“Yeah, let’s go find Daddy! We like Helena so much. I want to see her! Not mommy!” Eva added.

They ran off to the living room.

I touched my face. Blood was flowing from my head.

When I looked up, Ethan was standing at the top of the stairs. The way he looked at me was strange, as if the smell of my blood disgusted him so much.

He called a servant over, “You, call the healer. Clean up this mess. Don’t let me see even a single drop of blood on my steps. Otherwise, you will be fired.”

Ethan took Joe and Eva’s hands and walked toward the door.

The twin pups looked back at me. They were both laughing and making faces at me.

“Daddy, we did what you said! You said if we had to choose between Helena and mommy, we should always pick Helena,” Joe said.

Ethan lifted them into his arms.

“I did say that, but you can’t push your mommy down the stairs like that next time, understand?”

Joe shook his head. So did Eva.

Joe said, “It’s okay. Mommy is just a housewife. She is so stupid. We trick her all the time!”

Eva also said, “Yeah, we don’t need to care about her. Daddy, if Helena becomes our mommy, that will be so great. If our mommy died, Helena could be our new mommy!”

The three of them walked out.

I was completely shocked when I heard what they said.

These were the twin pups I had struggled to carry and give birth to. And Ethan was the mate I had loved with all my heart.

Today, I finally realized that in their world, I was so unimportant. Helena was their first choice.

From now on, I wanted nothing to do with them.

I heard the pack’s healer entering in my room.

She carefully healed my wounds. My injury was so deep that when she applied the herbal balm, I couldn’t help but cry out.

I was in such severe pain that my wolf claws dug into my leg, until I started bleeding.

Once everything was taken care of, I went to the study.

Ethan had left his computer on, so I tapped the mouse.

The wallpaper on the screen was a family photo, taken on Joe and Eva’s first birthday. In the picture, Joe and Eva were sitting on my lap, and I was holding them.

I remembered how cute the twin pups were back then. It was their first time going out for a photo. They were really nervous, so they held onto me tightly and refused to let go.

Back then, I was their only source of security. I was the mother-wolf who made them feel safe.

Ethan was sitting beside me. He looked happy as well.

I suddenly recalled how gentle Ethan had been when he had persuaded me to carry these twin pups for him. It had made me think he might truly love me.

I remembered what he had said.

“Lila, having a daughter and a son separately would mean two pregnancies for you. That would be too hard on you. But with the witch’s fertilization ritual, we can have twin pups in one go. That way, you only need to give birth once, and I only have to worry about you once. You are my Luna. I don’t want you to suffer.”

I believed him.

Looking back, I realized how silly I was to trust him.

I thought Ethan really cared for me, that he truly wanted me to suffer less from the pregnancy.

When I first got pregnant with the twin pup, my morning sickness was terrible. I vomited all day and had no appetite.

The twin pups drained me so much that I had almost no extra fat on my body.

My belly was much larger than usual for a pregnant she-wolf. I couldn’t sleep all night.

After the twin pups were born, I took care of them myself.

Back then, if one of them woke up, the other would too. So, I didn’t even get a full night’s sleep for two whole years.

I did it for them out of love.

I came from a terrible family. That was also why I wanted my twin pups to have my best love. That was why I was so close to them.

As soon as they learned to talk, they said to me, “Mommy is amazing, I love mommy, mommy’s the best.”

When did everything change?

Maybe on their third birthday.

That was when Ethan hired an Italian teacher online for the twin pups to learn Italian.

The Italian teacher met with them online every day. The twin pups wouldn’t even let me enter the room when they were having classes. They told me it was how the Italian teacher required.

I was only allowed to stand outside the door and wait for their class to end. I wasn’t even allowed to talk to the Italian teacher. Even bring them juice and water was done by the servants.

From then on, the twin pups slowly changed.

They started looking down on me for being a housewife, for knowing nothing and for not working to earn any money.

But I still took such good care of them.

I could see that the kindness in their little hearts was fading bit by bit.

I thought it was just because they were too young. Until today, when they pushed me down the stairs so hard, I finally understood. These twin pups I had raised looked down on me.

My love for them meant nothing. It only made them hate me more.

I stared at that family photo and shook my head.

It was all a lie, my mate bond with Ethan and my connections with the twin pups.

I used Ethan’s computer to draft an agreement to break our mate bond.

I was about to turn off the computer, when I noticed message boxes popping up nonstop. Ethan had left in such a hurry that he had forgotten to log out.

I clicked on the account. To my surprise, it was one I had never seen before, with a profile picture of Ethan himself.

When I opened it, I found it had only one contact.

Helena.

So this was the special account Ethan used to message Helena.

I scrolled through their chats and found something that left me completely stunned.

