Moonlit Betrayal

I was on my way to meet my mate, Alpha Rick from Deathwhisper Pack, when the tragedy happened.

That night, my heart pounded as I made my way through the dense forest surrounding Howlton. My werewolf’s instinct surely knew that there were mysterious creatures that followed me secretly, but I ignored it.

I was too consumed by jealousy when I found out that my mate was spending the night with his exlover, an Omega from Riverstone Pack, Lousiana. As a result, the creature attacked me easily and I ended up being killed by a silver dagger.

I desperately tried to link Rick, but as a neglected mate, he ignored me and thought that I was doing that to catch his attention. After all, he was too focused on his intimate meeting with Lousiana.

In the end I still couldn't fight even though I had shapeshifted and ended up getting killed without anyone knowing.

As the leader of the Death Whisperers, Rick was investigated for the murder of a female victim. He described vividly how the woman struggled and was helpless before her death. However, what he didn't know was that he was dissecting the death of his very own mate—the one he couldn't stand, his truly.

——

I didn't expect that a tragedy would happen on our fifth wedding anniversary.

14th February was our wedding day. We deliberately chose that day because it coincided with Valentine's Day, which was a day to celebrate romantic love, friendship and admiration.

I was absolutely excited to celebrate our anniversary, so I had prepared many things at home, such as cake, meals and so on, hoping that we could celebrate it together when Rick got home.

But sadly, I didn’t get any flowers or gifts on my anniversary, instead a news that broke my heart.

I heard from my Deathwhisper Pack’s fellow that Rick was spending his time with his exlover named Lousiana, an Omega from Riverstone Pack. They met in the small cottage in the dense forest that was the border between Deathwhisper and the Riverstone Pack.

Little did I know, Rick built that cottage specially for Lousiana, so that he could meet her every time he wanted there.

As the truth sank in, a mixture of anger and heartbreak consumed me. I immediately ran to their love spot without thinking twice that evening.

I just wanted to have my mate completely. But why, as a destined mate, I still couldn't get that?

Without realizing it, there was a mysterious creature that had been following me since I entered the forest. However, my senses became dull because tears and anger were already raging inside me.

As a result, a shadowy figure lunged out from the darkness, knocking me to the ground with a savage force. Pain seared through my body as I struggled to defend myself against the attacker.

Through the chaos, I caught a glimpse of the creature's eyes, glowing with an otherworldly light.

It was a werewolf, but its form was different from usual. Could it be the Rough?

As I tried to escape, I called Rick to ask for help, but it couldn’t get through his phone. As a result, I voicemail him, hoping he would check it later.

However, when I successfully sent the mail, the Rough suddenly was in front of me, making me stumbled and rolled down the cliff. I didn’t even know where my phone was at that time.

Since I had been bleeding everywhere, my wolf ordered me to shapeshift, so that she could help me fight the Rough while waiting for Rick’s help. I agreed and shapeshifted, becoming a werewolf.

Long fight happened, but I still couldn’t win it, since our strength and ability were different. After all, I was a Luna that was raised with great love by my parents, so I very rarely took fighting lessons.

Desperate and terrified, I linked out for Rick, even my wolf voice echoing through the silent forest.

However, Rick just saw me as an intruder on his love with Lousiana, so he ignored my desperate call, leaving me alone in the dark forest.

Soon, shock and hurt flooded my senses as the realization dawned on me. Rick had betrayed me, choosing his exlover over his mate in my time of need.

I increasingly lost consciousness, because too much blood was coming out of the wounds caused by the Rough’s scratches and bites. My wolf also grew weaker because of her deep sadness when she found out that her mate was with another woman that night.

In the end, I could only lie weakly on the ground, letting the Rough attack me brutally while my thoughts were only about Rick.

With only stars and leaves accompanied by the worst night I had ever felt, I questioned.

Has he ever loved me even a little since we got married 5 years ago?

Did he marry me just because we were destined mates?

Was I in this world just to satisfy his wolf's lust?

