Chapter 4
ELISA
The Great Hall was blindingly bright, dripping in gold and the scent of roasted meat.
It was the annual Bloodmoon gala, the grand party the royal family hosted after every successful hunting season.
Normally, I loved this night. Tonight, walking into the hall felt like walking to my own execution.
The music was loud, but not enough to drown out the whispers.
I felt the heavy, pitiful stares of the older women and the enraged, disgusted glares of Tristan’s warriors.
"Look at the nerve she has, showing up here,"
"I don't know why the Alpha hasn't put her away yet,"
"He needs to send her where she belongs. In the dirt, for all I care. If he’s going to be crowned as alpha king, he needs a real Luna by his side. A fertile one."
I kept my chin up, but my fingernails dug so hard into my palms they almost cut through my skin.
"Elisa."
I turned.
Tristan stood there, looking handsome and dashing with his blue coat that matched his blue eyes.
For a second, I was lost in his gaze, wondering what could have been if I could get pregnant for him.
He held out a crystal glass filled with dark red wine.
"Look bright," he ordered softly, his cold eyes scanning the crowd.
"You are still the hostess tonight. Stop walking around like a ghost."
I took the glass.
"Thank you," I whispered, tipping my head back and gulping the wine down, letting the bitter burn coat my dry throat.
I reached out, my fingers trembling, and gently grasped his hand.
To my absolute shock, his fingers curled around mine.
A tiny, foolish flicker of hope blossomed in my chest.
Maybe this was a peace offering.
Maybe he had realized how cruel he had been this morning. Maybe I wouldn’t have to leave after all.
But then, a sweet, sickeningly familiar scent washed over us.
"Tristan?" Lyra appeared at his side, wearing a stunning, form-fitting crimson dress that was meant for a Queen.
"Lord Malcor is searching for you. I told him I’ll come fetch you. Come now,” she held out her hand.
Tristan dropped mine instantly, as if my skin had burned him.
The warmth in his eyes vanished.
Without another word to me, he placed his hand on the small of Lyra's back, and they walked away together.
That was when the first wave of dizziness hit me.
The grand chandeliers above me seemed to sway from the roof, while bright lights blurred into long, sickening streaks of gold and white.
And the music? It was suddenly strange, sounding like it was playing underwater.
I stumbled forward, my legs felt too heavy for my body.
I crashed into a tall banquet table, knocking a silver platter and three wine glasses to the floor.
A few people laughed, but I couldn't focus on them.
“Watch where you’re going!” Someone even snapped at me.
I needed air.
I needed…Tristan. If I could just find him, I was sure I could…
Goddess, please.
I dragged myself out the heavy side doors, stumbling into the cool, dark night of the courtyard gardens.
I leaned against a stone pillar to catch my breath, fighting the violent urge to throw up.
Then, I heard them.
"Did she drink it?" Lyra's voice giggled softly from the shadows of the hedges.
"Every last drop," Tristan replied. His voice was low, husky, and entirely unrecognizable to me.
I froze.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
"Good," Lyra purred.
"The rogues are already waiting around. The drug will make her completely disoriented. Once she wanders out into their trap... she's theirs."
"It'll just be a tragic accident," Tristan muttered, his tone devoid of any emotion.
"Torn apart by strays. The pack will mourn for a day, and then she will finally be out of our way. We can get married, have a child without any of her nonsense. Her pack won’t even be able to object.”
Lyra laughed.
“We have killed two birds with one stone.”
“Exactly!”
Tears of absolute terror and heartbreak burned my eyes.
They drugged me.
My own husband had served me poison.
"Turn around," Tristan groaned, his voice suddenly thick with lust.
"I've been dying to fuck you all day."
I didn’t know why, but I peered through the leaves. Perhaps a part of me was also eager to watch my own destruction.
Lyra giggled and turned around, pressing her hands against the wall.
Tristan roughly grabbed the hem of her red dress and hoisted it up over her hips.
My stomach violently rejected the wine.
I clamped a hand over my mouth, gagging on the bile rising in my throat.
I spun around and staggered away blindly into the dark, desperate to get as far from them as possible.
I didn't know where I was going.
The drug pumped through my veins, making the trees spin and the ground tilt.
I dragged myself deeper into the shadowed, overgrown part of the pack grounds, gasping for air.
"Well, well. Look what wandered into the dark."
No. Goddess, please no.
Somebody, anybody, help me please.
Four massive men stepped out from behind the oak trees.
Their clothes were ragged, their eyes glowing with a sick, feral green light.
Rogues.
They were the rogues Lyra and Tristan had sent for me.
But why?
What did I ever do to deserve this?
"The Alpha said she'd be easy," the tallest one sneered, licking his cracked lips as he looked me up and down.
"Pretty little lady," another one mocked, pulling a jagged hunting knife from his belt.
"Let's have some fun with her before we rip her throat out."
Pure, freezing terror paralyzed me for a second.
"Stay back," I slurred, my voice pathetically weak.
"Don't touch me!"
They chuckled darkly.
There was no reasoning with these monsters. If I didn’t find a way to leave, to run, I was surely going to die. I struggled to pick myself up just enough to make a run for it.
My heavy dress tangled in my legs.
I tripped over a thick tree root and slammed hard into the dirt, scraping the skin off my knees.
"Get her!" one of them barked.
I scrambled to my feet and picked up my pace again.
My lungs burned in my chest. Every step felt like I was walking through deep mud.
I looked to my right and saw a gaping, pitch-black archway built into the side of a massive stone wall—some kind of dark tunnel.
I didn't care where it led, I just threw myself inside, hoping they wouldn't follow me.
My foot soon slipped, and I crashed down hard onto my back, the breath knocked completely out of my lungs.
I tried to crawl backward, but the drug finally overpowered me.
I couldn't move my arms. I couldn't even stand.
It was over.
I was going to die there, while Tristan and Lyra got their happily ever after. I shouldn’t have given it a night, I should have left before the party, when I had a chance.
The four rogues entered the tunnel, their cruel laughter echoing off the damp walls.
The tallest rogue stepped between my legs, standing right over me.
He looked down with a horrifying, toothy grin.
"Nowhere left to run, lady."
He reached down, his filthy claws aiming for the neckline of my dress.
I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed.
But his hands never touched me, because a low, vibrating sound shook the very stones beneath my back.
It wasn't a wolf's growl.
It was the earth-shattering roar of a lycan monster.
A beast.
The rogue above me froze.
He didn't even have the chance to turn his head or have time to scream.
A massive, shadowed blur lunged from the deepest part of the tunnel.
And before we knew it, a sickening crunch echoed through the dark, followed by the wet sound of tearing flesh.
The rogue's headless body collapsed beside me.
Hot, sticky blood splashed violently across my face, my neck, and my dress.