The Italian teacher Ethan had hired three years ago was Helena!

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Helena had been in my twins’ lives all this time!

Ethan knew it.

The servants knew it.

I was the only on in the dark.

In their messages, I even found a video. Obviously, Ethan had rented out an entire luxury hotel to welcome Helena back.

In the video, Eva and Joe were hugging Helena’s neck.

Joe said to her, “Helena, you are prettier than in the videos!”

“Yes! You are a hundred times better than our mommy! I want to see you every day!” Eva even kissed Helena on the cheek.

Ethan stood next to her. He looked a bit awkward at first, but as the crowd cheered, he pulled Helena tight in his arms. He hugged her firmly and said, “Welcome home, Helena!”

It felt like they were the happy family.

I stared at the screen for a long time, and I found my hands shaking.

I turn off the computer.

So, they are the real family. I was just a substitute for Helena.

That evening, Ethan came back with the twin pups.

Joe sat beside me and said, “Mommy, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to push you earlier.”

Eva took my hand and throw herself into my arms.

“Sorry, mommy. We didn’t mean it. You will forgive me, right? Just like every time before?”

I looked at their cute faces. I never knew pups could pretend so well to be kind.

I nodded fast, not even managing to smile.

Eva and Joe were surprised by my reaction. They didn’t know what to do when their usual tricks didn’t work, so they looked to Ethan for help.

Ethan stepped over. He touched the wound on my face.

The second he touched me, all I could think was how his hand once held Helena tightly. I could even smell that strange and disgusting scent from his hands.

He also used my body as a tool to carry Helena’s twin pups. These thoughts made me feel sick.

I felt like vomiting, but nothing came up.

Ethan looked extremely nervous when he saw this. It wasn’t like he was worrying about me, he was worrying about something else.

“Wait, Lila! Are you pregnant? How?! Another accident? We used protection! How could this happen again? Did you do this on purpose?!”

Ethan’s face turned red when he yelled at me.

I shook my head.

“No. I don’t think so.”

Ethan snapped.

“No? Not pregnant? Or you weren’t doing it on purpose! I only want Joe and Eva! No more pups! I can’t split my love for them with anyone else.”

He grabbed my arm, dragging me to the garage. He wanted drive me to the healer’s place to take a pregnancy test.

He pulled my arm so hard that I knocked over a vase on the shelf. It shattered at my feet and shards cut into my leg.

My leg was already bruised and swollen from the fall. Now, it was bleeding.

I knelt to check the wound, but when I looked up, Ethan was gone. He didn’t even notice that I was hurt.

I sighed.

My leg hurt, but my heart hurt more.

Two years ago, I had accidentally gotten pregnant once.

I loved raising pups and always wanted more pups.

Somehow, Ethan was really mad when I told him the good news.

“Your last birth was too dangerous. I can’t let you go through that again. You have to listen to me, we can’t keep this pup.”

Then Joe and Eva refused to eat anything, unless I got rid of the pup in my belly.

I had no choice.

So, I went to the witch and took the special herbal potion to end the pregnancy. Ethan had accompanied me for the whole process.

“Lila, I’m here in case you get upset. I’m not going anywhere.”

He held my hands tightly and refused to leave the room even for a step.

It was all fake. His kindness and love for me was just a lie.

He hadn’t cared about me at all. He was there because he had been afraid that I would secretly keep the pup, dividing the love meant for his and Helena’s twin pups, Joe and Eva.

The potion caused severe harm to my body and had strong side effects. My body became even weaker after that.

When we arrived at the healer’s place, I went to the bathroom and took the test.

After examining my body, the healer said I wasn’t pregnant.

I saw Ethan let out a quiet sigh of relief, as if he was grateful that I wouldn’t have another pup with him.

Good, I thought.

No more pups. Not now, not ever.

Ethan hugged me from behind and said, “Lila, you are just too tired. I don’t want you raising more pups. Joe and Eva are enough.”

What a hypocrite!

“Thank you for caring so much,” I said and forced a fake smile.

Ethan picked up something off in my voice and turned to me.

“Why do you say that? We are family. You don’t have to say this to me.”

Family?

He called me his family?

In that house, I was the only outsider. Since when was I ever part of his family?

I took out the mate bond termination agreement from my purse. I needed Ethan to sign it without him knowing what it was.

I said to Ethan, “I’ve been really tired lately taking care of the pups. I want to buy a small shop, maybe as a reward for raising them for years. Is that okay?”

This was the first time I had ever asked Ethan for something.

I could see that Ethan thought it was a bit odd, but that kind of money meant nothing to him.

Ethan looked at the first page of the document.

If he flipped to the pages ahead, he would discover that it was actually a mate bond termination agreement.

