15

Aprils POV
The dungeon door creaked open again, and I flinched at the sudden noise. I didn’t look up.
When the footsteps stopped just outside my cell, a voice called out my name, and it wasn’t one of the guards. It was the Alpha himself.
“April,” he said, his tone devoid of emotion, like he was addressing a stranger rather than the daughter of the people he had condemned to death.
“The ritual will begin tonight.” He says coldly, and I remain silent.
Jake had already told me this, well, not specifically, but he still did. So why is he telling me this again?
A ritual. I had heard whispers about it-a dark, twisted ceremony that stripped a wolf of their spirit, leaving nothing but a hollow shell behind. Those who endured it never came back the same. It was a fate worse than death; it was being condemned to live as a shadow of oneself, an existence filled with nothing but emptiness and pain. Snow whimpered inside me, and I could feel her panic, her fear blending with mine, a desperate struggle to hold on to what little hope we had left.
The guards stepped forward to restrain me, and I lurched back, my body trembling with raw terror and rage. “I won’t let you do this!” I snarled, the sound almost feral, a last act of defiance that I knew was hopeless. But I couldn’t just give up. I couldn’t just let them take everything from me. Not without a fight. Snow had given me the strength and courage to fight.
Dylan was not among the guards, and I didn’t know if that made me feel better or worse.
“Resist all you like,” the Alpha sneered. “It won’t change a thing.”
Two guards stepped forward and grabbed me by the arms, dragging me out of the cell. My feet stumbled beneath me, my body heavy and unwilling, but they held me up with a grip that dug into my skin. I wanted to fight back, to pull away, but I could hardly feel my limbs, as though the weight of grief had sapped all the strength from my body; plus, the guards were really strong, as most warriors are.
The cold stone of the dungeon gave way to the harsh light of day as I was hauled outside, the brightness stabbing at my eyes. The pack grounds stretched out before me, lined with wolves who watched in eerie silence. There was no murmuring, no whispers of sympathy or disgust. Just an empty, collective gaze as I was dragged toward the platform once more-the same platform where my parents’ lives had been taken from them. My stomach twisted at the sight, and I dug my boots into the ground, resisting the guards’ pull.
“No,” I shouted, thrashing in their grip. “You can’t do this! You can’t take everything from me!”
“Exactly, April. Just like that, Fight for us.” Snow said.
But my protests fell on deaf ears. They shoved me forward, my knees scraping against the wood as I was forced down onto the platform, the very place where my parents had knelt so long ago. The air was thick with the scent of old blood, their blood, and it clung to my senses like a curse. I felt sick, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might break through my ribs.
The Alpha stood before me, his expression devoid of pity or remorse. “We are gathered here tonight for two things; I will not say them because they are both surprises. “he began, his voice projecting across the crowd. “Jake Currington, my son, step forward.” Jake steps forward, and he looks at me with regret.
Regret? Why the hell would he be feeling regretful? And anyway, it’s a little too late for that.
“From today henceforth, I appoint Jake Currington as the Alpha of the Dark Moon pack. May the Moon Goddess guide you and help you make the right decisions. By the powers given to me by the moon, I now give you your new Alpha, Jake Currington,” the crowd erupts in cheers.
Jake then howls to the moon and says, “Thank you, Father; I promise to help and lead each of you to the best of my ability. May the moon Goddess help me? ”
Damn, this is what Dylan must have not wanted to tell me.
“My first job as Alpha will be to deal with insolent pack members without further delay,” he pauses. I want April Robinson to step forward.”
I step forward with a smile on my face, not caring what happens next. I would not give Jake the satisfaction of seeing me crying or weak; I was never going to prove his point about me being a weak mate.
“How dare you smile?” he asks. His voice was dripping with power, and I knew that he was close to shifting.
“What did you expect? For me to beg you for mercy? Ha! Well, too bad for you because I won’t ever beg you for anything again,” I say and spit at his feet.
He looks angry and proceeds to say :
“April Robinson, for disrespecting your Alpha, you are an Omega from now on.” he finishes with a wicked smile.
The words felt like daggers, each one plunging deeper than the last. Stripped of my rank. Reduced to an omega. It was more than humiliation-it was a death sentence for the soul. Snow stirred within me, restless, knowing what was to come. She was a part of me, my other half, and they were going to take her away.
I stared up at Jake, my fierce hatred burning behind my eyes. “You think this makes you strong?” I spat, my voice raw. “You’re nothing but a coward, hiding behind your power while you destroy anyone who doesn’t fit into your perfect, twisted world.”
He didn’t react. He simply turned to the shaman standing at the platform’s edge, who began chanting softly, raising his hands as the ancient spell to sever my bond with my wolf filled the air. Like an icy tendril snaking its way toward my soul, I could feel it, ready to sever the connection between me and my wolf forever.
Panic gripped me, tightening around my chest like a vice. I wasn’t just going to lose my status. I was going to lose her-my wolf, my strength, the very core of who I was. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. I clawed at the air as though I could somehow push the magic away, but it only grew stronger and colder, piercing through my skin.
And then, just as it reached for my wolf, a fierce, brilliant light burst through my mind, driving the cold away. It was warm, bright, and filled with a sense of power that wasn’t my own. I gasped, collapsing to the platform, and I could feel Snow within me, not fading but growing stronger. The shaman faltered in his chant, his voice breaking off as the spell shattered like glass.
I didn’t know what was happening. I only knew that I could still feel my stronger and more vibrant wolf than she had ever been. It was as if something had intervened, some force more extraordinary than any magic wielded by the pack. The warmth that filled me felt like a protective embrace, and deep within, I heard a whisper-soft, ancient, and powerful. “The Moon Goddess is with you.”
It was her saving me. This is the second time the Moon Goddess has made herself known to me. I wonder what this could mean.
They were still waiting for something to happen. They did not know I still had my wolf and that Jake’s command did not affect me.
I fucking hated him and the pack for just watching and doing nothing as Jake tried to take Snow away from me, my very essence.
I should not have been surprised, though. They did nothing for my parents; why would they do anything for me?
I felt the anger starting to rise, and I swear that one way or another, I would make them all pay for what they had done.
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