voice low but laced with venom. "Living here doesn’t make you untouchable."
I folded my arms, my wolf pacing restlessly beneath my skin. "Untouchable? That’s rich, coming from you," I shot back, my voice calm, controlled, and deadly. "Tell me, Lukas. How’s Celeste these days?"
His jaw tightened, the subtle shift in his face betraying his guilt. "I’m not doing this with you," he muttered, brushing past me into the kitchen.