Chapter 3

Liam stood outside the door with an expressionless face. He wouldn't even look at me.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up in front of everyone in the pack.

"I've reflected on it. I understand now. Even if it was the truth, I shouldn't have exposed you in front of so many people."

There were still tears in his eyes. He had probably just finished talking to Norris.

Looking at the defiant expression on his face, I suddenly thought of those cookies.

I had spent several months learning how to make them specifically for this full moon ceremony.

What he had trampled on wasn't just a gift. It was my sincerity.

"I don't need any of this anyway." After saying that, he turned around and walked away.

I'd seen that attitude before from his father.

The day Norris' wolf spirit awakened, I gave him a bone knife I had made.

To defeat a male wild boar three times my size, I had silently tracked it for three days.

Then, while it was sleeping, I risked my life to attack it.

Its long tusks had nearly pierced straight through my stomach.

In the end, I was covered in blood and wounds.

I brought the bone knife I had painstakingly made to Norris. He weighed it in his hand a couple of times before casually handing it to a passing warrior.

"I have no use for something like this."

But the bone knife he was playing with at today's full moon ceremony was one Evelyn had discarded after replacing it with a new one.

It wasn't that he had no use for my things. He simply didn't need anything from me.

He didn't need me either.

I watched Liam's back as he walked away. I finally understood how far apart we'd grown.

He had grown up. He no longer needed a mother who only embarrassed him.

"Liam, if you don't need anything from me, then I won't give you anything anymore."