TIANA'S POV
The Lupin clan elders assembled before the throne. Enzo sat there in full ceremonial robes, every inch of the regalia screaming power and looking at me like dirt under his boots.
Judy was now dressed, she stood beside a window like she wasn't listening to the court session, but I couldn't escape her harsh glares.
"Alpha, everyone has been waiting to hear why you summoned this emergency?" an elder asked.
Enzo glared at me like I was dirt, then looked away. "First I'd love to announce my betrothed Luna, and pick a date for the royal wedding..."
My heart slammed. He's planning a royal wedding while he only fucked me and never say down to talk about the future once?
But I waited painstakingly, as he continued. "But before then, this wench is being banished for life!"
"What?"
I jumped forward, standing in the middle with frustration. "Enzo, you're banning me?"
The elder sitting close to him stood up. "This is unacceptable, Alpha. We all know Princess Tiana was your girlfriend, and we hope she's our Luna. What changed?"
This was like a calm before the storm, Enzo rose from his seat furiously. "You're not saying I should? Marry this wolf-less bitch?"
The elders were taken aback. He moved to Judy, took her hand to show her off. "Marrying Judy is the only way we can ever unite with the Maraj Clan. Tiana is basically useless!"
This threw me off balance like some invisible force. Tears ran down my eyes like a river of life.
"Are you... Are you doing this because I have no family?"
Enzo scoffed. "You see. If you were me, would you marry yourself?"
Damnit! All these while I was living in deceit and lies. He said he loved me, he promised me forever!
"Enzo...."
"I'm sorry, but this is for the best."
He turned to the drawer beside his throne, unlocked the safe with his thumb and fetched a file. "This is the contract you signed."
My blood turned to ice. "Contract? What contract?"
He handed it to the elder who'd defended me.
My hands started trembling.
The old man's face fell as he read, his supportive expression crumbled into disappointment.
"She's given the Lupin clan the authority to choose Teja's next leader," he read aloud, voice heavy. "Control of borders, right to clan's resources and..." He stopped, looking at me with something like pity. 'And all slaves registered under Teja Clan'
The words hit me like a physical blow. My knees turned to jelly, I almost crashed down, but a female elder helped me, her hand cold.
But the words still played in my brain. I gave him our people as slaves?
The room erupted with whispers.
"No!" I cried, rushing forward to grab his hand. "Take anything else but not the clan."
He cast me another disdainful look, "Did you forget you signed this on the night I proposed to you?"
An ache stabbed my head. I remember it clearly now — how I'd be foolish enough to give the only thing left to me to a man!
The memory crashed over me. That night three months ago, he'd gotten on one knee and said he wanted to merge our futures. I'd been so happy, so desperate to believe he loved me, and I signed it without reading the terms.
So I'd given away my birthright and family legacy. Just like that.... Everything my father and brothers died for?
"No!" I bawled really hard now. "Enzo please, not the clan."
He walked off, leaving me there like a mad person.
"This is disgraceful!" Another elder shot to his feet. "Princess Tiana, how could you betray your clan like this?"
"I'm sure your father must be sobbing in his grave now," a female elder said at this time. "The clan was the only source of respect he ever had."
"Her brothers are going to hate her!"
Hearing that, it broke something inside of me. My dead brothers who had protected me loved me so much, they died in an accident that has no backstory. If they see me now, see what I've done with everything they did to protect me.
Wait—
"My brothers...." I whispered, looking at Enzo. Something about the way he avoided my gaze made my blood run cold. "Did you—"
"You told me about your brothers yourself. I don't know anything about them," Enzo cut me off smoothly, shrugging his shoulders. "Your family destroyed themselves, and now you destroy yourself too. Because bad luck runs in your blood.
The elders murmured in agreement. One by one, the people who had known me since childhood turned their backs against me, even the
The elder that defended me earlier hid his face.
"The contract has been backed up legally, Tiana," Enzo declared, returning to his throne majestically. "Your family has been stripped of all titles and authority over the clan, and you have until dawn to leave the clan territory or else I'll take this matter to Alpha in the higher ups,"
"But I have nowhere to go—" I sobbed. "Enzo, you know, I have nobody."
"Left for you to figure out, ex princess." He mocked me, then waved dismissively. "Guards."
Two guards appeared by my side gripping my arms. I looked around desperately with my eyes begging for help, but nobody wanted to help a princess that sold her birthright.
"Then let me get my bags," I struggled against the guards.
"You get nothing!" Judy spoke from the window, examining her nails. "You come with nothing, and you leave with nothing."
I tried to resist, but the bodyguards were too strong as they dragged me towards the exit.
Just as they reached the door, Enzo's voice stopped us. "Oh yes, Tiana?"
I looked back through my tears.
His smile was cold, almost pitiful. "I hope we meet again—"
Judy pulled him before he could say anything else.
For a split moment, my heart remembered the love we once shared. But no. It is all gone now.
~~
I don't remember leaving the pack house. The guards were pushing me out into the night. The next I was stumbling down empty streets, with my bare floor bleeding on the cold asphalt.
Enzo's words echoed in my head as I walked aimlessly. "You're bad luck." "You're useless."
Maybe I was.
I walked for hours or maybe minutes. I couldn't tell because the area was lonely, and nobody was around to ask what time it was.
I stopped suddenly in the middle of the road.
What's even the use of staying in this wicked world when I have no one to call mine?
"Dad... should I come up there?"
Blinding headlights swerve directly towards me, interrupting my conversation with myself.
Frozen in the middle of the road, unable to move, some distant part of my brain told me to run, but something held me down. "Don't move, Tiana. Don't..."
I was sure it wasn't for a second. A wolf jumped on me out of nowhere, kicking me out of the road.
The driver halted for a second, but stepped on the pedal almost immediately.
I need a gasping pinned beneath a wolf— or...
"Are you fine?"
Ohh... He'd shifted back?
I scrambled to my feet immediately. "Who....who are you?"
"Are you insane?" He growled, his back against me. "Standing in the middle of the road like that?"
"Oh. I... I was..." My head felt heavy, my vision blurring. All the heartbreak since my birthday, the stress and everything — came crashing down
"Hey," he rushed to me, held me back from falling and shook me. "Can you hear me?"
"I. I have nowhere."
He lifted me from the ground in a bridal style, his expression was still blurry, but I could see that look of concern. "I'll get you to a hospital...."
Then all black.