Chapter 96

I never got the chance to regroup and plan my next move. Giana struck first, and she struck with devastating precision that spoke to months of careful planning and preparation.

The next morning, before I could even process the destruction of our evidence or figure out an alternative approach, Giana burst into the dining hall during breakfast. Her timing was perfect—the hall was full of pack members, ensuring maximum audience for whatever performance she was about to deliver.

The morning had started normally. Pack members chatted over their meals, discussing daily duties and pack business. The atmosphere was relaxed, almost peaceful, which made what followed all the more shocking.

Tears streamed down Giana's face as she stumbled toward Raymond's table, her distress so convincing that several pack members rose to help her. Her performance was flawless—the perfect picture of a woman pushed beyond her emotional limits.

"Raymond," she sobbed, collapsing into the chair beside him with dramatic grace. "I have to tell you something terrible. I can't keep quiet anymore, not when Aurora is becoming so dangerous."

The accusation hung in the air like poison gas, spreading through the room and contaminating every conversation. Every eye in the hall turned to me, and I could feel the weight of their judgment even before Giana spoke another word.

The whispers started immediately—pack members turning to each other with expressions of shock and concern. I could see the doubt creeping into faces that had once shown me respect and loyalty.

"What are you talking about?" Raymond asked, immediately gathering Giana into his arms with protective concern that made my heart ache.

"You remember how I told you she’s been stalking me?" Giana asked through her tears, her voice carrying clearly through the suddenly silent hall. "Following me everywhere, taking pictures, trying to create fake evidence to frame me. Well, last night she cornered me in the forest and threatened me."

The lie was so audacious, so completely opposite to the truth, that for a moment I was speechless. Giana had taken our investigation and twisted it into evidence of my supposed mental instability with masterful precision.

"That didn’t happen," I said, finding my voice despite the shock. "I was investigating—"

"Investigating what?" Giana interrupted with perfect innocent confusion, her tears still flowing. "Raymond, she just won’t stop saying I'm meeting with rogues and selling pack secrets. It's completely delusional."

Kane sat at a nearby table, watching the exchange with professional detachment. His silence during this crucial moment felt like another knife to my heart, another betrayal in a long line of them.

"She showed you photographs," Giana continued, her voice breaking with emotion. "But they were clearly staged. She must have hired actors to pretend to be rogues, just to make her lies seem credible."

The explanation was brilliant in its simplicity. Giana was accounting for any evidence I might produce while simultaneously painting me as completely unhinged. She'd thought of everything, planned for every contingency.

"Aurora has been consumed with jealousy ever since Raymond and I found each other," Giana said to the assembled pack members, her voice carrying to every corner of the hall. "She can't accept that their marriage was arranged, not based on love."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd like waves. I could see pack members exchanging glances, weighing Giana's words against their own observations of my recent behavior. Some looked sympathetic to her plight, others appeared concerned about my mental state.

"I tried to be understanding," Giana continued, her performance reaching its crescendo. "I know this situation is painful for her. But when someone starts fabricating evidence and making threats..."

She didn't finish the sentence, letting the implication hang in the air like a sword over my head. Several pack members nodded sympathetically, their expressions shifting from confusion to concern—not for me, but about me.

The transformation was terrible to witness. These were people I'd known for years, pack members I'd protected and served as Luna. Now they were looking at me like I was a dangerous stranger who might snap at any moment.

"Tell them what really happened," I said desperately to Kane, my voice carrying across the silent hall. "Tell them about the surveillance, about what we heard."

Kane's response was devastating in its professional neutrality: "I can only report what I observed, not interpret motivations or mental states."

The careful phrasing gave Raymond exactly what he needed to dismiss my claims while maintaining Kane's credibility. Kane wasn't lying, but he wasn't telling the whole truth either. His diplomatic language was destroying me as effectively as any direct lie.

"Even your own partner won't support these accusations," Raymond said, his voice carrying across the hall with Alpha authority. "That should tell you everything you need to know about their validity."

Giana's tears had dried, replaced by an expression of brave determination that made her appear even more sympathetic. "I don't want to press charges, but I think Aurora needs professional help right away before she hurts herself or someone else."

The suggestion sent a chill down my spine. A psychiatric evaluation would be the perfect way to remove me from any position to oppose Giana's plans. Once I was declared mentally incompetent, she'd have free rein to complete whatever conspiracy she was orchestrating.

"I'm not the one who needs help," I said, but my voice sounded desperate even to my own ears. "She's the one meeting with rogues, selling pack secrets—"

"Aurora, stop," Raymond interrupted sharply, his Alpha command cutting through my protests. "You're only making this worse for yourself."

I looked around the room at faces that had once shown me respect and loyalty. Pack members who had celebrated my appointment as Alpha King's representative, who had trusted me to protect their interests. Now I saw pity, concern, and in some cases, fear.

Giana had successfully painted me as an unstable Luna whose jealousy had driven her to paranoid delusions. The narrative was perfect, accounting for my behavior while positioning her as the reasonable, injured party.

Kane remained silent throughout the entire exchange, his professional mask intact. When our eyes met briefly, I saw pain flash across his features before he looked away. He was suffering too, I realized, but his fear was stronger than his love.

"I think it would be best if Aurora took some time to rest and receive proper care," Giana said with false concern, her voice carrying the authority of someone who had already won. "This kind of stress-induced breakdown isn't uncommon in arranged marriages."

Raymond nodded grimly, the magical conditioning making him completely receptive to her suggestions. "I'll arrange for a full psychiatric evaluation immediately."

The threat was clear and immediate. Within hours, I could be declared mentally incompetent and removed from any position to continue my investigation or protect the pack from Giana's conspiracy.

As pack members began to disperse, murmuring among themselves about what they'd witnessed, I realized that Giana had won this battle completely. She'd taken my investigation and turned it into proof of my mental instability, all while maintaining her position as Raymond's beloved mate.

Kane stood to leave with the others, his face carefully neutral. "The Alpha has made his decision," he said formally when I tried to catch his eye.

His abandonment at this crucial moment felt like the final betrayal. I was truly alone now, facing a conspiracy that had just scored its biggest victory yet. Giana's psychological warfare was more effective than any magic—she'd turned my own pack against me using nothing but lies and manipulation.

The dining hall emptied slowly, leaving me sitting alone at my table with the weight of complete isolation pressing down on my shoulders. Even the pack members who showed me sympathetic glances were keeping their distance, unwilling to associate with someone who might be mentally unstable.

Giana had won without firing a shot or casting a spell. She'd simply told a better story than mine, and in a world where perception was reality, that was all she needed.