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."

My courage shrivelled. Nate has never stared at me like this. He looked like he lost it. My lower lip wobbled in fear. It caught his attention.

"Don't worry, Nova. I can never hurt you. I love you way too much. But understand this. What I've done was done for the pack." I was rendered speechless. I was too afraid to respond other than a nod.

"Good girl." He kissed the crown of my head and left the storage room. Coming out after crying my eyes out, I asked if I could use Beta Ray's room to clean myself up. He looked uncomfortable and rejected the idea. He came closer, after seeing no one was spying on us in the hallway and whispered,

"Mother Luna Janet is keeping an eye on me. I'm sorry, Luna." He said and pulled away. He bowed and left with regret in his heart. He's a good man, but he was just a powerless beta in my wicked dramatic life.

In the end, Mia let me get dressed and practically forced me to wear her dress for the Luna Assemblage. The evening has to be grand. Word has spread that Prince Zyke will be attending with Queen Delores this evening, for the Assemblage. I couldn't have been more happier.

"This looks amazing," I said in amusement. Mia had a nice collection. One she lent to me was golden caped, Dior's prime collection.

"You can make heck ton of money when you're an aspiring head of healers for a pack, I guess." She said as I hugged her.

"I will save you, Mia. Wait for me." She nodded on my shoulder.

And then, it was time to implement my master plan.

The evening was vibrant. Luna's Assemblage was all about prosperity and discussions about happiness of packs.

As much as I loathed it, Janet, Karen and even Nate accompanied me to the Assemblage.

It made my plan tad bit difficult. But I pulled some threads secretly and made sure none of the three saw me walking into the Prince's chambers that evening after the meeting.

However, as I walked out of Prince Zyke's chambers after having a 'delightful' talk about my pack's future, I bumped into Nate.

I almost jumped at his appearance. His gaze on me was skeptical.

"What were you doing there?" Nate inquired harshly.

"What do you think I was doing there?" I asked. Nate's jealousy was off the roof and I could smell it in his aura. He was doing an awful job hiding his jealousy.

"I don't know, mate with him for dethroning my mother as Luna?" The words flew out of his mouth. My blood was boiling, my smile long gone.

"What do you fucking mean?" I asked harshly. Nate straightened up.

"I'm sorry. That was...irrational of me. I felt threatened." He said.

"Threatened that I would cheat on you too?" My question baffled him.

"N-No. I know you wouldn't. You're my mate." He said affirmatively and stared at the mate mark on my neck. My first and last. That's what he thought.

"You're insecure, aren't you?" I was pushing the nail deeper. Nate's eyes wandered to the passersby. He gulped harshly before replying,

"I'm not. I'm confident in our love." He said.

"Is that why you've been fucking Karen behind my back every time she came to visit? For six years?" The revelation finally struck.

"Baby. She was in heat and didn't have anyone around. You know how busy your best friend - Zade - could be. She was lonely, and I was helping her out—" He said, but I lifted my hand to cut him off.

"Enough is enough. You're pathetic." I said and tried to walk away.

What I wanted to do was done. The first and most important step - Talking to Prince Zyke - was done. I had nothing to do with Nate or Graymoon Pack anymore.

But Nate clutched my wrist and spun me back to himself.

"Nova. Listen. I want to reconcile with you. Tomorrow is Karen and my first child's 100th day. I want you to be the Godmother, as promised. Please. Be my mate and attend the party, as my mate." He asked. To me, it sounded like begging.

He was begging me to remind myself what they did, 100 days ago. They fucked all night on my birthday and they want me to remember the trauma forever.

Nate's expectant eyes pleaded with me. He was hoping I would reject the invitation so he could beg and plead more. Instead, I took my chances and said,

"Okay. I'll come as the Godmother. I'm still Luna, after all." I said. I never knew lying through my teeth would invoke a whole new level of anger in me. I hated myself for sure.

"Ah, you're the best." Delighted, Nate hugged me tightly. He was feeling my body, running his hands on my back and I felt something on my abdomen.

Well, I'll just have to put up with him for one more day. Just one more. After that is all war.