I could feel my heart start beating very fast.

I watched him trying to turn to the next page of the document. He even began to frown.

When Ethan was turning the page, I suddenly interrupted him.

I said, “What? Am I not even worth this? Do you need to show it to your lawyer first?”

Ethan smiled and signed his name. “No. You are my Luna. You can have whatever you want. Let’s go home. You need to rest well.”

I carefully put the document back into my purse. It worked.

When we got home, Joe and Eva were playing games in their bedroom. I didn’t open the door right away and heard them talking.

“Is mommy really going to have another pup?” Joe said. “She is so stupid. What if the new pup is just as dumb?”

Eva thought for a moment and said, “Yeah. She is just lucky to have clear pups like us. If she gives birth to a dumb pup, I will kill it! I really don’t want her to be my mommy anymore. She is so annoying!”

“I agree. She is the worst!”

I stared at their backs but didn’t go in.

I pulled out the signed agreement.

Joe and Eva, you two hated me so much that you didn’t want me to be your mommy? In a month, when this agreement took effect, you would get what you had wished for.

The next day, I didn’t get up at 6 a.m. like I always did.

I left Ethan and the twin pups to the servants.

There were a lot of chaos.

Joe was extremely picky about food. He had only ever eaten the meals I made.

The servants went to great trouble to prepare over a dozen breakfast dishes for him, but he refused to take a bite. In the end, he lost his temper and threw food everywhere.

Eva was no better.

She hated the hairstyle the servants had done for her. Eva was picky about these things, hairstyle and clothes, just like her father.

By the time they were supposed to leave for kindergarten, none of these problems had been solved.

I was resting in my room when another servant rushed in and said “Luna, I am so sorry to bother you again. But could you tell me which tie and cufflinks should go with Alpha’s Armani suit? I asked him several times, but he got mad and kicked me out.”

I glanced at the suit and told her, “His ties are in walk-in closet 3. You need to get the lavender one on the left. His cufflinks are in the left drawer of walk-in closet 5. Grab the ruby ones.”

Not long after, Ethan came into my bedroom.

He sat on the edge of my bed and asked, “What’s wrong? Why didn’t you get up to take care of the twin pups today? Are you upset about something?”

I looked at him.

For a moment, I wanted to confront him with all the mess, but what good would that do me?

I said, “I’m sorry, I still don’t feel well. Because of what happened yesterday, Joe and Eva……”

I didn’t finish my sentences.

Ethan must have remembered why I had gotten hurt. He looked even a bit guilty.

“I’m sorry, I forgot. You should rest. I will tell the servants to take care of Joe and Eva for now,” he said.

Ever since I stopped doing all the housework, everything fell apart.

Joe and Eva threw tantrums until midnight. They refused to sleep or eat, or just simply be quiet.

Ethan had to deal with all kinds of problems when he got home from work. Without my help, he also had to spend more time getting ready in the morning.

These things had never bothered him once in the past six years. Because I was always the one handling them.

Ethan finally snapped.

He yelled loudly at the servants, “Why can’t you get even these little things right? How hard can it be? Can’t any of you just take care of Joe and Eva? I’m swamped at work every day, and now I have to deal with this mess at home. Can’t you give me a break?”

The servants lowered their heads and all looked scared.

I was watching this scene from the upstairs. I laughed.

Just a housewife?

Ethan always thought a housewife’s daily work was so easy, anyone could do it. But he had no idea how much effort I put in.

I cooked hundreds of new dishes just to get Joe to take a bite.

I picked Eva’s clothes and braided her hair every morning so she would agree to go to kindergarten.

When the twin pups were at the kindergarten, I was practicing cooking new dishes for Joe and making Eva’s braids.

And Ethan?

He had an extremely strict taste when it came to clothes and home decorations. I even took fashion classes just to meet his standards.

It took me hours every morning to handle all this. But to him and the twin pups, it was all effortless, like this was just how life should be.

They had no idea none of it would exist without me.

I was not just his Luna or the twin pups’ mother-wolf.

I should be me.

Thankfully, this housewife life was almost over for me. I would have a chance to be myself again.

After a few chaotic days at home, Ethan couldn’t take it anymore. He asked to talk to me alone.

That day, he sat behind his desk, when I stood across from him like one of his employees.

“Lila, what on earth has been wrong with you lately? Are you feeling unwell? Or… Have you found out something?” he asked.

Found out what? I wondered.

They didn’t even try to hide it. Ethan had always been in public with Helena since she came back.

Everyone in our pack knew that he had even bought an entire elementary school, so Helena could be its principal. Just because she said she wanted to be a teacher.

I had asked him about it once, and he said impatiently to me, “Helena and I are just friends. This is not your business.”

