Chapter 4: Shattered Bonds

SCARLETT

Like a dagger pointed at my heart, the word lingered in the air. expecting a child. The voices around me faded into a muffled hum, and for a moment it felt like the entire world was tilting on its axis. My breath caught, my chest constricted, and I stumbled backward as though the weight of that one word alone would have crushed me to the ground.

“She’s carrying my pup,” John’s voice thundered proudly above the roar of the crowd, his words slicing through me like a silver blade. His face once the rare home of fleeting warmth for me was now glowing with pride, his lips curved in a smile I had never earned, not even in our most intimate moments.

A raw cry tore from my throat before I could stop it. “No… no, this isn’t real.” My vision blurred with tears, my legs trembling as I looked from John to Maria, who clutched her stomach and leaned into his embrace like the perfect damsel in distress. Her eyes flickered briefly to me mocking, triumphant and I understood. This was no accident. She wanted me destroyed, and she had succeeded.

The pack roared with approval. Cheers, laughter, joyous cries that mocked my misery. The people I was supposed to lead as Luna rejoiced in my downfall.

“She’s carrying the true heir!” someone shouted.

“The goddess has blessed our Alpha!” another cried.

“And cursed that slave he was forced to mate!” came a cruel voice from the back, met with the thunder of agreement.

I wanted to scream. To tell them that I was Luna, that I bore the mark of the Moon Goddess herself when she bound me to John. But what was the use? To them, I was nothing. Less than nothing. A slave wearing a Luna’s crown that never truly fit.

My knees buckled. The stones beneath me bit into my skin as I fell, my palms scraping against the rough ground. I didn’t care. Pain in my body was nothing compared to the agony ripping my soul apart.

“John,” I whispered, lifting my tear-streaked face toward him. He didn’t look at me. Not once. His entire being was centered on Maria. His hands stroked her hair, his lips pressed against her forehead in a gesture of tenderness I had begged for, dreamed of, and never received.

I wanted to crawl forward, to beg, to scream until he remembered me. But my body wouldn’t move. My voice was lost in the sea of celebration.

And then I heard her voice. Soft. Sweet. Poison wrapped in honey.

“She tried to hurt me, John… she pushed me. What if something happens to our baby?” Maria’s words dripped with false fear as she clung tighter to him.

My head snapped up, my eyes wide with disbelief. “That’s a lie!” I screamed, my voice hoarse and desperate. “I didn’t—”

But before the truth could spill, his hand cracked across my cheek. The sound echoed louder than the crowd, louder than my own heartbeat. I fell sideways onto the ground, my vision swimming as my ears rang.

The world tilted again. My face burned. My dignity, my soul, my very existence felt shattered beneath that slap.

“Dare to harm her or my child again, and I will rip you apart myself!” John’s growl vibrated through the air, final and merciless.

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Some sneered at me, others shook their heads as if I were the filth they’d always believed. Their eyes stabbed into me, each glance a reminder that I had no place here.

Something inside me cracked.

Tears stung, but I resisted allowing them to witness my continued breakdown. I pushed myself up slowly, my cheek throbbing from his hand, my pride bleeding out on the ground. My legs trembled, but I stood. Even if I was broken, even if my heart was in pieces, I wouldn’t kneel before them anymore.

My lips quivered as I whispered, “The Moon Goddess chose me as your mate, John. Whether you deny me, betray me, or strike me… I will always be your Luna. But know this—” my voice wavered, then steadied, sharp as shattered glass, “—one day, you will regret this.”

A hush fell for just a moment, the words cutting through the madness.

John’s eyes finally met mine. For a fleeting second, I thought I saw something there hesitation? Doubt? No. It was gone as quickly as it came. He pulled Maria closer, shielding her with his body as though I were a threat instead of the woman the Moon herself had tied him to.

“You’re no Luna of mine,” he spat. His words were a death sentence. “From this moment on, you are nothing but a slave. And when the sun rises tomorrow, your place will be in the quarters where you belong. Step out of line, Scarlett, and I won’t hesitate to end you.”

Gasps rippled through the pack once more, but this time no one objected. Not one person stood for me. Not even those I had once called friends among the servants.

I felt cold. Empty. My body moved on its own, turning away from them, walking back through the crowd that parted with mocking smiles and whispers. Each step felt heavier than the last. My head spun, my body screamed to collapse, but I didn’t let them see it. I wouldn’t give them that satisfaction.

Behind me, the cheers resumed, loud and thunderous, celebrating Maria’s supposed pregnancy and my downfall. The sound chased me like a storm as I slipped away into the shadows of the pack house.

By the time I reached the solitude of the slave quarters, my chest heaved with sobs I could no longer hold back. I collapsed onto the straw bed that had once been mine before John had taken me into his mansion. Full circle. Back to nothing.

I pressed a trembling hand against my chest. The mate bond pulsed faintly still, fragile but unbroken. The Moon Goddess had bound me to him, but John had shattered it with betrayal. I could feel the crack, the agony tearing me apart from the inside.

My tears soaked the thin blanket beneath me as I curled into myself. Alone. Rejected. Betrayed.

Yet, even through the haze of pain, a small ember sparked within me.

I had lost everything tonight my title, my dignity, the man I had loved beyond reason. But I was still breathing. And as long as I lived, the story wasn’t over.

I didn’t know how, or when, but I swore on the Go

ddess herself… one day, they would all regret underestimating me.