The pack house was lively that evening with warm light spilling from the chandeliers, the scent of roasted meat and spiced wine lingering in the air after dinner.
Women gathered near the staircase, their hushed voices carrying easily into the open hall.
"The Alpha still hasn't returned?"
"I heard he plans to stay behind for three more weeks."
"His wife gave birth but he's staying three more weeks just to clear out rogues?"
"Tch. I don't feel sorry for her. That's what Carrie Pietro gets for trapping the Alpha with her shameless father."
As they spoke, one of them looked toward the stairs and instantly clamped her mouth shut at the sight of a familiar, robust redhead standing on the balcony, her hazy eyes pinned on them.
Covering her mouth with her arm, she turned her face toward them and coughed. "Luna Carrie. On the balcony."
Shaken by the news, the group of women forgot they weren't supposed to look and whipped their eyes toward the balcony.
When they realized this, they tried to turn away when someone suddenly clicked their tongue in disdain.
"Don't be so scared of that fat woman. It's not like you said any lies about how she shamelessly threw herself onto my handsome cousin three years ago."
"Thinking of it, I'm still thankful she didn't crush him under all that ridiculous weight she has."
The noisy house instantly fell silent as a young man in his twenties stepped forward, his eyes pinned on Carrie Meadows.
The woman sucked in a deep breath and turned to leave without a retort when the man jabbed again.
"What is that face? Don't tell me you'll be punishing these people for simply having a productive discussion about the pack amongst themselves!"
Her jaw ticked.
Connor Hartridge.
One of her husband's many cousins and a man who never let an opportunity to jab at her slip by.
No, the entire pack never let an opportunity to jab at her slip by. She was used to it.
After all, her father's business had been doing better than ever since she married into Rune Pack.
Besides, she had better things to do—like raise a baby.
So instead of engaging in pointless banter with Connor, she simply clenched her jaw and continued toward her room.
Seeing this, Connor's face darkened.
Once again, this pig was trying to make him seem insensitive when she was the real insensitive one, putting their pack in a bad position.
He couldn't even boast of a good-looking sister-in-law. Instead of being content with the pack's input in her father's business, she still went ahead to bear the Alpha a child.
Just thinking of his cousin's good-looking genes going to waste because he decided to procreate with someone like her fueled his contempt toward her silence.
Thus, he stomped upstairs to the balcony and began dragging her toward the stairs, screaming, "I'm your brother-in-law, how dare you be so condescending to me?"
At this, she frowned and began struggling with him. "What are you doing? Let go of me!"
"Not until you make a promise to those women that they won't be punished once the Alpha returns!" The man hissed persistently.
This dragging, of course, was just for show.
No one knew it yet, not even Carrie, but whenever people spoke badly about her, he would be the first to secretly round them up and teach them a lesson.
This, he often did while claiming it was on the Alpha's orders, leaving them to connect the dots and assume Carrie had reported them.
She was still, after all, his Luna and an insult to her was still an insult to him, even if he only married her out of sheer duty.
Unable to pry his hand off her, Carrie gave up and gnashed her teeth indignantly. "Connor, let go of me this instant!"
However, he merely scoffed. "Or what? You'll punish me? You'll punish me for standing up to the evil you do to anyone who dares to say something negative about you?"
"Grow a conscience, you pig, and make a promise to these women that you won't go sending a messenger to the Alpha, getting them dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and punished!"
No one budged despite seeing the Luna struggling against him, as they all shared the same thought as him.
Gritting her teeth, Carrie's claws elongated and she reached out to claw at his wrist.
She was bracing herself against the railings to slow him down, but when her claws connected sharply with his skin, he instinctively reacted and shoved her away in pain.
With her weight already pressing against the railing, his shove tipped the balance and the wood easily gave way.
The last thing she felt as she fell headfirst was the frightened gasps of everyone around.
The next second, she gurgled, feeling a sharp pain spread through her chest.
The crowd in the pack house scattered, and her sight of them rushing around slowly blurred.
Lifting her head slightly, her thoughts instantly went blank at the sight of a metal rod protruding out of her chest.
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, her hand stretched shakily toward the bedroom. "M-my baby…"
Then her eyes rolled into her head.
The next time she opened her eyes, she jumped, surprised she was reliving this horror again.
"You are so beautiful," slurred the man in front of her, his fingers grazing her bottom lip.
She froze in disbelief.
What?
She died… so this had to be a memory.
Didn't people usually experience the best days of their life as their last memories before they died completely? So why was this night, which she regretted a year from now, part of it?
Gritting her teeth, she shoved the man's creeping hand away from her body and gritted her teeth seeing his face.
She realized one year into their marriage that she never should've let her father do what he did to get her together with this bastard.
At this time, he and his cousins were still being considered to be the Alpha of his pack, but a lot of people thought he was the most promising and rooted for him.
Including her father.
So when he brought up how successful the family business would become if she married into Rune Pack as his wife, she couldn't get the thought out of her head and naturally went along with the plan he came up with.
But after marrying him, all she got was the cold shoulder. She rarely saw him and he only ever came into her room whenever he deemed fit to sleep with her.
He was a horrible husband and father who didn't even bother to show up for the birth of their son.
If she could turn back the hands of time, she would never have married this cold-blooded bastard.
Snapping out of her reverie to the feeling of his hands crawling up her legs, she winced in disgust and shoved him onto the bed.
Coupled with the drugs he took, slamming his head against the bed made him pass out and she turned to look for her clothes.
Some seconds into doing so, the door was suddenly kicked open and her eyes widened.
It was just as she remembered—her father bursting in with high-ranking wolves from the pack, pretending to catch Dean in the act with her.
It was a very good plan, because knowing Dean Meadows and his morals, he would marry her as an apology for his actions.
"There! I told you he was up to no good with my daughter!" As her father stood at the door, the veins on his temple almost bursting in feigned rage, she sighed and shook her head gently.
"Don't be so angry, Father. Nothing happened between us."