LOGINThe paper had yellowed with time.Mommy's handwriting was elegant and small.“Serena. I'm sorry.”I'd read one line and my eyes were already burning, my whole body shaking.Uncle put his arms around me. I drew in a long breath and kept reading.“By the time you read this, you're eighteen. You've grown into a beautiful, clever she-wolf.”“I'm sorry I couldn't be there to watch you grow.”“But I know you'll be brave. You'll be strong. You'll be all right.”“There's so much I want to say, but I pick up the pen and I don't know what to write.”“I hope my dear daughter has a life of peace and happiness.”“With love, Mommy.”The last lines had bled into the paper, the ink spreading into soft, silent flowers.How much had Mommy cried writing this?I pressed the letter to my chest and sobbed like a little pup of five.Uncle stroked my hair. “Don't cry. Look at the back.”I turned the letter over.On the back was a crayon drawing.A beautiful she-wolf mother held a small she-wolf pup by the han
In the weeks and months after, I kept going back to the estate, back to Mommy's room to sit a while.The Alpha kept his word. He slapped Vanessa every week.But I never called him Dad.That word had been deleted from my dictionary forever.The Alpha wouldn't give up. He kept trying, like a man doing penance.He told me he visited Mommy's grave every week with a bouquet of lilies and talked to her about his days.I told him, “Mr. Alpha, please don't.”He asked why.“Because Mommy doesn't want to see you. It was that simple, Alpha.” I said.He couldn't look me in the eye.And Vanessa got her reward, five years of weekly slaps from him.He wouldn't let her leave. He had to torture her to prove how sorry he was.He thought that if he kept at it long enough, I'd forgive him one day.It was funny.My hatred was an ocean, and he thought he could empty it one glass at a time.Vanessa couldn't take it. She started paying for male company outside the house, working out her anger on strangers.Ph
The appointment was with Phelan Locke.He was the entertainment reporter who'd defended Mommy at the press conference eight years ago.I trusted him.When I saw him, I handed him a check. “This month's payment. Next month's coming too.”I'd hired him to dig up the full history of the affair between the Alpha and Vanessa, and to keep Vanessa under surveillance and record everything.Phelan tucked the check away and started his report.“The affair goes back a long way. I'll need to track down witnesses, so it'll take time.”“And Vanessa's been clean lately. Just shopping and private clubs.”“Take your time,” I said, smiling. “I have plenty of it.”My hatred was carved in stone, and ten thousand years wouldn't wear it down.Phelan looked at me and nodded with quiet respect. “You're like your mother. A woman worth respecting.”I blinked at him, confused.His eyes went past me, far away, into the past.“Vanessa hired me first. She wanted me to photograph her kissing the Alpha, and to publis
The years passed, and I was thirteen.Most of my childhood memories had faded, except for everything to do with Mommy.In those eight years I worked myself to the bone to make myself excellent, and I succeeded.I wanted Mommy, up on the moon, to be proud of me.People cheered for me, not because I was the Alpha's pup, but because I was me, Serena Moran.Every week, no matter the weather, I went back to the Alpha Estate.I was too big now to climb on Uncle and listen to his heart whenever I wanted.Mommy's room had been kept perfectly, everything where she'd left it, as if she'd only just stepped out.I would sit in her room a long time and talk to her.Sometimes, at her vanity, I remembered being small.I remembered her tucking me into bed, then sitting at this vanity alone, crying quietly.I'd never been asleep. I just hadn't wanted to disturb her.She only let herself cry when she thought I couldn't see.I hadn't understood it then, but I did now.She hadn't cried because she was wea
“Yes,” Uncle said. “She left a letter.”He held me a little tighter, his voice like ice.“What did it say? Was it…”Daddy couldn't finish.He hadn't brought an umbrella, and the rain plastered his suit to his skin.He gathered his courage and looked up. “Was it…Was it for me?”Uncle looked at him, then started to laugh.It was a strange laugh, like grief in the shape of a smile.“I've had time to put the pieces together. Fiona's wolf was getting weaker, yes, but the doctors said she had at least a year left.”“So why? Why did she abandon Serena and give her heart to me?”He waited. Daddy stared at him, lost.“Because I couldn't hold on much longer. Without that transplant, I would have died.”Uncle looked up at the gray sky.“But that wasn't the only reason. The main reason was you, my honorable Alpha.”“Because you're shameless. Because you're stupid. Because you don't give a damn about Serena.”“Fiona knew that the moment she was gone, you and Vanessa would strip Serena of everything
A week later, Uncle had recovered enough to hold me.He held me at Mommy's funeral.The sky was gray, and a soft rain was falling.I thought those were the Moon Goddess's tears.I didn't see Mommy. I only saw a long wooden box.Uncle told me Mommy was sleeping inside.Daddy stood beside the casket in a black suit, staring.He didn't say a word. His eyes were red, and his face was wet.It must have been the rain. Daddy didn't love Mommy, so he wouldn't cry.Vanessa walked over, her voice low.“Serena, don't be too sad. Mommy's gone, but you still have me.”She reached for my head.I lunged at her hand with my teeth.This time she'd been expecting it, and she pulled back fast. Her voice came out poisonous.“Hmph. Ill-bred little brat. Just like your mother, always—”Uncle's head snapped around, and his glare hit her like a slap.“This is Fiona's funeral. I don't want trouble. Get out of our sight.”I bared my teeth and growled at her.A strange feeling was rising in my chest. I learned l







