After My Luna Mom Died, My Alpha Dad Went Mad with Regret

Mommy's whole body started to tremble.

She held me tighter. She smelled so good.

“Serena, I'm so sorry. I only have one more month with you.”

Grandma had smiled before she left and told me she was going to the moon to sing for the Moon Goddess. Mommy could go too. Mommy sang so pretty. And up there, with the Moon Goddess, Daddy couldn't hurt her anymore.

I counted on my fingers and blinked. “Mommy, a month's good. You'll still be here for my birthday.”

I'd just finished speaking when Daddy came home.

Daddy was the Alpha. He never came home this early.

“Serena, I brought you a present,” he said, smiling.

I ran toward him, and Vanessa pulled a bouquet from behind her back.

I stopped. I looked back at Mommy, then reached out and knocked the flowers from Vanessa's hand.

Her eyes went red right away, little pearls rolling down her cheeks.

Mommy had taught me that pearls meant sad.

That was when Daddy shouted, “Fiona Moran, and you call yourself a Luna? Look how you've spoiled this child.”

I flinched so hard my legs gave out, and I dropped to the floor.

Mommy rushed over and pulled me into her arms. She rubbed my back and had just opened her mouth to speak when Daddy shoved her away.

Her back slammed into the corner of the wall, and she let out a small cry of pain.

Daddy came up behind her, his scent turning sharp, his voice going ugly.

“Cut the act. Am I wrong? You think Serena would hate Vanessa this much if you weren't running your mouth behind her back?”

But Mommy wasn't acting.

I'd felt it just a moment ago. Her wolf had dimmed a little more.

Why couldn't Daddy feel it? Had he shut off the bond between them?

Vanessa picked the flowers up off the floor and held them out to me.

My nose tickled.

Was Daddy yelling at Mommy because I'd knocked Vanessa's flowers down?

I took the bouquet from her.

Vanessa smiled. “Serena, doesn't it smell nice?”

I nodded hard and took a deep sniff. “It smells nice.”

Mommy rushed over suddenly and knocked the flowers out of my hands.

“Serena can't be near flowers. She's allergic to pollen!”

I started sneezing and couldn't stop. My eyes swelled up, red and itchy.

Daddy froze. Vanessa burst into tears again.

“Alpha, I didn't know. The Luna never told me…”

Daddy wiped her tears. Then he turned and slapped Mommy across the face.

“Fiona, have you no shame? You'd use your own daughter to frame Vanessa?”

His handprint bloomed red and swollen on her cheek.

It looked like it hurt so much.

I was so scared I burst into tears.

Daddy let out his Alpha aura, and the air went heavy.

Mommy buckled under the weight of it, but she still held me, and she still hummed.

It wasn't like before. Before, when they fought, Mommy would cry and I'd cry with her. She'd grab Daddy's hand and beg him not to leave, and he'd leave anyway.

Every single time.

But this time Mommy just looked at him, quiet and still.

Something in Daddy's face changed, and he pulled his aura back.

“Fiona, I was just worried about Serena. I got carried away.”

He scooped me up and took me to the pack infirmary, and Mommy came with us.

But why was Vanessa tagging along?

I didn't like the way she smelled, like dried herbs.

After the shot, I felt better. Mommy carried me up to a room on the third floor. Through the glass, I saw a man asleep inside, and he looked like Mommy.

“That's your uncle,” she said, pressing her cheek to mine. “He's going to take care of you for me.”

She cried as she said it. Her face was wet, and I wiped the tears away with my little hand.

Downstairs, Daddy and Vanessa were waiting with a doctor in white.

“The pup is stable,” the doctor said. “An hour more of monitoring and she can go home.”

Everyone cheered up.

But I was staring at Daddy's mouth. “Daddy, why's your lipstick the same color as Vanessa's?”