Elara's POV:

Caleb gripped my wrist, cold as ice. The touch of a fated mate was supposed to be a warm electric current. When we first met, his touch used to awaken all my senses.

But now, there was only the binding of shackles. He was humiliating me publicly just to clear Selene's name, trampling me into the mud so her reputation could remain flawless and pure.

During our time in the pack training camp, Selene, who had no status, received sponsorship out of Caleb's pity.

At the graduation ceremony, she actually crossed the line and kissed him on the cheek. In my anger, I slapped her and released my Luna aura as a warning.

But Selene was too cunning. During the final assessment, she locked herself in a storage room and cried to Caleb, claiming I had framed her out of jealousy.

Caleb believed her without hesitation.

"How could you be so cruel?" His furious roar became the first crack between us.

To punish my "arrogance," he appointed Selene as his personal assistant. Soon, rumors spread through the pack that the Alpha was going to take a second mate. I once went to his office to demand he respect our traditions, only to find Selene sitting in his chair, drinking soup from his spoon.

I broke down in that moment, using my ultimate authority as Luna to forcefully banish her. I threatened Caleb that if he didn't sign the exile order, I would initiate the rejection ritual and sever our mate bond.

He signed it, but his eyes were filled with a bone-piercing hatred.

Since then, everything changed. I suddenly lost the ability to shift, and the spiritual power inside me drained away like quicksand. I was forced to abandon my duties, becoming a ghost hiding a catastrophic secret with nothing to do.

And the very next day, Caleb brought Selene back.

When Caleb dragged me into his luxurious office, I was jolted back to reality from my memories. He shoved me into a heavy leather chair.

I looked down at my feet. They were covered in mud and blood, the skin red, swollen, and blistered.

I looked up at the man in whose eyes I used to see the stars, but now I was just a prisoner.

"I'm sorry," I said softly, lowering my head. "I'm sorry. Whatever you think I did to her, I apologize."

Caleb stood behind his massive oak desk. He didn't clench his jaw; instead, he rested one hand on a stack of parchment and began tapping lightly with one finger.

"Your apology means nothing."

He pushed the rejection contract across the smooth surface of the desk, the paper sliding right in front of me.

"Sign it right now, Elara."

Elara's POV:

I stared at the stark black ink on the paper.

The words on it pronounced my banishment—exile to a barren wasteland where not a blade of grass grew, a place overrun with poisonous creatures.

I gripped the heavy silver pen. "Caleb, please," I begged with a trembling voice. "Don't send me there. I'm willing to be an Omega. I'll scrub every floor tile if I have to, just let me stay."

Caleb crossed his arms, his gaze sweeping over a broom in the corner before landing emptily on me.

I took a shaky, deep breath, my hands instinctively moving to protect my flat stomach as I spoke out of sheer desperation.

"Because I'm pregnant... I'm carrying your child."

The air instantly froze, and the warriors at the door gasped. A pup, that was the highest blessing from the Moon Goddess, the continuation of an Alpha's soul.

Caleb trembled slightly. Like a dying traveler in the desert seeing an oasis, he instinctively took a step forward, his eyes locked dead onto my stomach.

But then he went rigid, and his gaze sharpened instantly.

I could guess what he remembered—the doctor once said he was almost entirely sterile, combined with the slander and rumors Selene had spread about me in private.

The hope in his eyes instantly morphed into suspicion.

"No," Caleb refused coldly. "You must leave."

The warriors at the door grew restless.

"Alpha," the lead warrior spoke up tightly. "She is carrying the future of the Blood Moon Pack. You cannot banish a pregnant Luna."

Caleb leaned back into his leather chair, a cruel sneer curving his lips. "She is my mate, yes, but who can prove whose bastard pup that is?"

"What did you say?" I felt like I had plunged into an icy abyss, my entire body trembling.

Caleb leaned forward, resting his hands on the desk, his gaze like a knife. "How much did you pay those rogue wolves, Elara? Did you use the pack's treasury, or your own body, to orchestrate the attack on Selene?"

He was actually accusing me of trading my body with ruthless rogues just to hurt Selene!

Anger instantly burned away my reason. I grabbed the heavy solid silver paperweight from the desk and threw it at him with all my remaining strength.

It hit him squarely on the forehead. He didn't dodge. The metallic thud of silver striking bone echoed, followed immediately by the sizzling sound of silver burning skin, sealing the wound and blocking his werewolf healing.

Blood trailed down his cheek.

"You are a monster!" I screamed, breaking down as my tears broke like a dam.

Caleb wiped the blood from the corner of his eye, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty. His raised hand trembled slightly in the air, clenching and unclenching as he suppressed his explosive rage. "Attacking an Alpha comes with a price."

He closed his eyes and used the mind-link. "Enforcers, to my office immediately."

Seconds later, two burly enforcers stormed into the room, roughly twisting my arms behind my back. I cried out in pain, completely overcome by despair. I looked at the banishment contract on the desk, ready to compromise and sign it, to seek an end in the Barren Lands.

But just as my fingers touched the barrel of the pen, an elegant hand slammed down on the contract.

"Wait a moment." A sweet yet venomous voice shattered the dead silence.

Selene stood there in a dazzling, emerald green silk dress. She looked down at my ragged and filthy state, a cold smirk of victory slowly rising on her lips.