After My Alpha Rejected Me for My Mother’s Killer

The morning light filtered through the curtains as I balanced the tray of tea and toast, my fingers tracing over the delicate china pattern my mother had chosen decades ago. Every morning for the past week, I'd brought her breakfast personally—a small gesture of love for the woman who had given me everything.

"Mom, I've brought your favorite Earl Grey," I called, pushing open the door to her chambers with my hip.

The room fell silent. Too silent.

"Mom?" My voice wavered as I set the tray down on the small table near her bed.

Jolene Matthews lay motionless on her bed, her silver-streaked hair fanned across the pillow, her eyes closed forever. My mother—the former Luna, the backbone of our pack—was gone.

"No!" The word tore from my throat as I rushed to her side, my hands shaking as they hovered over her still form. "Mom, please..."

My wolf, Aria, howled in anguish inside me. *Something's wrong. This isn't natural.*

That's when I caught it—a scent so vile it made my stomach turn. Metallic and herbal, pungent and sharp. Wolfsbane. Lethal to our kind in its pure form.

"There's no way this was natural," I whispered, my fingers gently closing my mother's eyes. "Someone did this."

Aria snarled within me. *Andie. It's her scent underneath.*

I inhaled deeply, and there it was—the unmistakable scent of our Omega nanny layered beneath the wolfsbane. Sweet, cloying, and now tainted with the smell of murder.

Rage flooded through me as I stormed through the pack house, following Andie's scent trail. I found her in the nursery, humming softly as she folded my son's clothes.

"Andie," I growled, grabbing her arm and dragging her from the room.

"E-Excuse me, Luna?" Her eyes widened in practiced innocence, but I could see the calculation behind them.

"Don't play dumb." My voice shook with fury as I hauled her down the hallway toward Dexter's office. "I know what you did."

Dexter looked up from his desk as I burst through the door, Andie in tow. His brow furrowed at the sight of my tear-stained face.

"Sierra, what's going on?"

"My mother is dead," I spat, shoving Andie forward. "And this Omega murdered her with wolfsbane. I can smell it on her!"

Andie's face crumpled into a mask of hurt. "How could you accuse me of such a thing? I loved Jolene like my own mother!"

Dexter rose from his chair, his eyes darkening. "Sierra, control yourself."

"Control myself?" I stared at him in disbelief. "She's been murdered!"

"Enough!" Dexter roared, his Alpha aura crashing down on me like a physical weight.

My knees buckled as the force of his dominance pressed me down. Aria fought against it, but we were powerless against an Alpha's command.

"I said enough," he repeated, his voice lower but no less menacing. He turned to Marcus Reed, our Pack Healer, who had entered during the commotion. "Marcus, examine Jolene and tell me what happened."

Marcus's eyes darted between us, his medical