But I didn’t want to tell Ethan the things I had found.

I shook my head, “No.”

Ethan frowned.

“Even if you are jealous, the twin pups are innocent. Do you not want to be their mommy anymore? Why aren’t you taking care of them? You will disappoint me and the twin pups.”

I looked at him in the eyes and said, “Then I won’t be their mommy anymore.”

Ethan was shocked by my words.

He stared at me, then suddenly laughed.

“I know what’s going on now. Are you jealous of Helena? Are you afraid she will take your place as the Luna? I have told you. There’s no way Helena and I will be together. You will always be my Luna and the twins’ mother-wolf.”

I looked at his face, he acted just like every time he had lied to me before.

I didn’t say a word.

Ethan shook his head and said, “Stop this nonsense. I don’t have time to deal with this. The twin pups’ birthday is coming up soon. You need to help plan their party.”

The birthday party.

Every year before, I had planned their birthday parties.

I personally picked out gifts and invited their friends. But not this year.

A few days earlier, I wanted to set up that trust fund as a gift for them. But then I found out I wasn’t even their real mother-wolf.

Why bother? They weren’t even mine.

Ethan flipped through some documents, then looked up as if he remembered something important.

“Oh, right. Helena and the twin pups share the same birthday. What a coincidence! You should plan a joint celebration for them. I will invite Helena too. It will be so great.”

Something inside me shattered.

I could feel that the rage inside me.

I thought back to the day I had given birth to the twin pups. I had already been so weak and I could barely eat. The midwife suggested that I take the herbal portion to help give birth as soon as possible.

Ethan said, “The date isn’t good enough now. We need to wait.”

I suffered horribly, but Ethan still refused. He insisted on his chosen day.

The twin pups kicked so hard they broke my ribs, but he wouldn’t budge at all.

I had no clue why he was so picky about the date.

I finally got it.

I went through all that suffering just so Helena and the twin pups could share a birthday.

He wanted them to celebrate together someday.

How ridiculous! Did he think I was some kind of pup-making tool?

The birthday party was held in our ballroom.

I stood in the crowd, watching Helena on stage in a red gown covered in diamonds.

Ethan had booked the world’s top fashion design studio to make it for her. Every diamond was specially chosen and hand-stitched onto the gown.

Ethan wore a tuxedo with a red rose pinned to his chest, as if they were mates.

They walked hand in hand, keeping Joe and Eva company.

What a perfect family of four!

A guest who didn’t know Helena said, “That must be our Luna! What a happy family! Look how much she loves the pups. And to have an Alpha that rich and hot…”

A she-wolf nearby stopped her from saying more.

She looked at me and whispered, “That is the Alpha’s first love, Helena. She just moved back. They say they are ‘just friends’, but does that look like friendship to you?”

Another voice joined in, “No wonder he married Lila. She does look a bit like his ex. But Helena is in better shape.”

I turned and walked to the balcony to catch my breath.

How much longer until I could be free of this so-called family?

Then I heard the click of high heels. I turned to find Helena standing across from me.

“You know you’re just a replacement, don’t you? Why won’t you leave? I’m back to be with Ethan. Do the smart thing and go.”

I looked at her face and suddenly felt no urge to back down.

“If you want to be his Luna so badly, try to drive me out.”

I knew Ethan, and I knew the elders in the pack.

Their word meant a lot. They would never let Ethan marry someone from an enemy pack.

Helena stepped closer.

“Don’t think having those brats secures your position. You’re only a substitute!”

She tore off her necklace, waved it at me and tossed it into the lake below.

Suddenly, she raised her voice.

“How could you do that? You’re the pack’s Luna! Even if you don’t believe Ethan and I are just friends, you shouldn’t have thrown my necklace away!”

A crowd quickly gathered around, including Ethan.

“What necklace?” he asked. “Whatever it is, I’ll buy you another.”

Helena burst into tears.

“It’s not the same! The one she threw was the one you gave me before I left!”

Ethan looked angry.

I knew what she meant. I had seen it in their chats. It was purple crystal necklace with their photo engraved on the back.

“I didn’t do it. Helena threw it herself.”

Helena showed Ethan a red mark on her neck. “She tore it from me! Look what you did. Can you even afford something that precious?”

“There’s security footage,” I said, pointing to a camera in the corner. “Check it.”

Helena’s eyes widened in panic. She hadn’t expected that.

This was my home, of course I had installed cameras everywhere.

Ethan noticed Helena’s reaction.

“Maybe it was a misunderstanding…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Joe and Eva stepped protectively in front of Helena.

“Bad mommy!” Joe pointed at me. “We saw you do it!”

“Mommy did it! We saw from far away.”

The ballroom fell silent right away. Everyone stared at me.