ABANDONED

veronica

I wiped the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand and tried to steady my breathing. My fingers shook as I smoothed down my hair, tucking the wild strands behind my ears. I had to look normal. Henry couldn't see me like this, broken and bleeding from the mouth. The door swung open before I could reach it.

But Henry didn't even glance inside. He ran right past, his little feet moving down the hallway toward the stairs, clutching a stuffed wolf toy I had never seen before.

"Aunt Catherine! Aunt Catherine, look! This one lights up!"

My heart cracked down in the middle. I stepped into the hallway, gripping the doorframe for support so I wouldn't fall. My ribs screamed with every breath, and my wolf whimpered somewhere deep inside me, still too damaged to help.

Six months ago, Henry was dying.

The memory crashed over me. My baby boy, sick in that hospital bed, his little body rejecting everything the pack doctors tried. Kidney failure, so aggressive and fatal.

"Take mine," I'd begged Richard. "Take whatever he needs."

The surgery lasted eight hours. When I woke up, my wolf was silent. The doctors said major organ removal affected shifters differently. Some bounced back quickly. Others took months. I was one of the unlucky ones.

"You need to recover properly," Richard had said, his hand on my forehead. "I'm sending you to the mountain retreat. Six months, Veronica. Rest and heal."

I'd believed him. I'd believed every word. Now I understand. He hadn't sent me away to heal. He'd sent me away to make room for her.

I limped toward the stairs, each step sending fresh pain through my body. The living room came into view, and I stopped.

Henry sat on the floor, surrounded by gifts. Toy cars, action figures, books with shiny covers, and that light-up wolf. He was ripping through wrapping paper like it was Christmas morning, his face glowing.

"This one's from Aunt Catherine too!" he squealed, holding up a remote-controlled truck. "She's the best!"

My throat tightened. I had always sent him gifts while I was away, carefully chosen presents, each wrapped with letters telling him how much I loved him. Had he even received them?

"Henry?" My voice came out small.

He looked up, and for one moment, I thought I saw recognition. Then his face twisted into something ugly. Something that looked like hate.

"You," he said, the word dripping with venom.

I descended the stairs slowly. "Sweetheart, I missed you so much. Come here, let Mommy hug you.."

"No!" He scrambled backward, clutching the toy wolf like a shield. "Go away! I don't want you here!"

The words hit harder than Richard's fists.

"Henry, please.."

"Where were you?" His voice rose to a scream. "Where were you when I was sick? When I was scared? When I almost died?"

Tears burned my eyes. "Baby, I was.."

"Aunt Catherine was here! She read me stories and brought me soup and stayed with me every night!" He pointed at me with a shaking finger. "You left! You didn't even call!"

"That's not true," I whispered. "I called every day. I begged to come home…"

"Liar!" Henry threw the toy wolf at me. It bounced off my chest and clattered to the floor. "Daddy said you didn't want to be bothered! He said you were tired of being a mom!"

The room spun. I gripped the newel post to keep from collapsing.

"Well, well. The prodigal wife returns."

Catherine's voice drifted down from the stairs. She descended like a queen, Richard at her side, both fully dressed now as if nothing had happened. Henry's face lit up. He abandoned his gifts and ran straight to Catherine, wrapping his little arms around her legs.

"Aunt Catherine! Did you see?"

She scooped him up, settling him on her hip. My son. In another woman's arms.

"I see that, precious boy." She smiled at him, then turned that smile on me. "You look terrible, Veronica. Rough day?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but suddenly my chest seized. Pain, white-hot and all-consuming, ripped through my torso. I doubled over, clutching my side where the scar was. Something warm and wet filled my mouth. I coughed, and blood splattered across the hardwood floor..

"Mommy's bleeding!" Henry's voice sounded far away. "Daddy, why is she bleeding?"

"Don't look, sweetheart." Catherine turned Henry's face into her shoulder. "Your mother is just sick. She's always sick now."

Richard descended the stairs. He crouched in front of me, and for one desperate second, I thought maybe he'd remember. Remember us.

"You have two days," he said quietly. "Two days to perform the rejection ceremony. Sign the papers and accept it cleanly."

"Richard.." Blood bubbled between my lips.

"The Lycan King visits in three days." His eyes were cold, empty. "You will not embarrass this pack by dying before then. You will reject me, and then you will disappear. Understood?"

Footsteps behind him. Margaret, a servant who has worked for my family since before I was born, appeared with her eyes downcast.

"Take her to the old servants' quarters," Richard ordered. "Keep her there until the ceremony."

Margaret's rough hands grabbed my arm, hauling me to my feet. She dragged me toward the back of the house. Away from my son. Away from everything.

"Wait!" I struggled, looking back at Henry. "Henry! Baby, I love you!"

"Shut up," Margaret hissed, yanking me through the kitchen. We passed through the door to the servants' wing. The hallway was narrow, dark, smelling of mildew. She shoved me into a tiny room with a cot, a broken chair, and a dirty window.

"Your belongings will be brought shortly," Margaret said. She left, and I heard the lock click. I collapsed onto the cot. Through the grimy window, I could see the front lawn. And as the sun set, I watched them bring out my things. Not carefully. Not even respectfully.

They threw them in like they were some rags. My clothes landed in the dirt. My books splayed open, pages tearing. My jewelry box burst apart, scattering across the grass. And then I saw it.

The wooden box, hand-carved, precious, irreplaceable. My father's most cherished possession. Inside was his Alpha ring, the one he'd worn before he disappeared fifteen years ago.

"Wait!" I screamed, pounding on the window. "Please, not that!"

But Catherine stood in the doorway, directing traffic with a smile. She pointed at the box, and the servant threw it. It hit the ground hard. The lid broke off. The ring rolled into a puddle of mud.

And I realized they'd won completely. They had my son, my home, my husband, and now they were destroying even my memories. I was nothing. A broken Luna in a forgotten room, watching her entire life scattered in the dirt…