LUCIAN'S POV

"What the hell was that?"

Maya's voice cut through the air like a blade as she furiously stormed into my study.

I hadn't even had a moment to breathe. Not after Elora showed up out of nowhere, not after she shoved some damn papers into my chest like a final blow. The papers still sat untouched on my desk, crumpled and damp with sweat from her grip.

" I don't know," I said flatly, running a hand over my jaw, "I didn't invite her."

Maybe eyes burned with rage as she stepped closer.

"Do you expect me to believe that? She just happens to come back on the same night you're throwing me a birthday celebration?"

My voice stayed calm, but inside, a headache throbbed behind my temple. "She hasn't been in Ashridge for months. I didn't even know she was in the city."

"Nora saw her. Everyone saw her," Maya hissed. "They saw her leave right before I blew out the candles on my cake. Do you know how that makes me look?"

I turned to face her fully. "You think I planned that? That I wanted her to show up, to watch her daughter call you Mama, then storm off? That wasn't for show, Maya. That was a woman at her breaking point."

Maya blinked at me, clearly caught off guard by my tone.

I exhaled. "Look, I didn't ask for this mess. But I'm cleaning it up."

Silence fell for a moment before she folded her arms. "Do you still have feelings for her?"

"No," I said without hesitation. "Elora and I were a mistake-an obligation. We were never supposed to be mates. That bond was chosen. Arranged. Political."

"But she's still Nora's mother," Maya muttered, her tone softening just a little.

"I know," I sank into the chair. "And I'II always respect that. But that's all there is to it. Elora's not someone I loved. She was someone I owed."

And now, she has walked away from even that.

I leaned back, letting the truth settle in my bones.

I'm Lucian Weston-Alpha of the Erelis pack and CEO of Weston's company. I'm known to be the cold, calculated, powerful and a man who leads with strength and order. My pack happens to be the most powerful among the five packs in Ashridge---- The northern part of Ashridge known for their fierce warriors, discipline and defence, high level strategy, political dominace and producing elite Alphas in its generation.

My bloodline goes from way back in generations, built on strength, duty, and leadership. I was trained and taught to protect our laws and pack members, to ensure unity, and to provide for the pack.

Love? That had no place in the role until Maya.

Fated mates were sacred. Our kind only got one in a lifetime. When Maya came into my life, everything shifted. She made me feel something I didn't even think I was capable of anymore-warmth. Hope.

I've never felt that way with Elora. Never.

I'd always been distant, and I was always busy pretending we could make it work. But there was no bond. No spark. Just shared responsibility for a child that never asked to be born in the middle of our wreckage.

"I didn't mean for today to unravel like this." I muttered.

Maya crossed the room and perched on the edge of my desk, still visibly tense. "So what now?"

I couldn't help but think about her reaction earlier. I could still feel the heat of Elora's anger when she pressed the paper against my chest. That fire in her eyes. The rage behind her voice. It's Unsettling.

"She left," I said quietly. "It's over."

Maya didn't say anything for a moment. Then she said, "She looked wrecked."

"She was," I admitted. "But she did that to herself. She stayed quiet when she should've fought. She gave up long before I found you."

I stood again, pacing around the room. My wolf Rowan was unsettled-restless since Elora left. Not because we missed her. Not because we wanted her back. But because something inevitable has happened. The chapter had closed. And maybe that hurts my wolf.

"I have a pack to lead," I said, more to myself than her. "And laws to uphold. Our people deserve a true Luna who was chosen by the Moon Goddess, not one barely acknowledged by the pack members.

Maya looked down at her hands. "Are sure you're not just trying to justify what happened?"

I met her gaze. "I don't have to justify anything. Not to the pack. Not to her. But to you? I'll be honest-I never wanted Elora. I just didn't want to be the Alpha who abandoned the mother of his child."

Maya's shoulders eased a bit. "And now?"

"Now she's the one who left. And I let her. She made her choice. And I'm not going to chase someone who left on their own accord."

Maya stood, smoothening down her dress. "I don't just want her showing up again and making you second-guess us."

"She won't," I said with more assurance than I felt. "Elora doesn't look back. Not after she's made up her mind."

But a part of me knew-that look in her eyes? That was something else entirely.

"Daddy," Nora's voice called out as she stepped into my study. Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Why was mommy here? She ruined Aunty Maya's party.everyone saw that."

Before I could answer, Maya crouched down to her level. "Sweetheart," she said, beaming up at her as she smoothed Nora's hair. "Your mom just wanted to see you. Today's a special day, maybe she thought she could be part of it, too."

