MATED TO THE SECRET ALPHA

The pack members gasped again, the beta did what?!

"No, Luna, you misunderstood. Of course, I care about the pack and would give my life for it!" Beta Ryan protested, his face reddening as he took a step forward, his hands raised in a placating gesture, but his eyes flashing with a defensive anger that only served to further erode the pack's trust in him. "I was thinking of what was–"

"That's true, you've always cared for the pack's well-being, reason you led the war against thousands of rogues yesterday…oh, you weren't there. My bad." Reana's voice was laced with sarcasm, her eyes glinting with a cold amusement as she delivered the verbal blow, her words hanging in the air like a challenge, daring Beta Ryan to defend his absence from the battle.

The pack members' gazes turned to him, their expressions a mixture of shock, disappointment, and accusation.

"You locked me away in the dungeon!" Beta Ryan screamed, his voice carrying far as he took a step closer to Reana, his eyes blazing with anger and indignation.

He was growing frustrated now, his composure crumbling beneath the weight of Reana's relentless verbal assault. This vixen was ruining his reputation, exposing his secrets, and undermining his authority, all with a calculating calm that only served to enrage him further.

"I did," Reanna nodded calmly, her expression unruffled, before turning her attention to the dungeon guards. "I leave these guards to you, Beta Ryan. They're disloyal to me, and it seems they're taking orders from someone else. How do you think I should punish them?"

Beta Ryan's anger boiled over, and he blurted out the words without thinking. "Disloyalty is punishable by death." His voice was fierce, and in the next instant, as if to vent, he closed in on a guard - one who stayed closest to his cell. The same guard who knew about his relationship with Vivian and Lillian.

Before anyone could react, a sickening crack echoed through the air, and the guard's head snapped violently to the side. His lifeless body crumpled to the field, eyes frozen in a permanent stare of horror.

Amidst the turbulence of emotions in his heart, Beta Ryan still managed to smile faintly, a cold, calculating glint in his eye. He was pleased to have killed that guard. The guard knew too much, and if left alive, his own life would be at risk. The weight of his secrets, the true extent of his loyalty and betrayal, would have been exposed. With the guard's death, Ryan had silenced a potential threat…

But unfortunately, in doing so, he had also revealed a darker aspect of his nature, one that sent a shiver down the spines of the pack members.

"That's barbaric, Beta Ryan. That guard has a family… killing him was uncalled for," Reana shook her head in disapproval, her voice laced with a subtle tone of disappointment and disgust.

Beta Ryan was dazed, his mind reeling in confusion. Didn't she mean for him to kill the guard? By law, punishment for betrayal was death. So, why was Reana sounding so magnanimous all of a sudden? Hadn't she deliberately goaded him into taking action? Ryan's eyes narrowed, suspicion creeping into his thoughts as he wondered if he had just been manipulated. "What are you talking about, Luna?"

Reana's brows furrowed, her expression a mask of concern and contemplation. "I was thinking the law was too harsh. Moreover, their sin wasn't so terrible." She paused, her gaze drifting to Beta Ryan, her voice tinged with a hint of disappointment. "I asked for your opinion, but now that you've killed that guard, you've tied my hands. I can't forgive anyone who betrays me in the future, and that includes you, Beta Ryan…"

Her voice trailed off, and she sighed deeply, her eyes clouding with a mixture of disappointment and regret. "We should be fair at all times," she murmured, her words dripping with a subtle rebuke, leaving Beta Ryan stunned.

The air was thick with tension, heavy with the weight of Reana's unspoken words, and Beta Ryan's heart sank, his mind racing with the implications of his actions.

Reana was not merciful - she'd never forgiven anyone who broke the law before. How come she was suddenly speaking of mercy? Beta Ryan's mind whirled with confusion, his thoughts tangled in a web of suspicion. Was Reana trying to manipulate him, or was something more sinister at play? He searched her face for answers, but her expression remained enigmatic, giving away nothing.

Then again, did she just threaten him? Ryan's heart skipped a beat, did she know? He could feel the weight of her words, the subtle undertone of warning, but he pushed the thought aside.

If Luna Reana knew that he was deceiving her, that he had already betrayed her, all hell would have long broken loose. The pack would have turned on him, and he would have been dealt with swiftly and severely.

No, Luna Reana couldn't have known his secrets, he reassured himself, but the seed of doubt had been planted, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was trapped in something sinister - the feeling of walking around a dungeon filled with hidden pitfalls and unseen dangers, where one misstep could lead to disastrous consequences.

The air seemed to thicken around him, heavy with the weight of secrets and lies, and Beta Ryan's instincts screamed at him to be cautious, to tread carefully, lest he trigger a chain reaction of events that would ultimately lead to his downfall.

Suddenly, Reana's voice cut through the tense atmosphere, her words dripping with a subtle ambiguity. "The rest of you can leave. Return to your families. I'm mourning this pack member who was brutally murdered by the soon-to-be Alpha," her tone a masterful blend of sorrow and subtle rebuke.

Her expression remained inscrutable, leaving everyone confused as to whether their Luna was genuinely feeling sad over the death of that guard or not.

"I'm not in the mood to punish anyone anymore, but leave your name cards behind," she added, her eyes glinting with a hint of warning, as if daring anyone to defy her.

The guards exchanged uneasy glances, sensing the undercurrents of their Luna's word. It was dangerous to leave their name cards behind. Without their name cards, they couldn't prove their identities when the need arose. They could be accused of being rogues disguised as Black Moon Pack members in the future.

Plus, the name cards were more than just simple identification; they were symbols of their loyalty, their rank, and their very status within the pack. To surrender them was to surrender a part of themselves, and the guards couldn't shake the feeling that Reana was deliberately stripping them of their power and autonomy.