Finally, I said the words I’d been rehearsing for days, "Alpha, as you wish I'm going to sever—I'm leaving."

I almost slipped, almost blurted out that I wanted to sever our bond. But I held back. After all, we only had a rushed mateship ceremony. We weren’t even officially married—just the ceremony to honor our bond, and nothing more. There was no love, no commitment beyond the bare minimum. Just a hollow connection, one that had never truly been forged in the first place.

The Alpha didn’t even look up, his focus still on Ophelia, as if I was a nuisance disrupting his perfect world. "What? Changing your tactics now?" His voice was cold, dismissive. "You think you can’t threaten me with your son anymore, so now you’re using yourself as leverage?"

His words hit me like a slap to the face. A year ago, Kylo had fallen ill with an untreatable disease. His weak heart, his lack of healing abilities—everything pointed to a grim future. He was just a child, too fragile to shift, too weak to connect with his wolf. His life hung by a thread, and I had watched in helpless agony as he slipped further away, longing for a glimpse of his father that never came.

Caspian had never visited him, never showed an ounce of concern. To him, I was using Kylo, our son, to gain sympathy, to manipulate him. After a decade of life together, this was how little he thought of me, of our family.

I wiped away the tears that threatened to fall, forcing myself to stay strong. "Think what you want, Alpha. I'm leaving."

I turned, ready to drag my luggage out the door, but Ophelia’s voice suddenly sounded. "Alpha, didn’t you plan to take Kylo to the ocean? You didn’t cancel that for the mountain trip with me, did you? Claire is upset..."

Caspian’s soothing response was like salt in a fresh wound. "Don’t worry, I know my priorities. We can go to the ocean anytime, but once the snow melts in the mountains, it’ll be a long time before we can see it again."

I scoffed coldly, the sound bitter and filled with years of pent-up resentment. How could he be so blind, so oblivious to the pain he’d caused? He didn’t know—he couldn’t know—that there was no next time, no next month for Kylo.

Ignoring them both, I dragged my suitcase out, each step heavier than the last. But Caspian wasn’t done with me. He rushed forward and grabbed my hand, his frustration palpable. "It’s the middle of the night, Claire. You really think this is necessary? Missing a trip to the ocean—Kylo can wait. Why are you crying over something so trivial?"

His words were like knives twisting in my heart. He didn’t understand. He couldn’t. He saw my swollen eyes and finally, a flicker of pity crossed his gaze. "Let me clear my schedule next month, and I’ll take Kylo then, okay?"

Next month? How ridiculous. What next month did Kylo have? If only he cared enough about our son, he wouldn’t be saying such foolish things.

I pulled my hand away, my voice trembling with barely restrained fury. "No need!"

At that moment, Caspian stared at his empty palm, stunned. He had never expected the woman who once clung to him, who had once loved him so desperately, would now avoid him as if he were a plague. He snapped back to reality and tried to follow, but Ophelia, always the center of his universe, grabbed his arm.

"Alpha, it’s all my fault," she said, her voice dripping with false remorse. "Even though I knew Kylo was faking his illness, I shouldn’t have competed with a child for your attention. Now it’s made Claire angry at me."

Faking... faking his illness?

My mind went blank, the world tilting on its axis. By the time I regained my senses, I had already slapped Ophelia across the face.

My sister stumbled back, her hand flying to her cheek, eyes wide with shock. But I didn’t care. My hand still tingled from the impact, but it wasn’t enough—not nearly enough to ease the raging storm inside me.

Caspian's face, initially tinged with guilt, shifted instantly. His expression hardened as he positioned Ophelia protectively behind him, his eyes narrowing at me. "Claire, what are you doing? She is your sister!"

I glared at Ophelia, my fury barely contained. "You'd better watch your mouth."

Ophelia, her eyes wide and brimming with mock hurt, leaned closer to my mate, making my wolf uncomfortable. "Alpha, don’t let me come between you two. If my sister won't admit that Kylo is faking his illness, I'll just drop it."

My brow furrowed in disbelief. I turned to Caspian, my voice trembling. "You think Kylo is faking it too?"

His silence was all the confirmation I needed. He didn't believe me. He never did.

Then, I saw him glance around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Kylo, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Where did you hide him again?"

The accusation in his voice cut deep. If only he would come home more often, he’d see the table covered in medications and herbal medicine, the endless pile of medical records written by our wolf healers, and the truth of our son’s condition. But he never did. He preferred to listen to Ophelia’s lies, the lies that painted Kylo as a manipulative child rather than the sick boy he truly was.

I remembered the day Kylo told me he didn’t have much time left. He had one final wish: a trip to the ocean. He had always loved the sea, fascinated by its mysteries and beauty, a love nurtured by the stories his late grandmother used to tell him. But we lived far from the coast, and the only way to make his wish come true was to convince Caspian to join us.

