Let Me Go, Alpha

I ran, my heart pounding in my chest like a drumbeat I couldn’t escape. The scent of blood thickened in the air as I neared the pack’s border, and a sickening dread crawled up my spine.

"Eris!" I screamed her name, praying—begging—that I was wrong. But then I saw her.

My legs nearly gave out as I reached the clearing. There, lying crumpled among the blood-soaked grass, was my daughter’s mangled body. Her clothes were torn, her small frame twisted at unnatural angles and blood... so much blood. It pooled around her, seeping into the earth as if the very ground was weeping for her.

"Eris!" I choked out again, falling to my knees beside her.

Her tiny hand was still wrapped around a cluster of medicinal herbs, clenched so tightly her knuckles had gone white.

"No... no..." My voice cracked, barely above a whisper. I rocked her back and forth, tears streaming down my face, mixing with the blood on her clothes. "I'm so sorry. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there to protect you."

Eris had been everything. My world. My hope. And now... now she was nothing more than a cold body in my arms.

I called Dinlas over and over, desperate and hysterical, but I couldn't get through to him. When he finally answered, I barely had time to speak before he barked, “Where’s Erin? I told her to get the herb. Why isn’t she back yet? Victoria’s waiting!”

"You-"

I hadn't finished my words when I heard Victoria's coquettish voice sounded. "It hurts Dinlas..."

"Tell your daughter to hurry up, or else she won't like what I'll do to her!" After saying that, Dinlas cut off the line and even blocked our mind link.

I couldn’t believe what I heard. The same old story. The same disregard for our family. The annual Alpha meeting was always about Dinlas and Victoria. Every year, he brought her along as if she were his Luna, flaunting her in front of the other packs while I stood by, watching in silence, enduring the humiliation.

This year, they had insisted on bringing Eris along. Victoria had said she wanted to “get close” to our daughter, to “bond” with her, as if the years of resentment and neglect could be undone with a few pleasantries. I should have known better. I should have refused. But I hadn’t.

And now my daughter was gone.

I wanted to bury her remains, but Eris' body was mangled, and I could only choose to cremate her.

Days passed in a blur. I kept myself busy, or at least tried to, but no amount of distraction could lift the weight pressing down on me. Every corner of the house felt colder and darker without my daughter. I couldn't stop thinking about how everything could have been different. Maybe if I had fought harder, maybe if I had—

The door burst open with a loud crash, shattering my thoughts. I blinked and looked up, startled, just in time to see Dinlas storming in. His eyes were dark with fury.

“Where's the medicine?” Dinlas roared, his voice vibrating through the walls.

I stood frozen for a moment, his rage slamming into me like a tidal wave. “What?”

“Eris!” he bellowed, eyes blazing as he stepped closer. “Where is she? I told her to get the herb, but she didn’t come back to the party. Did you hide her? Tell her to apologize to Victoria right now! Victoria’s been nothing but generous despite what Erin did! Look how you’ve spoiled her! Don't you know that Victoria was forced to stay in the clinic because of that?!”

I forced myself to stand tall, even though everything inside me was crumbling. I didn't care whether Victoria died, or if something bad happened to her, I just wanted to end everything today.

“Sign these.” I threw the divorce papers at him and intoned coldly, “You have no right to discipline Erin. Since you badly wanted to be with Victoria, I’ll step aside. You two can finally be together.”

His eyes flashed with anger, and he tore the papers with his claws. “Erin did something wrong, and you want to divorce me because I'm trying to discipline her? You've gone nuts!”

“Discipline? What did Erin do wrong, Dinlas? What crime did she commit that you sent her out alone to get that fucking herb? Do you even know what happened to her?”

But before I could finish, he snapped, “Enough! I told her to get the herb. So what? She's already grown up, and she had alpha blood—what could have happened? She’s always whining to you because you're spoiling her!”

“She's just five years old! She couldn't shift yet, but you're treating her as if she's one of your warriors!” I took a deep breath and added, "I'm done with all of this shit. Just divorce me like you've always wanted to."

I handed him another set of divorce papers and said coldly, “Erin won’t trouble you anymore. Just sign it.”

My daughter was innocent, but her only mistake was being born into this family.

Dinlas’s face darkened, his voice rising in fury. “Enough with your nonsense! I gave you what you wanted before and now you want a divorce? Do you think you’ll get custody? Dream on!”

Without waiting for me to speak, he stormed out in a rage.

Tsk. It seemed that he thought I was just simply throwing tantrums, and my anger would soon pass. But this time was different. I was exhausted and I just wanted to get far away from here.