Betrayed by My Alpha Mate

The scent hit me first—metallic, wrong, like copper pennies scattered across stone. My wolf stirred uneasily in my chest as I descended the basement stairs of the pack house, each step echoing in the silence that felt too heavy, too final.

"Sarah?" I called out, my voice barely above a whisper. "Sarah, are you down here?"

The basement was rarely used, mostly storage for old furniture and forgotten memories. But something had drawn me here, a pull I couldn't explain, a wrongness that made my heavily pregnant belly tighten with dread.

I found her in the corner, slumped against the cold stone wall like a broken doll. My sister. My beautiful, gentle sister who always smelled like wildflowers and sunshine. Now she smelled like death.

"No." The word tore from my throat, raw and desperate. "No, no, no—Sarah!"

I dropped to my knees beside her, my hands shaking as I reached for her face. Her skin was cold, so cold, and her eyes—those warm brown eyes that used to light up when she saw me—stared at nothing.

My wolf howled inside me, a sound of pure anguish that seemed to shake the very foundations of the pack house. The baby responded immediately, kicking frantically against my ribs as if trying to escape the waves of grief crashing over me.

"Sarah, please," I whispered, gathering her limp form into my arms. "Please don't leave me. Please."

That's when I saw it—a piece of paper clutched in her right hand, the edges crumpled from her desperate grip. With trembling fingers, I pried it loose, my vision blurring as tears spilled down my cheeks.

The handwriting was unmistakably hers, though shaky, as if written through tremendous pain:

*Victoria, I'm sorry. I can't live with what he did to me. Jaxson Barnes... he... I tried to fight him off, but he was too strong. He said no one would believe me, that I was nothing compared to his sister's position as Elliott's chosen mate. He was right. I'm so ashamed. I can't face you or anyone else. Please forgive me. I love you.*

The paper fluttered from my numb fingers as the words sank in like poison. Jaxson Barnes. Delilah's brother. He had... he had...

A scream built in my chest, primal and fierce, but it came out as a broken sob. My wolf was thrashing now, demanding blood, demanding justice, while my pup kicked and rolled as if sensing the violence of my emotions.

"I'll make him pay," I whispered against Sarah's cold forehead, my tears falling into her hair. "I swear on the Moon Goddess, I'll make them all pay."

The basement door creaked open above us. "Victoria?" Elliott's voice called down, concerned but distant. "I heard screaming. Are you—"

His footsteps stopped abruptly as he reached the bottom of the stairs and took in the scene. His sharp intake of breath cut through the air like a blade.

"Victoria, what—" He stopped, his nostrils flaring as he caught the scent of