Chapter 4

The rain had turned the earth into a slurry of ice and mud. My hands were numb, blistered, and bleeding, wrapped around the handle of the rusted shovel. I stood over the shallow trench I had just filled, my breath coming in ragged, white puffs against the gray sky.

"Done," I whispered, the word lost in the wind. I turned to look at the porch.

Luca stood there, dry and regal under the overhang, a glass of amber liquid in his hand. Kara was tucked under his arm, looking at me with the expression one might reserve for a squashed bug.

"Not quite," Luca called out. His voice carried effortlessly over the storm, amplified by the Alpha command that still vibrated in my bones.

He nudged something with the toe of his boot. I hadn't noticed it before—a small bundle wrapped in a stained hospital towel, sitting by the leg of the patio chair.

"We don't keep trash in the Pack House," Luca said coldly. "And we certainly don't give rites to things that were never meant to exist."

He kicked it.

The bundle rolled off the porch, tumbling down the wet steps before splashing into the mud at my feet. The towel loosened slightly, revealing a flash of pale, unmoving skin.

The shovel fell from my hands.

A sound tore from my throat—not a scream, but a broken, animalistic keen that made my own chest ache. I fell to my knees, ignoring the sharp rocks digging into my skin, and scrambled toward the bundle. My hands, caked in the filth of rogue graves, shook violently as I pulled the wet towel closer to my chest.

"No," I sobbed, rocking back and forth. "No, no, no."

"Bury it," Luca ordered.

I looked up at him through the curtain of rain. "Luca, please! This is our son! He needs a ceremony. He needs the Moon's blessing!"

"It is a mistake," he spat, his eyes devoid of anything human. "Bury it with the other traitors. Or I will have the enforcers burn it with the trash."

Kara giggled, sipping from Luca's glass. "Better hurry, Omega. The mud is getting deep."

I couldn't use the shovel. I couldn't bear the thought of cold steel touching him.

So, I used my hands.

I clawed at the freezing sludge, my fingernails tearing, my tears mixing with the rain. I dug a small hollow next to the rogues, a place with no marker, no stone, and no prayer. I laid the bundle down gently, whispering the lullaby I had hummed for six months, the one Luca used to hum against my stomach.

"I love you," I choked out, pushing the wet earth over the only thing that had mattered. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

When I finally collapsed, the mud covering me like a second skin, Luca didn't even check to see if I was breathing. He just turned off the porch light, plunging me into darkness.

***

I didn't know how I got back to the basement. I must have crawled.

The room was freezing, the stone walls weeping moisture that matched the dampness in my bones. I lay on the mattress, shivering so violently my teeth clicked together. The fever was back, hotter than before, burning through the infection in my snake bites and the raw agony of my womb.

*Let me go,* I prayed to the Moon Goddess. *Just let me fade.*

A shadow detached itself from the darkness near the door.

I flinched, curling into a ball, expecting another snake. Or worse, Luca.

"Shh, Luna. It's me."

The voice was soft, trembling. A hand, warm and calloused, touched my forehead.

I cracked my eyes open. "Stormi?"

My Gamma. My best friend. Her face was pale in the gloom, her eyes red-rimmed. She smelled of rain and fear, but mostly of comfort.

"I'm here, Ana," she whispered, unpacking a small bag. "I brought antibiotics from the clinic. And soup. You need to eat."

"You shouldn't be here," I rasped, trying to push her away, but my arms were like lead. "Kara... she sees everything. Luca will kill you."

"Let him try," Stormi hissed, though her hands shook as she uncapped a bottle of water and held it to my cracked lips. "I can't watch this anymore, Ana. I can't watch him destroy you. This isn't our Alpha. This is... madness."

The water was cool and clean. I drank greedily, choking on a sob. Stormi began cleaning the mud from my hands with a warm cloth, her touch gentle over my broken fingernails.

"I'm going to contact the Council," she murmured, wiping fresh blood from my wrist. "I know they don't like internal disputes, but this—killing an heir? Torturing a Luna? This is a crime against our laws."

"They won't listen," I wept. "He's an Alpha. I'm just an Omega now."

"You are my Luna," Stormi said fiercely, squeezing my hand. "And I will burn this pack to the ground before I let you die in this hole."

The heavy iron door at the top of the stairs creaked open.

Stormi froze. The color drained from her face.

"Well, isn't this touching," a voice sneered from the landing.

Kara stood there, silhouetted by the hallway light. She held a flashlight, the beam cutting through the darkness to blind us. Behind her, two enforcers loomed.

"Stormi!" I screamed, trying to lunge forward to cover her, but my body failed me.

"Grab her," Kara commanded.

The enforcers rushed down the stairs. Stormi fought—she was a Gamma, a warrior—but there were two of them, and the space was too small. They slammed her against the stone wall, pinning her arms behind her back.

"No! Leave her alone!" I shrieked, dragging myself off the mattress. "She did nothing! She just brought me water!"

"She is aiding a traitor," Kara said, her voice dripping with venomous delight. "And plotting against the Alpha. I heard you talking about the Council."

Kara grabbed a handful of Stormi's hair, yanking her head back. "Bring her upstairs. Luca needs to see what kind of snakes are hiding in his grass."

"Run, Ana!" Stormi yelled as they dragged her up the steps, her boots scraping against the stone. "Don't give up!"

I clawed my way up the stairs after them, leaving a trail of blood and mud. I couldn't let her face him alone. I collapsed in the doorway of the main hall just as they threw Stormi to the floor at Luca's feet.

Luca sat in his Alpha chair, looking bored. He swirled his drink, staring down at my best friend.

"She was in the basement, Luca," Kara announced, stepping up to drape herself over his shoulder. "She was feeding the prisoner. And she was planning to call the Council to remove you."

Luca’s glass stopped swirling. The air in the room grew heavy, the static charge of his Alpha aura rising like a storm front.

"Is that true, Gamma?" Luca asked softly.

Stormi lifted her head, blood trickling from her lip. She didn't look at the floor. She looked him dead in the eye.

"Someone has to act like a leader in this pack," she spat. "Because the man sitting in that chair is nothing but a puppet."

Luca stood up. The glass in his hand shattered.