After I Left, He Learned To Regret

My six-year-old son fed me the cake that triggered my allergy and killed his unborn sister. He was smiling when he confessed, as if he had done something wonderful. “Aunt Vivienne said the baby would go back to the Moon Goddess. Then you and Daddy could break your mate bond, and she could stay with us instead. That way, Aunt Vivienne would have more time to play with me!” My heart clenched. I couldn't hold back anymore. “But Mommy and your sister can play with you, too. Can't we?” “Yeah, but…” He hesitated, searching for the right words. “But it's boring when I'm with you, Mommy. Daddy and I have more fun with Aunt Vivienne.” The words hit me like a blow. For a long moment, I couldn't say a word. My mate, Adrian, stripped Finn of his heir badge, suspended his Alpha training, and sent him to a pack therapist. But when I asked him to investigate the adult who had given our son the cake and taught him how to deceive me, Adrian stepped between us. “Vivienne chose her words poorly. She couldn't have known Finn would actually do it.” Our six-year-old son was old enough to be punished. My sister was too innocent to be questioned. That was when I finally saw the favoritism Adrian himself didn't even realize he was showing. So I stopped asking him to choose me. I removed my Luna signet, left behind divorce and mate-rejection papers, surrendered custody of Finn, and accepted an assignment outside Blackwood Territory. By the time Adrian and Finn understood what it truly meant to lose me, they were already begging me to come back. Only this time, I was the one who no longer wanted to return. Chapter 1 On the third day after losing my pup, I lay in the pack infirmary and stared at the gray ceiling. My belly, round with six months of hope only days earlier, was flat again. The daughter who used to kick beneath my ribs whenever the moon was full no longer had a heartbeat. In the room next door, a healthy pup had just been born. Relatives crowded the hallway with flowers, blankets, and charms blessed at the Moon Shrine. Their laughter slipped beneath my door. My mate and my son had visited me once in three days. Adrian had not ignored what Finn had done. In front of the pack healer, he removed the heir badge from Finn's collar, canceled six months of Alpha training, and ordered daily sessions with a child therapist. "You lied to your mother and caused your sister's death," he told him. "This was not a prank." Finn finally cried, frightened by his father's anger. "Aunt Vivienne said the baby would only go back to the Moon Goddess. She said Mom could have another one." Adrian's face changed at once. Yet when Vivienne cried over the phone and claimed she had only been trying to comfort a worried child, he merely told her to choose her words more carefully in the future. Finn lost his training, his celebrations, and the privileges of an heir. The adult who had planted the idea in his mind was never formally questioned. Once Adrian had finished punishing Finn, he took him to Vivienne's Winter Moon pageant. My phone lit up that evening. My sister had sent me a video. She was still wearing her stage gown and immaculate makeup. She sat in a restaurant near the pack theater while Adrian, my mate of six years, cut her steak into neat, bite-sized pieces. Now he patiently pushed Vivienne's plate back toward her and warned her that the meat was still hot. Finn sat beside them. Vivienne speared a Brussels sprout, his most hated vegetable, and held it to his mouth. "A future Alpha cannot be afraid of vegetables." Finn ate it immediately. Then he finished the rest of the serving and proudly displayed his empty plate to the camera. They looked like a family. And I was the one who didn't belong. Vivienne smiled: "Who does Finn love most?" "Aunt Vivienne, of course!" His round eyes shone. "You never make me practice shift control or check my schoolwork. When Mom and Dad break their mate bond, can you move into the pack house?" He sounded delighted, as though his sister had not just died. Vivienne glanced at Adrian. He did not correct Finn. He only rubbed our son's hair with weary affection. Vivienne had always been the better sister. She completed her first shift at seven. Her silver-white wolf was so beautiful that Vale Pack celebrated for three days. When my turn came, I spent an entire night unconscious and managed to produce only a set of claws. Our mother sighed in front of the family and said the Moon Goddess must have given Vivienne the talent meant for both daughters. Vivienne was stronger, higher ranked, and more