What my father did to my mother never stopped there. As if it wasn’t enough that he was a useless excuse for a mate, he buried us in debt so deep we couldn’t even afford proper pack
dues.
We were already outcasts, barely clinging to the fringes of the territory.
When my mom went into labor during a red moon, there was no healer, no midwife. No one dared help a disgraced omega and her bastard child.
She had no choice but to deliver me alone, in the cold silence of our rundown den, with nothing but agony and moonlight to witness my first breath.
From then on, our life was nothing but pain and survival.
Mom and I lived under the shadow of his fury.
Every time his claws lashed out, every time his wolf surged just beneath his skin, she threw herself between us.
Not once did she let him mark me.
Her body bore every wound, every bruise that never had the chance to heal. Because new ones always followed.
We tried to run. My mother, me, and Kaela–we tried our best to escape. Goddess
many times.
knows how
But no matter how far we got, he’d always find us. His pack of rogue allies–feral, scent–trained, cruel–hunted us like prey and dragged us back, just so he could keep us broken beneath his
paw.
That nightmare only ended because of the Earth’s wrath.
A quake unlike anything we’d ever felt ripped through the land.
He was too drunk to shift, too slow to escape.
Our house collapsed with a roar of splintering wood and stone.
He was crushed beneath it. A fitting end.
We made it out.
I thought that was the beginning of something new.
Freedom.
A life where we wouldn’t have to flinch at every footstep, every growl in the dark.
But fate has never been kind to us.
The aftershocks came two nights later. She pushed me out of the way just in time.
I lived.
She didn’t.
I still remember her final words.
Her voice was faint and warm despite everything.
“I just wanted to see the world. Run through different forests. Watch the stars from beyond this
4:59 pm G
cursed land.”
And every time she said that before when I was younger and foolish, I’d take her hand and promise-
“Don’t worry, Mom. When I grow up, I’ll take you beyond the borders. I’ll show you the world.”
She’d always smile then.
Eyes glowing with that same quiet hope.
But she never got the chance.
She died before I was strong enough to keep that promise.
Now, as I sit beneath the night sky, her old wolf bracelet clutched against my chest like a lifeline
I whisper the words I’ve said too many times…
“I miss you, Mom. And I swear on the moon, I’ll live the life you couldn’t.”
Marcus’s POV
Across the territory, Marcus’s expression was darker than a blood moon after getting cut of mid–conversation.
His claws twitched where his fingers gripped his phone–too hard, it almost cracked.
He stormed through the gates of the hospital wing at pack headquarters, his Beta trailing behind him silently.
Lucas, lying on the cot near the firepit, perked up the second he caught the scent of his father’s arrival.
“Well?”
The boy asked, ears twitching, hope barely masked behind the bite in his tone.
“Is she coming back?”
Alpha Marcus’s jaw tensed.
“She said she’s not returning.”
Lucas’s face fell, just for a moment.
But like any young wolf with too much pride, he rolled his eyes and threw up a careless shrug.
“Tch. Whatever. Not like I wanted her here anyway. The only thing I miss is her moon–blessed stew. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t even care.”
He turned away, arms crossed, tail twitching irritably.
“It wasn’t even that good.”
But Marcus heard the tremble in his voice
Saw the pain flicker behind his son’s golden eyes.
He didn’t argue.
Didn’t try to force comfort where it wasn’t wanted. Instead, he quietly summoned one of the omega caretakers and instructed them to adjust Lucas’s meal offerings–something closer to
Brianna’s cooking.
It helped, a little.
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Alpha Marcus had intended to stay, to watch over Lucas himself, but his phone buzzed with a reminder–there was an Alpha Council banquet that night.
Attendance was mandatory. Politics before peace, always
With no other choice, he arranged for guards to keep watch and made his way back to the packhouse alone.
The moment he stepped through the heavy ironwood doors, silence greeted him like a phantom.
He stopped, frozen.
The packhouse, his fortress, felt hollow.
His mind betrayed him with a memory–every time he returned from patrols or late meetings, Brianna would be waiting for him by the hearth, wrapped in a shawl, offering him that small, weary smile.
The kind that warmed him through even on the coldest nights.
Now… there was only silence.
Alpha Marcus stood there for a moment, letting the emptiness wrap around him like a noose.
Then, with a grunt, he shook it off.
Ridiculous.
He was Alpha.
Alphas didn’t sulk.
He climbed the stairs, heading toward his chambers to prepare for the night. But when he opened his wardrobe, lined with ceremonial leathers and tux, he frowned.
His favorite sash was missing.
The deep blue one with the silver embroidery–Kaela’s final gift before the battle that claimed her
life.
He always wore it to council gatherings..
He rifled through drawers and hangers, more and more frustrated by the second.
Still nothing.
Eventually, he gave up. He let out a frustrated growl and reached for his phone.
[Where did you put the tie Kaela gave me?]
He waited.
The silence that followed echoed louder than any howl.
Brianna’s POV
I was just about to head out to grab something to eat when his message popped up on my phone.
A soft hum vibrated through my bones as his presence pressed into my mind.
Marcus
I sighed, feeling a headache coming on, and quickly typed back,
[Bottom right drawer of your wardrobe.]
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But as soon as I sent it, something twisted in my gut..
The message felt… hollow.
Incomplete
Like I was letting him get away with bothering me again as if nothing had changed.
I hesitated, then added another pulse of thought–energy,
[Ask Ava to organize your wardrobe next time. Would be easier for you to ask her. Stop reaching out to me for things that no longer concern me.]
There.
That felt more like a boundary.
I waited only a few breaths before my phone buzzed again, his reply coming faster than 1 expected.
[I know. I asked because I was in a rush. It won’t happen again.]
I didn’t respond.
Didn’t want to. Instead, I slipped my phone back into my pocket and finally went out. The night air was crisp against my skin, the forest humming with energy from the full moon above. My wolf stirred restlessly beneath the surface, eager for release, but my thoughts lingered on him. On Marcus. Part of me wanted to believe what he said. That it won’t happen again. But I’d been his Luna long enough to know better.
Chapter 13
