Elena's POV

Ah yes, the sweet sound of crushing someone’s hopes.

The hall erupted into another round of uncertain whispers, but I kept my gaze locked on Damien, whose expression had suddenly faltered.

“Not so confident now, are we?” I said again, folding my arms.

“You will take back that statement instantly!” Beta Hayes roared at me, his aura forcing me to kneel. I only did because I wanted to, and my wolf could only handle so much.

“It is the truth,” I said, looking at him.

“That is a bloody lie,” Stella growled, baring her claws at me. “We all saw that you slept with him. What other lowlife could even look at you more than once?”

I smirked. “Oh, you would be surprised.”

“You will revoke that statement immediately,” Beta Hayes roared again, pressing down on me with his aura even more.

But I refused to submit this time. “Why?”

Damien’s eyes finally snapped to mine. Questions brewed in them, questions I wasn’t in any mood to answer.

“Either you revoke that statement, or your mother suffers the consequences,” Beta Hayes spat, his hands trembling.

My eyes flickered to my mom, who still stood behind the elder pleading with her eyes. I shook my head as a bitter laugh escaped me.

Me? Save her?

My mind flickered to my previous life, when she did nothing but support her own selfish wishes as they killed me. All for greed. All for a position in the Hayes family. What made her think I was going to give her another chance now?

“I will say it again. Alpha Damien, isn’t the father of my unborn child. I have been courted by different alphas before him,” I said yet again, standing my ground. I watched mother’s expression turn into horror as she realized I wouldn’t save her.

Beta Hayes was furious now, but his aura wasn’t nearly as powerful as Damien’s, who just sat there watching me with unreadable eyes.

A part of me wanted to know what was happening in his head. Disappointment? A crushed ego?

But before I could think further, he stood up abruptly, plunging the hall into silence. Even Stella snapped her head to him.

“Who is the father then?” He demanded, his eyes locked on mine like I just betrayed him. “Who is the father of the child?!”

My mind worked fast, searching for all the alphas that bothered me before, all begging for a marriage proposal. I had turned all of them down for love. A blind, purposeless love that made them kill my Aria.

One Alpha stood out among the rest. I remembered his constant letters, always showing up at my doorstep each morning. I hid all of them, because I couldn’t afford it back then.

But now, he would gladly accept me, wouldn’t he?

“Answer me!” Damien demanded again.

“Alpha Keiran of the Red Moon Pack,” I said with as much boldness as I could muster.

The hall was silent for a heartbeat, before erupting into the most degrading laughter I had ever heard.

Elder Hayes got up from his seat, pointing to me with mocking expression. “And what makes you think we will believe that an Alpha as powerful as Keiran would be interested in you of all wolves?”

“Really, it is amusing as it is unbelievable,” Elder Thorne said between his own fits of laughter.

I gritted my teeth and spoke again. I needed a way out of this. “He is the father.”

“Then why don’t we verify?” Elder Kane spoke, signaling to Elder Hayes’ Beta to make the call.

The Beta nodded and walked out to grab the phone as the hall waited in silence. My heart thudded as I waited, hoping that he would accept it. Maybe see it as a chance to finally claim me.

But my hopes were shattered when the Beta returned with the same triumphant smirk that Stella had on her face earlier.

My heart dropped, and sweat glistened my palms.

I prayed silently to the moon goddess.

“Alpha Keiran is mated,” the Beta finally said.

Another round of murmurs and mocking laughter erupted from the crowd, and I bit the inside of my cheek.

Damn it.

“He just got married last week. Every other relationship which was or is claimed,” he glanced at me. “is null and void.”

I gritted my teeth as the words left him. I had rejected Alpha Keiran a lot, but is that why he was so quick to find another Luna?

“Look who’s the home wrecker now?”

My wolf’s ears perked up, and I shifted just in time to avoid a tomato being thrown at me. Silence hushed throughout the hall as it landed with a splat on the pillar just beside me. The juices ran down the painted concrete, staining the marble floors. I lifted my head and turned to the crowd.

Hundreds of eyes filled with hatred and contempt stared back, each one carrying a different story in their depths.

It made me wonder how a group of people can just come together to hate you without hearing your own side of the story, or even knowing anything about you.

But that was wolves. All they did was follow the leadership of their Alpha. I wasn’t too surprised.

I let the silence stretch, tasting the venom in it. My hands trembled, but not with fear. No, this time it was rage, old and bitter, bubbling up inside me until I could no longer swallow it down.

“I will never,” I said, my voice carrying through the chamber like the crack of a whip, “carry an unwanted pup.”

Gasps rippled through the hall. Some elders muttered prayers under their breath. Stella’s smirk widened, hungry for scandal. But I didn’t waver.

Slowly, deliberately, I reached for the vase of moon lilies set on the long ceremonial table—a pretty little decoration, nothing more to them.

But I knew better. I knew what the moon lily could do. Every she-wolf did. Its sap carried the power to end what the body had not yet expelled.

Margaret’s horrified voice split the room. “Elena, don’t you dare!”

I yanked the stalks free. White petals scattered across the floor like broken promises.

Without hesitation, I shoved the bitter leaves into my mouth and began to chew. The acrid taste coated my tongue, but I forced it down, bite after bite, while the chamber erupted around me.

Margaret screamed, clawing at the air like she could reach me from across the room. “Spit it out! Elena, stop!”

I ignored her. Her cries were nothing compared to the roar of my own fury, the chorus of my daughter’s screams echoing from another lifetime.

The pain came quickly, sharp cramps curling through my stomach like knives. I sank to my knees, my fingers clawing at the marble floor as warmth spread between my thighs. My breath came ragged, my body trembling, but I lifted my chin defiantly.

The whispers turned into horrified silence as crimson stained my dress, dripping down my legs in hot rivulets.

I dragged my hand across the blood, my palm slick with it. Then, with deliberate calm, I smeared it down the pale skin of my calf. The metallic tang filled my nose as I straightened.

Finally, I looked up. Straight into Damien’s eyes.

He hadn’t moved. His expression remained unreadable, though I saw the flicker—the faint crack in the mask, the storm behind his gaze.

I lifted my bloodied hand, showing him the proof he had demanded. My voice was cold, flat, stripped of everything but steel.

“Alpha,” I said, every syllable deliberate, “is this enough proof?”