graceful. She knew how to make people feel chosen. I was the quiet sister who repaired broken relics and stood at the edge of every celebration. I had accepted that blood relatives might always prefer her. But I believed the Moon Goddess had finally chosen me when she gave Adrian to me. I believed the pup I carried for ten months and nearly died delivering would choose me too. Fate choosing me did not mean they would. I turned off the video and wiped my face. If they all wanted Vivienne to be the mistress of Blackwood Pack, I would return the position to her. I would no longer be Adrian's mate. And I would no longer be the mother Finn assumed he could always reclaim. Chapter 2 Rain hammered Blackwood Territory on the day I was discharged. By the time the hired car left me at the pack house, my coat was soaked through and muddy water ran from my hair. Finn took one look at me and covered his nose with theatrical disgust. "You smell like wet dog!" He peeked at Vivienne. When she laughed, he grinned, pleased that his performance had worked. He did not hate me. Hurting me was simply one of the many things he had learned could make her smile. Vivienne sat beside the fireplace in my Luna robe. Adrian had placed that robe over my shoulders himself after my Luna ceremony. Silver thread traced the Blackwood crest across the collar, and the fabric still carried the faint cedar scent of the pack house. My sister wore it as casually as a borrowed sweater. I said nothing and turned toward the stairs. Adrian came out of the kitchen, his brows drawing together. "Vivienne set aside her work to care for Finn. You may not feel grateful, but you do not need to punish her with that expression." "You're right." I stopped on the first stair. "So she can have your gratitude, the Luna title, and you. Shouldn't we reject the mate bond?" Adrian's face went cold. "You have just lost a pup. You are grieving and unstable. A mate rejection is not a threat you use to frighten your family." Vivienne rose slowly, gathering my robe around her. "Elara, Adrian punished Finn. As for me, I had no idea he would take anything I said seriously. You cannot destroy your family because grief has made you jealous." Adrian stepped between us without thinking. "Finn is responsible for his actions," he said. "Vivienne did not put the cake in his hands or order him to deceive you." Apparently a six-year-old should have understood death on his own, while the adult who repeatedly described the benefits of my miscarriage had merely chosen an unfortunate phrase. "Vivienne has explained herself," he said. "This discussion is over." I no longer wanted to argue. Upstairs, I packed my identification, work records, clothing, and the restoration tools that had been gathering dust since Finn was born. On the dressing table, I placed a signed civil divorce petition, a mate rejection declaration, and papers granting Adrian sole custody of Finn. Then I removed the Luna signet from my finger. The mating mark remained on my neck. It would require a healer and a Moon Council proceeding to remove, but one day that scar would be gone as well. Downstairs, Adrian returned to the kitchen to finish dinner for Vivienne. In six years, the only meal he had ever brought me was a bowl of cold oatmeal after Finn's birth. Vivienne posted photographs of the dinner on MoonNet. One image showed the table crowded with her favorite dishes. Another showed Adrian at the stove with his sleeves rolled to his elbows. [There is always one person who remembers everything you love.] Adrian's mother commented within a minute. [Some women are born to be Lunas. Even the Moon Goddess makes mistakes.] His younger sister added a row of hearts. I tapped the like button. The post disappeared the next time I refreshed the page. When I carried my suitcase downstairs, Adrian was waiting in the entry hall. "That post was a joke," he said. "Do you truly need to leave the pack house over a few careless words?" "The documents are upstairs. Meet me at the Moon Council office tomorrow morning." Finn wrapped both arms around Adrian's leg. "Let her go. Does that mean Aunt Vivienne can stay here tonight?" He pulled the moonstone charm from his neck. When Finn was four, a fever prevented him from completing his first partial shift. I spent three nights at the Moon Shrine to have that stone blessed for him. He pushed it into my palm. "I don't like this one anymore. Aunt Vivienne can get me a prettier one." "All right." I placed the charm in the cold ash box beside the fireplace. Then I walked out into the rain. Chapter 3 The Blackwoods