I had begged him—no, I had humiliated myself, kneeling before him, clinging to his pants as I pleaded for Kylo's last wish. "Please," I had whispered, my voice breaking. "This will be the last time I ever ask anything of you. I promise... I’ll set you free."

Caspian had looked down at me then, a flicker of emotion in his eyes. Was it joy? Was it relief? I couldn’t tell. "You mean that?" he had asked, his voice cold and calculating.

"Yes," I had murmured, tears streaming down my face as I closed my eyes, feeling my heart shatter.

The truth was, when Caspian was young, his parents were killed in a rogue attack, leaving him a wanderer. I still remember the day I found him, a skinny, half-starved boy lying on the forest floor, barely alive. I was just a child, playing among the trees, when I stumbled upon him. He was nothing but skin and bones, too weak even to speak.

My heart ached for him. "You poor thing," I whispered, brushing a strand of hair from his dirt-streaked face. "You must be starving."

He looked up at me with those haunted eyes, and something inside me broke. I couldn't leave him there. I couldn't let him die.

I took his frail hand in mine and pulled him up with all the strength I had. "Come with me," I said, determination flooding my young voice. "I'll take care of you."

When I brought him home, my parents—Alpha Aldous and Luna Eveline Laurentia of Bloodvenom Pack—were reluctant to take him in. My father’s stern voice echoed in my ears. "Claire, he’s a stranger."

But I wouldn't back down. "Please, Father," I pleaded, my voice breaking with desperation. "He has no one else. If we don’t help him, he’ll die!"

My mother, ever the gentle soul, looked at the boy with pity. "Aldous," she whispered, "he's just a child."

My father’s resolve wavered, but he still wasn’t convinced. It was then that I made the boldest decision of my young life. I went on a hunger strike, refusing to eat until they agreed to adopt him.

Days passed, and my strength waned, but I never gave up. Eventually, my parents relented. "Alright, Claire," my father sighed, his voice tinged with resignation. "We’ll take him in."

That day, Caspian became our brother. Or so I thought.

Years later, when I turned 18, everything changed. My father, driven by a desire for more power and territory, began to look down on my mother, who was just an ordinary she-wolf before she became Luna. He sought out the daughter of a powerful Alpha from another pack, seduced by the promise of greater power. He abandoned my mother, rejected her as his mate, and instead mated with that other woman, becoming the Alpha of the Shadow Crest Pack.

That was how selfish he was.

He moved to that pack without a second thought, leaving us behind. "You and Ophelia should come with me," he had said, his voice devoid of any fatherly warmth. "There’s no future for you here."

But I couldn’t abandon my mother. "I’m staying with Mom," I had said, my voice firm. "She needs me."

Ophelia, however, was different. She craved the power and prestige our father’s new position offered. She chose to follow him, leaving me and our mother behind without a second glance.

The day she left, I stood at the edge of the pack’s territory, watching her walk away. "Ophelia," I called out, my voice trembling. "Don’t go."

She had turned to me, her eyes cold and distant. "This is our chance, Claire," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "I won’t waste it."

In the years that followed, I earned Caspian's resentment. He blamed me for everything—for keeping him from joining Ophelia, for holding him back, for being the reason he was stuck in Bloodvenom Pack. Especially after I became his mate, his hatred for me only grew.

From a young age, I had always followed Caspian around like a shadow. I adore him, admire him. And when I turned 18 and discovered he was my mate, I was overjoyed. I thought it was fate, that we were meant to be together.

But Caspian didn’t see it that way. When I told him we were mates, his reaction was anything but what I had hoped for. "No," he had said, his voice cold and distant. "This isn’t right. I was supposed to be with Ophelia."

I was devastated. "Caspian, please," I had begged, tears streaming down my face. "We’re meant to be together. You can’t just leave me."

But he had been determined to reject me, to leave with Ophelia and follow her to the Shadow Crest Pack.

And then, my mother fell ill. On her deathbed, she made Caspian promise to take care of me, to stay by my side, because I was his fated mate. He agreed, out of respect for the woman who had raised him up, but I knew in his heart he resented her for forcing him to stay.

And back when my Alpha father left, he left the pack for me to lead. Back then, I knew Caspian had always craved power, so I willingly made him the Alpha, content to remain in the background as the Luna. However, even after we mated, he never announced me as his Luna.

One day, I confronted him about it. "Caspian," I had said, trying to keep my voice steady. "Why haven’t you announced me as your Luna?"

His response was like a slap in the face. "Your mother forced me to mate with you. And now you want to be Luna too? Dream on, Claire. The position of Luna will always be reserved for your sister."

His words stung more than any physical blow ever could. I had nothing left to say. I couldn’t fight him, couldn’t make him love me. The most important place in his heart was reserved for the most precious person—Ophelia.

But I had one last request, one final act of desperation: Kylo’s trip to the ocean. I was ready to let him go, to set him free. Yet he still refused to spend one last moment with our son. It was one thing for him not to love me, but how could he be so heartless toward Kylo? His own flesh and blood?