After the demise of our meeting, I sprinted back to my packhouse. I needed to get the hell out of here. I didn't care if I was their Luna. They didn't care about me anyway.

'Would anyone come after us knowing we were leaving?' Rexi asked in my head. I wiped the beads of tears from my face and replied, 'They wouldn't even notice we were gone.'

After packing my embarrassingly small suitcase of all my belongings, I turned to stare at the wall clock.

It was late in the night. Nate didn't even message me an apology or further intimation about Karen's health. She faked the injury. I know it.

The blood stain by her seat when she was taken away didn't even smell like hers. Was Nate being dismissive of her acts on purpose or was he truly innocently being treaded to follow her demands all the time?

I didn't care.

Zade called me a few times but I didn't pick up. He texted me as I gave into my curiosity to see if he put a word about our pack's matters to Prince Zyke. We will be in touch with royals to resolve issues soon.

Meanwhile, a text from Karen was sent after I replied to Zade.

[Hoe Karen: You're worried about Nate but he's worried about me. What a shame that no one even worries about you after I've conceived. You're useless]

Karen's words had zero impact on me. I replied flatly,

[Me: Congratulations]

I switched the phone off and started making bigger plans to escape this uninviting turf.

Several hours later as I was talking to the Beta about pack matters, Karen and Nate strutted in.

They walked past me as if nothing happened. I grit my teeth to see Karen smirking right back at me.

"I'm tired, babe. I gotta sleep. Sleep with me? I want to feel warm and cosy ~" Karen said loudly in the hallway. She and Nate were always close. I was uncomfortable with that since the beginning.

Nate chuckled and patted her hair, "I will babe. Let's go sleep."

Nate didn't even notice me, his mate, in the hallway. He walked down holding hands with her. I shuddered when he smacked her butt as she walked up the stairs. I was the only one cursed to witness it.

I was passing by my room in the evening when loud laughter was heard from the study. Nate just walked out of my study with a grin on his face.

When I walked in, I gasped loudly.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, my hands trembling from anger. My new wedding dress, custom-made for me with the finest fabrics for my psoriasis, was worn by Karen.

She removed a few stitches to fit herself into the dress. I was almost too close to crying and passing out. I held it all in.

"This is such a sweet wedding dress! And I look so good in it!" Karen said. She gleamed. My gaze fell on Janet, Nate's mother, sipping tea in my study. Her feet were on my desk, soiling the files below her sandals.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Formalities flew out of the window as I asked Janet.

"What do you mean?" Her tough voice replied.

"You know what I mean, Janet. She's in my custom wedding dress. Even if I won't marry your son, I would marry someone else in that dress. It cost a fortune." I said. I saved up money for two years, just to get this dress. I remember choosing between saving money and buying a decent meal for myself when we used to travel for pack matters abroad. That's how I accumulated money to buy this dress.

And there she was, opening stitches and crumbling it all up.

"Take it off. Take it off!" I went batshit and started ripping her off the dress. I didn't know what else to do. Just then, hearing the commotion, Nate flew in and pried me off of her. Karen started crying right away.

"She was abusing me!" Karen exclaimed. I spat on the dress she was wearing.

"You're always crossing limits and YOU are always letting her trample over me all the time! I hate you!" I cried loudly.

"There's no need for you to be this childish, Nova. It's barely a dress! I'll buy you a new one, dammit! You didn't have to hurt my lover!" The words slipped out of his mouth. Before he could realize it, the damage was already done.

"I see how it is." Wiping my tears harshly, I stormed out of the room.

When I walked out of my room and entered the study, I screamed at the sight.

The wedding dress was torn to pieces and a dead snake's blood was splattered all over. I turned around and crouched over the toilet bowl, throwing up on the spot.

I stormed out, my body weak and heart pulsating.

"WHO DID THIS!?" I screamed over the common dinner table.

"It's a little goodbye gift, can't you see?" Karen said, eating buttered scallops as if nothing mattered. My senses were clouded as I threw the dress on the dinner table, ruining the food with the dress and the snake carcass splashing all over.

Surprisingly, Karen screamed and rushed behind Nate. Nate was screaming his head off at me, asking if I was insane.

"I'm asking you again, Nate. Who did this?" I just wanted to know at that point.

"It was me." Suddenly, Janet stood up and presented herself. She was calm throughout the ordeal.

"I did it. The snake was a victim of my loathing for you. You're leaving tonight, isn't it? Stay away from me and my pack and never bring your infertility luck to my pack ever again." I stared at Janet as her words pierced unhealed wounds.

