#Chapter 7 Exposed

Third Person POV
In the early morning of the royal palace, Olivia watched the news with awe and shock. She could see her face, her past life, and watched as the reports gave an update on the Luna’s funeral services. The date has changed several times now and each time it only infuriated Olivia more and more.
She couldn’t understand why he was posturing like this, speaking to reporters about his sorrow, about the horrid murder of his mate, as though he hadn’t known all along that this was her fate. Olivia was dying anyways, Alicia just made sure it happened before she could give birth to the Alpha’s offspring first.
Gabriel set nearby, flipping through his newspaper. “So sad about that Luna.”
Olivia felt the fear strike up her throat. “Why do you say that?” Of course, to Olivia, she knew her truth. she knew Herold wanted her dead, wanted to divorce her, and had no use for her anymore. Watching him play this grieving Alpha only pissed off Olivia more. “It’s obvious that Alpha is faking it. He had a mistress.”
“Where did you hear such a thing?” Gabriel says, eyes wide. “It’s no secret that Herold Opal loved his Luna. He always spoke so highly of her. She practically healed him after he was hurt in a rogue fight, my dear. Make no mistake, he loved that Luna.”
Olivia wanted to fight his words but she couldn’t do so with exposing her bias.
Across the sea, Herold was going through trouble of his own. In his haste, he stayed out by the sea and watched his mate float away for miles. He had this urgent feeling of remorse, of needing to be with her, even after her soul had passed. He walked out to see unknowingly and slipped on the reefs. He was sent to the hospital to help him heal quicker, but part of Herold didn’t want to heal. He wanted to be with Olivia.
A warrior woke him gently, the Alpha worn down and frustrated.
“What is it?” he snaps, his body aching.
“We found her body, Alpha. It’s downstairs in the morgue. They just brought her in.”
Herold could hardly move any faster, ripping the IV from his arm and storming downstairs. He was weak and tired but he found his way downstairs, nonetheless, seeing the sole bed in the middle of the room, a black sheet covering the exterior of what was his mate.
Being a wolf, even after death Olivia was able to heal from her external wounds. When Herold lifted the sheet, his breath was caught in his lungs. She looked as beautiful as he recalled when they first got married. Her light hair was folded neatly over her shoulders, her lips plump and lovely enough to kiss, even in death.
Instead, he leaned over and kissed her knuckles. At least now he can be beside her, or so he thought. His time was cut short, receiving an anonymous text from a number he didn’t recognize. Unbeknownst to him, Olivia spent her afternoon digging through the files accessible to her new position as the Queen Luna.
Herold open the files, his eyes growing wide when a picture of Alicia popped up, her lanky arms wrapped around the back of another man, her legs hiked up on his hips and their mouths in the middle of a passionate make out session.
The picture was a still-shot of a surveillance video. It was timestamped three months ago.
Herold could feel the rage boiling over and it wouldn’t stop until he made it home, Alicia lounging lazily on the couch in the living room. She perked up upon seeing him but when he tossed the phone into her lap, she stared at the image in the same disbelief of Herold had.
“What is this?” he asks her, his heart racing in anger.
“It’s nothing, Herold,” Alicia said, waving off the severity of this photo. “It is from three months ago. I was in another pack then, after being banished by your mother. I had to do what I had to so I could survive. If that meant playing nice with another Alpha, then that’s what I did. But I never had sex with him. I wouldn’t do that to you, Herold.”
Although he listened to her every word as usual, Herold begun to feel this nagging feeling in his head. Something wasn’t right here and with Olivia gone now, he was starting to feel that everything he knew was a lie.
He had to set it aside. For now, he had a funeral to attend.
Every pack has been invited to this gathering, and no expense was spared. Even the King Alpha and Queen Luna were set to attend the funeral, something Olivia had been dreading all week. She enter the room with her head down, trying to forget this feeling of angst in her heart upon returning to her old pack.
Truthfully, she just wanted to find her brother, maybe convince him to switch packs and come to the royal palace with her, but she was too distracted seeing Herold. He stood in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets, his appearance rather haggard.
Olivia knew the Alpha to be clean and handsome. Right now he looked downtrodden and exhausted. He had deep rings under his eyes and his face hasn’t been shaved in some time. Even his outfit was undone and not ironed.
In any other circumstance, Olivia would have pitied the Alpha. Now she only hates him.
Gabriel set off to speak with the other Alphas, taking business as usual. Olivia couldn’t help herself now. She charged across the room, seeing Alpha Herold perk up at the Queen Luna and offer a bow of his head, something that makes Olivia feel powerful beyond compare.
“Thank you for attending, Queen Luna,” Herold says, his eyes bloodshot.
Olivia stares at him blankly. “I’m surprised to see such an event of this magnitude. It’s well knowledge throughout the packs that you have had a mistress for the last few months, Herold. Why the sudden interest in being upset over the loss of your pregnant mate?”
Herold staggered to move or to speak. He has met the Queen Luna before but she has never held such distain for him like this. What’s worse is that even throughout all the news there has been surrounding Olivia’s death, not one knew that she was pregnant.
Herold furrows his brow. He had this overwhelming sense of Olivia’s presence in the room and even as he stared at the face of the Queen Luna, he knew something was wrong here.
“Who are you… really?”