Chapter 3

Claire's POV

Gideon stands immediately, startled.

“Claire?” His voice is low, uncertain. He looks from me to Daphne, then back again.

Daphne has the audacity to smirk. “You’re supposed to be resting, dear. Childbirth isn't easy work.”

“You dare to speak to me? After that shit you pulled?” I snap.

My voice doesn’t sound like mine. It’s rough, broken. Full of fury.

Gideon holds the baby tighter. Instinctively. Protectively. As if from me.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” he says, taking a step back. “You’re not well.”

He turns to Daphne and speaks in a hushed tone. "Call security now."

“I’m not well because she ripped my child from my arms!”

I point a trembling finger at Daphne.

Daphne stands now, placing a possessive hand on Gideon’s arm. “She’s clearly crazy. Look at her!"

Leo whimpers in his arms, probably from our shouting. The sound cuts through everything.

I take another step forward. My child's voice invoking my instinct to protect.

But Daphne steps up to Gideon instead, taking Leo from his arms.

She looks so smug holding him. I could feel the bile rising in my throat, my blood screaming with rage.

“Get away from him,” I warned.

"I have you, dear one." Daphne strokes Leo's face recklessly.

Her long, manicured, red nails scratch his skin, causing blood to drip down his cheek.

His cry pierces me through the heart.

I rush across the room, tearing Leo from Daphne, shoving her into the wall.

Daphne let out a dramatic gasp as she collided with the wall. My hand flew to Leo’s face, wiping the blood gently from his skin. A thin angry mark on his cheek glared back at me. He was crying so hard his whole body shook.

“My baby,” I whispered, rocking him slightly. “Oh, baby, Mama’s here. I’ve got you, I’ve got—”

“She's getting aggressive. Take her and protect the baby,” Gideon’s voice cut through everything.

Hands yanked at my shoulders. I hadn't notice the security guards had crept in behind me.

“No!” I screamed, clutching Leo tighter. “She scratched him! I didn't! She's not his mother. I am! Gideon, please!"

The guards pry me away. Leo was torn from my arms, his scream now echoed by mine.

“Give him back! Don’t you dare take him from me!”

One of the nurses handed Leo to Gideon, but before I could even breathe, he turned—and gave my son back to her.

To Daphne.

Like nothing had happened.

Like she hadn’t hurt Leo.

Like she was the mother.

“So it's true. You used me.” I spat, my voice shaking with fury. “You wanted to steal my child this whole time."

Gideon's green eyes didn't soften.

“This is about you, Claire. About your lies. About what you did to me.” Gideon said coldly. "Anyone willing to manipulate a mating bond is not fit to be a mother."

My breath caught. “What I did?”

“You knew I was with Daphne,” he snapped. “You knew we were bonded, and still you drugged me. Slept with me. You used the Heat to manipulate me into mating. You wanted to be Luna so badly that you disrespected our most sacred of bonds."

The words hit harder than any slap.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

He meant it.

“Gideon” My voice cracked. “I've tried to tell you that it wasn’t like that.”

“It was exactly like that,” Gideon said. “If my family hadn’t insisted I keep you to carry the child, I would’ve rejected you the second I found out what you did.”

My heart shattered. So it hadn’t been an accident in his eyes after all. There was no confusion. No misunderstanding.

Just disgust.

From the man who once touched my belly in the dark, who now looked at me like I was a disease.

Daphne shifted Leo in her arms, patting his back as if I had been the one to scare him.

“I didn’t want it to come to this,” Daphne said to Gideon. “But someone has to speak up. Claire isn't... stable enough to be a part of Leo's life. That’s why I took him from the room. He wasn’t safe. And when I tried to explain that she was sick, she attacked me.”

She showed the tiny bruise blooming on her wrist.

“She lunged for me,” Daphne added. “I had no choice but to sedate her. For the baby’s safety.”

I gasped. “You took him from me in the delivery room. You--”

“She’s unstable,” Daphne interrupted, with a careful glance at the nurses still watching.

I turned to Gideon. “Please, don’t do this. She’s lying. I would never hurt him. Please, Gideon, you know I would never—"

But Gideon had already looked away. His jaw locked, eyes unreadable.

“You are to have no further contact with my child,” he said.

And then he said the words. The words that no wolf wants to ever hear.

“I, Alpha Gideon Hallow of the Silver Crescent Pack, formally reject you, Claire Eliza Hallow, as my mate and Luna.”

The bond snapped.

A searing pain tore through my chest, as though a wire had been pulled tight and suddenly cut. My knees gave out. My wolf howled in agony deep inside me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

I collapsed on the cold, sterile floor. My sight blurs, and I pass out.

***

I startle awake. Greeted by blank walls, a burning IV, and a monitor blinking in quiet rhythm beside me.

I blinked up at the ceiling, dry-eyed. I'm still in the hospital.

My child has been torn from me. My mate has deserted me. I have nothing left.

I sit for a few moments wallowing in my grief.

What am I supposed to do now?

Then I think of Leo. His dark tuft of hair and his large green eyes. My beautiful boy.

My wolf stirs. They haven't killed us. There is still time.

I pressed the call button, wincing as I sat up.

A nurse enters, followed closely by a security guard. No more threatening the staff now.

The nurse eyes me wearily. “You’re awake.”

“I need to speak with Alpha Gideon,”

She shakes her head. “He’s given strict orders. He won’t meet with you again.”

I tryy to stand. “Then I want to see my son.”

She flinches. “He’s not… he’s not in the building anymore. The Alpha has moved him.”

Tears sting my eyes, but I force them back. I can't cry anymore. I have to act.

“When can I leave?”

She checks the chart. “You’re being discharged this afternoon.”

When the afternoon comes, I don't go home. By the goddess, I don't even think I have a home to go back to.

Instead, I walk straight to the pack house. I sit outside waiting for someone, anyone, to let me in. I sit and wait for three hours until a servant runs up the front steps.

When he sees me, his eyes widen with discomfort. “Lu—Claire… he’s in a meeting. He’s not going to see you.”

I don't move.

He can't ignore me forever. I'm not going to let him get away with this.

The door opens, and I stand.

But it's not Gideon, it's Daphne.

She's wearing a tight cream blazer, her hair in an elegant knot, like she was already preparing for a Luna ceremony. She smiles at me, as if she were expecting me.

“Oh no,” she said brightly. “You’re still here?”

“I want to speak to him,” I say. My voice was low, but steady. “I deserve that much.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Do you?”

She steps closer, and I can see the satisfaction in her eyes. She’s won. She believes it. Maybe she had.

“I’m just the messenger, sweetheart,” she says sweetly. “But he’s done. He doesn’t want to see you. Doesn’t want to hear from you. He said to move forward with the order.”

My blood turns to ice. “What order?”

Daphne’s smile sharpened. “Why, to have you moved to a secluded cabin at the edge of our territory. No more public scenes. No more getting your way."

I back away, heart slamming in my chest. But it's too late.

The guards have already appeared.