Chapter 10- The Ruins

I stood at the centre of the great hall where it all happened that night. I could still remember everything like it was just yesterday.

I felt like I was standing in a graveyard.

The screams, the fear, the panic, the blood.

That night was horrible.

The night had started like any other Blood Moon Festival—a celebration of unity and peace among the werewolf kingdom. My parents, King John and Queen Seraphina, had invited Alphas and Lunas from all across packs to strengthen our alliances. Laughter rang through the halls, glasses filled with the finest wine were raised in toasts, and children ran about, their giggles warming the air.

I had been just fourteen, still too young to take on my title but old enough to understand the weight of it. My father had always told me that peace was fragile, that power had to be guarded with both wisdom and strength. That night, I had believed him, but I hadn’t realized just how true his words were until it was too late.

Then, everything changed.

At first, it was subtle. The Alphas and Lunas swayed on their feet, laughter turning to confused murmurs. The air thickened with something strange, something wrong. A few of the warriors clutched their heads, their breaths coming in ragged gasps.

Then the first growl ripped through the room.

A Beta from the Silverclaw Pack lunged at his own Alpha, sinking his teeth into the man’s throat. Gasps filled the air, but before anyone could react, another attack came. And another. The room descended into chaos.

I watched in horror as Alphas turned against their own pack members, Lunas bared their fangs at their mates, and warriors abandoned all reason. The once joyous celebration became a slaughterhouse.

The scent of blood was overpowering.

I turned to my father, expecting him to take control—to issue a command that would restore order. But when I met his eyes, they were no longer his own. They had darkened into something unnatural, something twisted.

“No…” My voice was barely a whisper, my heart slamming against my ribs.

My mother stood beside him, her hands trembling. “John,” she whispered, stepping closer to him.

But my father—King John, the man who had always been my protector—snarled like a rabid beast. And then, before I could even process what was happening, he ripped out my mother’s heart with his bare hands.

The wet, sickening sound of flesh tearing open filled the air. The room spun. I couldn’t breathe.

“Mother!” The scream tore from my throat, but she was already crumbling to the ground, lifeless, her golden gown stained crimson.

I lunged forward, wanting to stop this, wanting to wake up from this nightmare, but strong arms wrapped around me, yanking me back.

“No! Let me go! That’s my father! My mother—” My voice cracked, my body thrashing wildly against the guards who held me.

But there was nothing I could do. I was just a boy. And my father was lost to madness.

I watched as he turned, his face drenched in my mother’s blood, his expression devoid of recognition. He wasn’t my father anymore. He was a beast.

Then he turned to me.

A shiver ran down my spine as I saw the way his darkened gaze locked onto mine, his lips curling back in a snarl. For a brief second, I thought he would attack me too.

But then, he was lunged at by an Alpha, and the Alpha immediately tore into my father's throat, ripping it open.

And that was his end.

Bodies littered the hall—Alphas and Lunas who had torn each other apart, younglings slaughtered in their parents’ madness. The massacre had been swift and brutal, leaving only a handful of survivors standing among the ruins of what was once a celebration.

That was when we found her.

The omega.

She was trembling, her small frame crumpled on the floor near the banquet table. In her hands, she clutched an empty vial—a vial that reeked of wolfsbane.

The moment the warriors dragged her forward, the truth became undeniable. She had poisoned the wine.

“Please,” she sobbed, shaking her head frantically. “I didn’t know it would do this. I didn’t—”

But it was too late. The damage had already been done.

The council sentenced her to death without hesitation. The warriors dragged her away, her screams fading into the distance as she begged for mercy.

But I felt none.

I had lost everything that night—my mother, my father, my childhood. And it was because of her.

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms. I had sworn on that bloodstained floor that I would never forgive. That I would never forget.

But fate, in its cruel irony, had other plans.

Because now that I finally found my mate it had to be the omega’s daughter.

The daughter of the woman who destroyed my family.

I closed my eyes as hot fury burned through me. Why was the Moon Goddess doing this to me? It should have been any other woman in this damn kingdom, why her?

I could never look past what her mother did to me—to this kingdom. They had the same eyes, they looked the same.

So each time I see her, I'm always reminded of that night.

It was pure torture.

I have no regrets for whatever plan I have for her. I am not sorry.

Just as fate has decided to punish me with the wrong mate, she would have to suffer the fate that comes with belonging to the bloodline that killed my family.

That destroyed lives.

With one last look, I closed my eyes before turning and walking away from the hall.

I might have been too young to punish the mother the way I wanted, but I have forever to punish her daughter and I wasn't going to play on the job.

Wherever her bitch of a mother is, I hope she enjoys the show of watching her daughter suffer just like she made me suffer.

I stepped out of the hall, the doors closing behind me as I linked my Beta, a smirk playing on my lips.

“Matteo, prepare the field, I have a little surprise for my mate,"