Chapter 7
648words
They grieved for their missing Luna and burned with hatred for the enemies who had dared violate their pack.
Silas took center stage, his eyes deliberately reddened. His black ceremonial robes emphasized his performance of profound grief. With a carefully timed breath, he surveyed the thousands gathered below and began:
"Today we gather to mourn my beloved—your Luna—Elara."
His voice carried across the silent plaza.
"She was torn from us by contemptible enemies," Silas raised a clenched fist. "They believed this would break our spirit. They were wrong."
He paused strategically, his gaze finding Elara's family elders in the crowd.
"I vowed to protect her with my life. I have failed that sacred promise."
The pack members were visibly moved. They watched their Alpha with hearts full of sympathy and renewed loyalty, certain he would lead them to avenge their Luna.
"Elara was more than my mate," Silas continued, his voice swelling with authority. "She was mother to this pack. Her compassion and wisdom were gifts to us all. Our enemies have stolen not just my beloved, but our collective future."
"Now," Silas raised his arm dramatically, indicating the massive screens surrounding the plaza, "I will show you what these monsters have done." He signaled to his technicians. "Display the evidence. Let all witness their savagery."
Every eye turned to the screens, bracing for horrific images of their Luna's suffering.
The screens blazed to life, bright light cutting through the somber atmosphere.
An image appeared—but not of a dungeon or torture chamber.
Instead, a sunlit bedroom materialized. Silas and Chloe appeared, naked bodies entwined intimately on rumpled sheets.
The crowd froze in collective shock. Elara's family elders rose to their feet, faces drained of color.
Silas's fabricated grief shattered into naked horror as he stared at the screen, mind reeling.
In the video, Chloe draped herself around Silas's neck, her voice sultry: "Darling, when will you finally dispose of that impure-blooded Omega bitch?"
Silas's recorded voice replied clearly: "Soon. The Moon Goddess Covenant ceremony is the final step. Once I've absorbed her family's power completely, she becomes expendable."
Deathly silence gripped the plaza. Only the damning voices from the video continued.
"How will you handle her?" Chloe asked, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
"A dead Luna serves me better than a living one," Silas answered with chilling calculation. "I'll stage her kidnapping by our enemies, then sacrifice her to the Abyss for 'betraying the pack.' Her soul's energy will elevate my power beyond measure."
Horror and revulsion replaced grief on every face. The pack stared at their once-revered Alpha as though seeing a monster wearing familiar skin.
The damning evidence continued.
"She's such a pathetic fool, actually believing I loved her. She even surrendered her mother's 'Heart of the Moon Goddess' to me. After the sacrifice, I'll announce your pregnancy and make you my rightful Luna. The entire pack will belong to us."
Silas's cold, calculating voice echoed across the now-silent plaza.
Every pack member—male and female, elder and child—stared at their Alpha with identical expressions of disbelief and betrayal.
Silas opened his mouth to deny everything, to rage against this trap, but found himself paralyzed. Deep down, he knew it was over.
The video ended, the evidence of his betrayal fading from the screens.
But the screens immediately displayed something new—two massive banking interfaces. One showed the Silas family accounts, the other Elara's family holdings. The numbers displayed were staggering, representing centuries of accumulated wealth.
Then, as thousands watched in horror, those numbers began to change rapidly.
Decreasing.
The digits plummeted at dizzying speed. Vast fortunes evaporated before their eyes. Generations of accumulated wealth vanished in seconds.
Ten billion.
One hundred million.
One million.
Ten thousand.
Finally, both accounts froze simultaneously on a single, devastating digit: "0".