While my thoughts were still wandering, suddenly a light like lightning shot towards me. The light came from the silver dagger that the Rough was pointing at my stomach.

My wolf used its remaining strength to hold the silver dagger. But whatever, even if I could recover from my wounds tomorrow, Rick still didn't love me.

However, my wolf said to me using a mindlink, "We have to stay alive to ensure all the answers to your questions, Daisy."

"But what can we do? We don't have much strength now."

"At least, don't get hit by the silver dagger and collect as much evidence as we can," said my wolf in my mind.

Right!

As Luna in the Deathwhisper Pack, I must fight to catch the evildoers who threaten my Pack. If I had to die at the moment, at least I had to leave evidence so that my death was not in vain.

With my other hand, I scratched the Rough's neck to get his DNA. Then I saw a necklace with a Pack Emblem on it, so I tried hard to grab it.

I didn't know why the Rough had the Riverstone Emblem Pack. Because as far as I knew, a werewolf became the Rough if they were thrown away by their Pack.

But unfortunately, when I managed to take the emblem, the Rough got angry and used all his strength to kick me and then stabbed me repeatedly in the stomach with a silver dagger.

Because the stab was too deep, my wolf couldn't survive. In the end I turned into a human again and blinked through the haze of pain. My body battered and broken from the vicious attack.

But when the rough thought I was dead, I used the little strength I had to crawl and the next thing happened was that he cut off my head.

As I opened my eyes again, I could see that my body had been mutilated into unrecognizable pieces. That was when I realized that there was no longer any hope for me.

As the Alpha of Deathwhisper Pack, Rick was no stranger to the dark underbelly of Howlton. But when a series of brutal murders shook the city to its core, I knew that Rick was aware that this case would be unlike any he had ever faced before. Because I could see him with a furrowed brow in the dimly lit confines of his office at that time.

That morning, Xavier came to him.

As the body count continued to rise, Rick asked his trusted Beta, Xavier, for assistance, knowing that he would need all the help he could get to unravel the mystery before it was too late.

Xavier was a loyal and steadfast member of Deathwhisper Pack, who stood by Rick's side through thick and thin. He also had known Rick from childhood, so they could be called as a best friend, before going into Alpha and Beta.

Xavier reported, “My team found a new dismembered body in the forest, close to the border of the Deathwhisper Pack and the Riverstone Pack. It seems that the location of the incident is very random, to the point that our patrol team cannot predict where the next incident will occur.”

So, they found my body. I couldn’t help feeling relieved and looked at Rick’s expression.

“So, the brutal murders case has spread to almost the border. Do you think we need to contact the Riverstone Pack about this?" Rick asked in a panicked face.

Riverstone Pack?

I felt my anger rising when he mentioned that. It turned out he was very worried about Louisiana's safety, without knowing that the case he was investigating at that moment was about me, his mate.

“I think it’s not necessary, because they definitely have their own team to investigate things like this. What's more, our Pack's relationship with their Pack is not that close,” Xavier answered.

“Alright,” Rick nodded in agreement.

“Then I will expand patrol areas to catch criminals. We also have to ask help from Luna Daisy to help warn every Pack member to always be alert when going out at night. I see the Pack members really like her, so they will definitely comply if it was Luna Daisy who said it,” Xavier advised.

I could understand Xavier’s intention. As Rick’s best friend, he absolutely knew about me and Rick’s relationship. So, maybe he said that to make Rick a little dependent on me and make us get closer from it.

But Rick’s answer was as cold as an iceberg, “No need. just pass out flyers for them to read. Then, have you succeeded in identifying the victim’s identity?” Rick was trying to divert the conversation.

“Not yet, the body was too dismembered, so it's difficult for our forensic team. They are even still in the forest to collect the victim’s body parts now.

“Huh, you must be very upset because this incident happened on the night of your wedding anniversary, right?” Xavier asked, thinking that Rick felt disturbed because of that. Little did he know, Rick was still thinking about Lousiana’s safety instead of that.

Since Rick stayed quiet, Xavier continued, “Would we celebrate a feast again today as usual? I love Luna Daisy’s cooking.”

