Chapter 4

I couldn't even remember how I made it through that night. I was crying so hard.

When I woke up, there were only two thoughts in my mind.

'I've been marked.

'I'm in unbearable pain.'

He looked at me without saying much.

"You're my mate now," he said simply.

Then he left.

I sat on the couch in a daze. I slowly pieced my chaotic thoughts together.

The entire night, he had been calling Lisa's name.

"Lisa, don't leave me. Will you be my mate?"

He still loved Lisa.

Meanwhile, I had become the sinner who stole their happiness.

After we formed the mate bond, the maids' whispers inevitably reached me.

"That night, Lisa and Derek only had a small fight. Who would've thought Leah would take the chance to drug Derek's wine? She's shameless."

"Why would Derek let that homewrecker become his mate?"

"Everyone knows Derek's heart belongs to Lisa."

-

The rumors made me the target of scorn throughout Blood Moon Pack.

They believed what they wanted to believe. My explanations were useless. If anything, they only made me look even more guilty.

Derek never defended me because he knew exactly where the rumors came from. They came from Lisa.

Not only did he not deny them, but he treated them as proof that Lisa still cared about him.

As the gossip spread, their bond seemed to grow deeper.

However, among all those lies, there was one truth.

Derek never loved me.

The nature of our relationship was too awkward and twisted.

I didn't even know where to begin explaining.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Derek leaned against the wall. His voice was deep and rough.

Perhaps I had been silent too long. I hadn't expected him to break the silence first.

Surprised, I hesitated to speak.

"Blood Moon Pack has the best educational resources. Why send him to a remote place like Bellflower Town for school?"

He cleared his throat awkwardly and looked away.

"Dominic missed his mom. He kept pestering me. I had no choice but to bring him here to find you."

I snorted. "Isn't Lisa his mom?"

"You're angry at me. Why drag our kid into it?"

He paused.

"He's still young. He needs his mother. You shouldn't have abandoned him."

I turned away and looked at the lush green leaves beyond the railing.

"But he's the one who said Lisa was his mother."

Dominic was the pup I carried and gave birth to.

I poured nearly all my energy into loving him, spoiling him, and comforting him.

When he was little, he cried in anyone else's arms, but the moment I held him, he would quiet down.

The first word he ever said was 'Mom.'

But as he grew older, he began to distance himself from me.

The rumors affected him in the end.

In his heart, I was a bad woman. I was someone unworthy of love and someone to be ashamed of, especially after Derek brought Lisa home.

Dominic's attention shifted entirely to her. Gradually, he no longer wanted to be close to me.

When I sat at home reading pack documents, he once said, "Mom, don't you have anything better to do? Lisa knows so many things. You're so boring."

When I tutored him, he said, "You're not even as knowledgeable as Lisa. How are you qualified to teach me?"

When I told him to eat less candy so he wouldn't get cavities, he pushed me to the ground for the first time in anger and pointed at my face.

"You only know how to control me and restrict me. You don't love me at all!

"I don't want a homewrecker who ruined Lisa and Dad's relationship to be my mom!

"You're ugly and boring! I want the gentle and beautiful Lisa to be my mom!"