Chapter 17
958words
I was sitting in my office, trying to deal with the mountain of paperwork.
My empire was bleeding. Supply lines severed, holdings under siege. Every partner I had was cutting ties and running.
This was clearly an organized corporate war.
And I knew who was pulling the strings.
Sandra.
My ex-mate was getting her revenge.
My communicator buzzed. An encrypted message.
Sender: Anonymous.
I hesitated for a moment, then opened it.
The first file was an audio clip.
I hit play.
"Luna, I remember that day. The one who saved Alpha Byron was a girl with black hair. To protect the Alpha, her back was wounded by a silver bullet. It was definitely not the blonde Miss Ariana."
An old voice echoed in the office.
My hands started to shake.
I scrambled to open the second file. A high-definition photo appeared on the screen.
It was a faint, old scar. Located near the left shoulder blade. Clearly the mark left by a silver bullet.
And that scar... was on Sandra's back.
The floor dropped out from under me.
The fragmented memories in my mind began to snap into place:
That rainy night. Those gentle hands. The person who risked her life to save me.
Long, black hair. A slender figure.
And the bleeding wound on her back.
"No... impossible..." I muttered to myself. "This can't be..."
But the evidence was right there.
The old wolf's testimony. The scar on Sandra's back.
All the details lined up. All the memories matched.
The person who saved me... was always Sandra.
And Ariana...
"Damn it!" I was out of the office in a heartbeat, a guttural roar tearing from my throat as I raced for the dungeons.
"Open the gate!" I roared at the guard.
"Alpha?" The guard was terrified by my fury. "Are you here to see Miss Ariana?"
"Open it! Now!"
The guard scrambled to unlock the cell.
I burst in. Ariana was sitting in the corner.
Seeing me, a look of delight crossed her face.
"Byron! You finally came to see me!" She stood up, about to embrace me.
I shoved her away and slammed the phone down in front of her.
The screen showed the old wolf's testimony and the photo of Sandra's scar.
"Explain this!" I roared, my voice cracking. "Explain this lie!"
Ariana saw the screen, and her face went completely white.
"Byron... this... this is..."
"A black-haired girl!" I advanced on her. "The old wolf said the one who saved me had black hair! You've been blonde your whole life!"
"I... I might have worn a wig that day..." she stammered.
"A wig?" I sneered. "Then what about the scar on Sandra's back? The one from the silver bullet?"
Ariana's eyes darted around in panic.
"I don't know... maybe she got hurt later..."
"Hurt later?" My voice dropped to a low, dangerous growl. "An eight-year-old scar, and you say she got it later?"
I grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall.
"Tell me the truth!" I roared. "Did you ever save me? Have you been lying this entire time?"
Faced with irrefutable evidence, faced with my rage, Ariana finally broke.
Her mask of innocence shattered, replaced by a twisted, venomous grin.
"Fine!" she shrieked, her laughter echoing off the stone walls. "You want the truth? I'll give it to you! I never saved you! The person who saved you that night was Sandra! Your precious ex-Luna!"
"What?"
Ariana's laughter grew wilder. "When I heard a girl had saved the future Alpha, I knew it was the chance of a lifetime!"
"So you took her credit?"
"Yes!" she said triumphantly. "I picked up the pieces of her story and wove them into a masterpiece of deceit. And you, you magnificent fool, you handed her glory to me on a silver platter!"
My mind went blank.
Eight years.
For eight long years, I had been repaying a debt that never existed.
"You know what the funniest part is?" Ariana mocked. "To repay me, your fake savior, you personally destroyed your real one!"
"Shut up!"
"Sandra saved your life, and what did you do?" Her voice was a piercing shriek. "You killed her child! You imprisoned her brother! You sealed her power with your own hands! You're a monster, Byron. A monster who devours his own saviors."
Every word was a silver knife in my heart.
My real savior.
It was Sandra.
The Sandra I had personally hurt, the one I had pushed into hell.
"Why did you do it?" my voice trembled. "Why did you lie to me?"
"Because I love you!" Ariana screamed madly. "I've loved you since the first moment I saw you! I would do anything for you! Including lying, including destroying Sandra!"
"That's not love, that's obsession!" I roared. "You destroyed me! You destroyed all of us!"
"You're the one who chose to believe me!" Ariana cackled. "You're the one who chose to abandon Sandra! Don't you dare shift the blame to me!"
She was right.
I chose to believe her lies. I chose to hurt Sandra.
I destroyed everything with my own two hands.
An overwhelming tide of regret and self-loathing crashed over me.
I looked at the crazy woman before me, at all the mistakes I had made.
The pain in my soul reached its breaking point.
My Alpha spirit, already fractured, shattered completely.
It was a storm of broken oaths and poisoned power erupting inside me.
"Argh!" I let out a guttural, beast-like roar of agony.
Blood, hot and metallic, filled my mouth, splattering against the cell wall.
I collapsed to the ground, feeling my power draining away.
My vision blurred. My golden eyes began to dim. My Alpha power... was completely collapsing.
