The Alpha Burned His Own MoonChapter 1

In the eighth year since Alpha King Cedric condemned me to the silver dungeons,

He returned, accompanied by his newly crowned Luna.

Lady Samantha dropped to the icy stone floor, cradling a frail pup whose face mirrored Cedric’s own.

"They say witches can extend a life," Samantha wept. "Snow! Please save my son!"

The boy was deathly pale. I could see his inner wolf was slipping into the dark abyss.

"He's dying," I said hoarsely. "Even the Moon Goddess could not save him."

Alpha Cedric pressed a silver broadsword against my throat.

"You used forbidden sorcery to ensnare my senses. I spared your life eight years ago,"

Cedric's Alpha command echoed.

"Revive my son in 3 days! Or, I will offer you as sacrifice to the Moon Goddess when the full moon!"

A mocking smile touched my lips.

He did not know that I am the Moon Goddess, descended from the heavens.

……

Samantha laid the comatose pup before my knees.

"I beg to you, Snow!"

She wailed, striking her forehead against the stone until dark blood smeared the rock.

"Take my life instead! Just let my child live!"

Cedric looked upon her with tenderness.

When he turned back to me, his golden eyes burned with indignation.

"Samantha is the Luna of the Bloodmoon Pack. She has discarded all dignity to kneel before you. Why must you remain so heartless?"

Heartless?

Eight years ago, to seize my place,

Samantha accused me of using black witchcraft to ensnare Cedric’s mate bond.

I was dragged onto the altar, subjected to forty-nine days of silver flames.

Then, shackled in silver-spiked chains, I was cast into this subterranean abyss.

Now, a few knocks of her head were supposed to wash away eight years of agony?

"Life and death belong to the Moon," I whispered coldly. "My strength is broken. I can do nothing."

Cedric’s brow tightened.

"Are you still bitter because I stripped you of your title?"

"If you save Shane, I will take you back as my second mate."

Samantha froze, turning tearful eyes toward him in terror.

"Alpha, no!" she shrieked.

"Have you forgotten how her specter haunted my dreams, draining my vitality?"

"If you release this witch, the elders will riot!"

I watched her with dead eyes.

Back then, to force me into revealing my power, Samantha hired rogues to attack Cedric.

I fell into her trap, unleashing light to shield him.

From that moment, she convinced the council that my power was dark witchcraft that corrupted our mate bond.

"Do not fret, Samantha," Cedric said. "I will have the High Priest excise her power core."

"Once it is ripped out, she will never wield witchcraft again. Snow, you will have no power to resent me."

A shudder ran through my spine.

Excising a shifter's core meant tearing soul from bone, leaving the victim a crippled husk.

"Cedric," I murmured, my voice hollow as a winter grave.

"My heart withered the day you put silver on my neck."

"Take your dying pup and leave."

Cedric grabbed my wrist.

"Snow, you cannot deceive me. Our bond once answered to every beat of my heart!"

"Do not touch me!" I snarled, ripping my arm away.

A flicker of hurt flashed across Cedric’s face, and Samantha caught it.

With a wild shriek, she threw herself headfirst into the stone pillar.

Her skull cracked against the rock, and she crumpled.

Cedric swept her up, his gaze snapping toward me with venomous fury.

"A witch is a witch—devoid of loyalty, incapable of love!"

"Snow, you are a monster!"

A dry laugh tore from my throat. I pressed a trembling hand against my flat belly.

"I am a monster? Do you remember, Cedric? There was a heartbeat right here."

"When you drove your silver blade through my womb to purge 'the witch’s unholy spawn,'"

"Did you consider yourself a monster? Did you ever grieve for your own unborn pup?"

Back then, the baby inside my womb was taking physical shape.

Yet Cedric, blinded by panic and Samantha’s lies, plunged silver through my flesh,

Watching our pup dissolve into dying motes of light.

Cedric’s pupils dilated in horror.

A suffocating guilt flashed across his face, quickly buried beneath savage rage.

"Silence! Speak no more of that cursed thing!" he roared.

"As Alpha King, was I supposed to let another monster crawl out of your belly to plague my lands like you?"