Ameira's POV
They unchained me. One by one, the six Alphas moved with the silent fury of wolves who'd been pushed too far. Ace pulled the rusted iron from the wall with a single wrench, while the others stood guard around me like shadows of vengeance. They didn't speak much as they helped me out of the basement. Ronan draped his jacket over my shoulders, covering the paint and the bruises. Rhea's cruel scrawl—MATE-STEALER—still bled through the fabric. I kept my head down, too ashamed to meet their eyes. Ace led the way through the packhouse with the others close behind. No one dared stop them. Servants stepped aside. Warriors lowered their eyes. And when we reached the Alpha Wing, Calista was already waiting. She stood in her crimson robe, her lips painted the same color as the blood that once stained my cheeks. Behind her, Kaela and Vivian stood frozen, sensing the shift in power the moment the Alphas entered. Ace didn't hesitate. He walked right up to Calista and slapped her hard across the face The sound echoed like thunder. She stumbled almost falling while clutching her cheek, her eyes wide in disbelief. "How dare you—"
"Shut up," Ace snapped. "You chained our mate to a wall like an animal."
"She's not your mate," Calista hissed, regaining her composure with poisonous grace. "She's filth. Trash. A stain the Moon Goddess forgot to clean." You rejected her.
Kieran stepped forward, fists clenched. "She's ours. All six of us. The bond doesn't lie."
Calista laughed. "Then the bond is broken. Tainted."
"She bears our mark," Ronan growled. "And you marked her too, didn't you? With your filthy paint. With your cruelty. What else have you done to her?"
Calista said nothing. But her silence was louder than a scream. Riven moved next quiet and cold, he grabbed Kaela by the collar and yanked her forward. "What did you do to her dress?"
Kaela trembled. "She—she seduced you—"
Riven's growl silenced her.
"You think we don't know what you and your mother did?" he snarled. "You think we didn't see the burns? The bruises? The word carved into her skin?"
Calista's voice was like ice now. "She should have died with her stupid mother.
"She survived," Ace snapped. "And you are going to pay for everything you did to her.
..The punishment was brutal.
They didn't kill her, they said that would have been merciful. Instead, they dragged Calista to the central square in front of the entire pack. Alpha heirs from six of the most powerful bloodlines stood around her, their wolves radiating dominance that shook the ground beneath us.
"She is no longer Luna," Ace declared, his voice echoing. "She is a traitor who abused the fated mate of the Alphas."
The pack members gasped, they had never seen anything like it. Calista was stripped of her title, her robe torn from her shoulders. Her Alpha mark was burned off, right there in front of everyone.
She screamed as they branded her with a rejection rune, a symbol that would never fade, marking her as exiled. And then, as a final act, they forced her to kneel.
"To the girl you tormented," Ace said. "Kneel before her."
She looked at me with anger and disgust, she refused to kneel, so Kieran made her kneel with a kick that sent her falling to the ground. He pushed her head down, bowing her to my feet.
I didn't move, my legs were shaking from standing all night. The entire pack stared at me now, not with hate, but something closer to fear. And that was worse. Because when wolves fear you, they don't just turn away. They bite harder.
"Apologize to her!! Ace roar. Calista face burned with hatred as she murmured "I'm sorry. The six of them were looking at me like they were waiting for my final instructions.
"I want to go back to my room I said in a low voice. I don't want her apology I said. I can see the hurt in their eyes but I don't care anymore.
I walked back the basement leaving them there alone with Calista and the rest of the pack members. Immediately I entered the basement, I collapsed on the ground. I was woken up by the sound of the basement door opening, I slowly opened my eyes and saw Calista. I was shocked. I thought she left the pack after being exiled. Why is she still here? And to make matter worse, I was alone. She slammed the door shut, her hands still red from the rune they had burned into her skin.
"You think you won," she hissed.
My back hit the stone wall. "They know now. You can't touch me—" she slap me across the face before I finished the statement. I tasted blood on my lips. She grabbed my face, her nails digging into my chin.
"You think they will protect you from me forever? They will grow bored. They will find someone prettier. Stronger. Someone not covered in scars like you. She yell to my face while slapping me continuously on my face. I tried to push her back. She kicked me in the stomach so hard that I crumpled.
"Do you know what you've done to me?" she screamed. "Do you know what it means to be exiled from a pack like this?"
I coughed, my ribs screaming with every breath. "You deserve it."
She laughed bitterly. Then she reached into her bag that she was carrying And pulled out a whip, a silver whip. The whip was twisted with jagged metal woven into the strands.
"I want you to remember this, little rat," she whispered, tears of rage in her eyes. "I want you to remember what happens when you turn a mother into a monster." And she started whipping me mercilessly. Each strike cut deeper than the last. The silver tore through skin, muscle, I was bleeding all over my body. My dress shredded and my back was burning, my body shook with each lash. The last one split the back of my thigh. I collapsed into a heap. Breathing shallow, my vision swimming. She stood over me, panting. Then she dropped the whip beside my head.
"You may have the Alphas now," she said coldly. "But you will never be anything but broken. Even your mates will see that. Eventually. She gave me one last kick that made passed out before she left.
I didn't remember falling asleep but I woke up on the cold floor drenched in sweat, and too weak to move. The silver wounds Calista has inflicted on me with the whip didn't heal. Because she knew what she was doing. She wanted them to stay. I knew it was already night because of the dim moonlights coming into the basement through the holes on the walls. the door creaked open, I knew I was them from the scents. Six pairs of glowing eyes. Again. One of them dropped to his knees beside me, he touched my back and pulled his hand away almost immediately.
His fingers were stained with blood.
"Who did this?"