Chapter 2

*He can't.*

Her heart clenched. Laura couldn't believe what she was hearing.

The past three years couldn't have been meaningless to him. Even if they didn't mean as much to him as they meant to her, they had to have meant something!

Sarah stepped forward, bowed low and beseeching, "Your Highness, our Luna--"

"Don't call her luna!" Basil snarled. "She doesn't deserve that title! Seize her!"

Sarah flinched and screamed in terror as Basil's soldiers advanced on her and dragged her away from the opulent hall.

"Wait!" Laura cried, "How can you--"

"Your Majesty, please!" Sara cried, struggling against the soldiers.

"Move!"

"You can't do this to me!"

Laura reached for her, but another group of soldiers blocked her path as Sarah disappeared into the shadows still struggling. Her cries filled Laura with grief.

She had only ever had Sarah on her side. Most of the nobles shared Basil's contempt for her lowly status. The few who didn't were too bound in politics to go against Basil's orders. Who could she turn to?

She turned to see Gavin Mirabelle, Basil's grandfather and the most powerful minister of the kingdom. He had only ever held Laura in contempt. His smile was triumphant as if he had finally gotten rid of a long-standing obstacle.

She looked up at the soldiers who blocked her path. Their eyes were full of sympathy and discomfort.

"Lu--" One of them cleared his throat, "Miss, go back to your pack. Your things will be packed and sent to you."

Would they not even give her a horse to ride?

Even if they did, where would she go?

She had been Basil's marked mate and Luna for three years. King Adolph had been unable to leave the war front and had left Basil in charge of the kingdom's affairs, but Basil had not met his mate. He and the ministers had been desperate to find someone to help shoulder the burden and held a grand ball hoping to find a suitable marked mate.

At the time, she had been a mateless beta of the Emerald Twilight Pack, a completely unremarkable pack within the kingdom. Her parents refused to even consider Laura as their heir and sent her to the ball with the hopes to solve the problem of their wretched daughter and their low status in one stroke.

She remembered the awe she'd felt seeing the castle and wearing the new dress her parents had bought her. She smiled at everyone and had been exceedingly polite. She spoke with the brightest nobles of the kingdom and thought she had proven herself worthy enough to garner a personal meeting with Basil.

He had been attracted to her, yet disparaging of her status. She could not blame him. She was an ordinary beta from an ordinary pack and he was the heir to the kingdom. Despite her shortcomings, he had chosen her and she had fallen for his handsome face and the thought that he believed she could stand beside him. She had been so foolishly happy to marry him and find some measure of use and worth in his eyes.

She thought her parents meant the best for her, but she learned quickly that they only meant the best for themselves. Her marriage had only ever been a means to gain more money and status. For a while, she tried to give them what they wanted, thinking they might love her, but what little she could do was never enough and more would have jeopardized the kingdom's stability.

Given the choice between her parents and the kingdom, she sent them back to the Emerald Twilight Pack and never spoke to them again, devoting herself to her duties as luna and striving to be worthy of the title and her place at Basil's side.

Then, she learned the truth.

She had not earned her private audience with Basil. Her parents had paid for it by bribing the ministers to push her to the front of the line.

Basil had never cared who his marked mate was. He had only wanted a beautiful woman on his arm. She wasn't even sure if he cared about the position of luna other than to have someone obey him.

Looking back, it was so obvious. He'd only been happy when she gave in during their arguments even if she knew she was right.

After learning the truth, she thought she could work to take the sting of it away, but it had only pushed her to do more. She had thought there had to be something she could do to make Basil see her as a worthy partner despite her birth status.

For three years, she hosted mating banquets, built hospitals and shelters for wolves who had lost mates in the war, built schools for war orphans, and pushed to reclaim the farmland around the imperial city. She had done so much, gave so much to try and live up to the title she had been given

But for what?

Delia would soon be Basil's wife and luna, wearing Laura's gowns, hanging on his arm being loved by him so effortlessly.

And Laura?

She had nowhere to go.

She had *nothing*.

She turned and fled down the marble path away from the candlelit jewels and whirling gowns, away from Basil and the last three years of her life. The trees passed in a blur. The longer she ran the more she could believe that the burning in her eyes was the wind instead of the tears.

What good were her tears? Her efforts, looks, and devotion had been worthless.

She was worthless in the end.

She tripped and tumbled into the dirt, scraping her knee and tearing her gown. As she lay in the dirt, her despair turned to fury and frustration.

For all that she has done for him, she was owed more courtesy! She had earned that much!

She could not blame him for rejecting her for his true mate, but how could he do this to her? She huffed, thinking back and feeling ridiculous. What else could she have expected of him after years of bucking his authority trying to prove something that was never meant to be?

*Don't call her luna! She doesn't deserve that title!*

She choked on a sob. She should have just stayed with her pack and been content with her life: wretched, worthless, and completely unremarkable.

She wasn't sure who to resent more: Basil, her parents, or herself for wishing for the impossible.

She let out a bitter laugh, "How stupid, Laura. How pathetic."

She sat up and found herself at the edge of a cliff she had never seen before. She must have run beyond the orchard and into the forest behind the castle. She stood and peered over the edge seeing the rushing river below, gleaming in the full moon's light.

She lifted her gaze to the moon. When was the last time she had prayed? Perhaps this was all just punishment for her lack of piety.

"Might you judge me fairly, goddess?"

She had been just a young girl with dreams of being of some worth in the world. She had just wanted to be a luna worthy to stand at Basil's side.

The wind blew cold around her and down into the canyon, carrying with it the scents of the orchard and maybe the hint of rich wine swirling around in a noble's glass.

She wondered if Delia had picked the wine, or if Basil had simply wanted to have the best of everything to announce finding his mate. Would her ideas be considered a waste of time and money?

Would Delia's ideas actually *be* a waste of time and money? She bet Basil would never tell Delia that her only merit was her looks.

She shivered in the cold wind and forced those thoughts aside. None of that mattered now.

She whispered to the wind. "Why am I here?"

*Don't be so dramatic, Alice,* her wolf, purred. *You're strong, capable, and smarter than those idiots. If that smelly jerk has a mate like Delia, our mate must be a man among men.*

Laura chuckled, bitterly. She wanted to resist the little blossom of joy that came with thinking of her fated mate, but she couldn't. It had always given her the courage to live even when it was hard.

She sniffled, "Maybe."

*We shouldn't waste our time mourning someone who will not mourn us and is not ours. Perhaps our mate is beyond the Imperial City*.

She didn't think she could journey that far in a ripped gown and without provisions. Even if she had supplies, what about the vampires and all the rogues roaming outside the safety of the Imperial City?

Alice growled,*If you cannot believe in yourself, then at least trust your mate. He will find you. The goddess has not forsaken us. We are not far from the orchard. His Highness can spare a few days' worths of food*.

Laura huffed, "First, rejected. Now, a thief?"

How far she had fallen. Still, Alice was right. There was nothing for her in the kingdom any longer. Perhaps beyond it, she would find where she belonged.

She wiped her face and squared her shoulders.

***Move!*** Alice screamed as Laura felt someone coming up behind her, yet it was too late.

Cold hands force her forward before she could turn and look. The little strength she had in her legs vanished as she skidded over the edge and plunged headlong into terror knowing no one would hear her or care.

She felt the scream leave her as the craggy rocks of the canyon's river rushed up to meet her.

There was pain then darkness.

Then, she was nothing.