Chapter 3

3.

When an Alpha knots during their rut, an Omega’s pregnancy is almost guaranteed. It’s a cruel law set by the Moon Goddess.

So, I dropped out of school and had Lachlan. He was a natural-born Alpha.

Lachlan was very attached to me when he was little. He loved my scent, the instinctual bond of a pup to its mother.

When my heats were unbearable, he would toddle over on his short legs to give me water, wiping the sweat from my brow with his tiny hands. I taught him to draw, and he used to say, “Mommy is the coolest artist in the world.”

The change happened after his first weekend at the Frost Estate.

He came back, kicked over his easel, and looked at me with a fear I didn’t understand.

“Dad said drawing is for the weak. If we’re not strong enough, other packs will swallow us whole.”

My own child was rapidly brainwashed in that toxic, masculine environment.

The Frost family preached an extreme “strength above all” philosophy. They trained Lachlan like a fighting dog.

Once, in the back of a luxury car, Lachlan was playing on an expensive gaming console and asked me in a low voice, as if seeking confirmation.

“Mom, the Pack Council says if I’m not ruthless, I’ll end up a parasite like you, dependent on others. Why can’t you be stronger?”

“If I was a low-ranking Omega like you, would Dad lock me in that dark cage too?”

He looked up at me with his innocent little face, but the words he spoke sent a chill down my spine. He was fighting for his own survival.

Then Vivienne returned from New York with her MBA, becoming Kaelan’s second-in-command.

Kaelan informed me coldly, “The wedding is off. The pack needs a Luna who can help me run my business, not an Omega who only knows how to do chores. Lachlan is staying with me.”

At that fateful party, Lachlan held Kaelan’s hand with one hand and Vivienne’s with the other. His hands were trembling, but his voice was loud, as if he was performing for Kaelan.

“Mom, it’s not Dad’s fault.”

“For the future of the pack, and so I can become a top Alpha, we need a strong woman like Vivienne.”

“I agree.”

“From now on, Vivienne is my mother! She can teach me how to rule, while you can only teach me to be weak.”

My heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. My voice shook. “Lachlan, I’m your mother.”

Lachlan tilted his head, a flicker of struggle in his eyes, but it was quickly extinguished by a cold glance from Kaelan. He gritted his teeth and said cruelly:

“But you’re an Omega. If I choose you, I’m choosing failure. You can understand that, right? I don’t want to be a loser.”

That night, I suffered through the most painful heat of my life.

Abandoned by my mate, my body went into a severe rejection state. The wolf inside me howled, and my bones felt like they were being ground to dust.

As I drifted in and out of consciousness, I thought I heard Lachlan’s voice.

“Mom! Mom! Do you want some water?”

I answered weakly, “Yes.”

But the only reply was the empty, cold room. He was downstairs, celebrating his “new family,” trading my betrayal for a nod of approval from his father.