Chapter 731 The Moon Goddess’s Reason

Kael froze at the mention of Jasmine. The name hit him like a physical blow, knocking the air from his lungs. It was not just love he felt for her.

They were friends, good ones, the kind of friends who had each other’s backs through every mission, every late night spent poring over reports, every quiet moment between the chaos.

They were colleagues. They were confidants. To say that he missed her was an understatement. He missed her like he would miss a part of himself, a limb severed and never healed.

“You are too dirty to call her name.” Kael’s voice came out cold, each word a shard of ice. “Whether you accept the rejection or not, it has nothing to do with me. This is not your pack, and the blood moon festival is over. The money paid was long exhausted since yesterday, which means you can be kicked out.”

Kael wondered how long she would be able to live with the pain. It had been unbearable when it settled in his chest, a constant companion that gnawed at him from the inside.

But Cleopatra could not afford to lose everything. How would she face her pack and the new Alpha Voren would send to them? How would she explain any of this?

“Please, Kael. It was all my father’s idea. He said he would tell you everything if I did not find a way to break the bond.” Cleopatra’s voice cracked, tears streaming down her face, her hands clasped together in desperate pleading.

“He is the one who suggested everything I did. That is why I decided to set you up with Jasmine since you both loved each other, but I could not find her, so I turned to my maid. I never thought she would betray me.”

Kael was about to speak when an elderly voice dominated the moment, cutting through the air like a blade through silk. “Enough with the drama, Cleopatra. Do you think you are dealing with children, or do you think we are fools?”

Cleopatra’s head lowered instantly, her shoulders hunching as though the words had physically struck her. This woman was nothing like she looked.

Stunning on the outside, elegant and composed, but so powerful. She was both a former Luna and now a Shaman. She was the mother of the Alpha King himself. Cleopatra dared not offend her.

“Luna Oriana, I think no such thing. I am only saying the truth.”

Oriana smiled, though it did not reach her eyes. Her gaze was ancient, knowing, the gaze of a woman who had seen the worst of humanity and had long stopped being surprised by it. “Do you want to know why the Moon Goddess paired you with Beta Kael?”

All attention focused on her at this moment. The pack grounds fell silent, every ear straining to hear, every eye fixed on the former Luna. Cleopatra shook her head, her voice small and trembling.

“No, I do not.”

“Good.” The middle-aged woman stepped forward, her movements fluid, commanding. “She gave you a second chance to be better. Kael was right. At fifteen, you did not have a choice, and he could overlook it. Everything about your past could have been overlooked, but after the mate bond, you still went back to your vomit.”

“Luna Oriana, Alpha Dean was here. He threatened to expose me.”

“And you thought Kael could not protect you?” Oriana’s voice sharpened, her eyes narrowing. “You thought the Grimroot pack would not stand beside you? You should not have spent the night of the blood moon with him. If you had spent it with your mate and allowed Dean to spend time with his mate, Kael would have felt your fears through the bond to handle the matter. But what did you do?”

She paused, allowing the words to settle, allowing them to sink into the minds of everyone listening. The silence was heavy, suffocating.

“Nothing is hidden from the Moon Goddess, and I saw clearly how you went to him. He never planned to have you for the blood moon night, but you went there because of your desire to be his Luna and to no longer hide your relationship. You told him to lock out his wife because she had been with him the night before and you were jealous. You strove in the sin so much that the woman who gave you her love and comfort became your rival and enemy.”

Oriana shook her head with distaste, her lips curling with disgust. “Though the Moon Goddess knew you would not change, she gave you the chance. However, though you refused to take it, your handmaid did, and exposed everything. You, Cleopatra, were bonded to Beta Kael to be exposed or shown mercy. Your evil against your pack members has reached the neck of the Moon Goddess, and yet she gave you a second chance to make things better. You just refused to change.”

The more Oriana spoke, the more hatred registered in the eyes of all who listened. The pack members who had once pitied Cleopatra now looked at her with contempt. The guests who had watched with curiosity now watched with disgust.

Voren understood why the Moon Goddess said Oriana was more powerful. The former shaman never gave such details and direct answers to questions. She spoke with the authority of one who had walked between worlds, who had seen the truth in its purest form.

Now, he was convinced that the spiritual matters concerning the pack would never be a burden to his mother.

“Cassandra took you as a baby when your mother died in childbirth. Your father had raped your birth mother and tried to kill her, but she escaped. He later died from a disease sent by the Moon Goddess, but you…” Oriana’s voice trailed off, her eyes boring into Cleopatra. “Cassandra loved you, and all you did was plan evil behind her back and steal the joy in her marriage.”

Cleopatra shrank under the weight of those words, her body curling inward, her face hidden behind her hands.

“Your tribe members had to walk on eggshells around you. In fact, you even held more authority than the Luna herself, and just as your maid said, you would have killed the woman who raised you as her own if she had not been wise enough to not give her the tea you prepared.”

Oriana’s voice hardened, each word a hammer striking an anvil. “Cleopatra, your sins are yours to bear, and since you are not a member of this pack, the Alpha King would be the one to pass your judgment.”

“No!” Cleopatra cried out, her voice rising in desperation. “I can change!”

“Too late for that.” Oriana’s voice was final, unyielding. “You should not have committed that abomination in this pack. Now it needs to be cleansed. Even if Dean’s blood does not run through your veins, he was still another woman’s mate. The least you should have done was to respect the mate bond. Even so, that woman called you her daughter, and you called her mother. The man you slept with was one you called father. For the roles they played in your life, they were still your parents, and you bore their surnames, so this is secondary incest. You and Dean must pay.”

She stepped back, giving Voren control. For the first time, Voren’s chest felt heavy, weighed down by the sorrow of it all.

His heart went out to the innocent she-wolves involved in this, the women who had suffered in silence, the women who had been threatened and abused. The weight of justice pressed down on his shoulders, but he would carry it.

“This matter should be handled by my queen.”