Nora looked up at her with trembling lips. "You're not mad about your party?"

Maya shook her head and pulled her close.

"Of course not, baby. Nothing could ruin this day.not when I have you."

Something light tugged at my chest as I watched them quietly.

Maya. She had this calm aura I never knew I needed until now. She wasn't just my fated mate -she was going to be the kind of Mother Nora deserved. The kind who could love gently, passionately.even the parts of her that weren't hers by blood.

I was damn lucky.

As they both left the study, I sank into the silence.

I should've felt relief. I finally had what I wanted: Freedom. The past closed, and the future wide open with Maya.

But all I could hear was the soft echo of a little girl calling someone else 'Mama,' and the sound of a door slamming shut behind the woman I once swore to protect-even if I never loved her.

Oh! the papers. I forgot about that for a second.

I walked back to my desk and picked up the papers. I unfolded it carefully and read its content.

"DiVORCE?" My wolf, Rowan, yelled out with anger.

ELORA'S POV

Three Years Later.

"I never should have sent you off."

Selene's tone sliced through the quiet hum of the city outside the apartment window, and I could see her hand clamped firmly onto the edge of her coffee mug.

I didn't answer right away. I sat before her, legs folded up beneath me on the couch, staring blankly at the steam rising from my own cup, the warmth barely seeping through the ceramic to my palms.

"I just figured.maybe it would help you find some kind of peace," Selene said, her voice soft with regret.

"Closure, maybe. I don't know. But if I'd known it would break you like that-if I'd known what he'd do, El, I swear to God, I would've prevented you from going."

I raised my eyes slowly to meet hers. There was no anger in them, not anymore. Weariness, yes- a deep, bone-deep tiredness that time hadn't erased, no matter how hard I'd tried to outrun it. "It wasn't your fault."

"It does feel like it was," Selene muttered, her gaze dropping to her hands.

I sighed as I settled deeper into the couch, the soft fabric cold against my elbows. Manhattan light streamed in through the window, casting a golden ray around us, as if trying to warm the chill that lingered in the air.

It had been years-three? Four? Days blurred together, slipping through my fingers when I wasn't paying attention.

Time moves differently when you stop expecting anything at all, when each day is just another step to get through, no anticipation, no hope.

"I've got no calls from them, Selene. Not one. Not even a single message." My voice trembled, and I hated how fragile it sounded, how raw the pain still was after all this time. "I wonder sometimes if my own daughter remembers me."

Selene set her mug down gently on the coffee table and sat beside me on the couch, placing her hand softly on my knee- a small, steady anchor in the chaos of my mind. "Of course, she remembers you. She was just a child. She probably isn't aware of what really happened."

I laughed bitterly, the sound hollow in my own ears. "She doesn't need to know. Lucian saw to that. He cut me loose from her so neatly, it was as if I never existed. As if I was just..a phase."

The silence that followed wasn't awkward, just deafening- heavy with all the things we didn't say, all the pain we couldn't put into words.

I thought back to the day I first landed in Manhattan, fresh off the subway, still reeling from the humiliation Lucian had heaped on me.

I could barely breathe then; the city was noisy, fast, a jarring shock to the throbbing quiet that had taken up residence inside me. But I survived anyway- I always did.

That first night, after I hauled my suitcase into the small apartment Selene had leased for me, I cried on the floor until my eyes were dry, until my throat burned, until I had no tears left to give.

Then I stood up, washed my face, and typed out my letter of resignation. No hesitation, no second thoughts. I didn't even hesitate to resign from Weston's company.

I printed the letter the next morning and took it to headquarters myself- Lucian's name was still emblazoned on the building, and I wanted nothing to do with anything that had to do with him, nothing that bore his mark.

That part of my life was over. At least, that's what I tried to tell myself, even when the lie felt heavy on my tongue.

Then I started over. Selene found me a position at a tech company, one where no one knew my name, no one knew my past- a clean slate.

I worked tirelessly, days and nights, even weekends, whatever it took to keep my mind busy, to keep the memories at bay.

I moved up quickly; I got promoted after a year, and with that promotion came an endless stream of achievements, all of which silenced the pain for a little while. but never truly filled the empty space I'd lost when Lucian took Nora away.

But even then, I walked away from it sometimes- moments when the sorrow crept in, unannounced, like an approaching wave that I never saw coming. A child in the subway, clinging tightly to her mother's hand.