“Maybe not, she went to stay overnight at her friend's house,” Rick answered coldly.

That morning, when he came home, I was nowhere to be found. So, Rick thought that I must be so upset with him because he ignored my link tonight and stayed at Isaiah’s house as usual.

Well, I knew that Rick actually didn’t care about it. Since the thing that fulfilled his head was only the brutal murder case and Lousiana.

Little did he know, the answers he sought would lead him down a path of betrayal and deception, testing the limits of his loyalty and love in ways he never thought possible.

Rick grimaced as he surveyed the scene, his stomach churning at the sight before him. It was the latest in a string of murders that had plagued Howlton in recent weeks, each one more savage than the last.

However, Rick actually had a special ability that could easily recreate the scene just by seeing. So, he analyzed blood spatters like it was some messedup art exhibit even if he wanted to vomit many times.

It actually was like a nightmare come to life, even he was taken aback by the horror show. "This is some nextlevel brutality," he whispered, face going pale.

Rick was pointing out every detail in passion and explained, "See these stains? Looks like someone did some organ harvest. Also, those marks on the trees indicated that this poor victim was trying to counter the whole time."

He was absolutely correct. This simply demonstrated that my mate's intuition was as sharp as a silver dagger that killed me last night.

I couldn't wait to witness his reaction when he finally figured everything out.

Xavier's scratching his head, saying, "So, according to the forensic guys, our victim's a young woman under thirty. I mean, the preparator really can’t be investigated easily since he did it in random ways.”

But soon, a forensic guy came with my finger and showed the ring they found in the scene, the key physical evidence.

Rick casually picked up the ring, but Xavier's observation prompted a moment of silence.

"Alpha Rick, doesn't this ring resemble yours?" he whispered.

Rick briefly inspected the ring, finding it unengraved, but he shrugged it off, "Ah, it's probably just a common style. I just choose the popular one that time, you know?"

As Rick finished his sentence, he lingered near the scene entrance lost in thought. After some contemplation, he tried to link me by mindlink. But there was no answer.

Then, he tried to call my phone, but again, it couldn’t get through.

"Look at her, acting all superior after her daily tantrums! Whatever, it's not her, though."

Rick must have thought I didn't answer because I was still angry with him or taking revenge because last night, he ignored my link. So, I couldn't help but feel stressed about it.

“What? Did you fail to mindlink Luna Daisy?” Xavier asked when he heard Rick’s frustration scream.

“Nevermind, bring all of the evidence and ask the team to quickly investigate the victim's identity. Then look for all evidence that could lead to the identity of the perpetrator, we shouldn’t delay it any longer,” Rick ordered angrily.

Poor him. He didn’t know that the answers he sought were closer than he ever imagined, hidden in plain sight among the wreckage of the crime scene.

Before the dismembered body that was found could be rearranged, since they still couldn’t find my head and some of the important parts, the investigation team had found another body not far from the scene. Different from before, the victim that time was still intact, only had a few scratches and a silver dagger stab mark on his stomach.

I was shocked when I saw a face that was very familiar to me. The body that was found was the Rough who attacked me last night. How could he be killed?

Last night after being killed, I couldn't bear to see how my body was being torn apart by the perpetrator, so I chose to go looking for Rick. But when I arrived at the cottage, I realized that it was already early in the morning, so he had already left the cottage, even Lousiana wasn’t there.

My next destination was his office and this was where I listened to Xavier report.

While I was still wondering, an investigation team reported that they had managed to find the second victim after asking search dogs to smell the scent left around the first body.

The forensic team also reported that the DNA on the second body matched the DNA on the skin taken from my nails. Furthermore, his fingerprint also somewhat matched the fingerprints that were left behind in the victims before.

I was a little proud because I managed to get them to find evidence, but I didn't expect that they would find the culprit in the form of a dead body.

Suddenly, the sound of a dog barking startled me. When I turned around, I was surprised to see a dog that I knew very well.

Apparently, the search dog they brought was Louis, the dog I had been looking after since I married Rick.

