After My Alpha Believed Her Lies Over My Truth

The sterile scent of antiseptic usually calmed me, grounding my wolf in the logic of science and healing. But today, the air in the Shadow Moon research wing smelled wrong. It smelled of intrusion.

I pushed open the heavy double doors to my private lab, my heart already hammering a warning rhythm against my ribs. Glass crunched under my boots. My sanctuary, the place where I had spent years researching a cure for Feral thirst, looked like a whirlwind had torn through it. Vials lay shattered on the pristine tile, and papers—my life’s work—were scattered like autumn leaves.

And there, standing amidst the chaos, was Lillie Turner.

She wasn’t just standing there. She was clutching my master journal—the navy-bound notebook containing five years of genetic coding and trials—against her chest.

"What are you doing?" My voice was low, trembling with a mix of rage and disbelief. "Put that down, Lillie."

Lillie spun around, her eyes widening. She didn't look guilty. She looked calculated. A slow, poisonous smile curled her lips before she masked it with a look of terrified frailty.

"I was just... trying to save it," she stammered, her voice pitched high.

"Save it? You're stealing it!" I lunged forward, my hand reaching for the leather cover. "That research belongs to the pack. It belongs to me!"

My fingers barely grazed the spine of the book when Lillie threw herself backward into a rack of metal instruments. They crashed down with a deafening clatter. Before I could even process her movement, she let out a blood-curdling scream, shrinking away from me as if I were a monster.

"Help! Alpha! She's going to kill me!"

The door behind me slammed open with enough force to crack the plaster.

Instantaneously, the air in the room grew heavy, suffocating. The scent of rain and ozone—Alpha Dominick’s scent—flooded the space, but there was no comfort in it today. It was thick with aggression.

"Davina!"

His voice wasn't a question. It was a gavel strike.

I turned, breathless, ready to explain. "Dominick, thank the Goddess. She's destroying the—"

"**Submit.**"

The Alpha Command hit me like a physical blow to the stomach. My knees buckled, hitting the glass-strewn floor with a sickening crunch. My wolf whined in agony, forced into submission by the mate who was supposed to protect us. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I could only look up at him, my eyes burning with unshed tears of betrayal.

Dominick strode past me, not even sparing me a glance, and scooped a sobbing Lillie into his arms. She buried her face in his neck, her body shaking with performative sobs.

"She's crazy, Dom," Lillie whimpered, her voice muffled against his shirt. "I found her tearing up the lab. She said if she couldn't be the best researcher, no one could. She tried to hurt me when I tried to stop her."

"That's a lie!" I choked out, fighting the crushing weight of his aura. "Check the handwriting, Dominick! The journal is in my