Chapter 5: The Last Goodbye

Hazel’s POV

I stopped dead in the hallway, listening to the sound of my baby in distress. I moved toward the sound before I could think.

“You can’t go in there,” one of the guards said, stepping into my path.

“That’s my son.”

“Alpha’s orders. No contact.”

I bawled with frustration. My son needed me, and they were keeping me from him. His cries got louder, more frantic. I stopped there and listened to the noises coming from inside the room, my chest rising and falling.

“For the love of the goddess, make it stop!” Kimberley’s voice, shrill with annoyance.

“I’m trying, miss,” Alice replied nervously. “He won’t take the bottle.”

“Then make him take it! You’re the nanny—do something!”

My eyes clamped shut. I could not take it. How could this woman ever be a mother to any child, let alone mine?

“He’s used to nursing, miss. He doesn’t want the formula. Maybe if we called—”

“Absolutely not. That woman is not coming near him.”

Liam screamed harder, and I heard Alice trying to shush him, but her pats sounded too rough, too frustrated.

Through the crack in the door, I could see inside.

Kimberley sat at the vanity, completely focused on painting her nails while Liam screamed in his crib. Alice stood over him, trying to calm him.

“You could pat him harder,” Kimberley said without looking up from her nails. “It’s not like he’s actually mine anyway.”

My fists clenched. How dare she speak of my son, a baby, like that?

Alice’s hands stilled. “Miss, I don’t think—”

“If he keeps crying, I’ll throw him in the forest!” Kimberley’s voice turned sharp and cruel as she yelled at the baby. “Your mother Hazel doesn’t want you anymore, so stop that noise!”

Liam’s screams turned frantic, terrified, and something roared to life inside me. No, this would not do.

I took a deep breath and braced myself, no longer caring if they killed for it. I shoved between the guards, bursting through the door.

“Get away from him!”

The scene inside made my lips curl. Alice stood over the crib while Liam screamed himself red. Kimberley flexed her long, red-painted nails, her smug eyes more interested in them than Liam.

My son would die in that monster’s care. I had to do something.

I pushed Alice aside and lifted Liam, focusing only on him. He was burning with fever from crying so hard, his little body rigid with distress. My heart wept.

The moment I held him, his cries shifted to broken sobs. “There,” I whispered, rocking him. “Mama’s here.”

“What are you doing here?” Kimberley still didn’t turn around. “You’re not supposed to be near him.”

“He’s starving!” Liam rooted against my chest, searching desperately. “Why the hell were you abusing him?”

“Abusing him!” Kimberly scoffed. “He needs to learn to drink from a bottle. Can’t have him depending on you when you won’t be around.”

The nerve, the audacity!

“He's a baby. He doesn’t understand—”

“Not my problem.”

The rage within me roared, but I hushed it down, focusing on Liam. Kimberley finally looked at me in the mirror.

I stared at her in disbelief. “You were going to let Alice hurt him!”

“Hurt him?” Kimberley laughed. “She was just trying to quiet him down. Some babies need firmer handling.”

“He’s a newborn!”

“He’s a spoiled brat who needs to learn his place.” I wanted to punch her.

Kimberley turned around, her false sweetness gone. “Alice, get him back in that crib.”

“No.” I backed toward the wall, clutching Liam tighter. “He needs me.”

Liam had stopped crying in my arms, exhausted from screaming. He made soft, desperate sounds against my chest, and I could feel his tiny heart hammering.

“Please,” I whispered, no longer caring about my own dignity. “Just let me feed him once. Then I’ll go.”

“Absolutely not. He’s not your responsibility anymore.”

Like hell he wasn’t! But before I could respond, the door burst open. Ulysses strode in, Luna Fiona right behind him.

Kimberly suddenly stumbled backward dramatically, one hand pressed to her heart like I’d struck her, but I understood her games now.

“I didn’t touch her!” I protested.

“What is she doing here?”

“She broke in,” Kimberley said quickly, her victim act sliding back into place. “I was trying to learn how to be a good mother, and she—”

“You were letting Alice pat him like he was a dog!”

“She said horrible things,” Kimberley whimpered. “About how I didn’t deserve the baby…”

“Oh, sweetheart!” Luna Fiona rushed to help Kimberley up, shooting me a look of pure disgust. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. I could not believe these people.

“I’m fine,” Kimberley sniffled bravely. “I just…I don’t understand why she hates me so much.”

“I don’t hate you—you were hurting him!”

“Enough!” Ulysses yelled. “Give me the child.”

“No.” I pressed Liam closer. “Look at him. He’s calm now. He knows me.”

For just a second, something flickered in his eyes as he looked at Liam peaceful in my arms, but then Kimberley let out a soft sob.

“I just wanted to help,” she whispered. “I know I’m not his birth mother, but I thought maybe I could try…”

And the moment was gone.

He lifted Liam from my weak arms easily, and the baby immediately started crying again. Tears burned my eyes as I watched Ulysses hand my son to Luna Fiona like he was passing off a burden.

How little my pleas meant to him. I wiped my tears with shaking hands, but they kept coming. Ulysses was treating me like a stranger. Like an enemy.

“This behavior is completely unacceptable,” he said, not even looking at me as Liam screamed in Fiona’s arms. “You’ve forced my hand, Hazel.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re being banished from this pack. Immediately.”

No, he could not do that. “What?”

“You’ve proven you can’t respect boundaries. You’re a danger to pack stability.” He looked over my head, nodding. “Guards, escort her out.”

“Wait—please—” I looked desperately at Liam still crying in his crib. “Let me hold him one more time—”

“No.” Ulysses’s voice was final. “Get her out of here.”

I lurched forward, ready to snatch my baby if it meant I could smell him one last time, kiss him goodbye, but the guards grabbed my arms. As they dragged me away, Liam’s cries followed us down the hallway, mixing with my own quieter sobs.

The walk to the pack border felt like death. Each step away from Liam tore another piece of my soul away. At the boundary line, Uma came running with tears streaming down her face.

We collapsed into each other’s arms and cried like the world was ending. For me, it was.

“Take care of him,” I begged into her hair. “Promise me you’ll protect him.”

“With my life,” she swore.

The guards cleared their throats impatiently. I picked up my bag and looked back at the pack house one last time, knowing I would never see my son again, and left.