I ignored his cold mockery and didn't bother to expose his lies anymore.
After I finished my 99th kowtow, the floor was covered in a pool of blood. I struggled to crawl to Kieran's side and grabbed onto his pant leg.
"Now you can arrange for a healer to save my mother, right?"
He kicked me away without mercy.
"I never agreed to anything. What's the point of begging me?"
I turned to look at Owen. He stared at me with mockery on his face, like he was looking at a fool.
"I said Aunt Sera had to forgive you. You kowtowed but she still hasn't forgiven you, so we won't forgive you either!"
My head buzzed and my mind went completely blank.
I could see it now. This father and son were just taking out their anger for Sera.
But I never hurt Sera's pet dog. She was framing me.
But I had no other choice.
My heart felt dead as I looked at Sera with numb expression.
Even though I wanted to tear apart this woman who caused my mother's suffering, I could only beg for her forgiveness now.
After all, my mother was the only family I had left in this world.
I could only continue kowtowing, one after another, until the floor cracked under the impact.
"Sera, I'm sorry. It's my fault. I shouldn't have hurt your pet. I shouldn't have targeted you. Please forgive me, please save my mother..."
Sera walked forward with fake sympathy on her face.
"Get up, Aria. Please don't do this."
But then she whispered poisonous words in my ear.
"So what if you're the Luna? You still have to kowtow and apologize to me. Don't even think about it - I'll never help save your mother. I deliberately had someone switch out the dummy at the burning site. I wanted you to know that your mate and son don't love you anymore!"
Hearing these words, I couldn't contain my rage anymore. I felt my blood boiling throughout my entire body.
I used all my strength to tackle her to the ground, desperately clawing and biting at her. Even though blood covered my eyes, I relied on instinct to beat her badly.
Everything happened so suddenly that Kieran and Owen couldn't react in time.
But within moments, Kieran kicked me away.
Kieran roared in fury: "Aria, what the hell are you doing? Who gave you the nerve!"
I struggled to get up, completely ignoring them, and stumbled back to the first floor, wanting to return to my mother's side.
In the hospital room with its door wide open, my mother had blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, her eyes full of reluctance.
"My dear daughter, I know my wolf is gone and I probably can't recover. You need to take care of yourself from now on..."
No matter how wronged and sad I felt upstairs, I hadn't cried. But hearing these words, my tears couldn't stop flowing.
I wanted to carry her to another healing center, but just then several Gammas arrived.
They grabbed me directly and dragged me toward the second floor.
My mother saw this scene and weakly raised her hand, but she couldn't change the situation.
As I passed the stair landing, I saw my mother's hand fall powerlessly.
At the edge of my vision, my mother's hand dropped limply onto the hospital bed.
"Let me go! Please let me go!"
No matter how much I begged them, they just dragged me to Sera's room.
Once inside, they pressed me down to kneel on the floor.
The moment Kieran saw me, without saying a word, he raised his hand and slapped me.
"SLAP!"
My face turned to the side, my ears ringing.
"Aria, you hit someone and still tried to run? Where did you think you could go? You'll stay here and watch. When Sera wakes up, then you can leave."
I looked at his cold face, my heart aching so much I couldn't breathe.
"My mother is dying! She's lying downstairs! If you won't arrange for a healer, at least let me take her to another healing center!"
Owen looked at me coldly and raised his hand to slap my face.
I couldn't believe my sweet son would treat me like this.
Owen's small face was full of coldness.
"Shut up! You hit someone and you're still here making up stories. As a Luna, pay attention to your position. Since you hit Aunt Sera, waiting here for her to wake up is the least you can do. You're still making excuses to leave. You can't even compare to half of what Aunt Sera is. If you keep this up, I really won't want you as my mother anymore!"
Owen used to be playful. When he was little, he once snuck out to play and wandered into rogue wolf territory.
To protect him, I fought four vicious wolves alone, my whole body torn and mangled, until the Alpha brought Gammas to rescue us.
My wolf was permanently damaged from that fight, making me weaker than other werewolves.
Before, father and son treasured me so much that they'd feel heartbroken over the smallest scratch.
But now, for Sera's sake, they humiliated me like this.
When they brought me to the healing center back then, Owen cried his eyes out, staying by my side day and night, saying he'd never be playful again and that when he grew up, he'd protect me instead.
But now, before he'd even grown up, before he could protect me, he was hitting me for another she-wolf.
I bit my lip hard, my voice shaking uncontrollably: "Kieran, are you just going to let Owen act so recklessly!"
"Just like last time when you nearly killed my mother, now you want to kill me too!"
