Slave No More: The Alpha's Broken Luna

Nerya's POV:

Stay quiet, Nerya. Whatever happened, I could not make a sound.

Alpha Darek's stare weighed heavily on me. Like everyone else, he watched me with the same cold and grim interest reserved for someone accused of something horrible. Who would have thought a little girl could poison her own parents? I kept my body motionless and lowered my head while silently wishing the floor would split open and pull me beneath it.

The thud of heavy footsteps filled the room. A moment later, he stopped directly before me.

One of his rough fingers hooked beneath my chin and lifted my face until I had no choice but to look at him. His hand gradually moved around my throat. He applied no pressure. Still, the frightening touch alone left me unable to move.

"Did you poison your parents?"

"I was only six," I stammered. "All I did was make lemonade for them."

A tremor ran through my voice and made it rise until I barely recognized the sound. Although I tried to explain myself, every word seemed foolish and weak beside the terrible accusation that had followed me for years. Only a few memories of my parents remained, yet the blame had been driven into me from that day onward.

Then Alpha Darek turned his red eyes toward my brother.

"Accusing a six-year-old sounds rather hard to believe."

"She was six, so she should have known which plants were dangerous," Alpha Toren replied flatly.

With a small shrug, Alpha Darek removed his hand from my neck.

"This sounded more like someone framed her. Everyone knew ordinary aconite had stopped harming our kind long ago. We had developed immunity to it centuries earlier."

My body remained rigid.

What was he talking about? Was aconite truly harmless? From the time I had learned to walk, everyone had taught me otherwise. They had buried that lie so far inside me that I had never once thought to question it.

"That left only one answer," Alpha Darek murmured. "Aconite Blood."

"You weren't there when it happened, Alpha Darek," my brother growled between clenched teeth. "Aconite killed them."

Darek tilted his head slightly.

"That's true. I wasn't there."

Perfect. The last thing I needed was another man digging up a tragedy that had happened years earlier.

However, he still had more to say. "Then answer one question. How could a six-year-old child have gotten Aconite Blood?"

"I didn't bring you here to talk about my slave," Alpha Toren spat. "And my parents' deaths were none of your concern."

From the armchair, Alpha Darek grabbed his leather jacket. He dressed far more simply than the other Alphas I had met, though something about his clothes still drew attention. His tight black T-shirt stretched over his broad, muscular chest, while a pair of dark jeans completed the look. Yet both of his arms remained entirely uncovered. No tattoos or even the faintest mark of ink touched his skin.

"Fine," Darek responded. "You've given me plenty to consider."

"I thought we reached an agreement," my brother snapped.

"We never signed anything. I could find the way out myself."

As soon as the door shut behind him, my brother and Beta Kyron faced me with the hunger of predators ready to tear into their prey.

"What exactly did you tell him?" Alpha Toren demanded.

His fist slammed deep into my stomach. The impact forced every bit of air from my lungs at once.

"N-Nothing," I grumbled as I fought to breathe. "He only asked why my scent smelled unusual."

"What did you say to him?" Kyron snarled, moving so near that warm drops of his spit struck my cheek.

Every part of me hated him. My hatred ran so deep that it sometimes gave me the only strength I had left to remain standing. Long ago, I had promised myself that I would make him pay someday. When that day came, he would suffer from every bit of pain he had made me endure.

"Answer me!" my brother shouted after I hesitated for too long.

The side of my head exploded with pain when his palm struck it. Under the force of the hit, I stumbled away.

I managed a faint nod.

"Yes... but I never told him you were responsible."

Although I had meant to sound steady, strong, and certain, the answer slipped from my mouth in a shattered whisper. Without their wolves' sharp hearing, neither man would have understood a word.

My brother grabbed a fistful of my dark hair. With a brutal jerk, he pulled my head backward and sent a fierce, burning pain across my scalp.

"If you cost me this alliance, I'll lock you away where you'll never see daylight again."

Still gripping my hair, he pulled me from the office and dragged me along the hallway toward the cellar entrance.

"Please..." I begged while stumbling after him. "He was an Alpha... I... I couldn't refuse to answer him."

Hot tears streamed over my cheeks when he pulled the heavy door open.

Alpha Darek stood on the other side.

With his arms folded, he rested comfortably against the wall and observed us without saying a word.

My brother immediately let go of my hair, and I dropped as the terrible strain disappeared from my scalp.