A father yelling his daughter's name in the park, laughter echoing. Every time I heard the name "Nora"- a name that used to be my whole world- it felt like a knife to the chest.

Each time, I'd smile, pretending it didn't hurt. I'd blink away the burn behind my eyes and keep going- keep working, keep living, keep breathing. Because what else did I have left to fight for?

"I was mad at him," I whispered, the words barely audible, even to myself. "But I think I was more angry at myself. For thinking he would fight for us. For thinking he wouldn't shove me out the minute he found his true mate."

"Maybe he was afraid..or confused," Selene offered gently, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt- a kindness I couldn't bring myself to extend.

"No," I answered flatly, the word sharp with the weight of all my disappointment. "He was selfish."

Selene didn't argue. She simply nodded, letting me pour out the thoughts that had been festering in my heart for years, letting me say the things I'd never dared to voice out loud.

"I suppose a part of me. a small part of me expected he would call one day. Maybe he'd want to explain, or ask how I was doing, or at least let me talk to Nora.

But he didn't. He never did. And I didn't bother either." My throat tightened, and I struggled to swallow past the lump there. "What sort of mother does that make me?"

"A hurting one, El. One that's going through a lot." Selene exhaled, her hand squeezing my knee softly. "A woman who did all she could."

I turned my face away, my eyes stinging with tears- but I had promised myself, so many times, that I wouldn't weep again.

Not for him. Not for a man who had chosen to cut me out of his life, out of Nora's life, as if I meant nothing.

"I suppose I just have to accept it," I said to her, my voice steady despite the tears threatening to spill. "That she's gone. That he made sure I'd no longer be a part of her life. And he probably sleeps just fine at night because of it."

I stood up and walked to the window, arms crossed tightly across my chest as I glanced down at the city below- a sea of people, all with their own lives, their own happiness, their own families. I envied them, even as I knew I shouldn't.

Selene stood beside me, her shoulder brushing mine. "Don't ever think you're not enough. Because that's never true. He made a choice. That choice doesn't define your worth."

I let my forehead fall forward, my eyes shutting as I whispered, the words breaking on a breath. "I just miss her. That's all. Just her."

We stood there together for a while, the city humming around us, the silence now softer, less overwhelming.

I had no clue what the future would bring. Maybe Nora would one day come looking for me. Maybe Lucian would one day face what he'd done.

But in that moment, I had this life- the one I'd built with my own hands, brick by brick, even when it felt impossible. It wasn't much. But it was mine.

And that was enough- at least for now.

I decided to step back to my desk and get some work done, anything to distract myself from the ache in my chest.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard, the sound of the keypads suddenly loud in the quiet of the apartment.

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my temples- the weight in my chest hadn't gone away; it had just learned to hide under routine, under the busywork, under the pretense that I was okay.

Then the phone rang.

I glanced at the screen- an unknown number. I stared at it, telling myself it was probably spam, or someone from work, calling to ask me to take on an extra project.

I nearly let it ring out, my finger hovering over the ignore button- but something, a gut feeling, a flicker of hope I thought I'd long since extinguished, made me reach for it.

"Hello?"

Silence.

I almost hung up, my patience already wearing thin.

Then a voice called from the other end- familiar, in a way that made my breath hitch and my heart ache, a voice I hadn't heard in years, a voice I'd tried so hard to forget.

"Elora."

For a second, I couldn't breathe. My hand trembled, the phone nearly slipping from my grasp. Years of silence, years of pain, years of pretending I didn't care- and now. this. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might shatter, right there in my chest.

Then I swallowed hard, forcing the words out, my voice shaky but clear.

"Lucian?"

NORA'S POV

"Thank you, Evelyn," I thanked our house keeper and my personal maid, Evelyn, as she served me breakfast with a smile on her face. She filled my glass with water and bowed politely before she walked out of the room.

I stared at the food and lost my appetite instantly. This has been happening repeatedly for days.

Don't get me wrong, the meal looks good. The eggs were perfect. The toast was buttered the way I liked it. But I couldn't eat. My stomach felt too tight with guilt.

I'm Nora Weston----the only child of Lucian and Elora Weston and the future of the Erelis pack bloodline. My father is proudly the CEO of Weston's company and Alpha of the Erelis pack, which makes my mother Luna of the Erelis pack-well that was before my father found his fated mate or so I heard from the pack members who wouldn't stop gossiping about it.

Three years. Three good years.

That's how long it had been since I last saw my mother.

