Aurora’s POV

I had been keeping a secret from my twin mates this whole time: I was the only heir to the Blackwood Pack, the most powerful wolf pack in the world.

That night, I planned to reveal the truth.

The drums thundered through the night as the Blood Moon Pack celebrated its rise to second place in the Alliance. The whole country was celebrating, and I intended to make the night even more unforgettable.

More importantly, I was going to prove my father wrong. He had lectured me like some old-fashioned relic, insisting that power mattered more than bonds and ordering me to accept an arranged marriage.

I wanted nothing to do with my father’s plan. I needed a fated mate! The thought of marrying some strange man made me want to scream. I didn’t care if he was the Lycan King.

Then I had found my twin mates at the Pack border.

My heart had raced the moment I saw them, and I could hardly wait to be with them again. I had even chosen a sexy set of lingerie for that night, and the thought had made me smile. The sparks between us were sure to burn hotter than the bonfire.

I was ready to give the Pack an heir.

I entered the ballroom and started looking for Damon and Lucian, but Celeste suddenly stepped in front of me.

Celeste had been an Omega wolf I had rescued from the Pack border a month earlier. She had been covered in bruises, dressed in rags, and crying as she begged me to let her stay. She had told me that her Pack had been slaughtered and that she was the only one who had escaped.

I had pulled her off the ground, given her the best room in the house, and found her a job.

We had become close almost immediately. I couldn’t believe how much we had in common. I had treated her like a younger sister.

Damon and Lucian had accepted her just as quickly, much faster than I had expected. It had seemed to prove that they were not only powerful, but compassionate as well.

That night, Celeste had volunteered to decorate the Pack’s celebration. The ballroom decorations should have been the Luna’s responsibility, but my mates had told me that she only wanted to help. The celebration had to be perfect, and I had no reason to refuse her.

I stopped beside her.

“Celeste, look at these decorations. You did an amazing job.”

“Of course.” She smiled. “I wanted the Alphas to see that I was just as capable as you were.”

My smile faltered, but I assumed she was only looking for praise.

“I’ll tell Damon and Lucian. I’m sure they’ll reward you.”

“Oh, they will.”

Her smile disappeared. She lowered her voice until only I could hear her.

“Aurora, you heard me correctly. Tonight, you’re going to lose everything—the Luna title and the Alphas’ love.”

“What were you talking about?” I asked, wondering if I had misheard her.

She didn’t answer. She simply stepped backward and dropped into the swimming pool outside the ballroom.

I hadn’t even reached for her when a furious roar exploded behind me.

“What the hell did you do? You pushed her into the pool!”

Damon, one of my mates, shoved me to the ground and jumped into the water.

His usually gentle face had twisted into something terrifying. Every member of the Pack turned toward me, their eyes filled with disgust.

“Celeste can’t swim.” Lucian, my other mate, strode over. “Were you trying to kill her?”

I turned toward the pool. Celeste immediately scrambled into Lucian’s arms, trembling as if I were the one who had attacked her.

I swallowed my disappointment and forced myself to remain calm.

“You didn’t see what happened between us.”

“I saw Celeste nearly drown, and I saw you standing beside the pool.” Damon’s voice was cold. “What else was I supposed to think?”

“And what exactly did that prove?”

I kept my voice steady, even as pain twisted through my chest.

“Oh my God, Alphas, please don’t fight with Luna Aurora because of me.” Celeste sobbed, her voice trembling with perfectly measured distress. “I never imagined that making the house look beautiful would make Luna Aurora feel threatened.”

It felt as if every drop of blood had drained from my body. I turned to her.

“Celeste, why were you lying? I brought you here from the edge of the territory. I gave you a clean room and a job. Why would I do that if I wanted to hurt you?”

Damon cut me off.

“You did it because you were jealous. You couldn’t stand watching Celeste become more accepted by the Pack.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“On her second day here, Pack members saw you throw coffee on her when she delivered documents to our office,” Damon continued.

“And that wasn’t the only time,” he added furiously. “You made her eat leftovers and forced her to clean the entire Alpha estate by herself. If Lucian and I hadn’t found her unconscious in the hall, she might have worked herself to death.”

“That wasn’t true.” My voice shook with anger. “Damon, Lucian, how could you believe this? I had been part of this Pack for three years. You both knew me. Every member of this Pack knew I wasn’t cruel.”

I looked around the ballroom, searching for one familiar face, one person willing to stand up for me.

Instead, everyone silently took a step back.

They looked at me as if they had never known me.

DJ lowered her head. When she had suffered complications during childbirth, I had secretly used Blackwood Pack resources to save her baby. Now she wouldn’t even look at me.

Archer bit down on his lower lip. A rogue had once attacked him, and I had taken the blow for him, breaking three of my own ribs in the process. Now fear filled his eyes.

Maya backed away, trembling. When her elderly mother had needed expensive medication, I had secretly paid every bill.

Not one of them said a word.

“Enough, Aurora!” Damon roared. Even his wolf had lost patience with me. “Look around you. You had no right to question anyone here. Not one member of this Pack had come forward to defend you. If there was anything about you left that deserved respect, at least one person would have been willing to testify for you tonight.”

Lucian stepped forward, his expression full of disgust.

“Aurora, just apologize. Then we can return to the celebration.”

I looked at him.

This was the man who had stayed beside my bed all night when I had a fever, pressing a cold towel to my forehead again and again.

And Damon had been no different. When I had cut my finger, he had panicked so badly that he had banned me from the kitchen and insisted on bandaging the wound himself.

But the men standing before me now were strangers. Their eyes held nothing but cold disappointment.

I clenched my fists.

I had spent years trying to make this Pack stronger. I had hidden my identity. I had hidden the true power of my wolf. I had given everything I had to these people.

And they had replaced me with a woman who had been here for less than a month.

Tears burned behind my eyes.

No.

They did not deserve a single one.

“I would never apologize for something I didn’t do.”

“You will be punished,” Damon declared.

He waved his hand, and several guards immediately surrounded me.

“No!” Celeste cried. She stepped in front of me, her performance flawless. “Alpha Damon, if you send Luna Aurora to the dungeon, I’ll drive this knife straight through my chest!”

“Damon, stop.” Lucian caught her by the shoulders. “Aurora needed time to reflect. From this moment on, she was stripped of her Luna title. All Pack affairs would be handled by Celeste as acting Luna.”

“You were all going to regret what you had done tonight.”

I tightened my fists and looked from one face to the next.

Damon’s expression remained cold.

“No. The only thing I regretted was marking you three years ago.”

Lucian turned to Damon.

“Enough. We need to get Celeste changed. She’s too weak. She could get sick.”

They helped Celeste leave together.

Damon stopped as he passed me.

“If you came to your senses and decided to apologize, you knew where to find us.”

Then he walked away.

I stood in the middle of the ballroom, numb to everything.

Laughter and music still drifted through the open doors. They were already placing the Luna crown on Celeste’s head.

Then anger swept through me.

I stopped hesitating and called my father.

“Father, About my engagement to Darius Thorne, the Lycan King…I’m willing to reconsider.”

I looked back at the ballroom.

“I’ll take care of everything here within two days.”

I ended the call.

Before I left, I had one thing to do.

I would make sure every resource the Blackwood Pack had provided to the Blood Moon Pack was cut off completely.