"Alpha Darek," Toren muttered while struggling to control his fury. "I thought you had already left."

"I told you I could find my own way out," Darek replied in a voice that was frighteningly calm. "I must've chosen the wrong door because I found a cellar soaked in your sister's unusual scent. Do you always treat your own family this way?"

"I've already told you why," my brother retorted without showing any fear. "She caused our parents' deaths. Yes, I treat her exactly as she deserves."

"What happens within another pack doesn't concern you," Beta Kyron sneered.

A brief laugh escaped Alpha Darek, but there was no trace of humor in it.

"Once I sign this treaty, every matter involving your pack concerns me. Now answer the question. What punishment did you have planned for her? Were you going to deny her food? Leave her alone in the darkness for a week? Beat her until she bled?"

"We had no intention of doing that."

"Is that so?" Darek interrupted as one dark eyebrow rose. "Did you seriously think I'd believe you were taking her upstairs and putting her to bed? Earlier today, I already had to step in before you struck her."

Then his sharp, careful gaze traveled over me as though he noticed far more than I wanted him to see.

"She's malnourished. Deep shadows have formed beneath her eyes. Despite being an Alpha's sister, she lives like she's worth nothing. Whatever she's accused of doing as a child doesn't matter to me."

"She killed them!" Alpha Toren hissed. "Besides, her punishment had nothing to do with the treaty."

"That decision belonged to me."

Slowly, Darek's red eyes scanned the entire hallway.

"Where was your mate? I wanted to know what she thought about the way you treated your sister."

My eyes pressed tightly closed as I silently pleaded for my brother not to call his Luna. Cerya was more vicious than Kyron and Toren put together.

"Actually, there was no need to bring her here," Alpha Darek continued, and disgust coated every word. "She was probably every bit as vile as both of you."

Carefully, I opened my eyes again. His attention had already settled back on me.

Nothing gave him a reason to protect me. I meant nothing to anyone because I was only the girl they had all condemned as a traitor. My brother had spared me from execution, but only because he preferred to make each day of my life feel like a long and painful death sentence.

"I wanted to offer you a new arrangement, Alpha Toren," Darek remarked as a hard, icy smile appeared on his lips.

"The conditions were already settled."

"I was adding another one. If you rejected it, you wouldn't receive my support. More importantly, you would gain me as an enemy. Both of us knew your pack couldn't survive that."

A muscle moved sharply in my brother's jaw.

"I assumed this condition had something to do with her."

"Your assumption was correct. She would return to my pack with me. In exchange for Nerya, Toren, I would give you the alliance."

Was he talking about me?

What reason could he have for taking me?

My brother and his Beta quietly discussed my future as if I were nothing but an object they could exchange. Throughout it all, Alpha Darek never looked away from me. His intense stare filled my stomach with a nervous flutter. What use could a powerful man like him possibly have for someone as damaged as me?

"Fine," Alpha Toren finally answered through clenched teeth.

My brother extended a hand to confirm the agreement, but Darek made no effort to accept it. Instead, his red gaze slowly moved from my face to Toren.

"I'll arrange the documents and return tomorrow."

Afterward, he stretched out his hand and gently rested his palm against my cheek. Such unexpected tenderness caught me off guard, and my breath lodged in my throat.

"Make sure she has everything packed before I arrive."

His thumb softly passed over my lower lip before he withdrew his hand. With complete confidence, he walked along the corridor and went directly toward the front entrance without taking even one incorrect turn.

That meant he had known where the exit was all along. Why had he acted as if he had lost his way?

At the doorway, he stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

"If I learned that either of you touched her tonight, losing the treaty would become the smallest problem you'd face."

After delivering the warning, he left, and the heavy entrance door crashed shut behind him.

"Disappear from my sight!" my brother yelled.

There was no need for him to repeat the order. I hurried away from him, raced up the stairs, and escaped into my cramped bedroom.

Almost nothing filled the small space. Other than several worn pieces of clothing, I owned no belongings at all. Packing everything I had would take less than a minute.

By the time daylight arrived, I had not slept at all.

Every word Alpha Darek had spoken continued to circle through my mind. What had made him notice me? Why would an Alpha with his position spare me a glance? He commanded the biggest pack in the region, and he had earned that power. The fighting ability of his werewolves had become legendary, which explained why my brother wanted an alliance between his pack and Moonshine so badly.

Still, what part did I have in any of it?

More importantly... what was Aconite Blood?