Back then the dog was a gift that Rick's parents gave me. The breed was indeed a Labrador Retriever, which was devoted to guarding me. But when a murder case occurred, I lent him to the patrol team as additional help.

I didn't expect Louis to be so helpful, in fact it seemed like he was the only one who could see and recognize me in this invisible body.

"Oh, good boy. Louis, I miss you, I hope you can help me tell them about the truth," I said.

But then my brain works perfectly. "You indeed can help me."

Last night, I remembered that I managed to get the Riverstone Pack emblem. Unfortunately, the perpetrator was suddenly furious, making me accidentally throw it down a cliff.

So, it looked like I had to take Louis and the patrol team there.

Because of my brilliant brain and Louis’ help, the emblem was then on Rick’s hand. When I saw him, for some reason I could see a look of shock that he rarely showed. Could it be that he knew who the emblem belonged to?

“Alpha Rick, could it be that the perpetrator was from the Riverstone Pack?” Xavier asked in confusion.

“We can’t conclude it like that before we get the fingerprint that appeared on the emblem. Perhaps we should wait until the dismembered body is completed before jumping into that conclusion,” Rick said.

Rick’s statement really disappointed me. Maybe I should quickly look for my head instead of having to present pointless evidence in front of Rick.

Two days after my body was found, the forensic team still couldn’t put all the pieces together. However, Rick, as my mate, didn’t think about my disappearance at all.

He instead celebrated his dating anniversary with Lousiana.

Lousiana inquired, "You've seemed quite occupied recently. Are you involved in a significant case?"

Rick paused momentarily before confirming, "Yes, it's a major case."

"Is it related to the case involving the dismembered female corpse?" Lousiana asked, showing insight.

Rick's expression soured and couldn’t help asking back, "How did you become aware of that? We deliberately kept it within our Pack."

Lousiana appeared uneasy as she responded, "Well, the new case happened near the border, right? Of course, my Pack will not remain silent about it and join in investigating it."

Rick frowned and said, "But this case is being suppressed by my Pack and your Pack members aren’t allowed to come to our land without permission."

Lousiana shrugged and said, "Well, I just heard it on my way here. You know some cases can’t be suppressed for so long, that maybe some people knew about it.

“Let's not dwell on that bad stuff and celebrate our anniversary, okay?"

Rick nodded, then lit the candle on their cake. After that, they made some wishes and cuddled in their world.

The two of them seemed to enjoy the moment, without knowing that I was there too, just invisible.

Because I was fed up with their behavior, I decided to go around their cottage. It looked small, but was actually spacious enough to be called a cottage.

While looking through the contents, I thought about where the perpetrator threw my head. He was really clever enough to deliberately get the forensics team into trouble. Moreover, why did he die?

Was he killed?

The next morning, Rick got a mindlink from Xavier, so he hurriedly came to the forensic labs.

As the investigation into the brutal murders in Howlton reached its crescendo, Xavier and his team were on the brink of a breakthrough. The pieces of the puzzle were finally falling into place, leading them to a startling revelation that sent shockwaves through the forensic lab.

“I think Alpha Rick should know the result first,” Xavier said, then he tried to mindlink Rick that morning.

Exactly three days after the dismembered body was found, they managed to find out the true identity of the corpse, even though it was without a head.

However, the results not only surprised the forensic team, but also surprised Xavier and the patrol team.

After the mindlink was successfully connected, Rick still didn't know the victim's true identity, because Xavier only told him to come straight to the forensic lab.

Arriving at the forensic lab with me, of course in my invisible spirit form, Rick asked casually, "So, what is the victim's name and what family does she come from?"

"Alpha Rick, you have to promise not to be hysterical," Xavier said a little hesitantly.

"Why? Does she come from an influential family?"

Xavier nodded his head. Yes, indeed, I really come from the Alpha family in the Glorywood Pack, which had a good relationship with Deathwhisper Pack.

"Fine, tell me then."

"Alpha Rick，The deceased is your Mate，Daisy！"

"When she died, you were dating an old flame!"