It didn't bother me at first. Aunt Maya gave me everything I asked for. She braids my hair even when I insisted that i could do it on my own now, buys me new dresses every now and then, and she lets me sleep in her room anytime i want. The feeling was so good that I didn't notice when it all stopped-The calls, the text, even the way my mother sent me gifts. Her morning call ceased like it was never there to start with.

But now I noticed it. I had to.

Because Aunt Maya became a new person overnight. Now she was always too busy to attend to me, she barely create time to hang out with me, she even told me to stop calling her mama.

That has never happened whenever mommy was around.

Something started to twist in my chest. Guilt, maybe? Maybe this was my fault. Maybe mommy stopped calling because I treated her badly. I said she never should've come home. I hurt her feelings. And now.

How could I be so mean to her when all she did was take care of me and made sure I was okay?

I moved the breakfast aside and walked out of my room. I needed to see daddy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found him in his study, going through his phone with a frown on his face.

"Daddy?"

He looked up immediately, his eyes softened as soon as he saw the worry look on my face.

"Nora, what's wrong?"

I hesitated, my palms damped with sweat out of nervousness. "Did.Any news from mom yet? Did you call her like you promised?"

The little smile on his face dropped. He stood up slowly and crouched in front of me.

"No, baby," he said gently. "There's no message from her."

The tears fought their way out, but I held them in. I caused all this anyway. I had no right to cry.

I wanted to tell him it was okay. That I didn't care. That I didn't miss her. That he shouldn't bother calling her. Three years ago, I would have said just that. But the truth was.I miss her. A lot.

"Maybe she doesn't want to talk to me," I whispered. "Because I was mean to her."

I picked up the phone so many times and tried to call her. But each time I did, I ended up not calling her. What if she doesn't pick up? What if she picked up and yelled at me? Those thoughts crossed my mind each time I tried to call her.

"Hey," my dad said, his voice interrupting the little conversation I'd going on in my head. "You were just a kid. You didn't understand everything that was happening. None of this is your fault."

I looked down, fidgeting with my fingers again.

"Do you think maybe she'd talk to you instead? If you called her?"

"Nora."

"Please dad," I cut him short, a tear slipped before I could hold it in. "You always promise to call her, but you never tried once."

His eyes searched mine and I could see something shift in them. Sadness? Maybe even regret. I couldn't figure it out. It was gone as soon as it came.

Then let out a sigh.

"Okay," he said softly, "I'II call her."

I blinked the tears away, then my face lit up in excitement.

"Really? You'll really call her this time?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Maybe it's time I did."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LUCIAN'S POV

I hadn't said Elora's name out loud in over a year. Not once. Not even to myself.

It had become a scar I refused to pick at. A box I'd locked shut with its key buried deep. Calling her again was the last thing I thought I'd ever do. But then Nora walked in and everything changed. How could I look into those teary eyes and say No?.

"You're sure you're only doing this because of Nora? Just get over yourself and bring her back already."

My wolf, Rowan, snapped for the hundredth time today. He has been restless and would seize any opportunity to blame me ever since Elora left. I mean, he should be happy we found our fated mate. We've been waiting for that for years, and now he suddenly has a problem with Maya being our fated mate. Maybe he wasn't the only one who had issues with her now, Maya has been..distant these days.

"Shut the fuck up, Rowan."

"Don't tell me to shut up when you're the one who couldn't keep your dick in your pants and got her pregnant in the first place. Not that I'm complaining though. I love Elora."

I could feel him smirking inside me. Horny bastard.

"I heard that, Lucian."

I block him off and cut off the mindlink. I've had enough lectures for today.

I made sure Nora went back to her room. Then I stepped out onto the balcony and drowned in my train of thoughts for a while.

It's been so long. I wasn't even sure if she still uses the same line. My thumb hovered over the screen.

Then I pressed the call button.

It rang once. Twice.

Then again.

I was ready to hang up when it connected.

"Hello," the voice at the other end was hesitant. One I haven't heard in years.

The silence stretched between us.

I closed my eyes for a minute.

Then I said her name. "Elora."

There was a pause at first.

Then she said, "Lucian?" It was more like a question, like she was making sure if it was really me.

Even hearing her voice stirred something within me. Something old and buried. Something I didn't want to feel.

I told myself it's because I'd promised my daughter I'd call her. That I'd broken enough promises to last a lifetime.

But is that the only reason? Could Rowan feel something I couldn't feel? Or was my heart starting to beat for another?