Nate turned to hug Karen, who was crying loudly, complaining about how I ruined her favourite dinner.

That didn't make any sense to me. Still doesn't. Where did I ever go wrong in choosing a family?

Was I being cursed since birth?

Even my parents and best friend left me alone in this world.

It was a work of art.

The way Janet stood up and reclaimed her sin of killing an innocent animal to ruin my dress. I wondered how could she even do that to me. Didn't she have any remorse? For that animal at least?

It was not my proudest moment, but I prayed that Janet would die the same fate as that snake soon.

I was walking to my room, sniffling and heartbroken. My family was snatched away from me. Everything was lost. I was lost.

My pace slowed down when I caught a silhouette lingering by my study. I grew confused.

"Healer Mia? What are you doing here?" Mia, one of my trusted healers, was looking tense as I inquired.

"Luna, we need to talk. I have something to show you." Saying, Mia shifted to her wolf. It was strange. I was on the fence but decided to follow Mia anyway.

I shifted into a big brown wolf. We raced down the territory border by the south. The overwhelming stench of wolfsbane concoctions was messing with my senses. But still, I followed Mia.

"Whoa..." I said in my head, staring at the outsourced healer's lab. Mia is the head of this secret project. They were weaponizing wolfsbane for war. It was foul, but it was only promised to be used in times of crisis.

"Please. Follow me." She urged. I shifted back. I followed Mia to her lab when she shakily passed a bunch of papers.

"Alpha Nate killed my mother to hide this secret from you, Luna." She said in tears. At once, I lost all humanity against Nate.

"Impossible...no...Mia, your mother..."

I started connecting the dots.

When Mia's mother, Kayla, took my fertility test, Karen and Nate were there. In fact, that was around the time Karen joined our pack after rejecting Zade, mutually.

I shuddered just thinking about it.

"This says I'm...I'm perfectly healthy." I stuttered. Mia nodded.

"Mother opposed to the idea of sharing The Truth with you. But alpha Nate silenced her forever." She confessed with trembling hands. I immediately hugged her.

"Your bravery might have just saved a bunch of lives, Mia. Thank you." I said through tears. The young woman needed my shoulder to cry on. I let her for a few moments. When we parted, Mia asked,

"You wouldn't leave the pack now, right, Luna? Don't leave us in the hands of that monster. He will starve us to death. Enslave us if need be." Her words broke my heart. Mia was born exceptional. Excellent healer, an excellent student, and an even more excellent daughter.

But I had my resolve.

"Mia. You're stronger than you think. Hold onto yourself until I come back to save you. Can you do that?" I asked, my heart being squeezed as her eyes welled with tears again. However, she nodded with a smile.

"I will wait for you, Luna." She said.

I clutched the papers in my hand and went straight to my room. I was begging Rexi to control me. But we were on the same page. To hurt Nate for what he did.

'He must've not done it by himself. That bitch is involved for sure.' Rexi said. I've been thinking the same, too. Karen was capable of dark, dark shit.

But taking away a life so she could make another with my mate? Outrageous. Barbaric. I was going to put an end to this madness. But first, I needed to get right back on track.

I couldn't look at Nate and Karen the same anymore. They were murderers.

The betrayal cut deep, but the truth about their true personalities cut deeper. I was repulsed to have not seen the signs before. Nate was always toxic to me.

After throwing up in the bathroom, I left the pack at the speed of light. No one was there to stop me. The warrior ranks meaning to patrol the borders weren't even there at the south borders. I had my escape pretty fluidly.

I was in my car, tears streaming down my face and trembling hands driving me to absolutely nowhere.

I was out of that place. But where did I want to go? What did I want to do? Where could I feel...belonged?

I was about to call the first person I thought would answer, but another call interrupted my chain of thoughts.

"Hello? Oh my Goddess! Nova! Where the fuck are you? Come back, this instant! I don't like your gift at all!" Gagging noises in the background interrupted him. I heard him run away and pant loudly.

"You almost made Karen puke and hurt our baby! What is wrong with you!?" He screamed. I smirked.

"That's what you deserve, Nate. For everything you did to me. For every lie you fed me." I growled under my breath. Gagging noises followed wherever he went.

"You're a fucked up person, Nova. Come back and clean this mess right now!" Nate yelled. I started laughing, as if that was the funniest joke ever.

The thing was...right before I left, I prepared a little biomedical gift for Karen and Nate.

