Chapter 2 The betrayal

The crowd went silent.

Astraea felt a sharp stabbing pain in her chest. “You can't…” Astraea gasped She held her chest her knee giving way. “The rejection… it will kill me. You know my wolf is failing. I will not survive the break.”

“Then you will die a Matyr for the packs,” Jaxon said. “It is better you die tonight than to stay another year, draining my land and giving me nothing but sick pups.”

“There is only one woman in this pack who has the fire to match my own, a woman who has already proven her worth in the hunt and her loyalty in my bed.”

Astraea's heart stopped. His bed?

Jaxon reached out a hand. “Step forward.”

The woman came out of the shadow. It was Verena, wearing a gown of red silk, and a smug smile on her face as she looked at Astraea.

“Verena,” Astraea whispered.

The betrayal hitting her harder than any physical blow. “My own sister, Verena.”

Verena walked straight to Jaxon, putting her hands in his own. Their aura blended together, a gold and red color that filled the air.

Jaxon pulled Verena to his side, his arms around her possessively, in a way he had never held Astraea before. He turned to Astraea.

“She has been more a Luna to me in the last month than you have ever been, Astraea,” Jaxon said, and placed a passionate kiss to Verena's neck, right in front of her.

When he pulled back, his eyes were glowing bright gold. He looked out at the five packs, his voice echoing over the mountain.

“I, Jackson, reject Astraea as my mate. Tonight I choose a true queen, a woman of fire and strength. I choose Verena as my mate.

The roar of hundreds of wolves filled the air. The sound was like a physical wall slamming into Astraea's chest. She was still on the floor of the altar.

The world was spinning around her, a blur of mocking faces and lights. Jaxon stood like a god, made from gold, his hands on Verena's hips. The air around them shone with the heat of his approval, a heat that was supposed to belong to Astraea.

Verena came forward, and knelt down in front of Astraea, reaching out a gentle hand to push Astraea's locks of white hair from her tear stained face. To the crowd, it looked like a sister comforting her sibling, that had fallen down. To Astraea, it felt like the touch of a snake.

“Oh, Astraea,” Verena whispered, her voice so low that those around could not listen to their conversation.

“Do not look at him like that. You're embarrassing yourself. You had to have known that this day was coming. A lion does not mate with a mouse, no matter what the moon goddess says.”

“Why? Verena”, Astraea asked, her voice low. “You saw how hard I tried to be strong. You were the one who helped me with tonics for my heart. You said you would help me stay strong for him.”

An evil light came into Verena's eyes. She leaned closer, bringing her lips to Astraea's ear. “The tonic?, you mean the ones that I gave you that kept you weak enough to stay in bed while I was in the study with jaxon?”

She let out a low giggle. “I did not give them to help you, darling. I gave it to you to keep you out of the way. While you were sleeping off your sickness, Jackson was discovering what it feels like to be with a real woman.”

Astraea's breath caught in her throat. “You… you have been with him. Jaxon didn't just say that to spite me.”

“Spite you, no. For months,” Verena said, her eyes going over to Jaxon with a hungry heated look in her eyes. “Every night you thought he was patrolling the border. He was patrolling my bedroom. He is so much more energetic with me. He was… afraid of breaking a fragile... little doll like you.”

“Jaxon,” Astraea shouted. She came forward, holding the hem of his heavy fur cloak.

“Jaxon just looked at me. She is lying. Verena has been poisoning me. She has been…”

Jaxon did not react to what she was saying. He looked down at her hands on his cloak and kicked her hands away with his legs.

“Enough, Astraea.” Jaxon growled, his Alpha Aura coming out and pinning her to the ground. “Verena did not have to poison anything. Your own weakness did the work for her. She has given me a month, what you could not give me in years.”

Verena stood up, arranging her dress over her stomach with a slow, deliberate motion. She looked at Jaxon, then at Astraea. A slow, wicked smile coming on her lips.

"Tell her the best part. She's family." Verena said softly, smiling at jaxon. "She should be the first to know." Jaxon's expression shifted. A rare genuine smile of pride came to his face.

He looked at the crowd, his voice loud. "Tonight we do not just celebrate a new lunar. We celebrate a legacy. Verena is carrying my heir. A true Alpha's blood conceived in strength."

The crowd went crazy.

"A prince," they shouted.

"The sun king returns."

Astraea felt as if her soul had been sucked out of her body.

Pregnant.

The words echoing through her mind, like a beating drum. While she had been trying to survive, doing everything just to be worthy of him. They had been building a life behind her back.

“Jaxon, please,” Astraea cried out. Her dignity, burning away in her desperation.

She crawled towards him on her knees, bleeding on the stone. “Do not do this. Do not sever the bond. I can be better. I will stop taking the tonics.”

“I will train until I can't walk. Just… just believe in me for once. If you believe in me, I know I can be strong. Please, do not cut the bonds.”

Jaxon looked at her for a second. She thought she saw the boy who used to give her wildflowers in the spring. But when Verena touched his hand, her hands on his arm, his eyes turned to ice.