had never truly accepted me. To pay for college, I worked at the Blackwood estate caring for Adrian's dying grandfather. The old Alpha had once been a renowned pack historian. In retirement, he restored ancient Moon relics and documented treaties that predated the modern territories. He discovered I had patience and skill for conservation, and he paid for the remainder of my restoration studies. Vivienne and I were sisters, but it was because of me that she and Adrian first became close. I was always the one bringing them together—asking Adrian to help Vivienne with pack events, inviting them both to the estate when I worked on my grandfather-in-law's collections, and finding little reasons for the three of us to spend time together. Somehow, Adrian and Vivienne began to fit together naturally. They shared the same sense of humor, enjoyed the same things, and grew more comfortable around each other with every passing year. Even I could see how well they matched. But no one expected Vivienne to choose someone else. Then she accepted a proposal from another Alpha overseas. Adrian spent months drinking, racing through the territory in his sports car, and picking fights during training. He returned to his grandfather's house only when he was too exhausted to keep running. During that period, the Moon Goddess awakened the mate bond between us. After our first full moon together, I became pregnant with Finn. The old Alpha forced Adrian to acknowledge the bond and the child. No one knew I had loved Adrian quietly since college. When he agreed to the mating ceremony, I believed my impossible wish had come true. Marriage proved otherwise. We kept separate bedrooms. Adrian approached me only when news about Vivienne made his wolf restless, as if my scent existed solely to soothe the pain she caused. I conceived our second pup on the night Vivienne held her mating ceremony abroad. She abandoned her intended mate before dawn and returned to Blackwood Territory, claiming she had finally understood whom she truly loved. From then on, she occupied more and more of my home. Soon my mate, my son, and even the duties of the Luna turned toward her whenever she entered a room. The car stopped outside the staff residence of the North American Lycan Heritage Institute. I had barely unpacked when Dr. Morgan called. "Frostfang Territory uncovered an ancient Moon Temple. A large collection of relics has been exposed to silver ore, and we need emergency conservation. Your charter flight leaves tomorrow morning." Six years earlier, I would have asked Adrian's permission. After Finn's birth, Adrian insisted that fieldwork was incompatible with a Luna's duties. I declined every assignment and watched less capable conservators build the career that should have been mine. "I'll go," I said. "And you do not need to explain anything to Alpha Blackwood. I am ending our mate bond." Dr. Morgan was quiet for a moment. "Then I will say what everyone at the institute has thought for years. He never deserved you." That night, I slept without preparing Adrian's late dinner or checking Finn's room after a nightmare. The silence felt strange. It also felt safe. The next morning, I waited at the Moon Council office for three hours. Adrian never appeared. He ignored every call. My flight could not be delayed, so I left the unsigned declaration with the clerk and went to the airport. Just before boarding, a MoonNet alert appeared. [Alpha Adrian Blackwood to finance a Winter Moon film starring Vivienne Vale.] The accompanying photograph showed Adrian standing behind my sister at a press conference, one hand resting at her waist. I turned off my phone. Whatever they became after I left was no longer my concern. The charter plane entered the Frostfang Mountains shortly after noon. A blizzard swallowed the windows, and turbulence threw luggage from the overhead compartments. The warning alarm began to scream. The aircraft dropped so sharply that my restraint cut into my abdomen. My head struck the seat beside me. Then the world went black. At the same time, Adrian finished the press conference and finally noticed my missed calls. One of his business partners laughed. "Your Luna still checks on you every hour? Some men would envy that." Adrian glanced at the screen: "She wants me to chase her. If I ignore this performance long enough, she will return on her own." An unfamiliar number called before he could put the phone away. "Alpha Blackwood, the aircraft carrying your mate crashed in northern Frostfang. Search teams have located wreckage. We have no confirmed signs of life."