Mia let me get my hands on rotting body parts and animal remains from her outsourced lab. I spread all the waste in Nate and Karen's room. The feeling was awful, but in the middle of Nate's room was a bloody note I wrote and stuck with a bone over the desk.

[You will regret this, Nate]

After my little art work, I rushed to my room to throw up. Now you know the real reason.

And I also knew something...that Nate will do everything in his power to bring me back.

He loves me too much.

So much that the idea of me leaving him haunts him and he...

It was around dawn.

I was sleep-deprived and slightly dehydrated. After driving aimlessly around the country for several hours, I knew I had lost it. But I was staring at the papers in my hand. Those fateful papers as they shined like proof for me.

It was all her fault.

And my foolish sex-driven mate was just her pawn.

"I'm going to make your life hell. Both of you." I swore again. The promise of the other day's coming back.

*knock knock*

There was a knock on my car door. I lifted my head, feeling the dizziness as I stared.

"What are you doing there? Why did you call me?" Zade asked. He needed to know too.

'No. Not this soon. We have to wait for the final act to bring Karen down.' Rexi mumbled in my head. Wiping my crazy tears away, I opened the car door for Zade who climbed in.

"Tell me what's going on with you. I've never seen you like this and it's weirding me out. Did you see a ghost?" Zade made me chuckle. With him, life felt much better and I didn't know why. I didn't have hope, because Zade already had two chances at life with a mate and failed twice, miserably.

"In fact, I did. I'm haunted by the ghost of revenge, Zade. Exorcise me." His eyebrows furrowed.

"Tell me what happened. Right now." His voice was soft but firm. And I opened up to him, revealing whatever was necessary and hiding what should be hidden.

"That's awful, Nova. I'm so sorry." I sniffled harder.

"I've started my revenge. But I'm still their Luna. The people and pups of my pack believe I've gone on a trip. I don't want to return to that toxic family, Zade. What do I do...?" I cried.

"It sucks that Karen helped Nate cheat on you. And we both know Nate is going to drown himself in guilt if he doesn't find you right away. Janet and Karen know you've gone missing. Nate doesn't. So here's what you're going to do." Saying, Zade and I made an elaborative plan on what needed to be done.

"...Alright then. I'll attend the annual Luna meeting and do what I must. Starting with a rejection." I said.

***

Zade and I parted ways at the highway, two days ago. He's beaten into my head that revenge isn't best served cold if it's not planned properly. And there I was.

Upon my return, Janet grabbed my arm and asked on the porch,

"Why did you return? You want to curse us with your infertility more!?" I stared at her, irony was lingering in her home, in her blood indeed. I smirked and yanked my arm out of her grip.

"Watch what your mouth runs, Janet. Maybe the words will come back to bite you in the ass." Saying, I watched her shocked expression return. She slapped me across the face.

"How dare you..." She growled. I was hurt, but I felt nothing besides the physical pain. That's when I realized my heart had grown cold as ice.

Hearing the commotion, lights were turned on but no one came out of their rooms. Glaring at Janet, I walked right in as she mumbled bad things about me, behind my back. I held myself from revealing anything.

The next day, the morning before Luna Assemblage, Janet barged into the storage room where I was given space to sleep. My study was being renovated. Nails and wood chips covered the surface when I went.

"What are you doing here? You're not welcome back." Karen said. I ignored her and turned away to sleep more. Suddenly, a bucket full of ice-cold water was splashed onto me.

I was shivering. Rexi was ready to bite Karen's throat off.

"Get the hell up and start preparing for the meeting. You pissed off Janet because she had made up a story of your missing. You shouldn't have come back." I scoffed hearing Karen. I wiped the water off my face and stood up. Karen tensed when I passed by. Her bravado crumbled.

"Tell Janet I'll stop being Luna soon. I'll fulfil her wish to continue being the rotten, corrupted Luna of this pack." I said in a low tone. Karen walked away but started berating me openly to passersby after a distance.

Out of nowhere, Nate barged into the dark storage room and held my face. He kissed me fervently, feverishly. I felt like my lips would be ripped off. That's how harsh he was kissing me.

Once his grip loosened, I pushed him so hard that he lay flat on the ground, flying a small distance.

"Thank you for coming back! Prince Zyke was commencing this meeting as well, but his mother told him she'd be representing instead! If you came with me, all will be good!" I scoffed at Nate after he spoke. He stood up grunting. His back fell on a nail which dug into his flesh.

He pulled it out and with crazy eyes...smeared the blood over my cheek with the nail.

"Good that you've returned on your own, Nova. I knew where to find you but I held myself. Because you need me and you still love me. We are mates, after all."