Chapter 2

I was about to take Cayden back to his bedroom when Theron instinctively followed.

Behind him, Dexter burst into tears. "Daddy Theron, you promised to take me to the amusement park…"

Lyana put on a show of scolding him. "Dexter, we're just guests here. You shouldn't keep bothering your Daddy Theron for every little thing."

Theron looked at me hesitantly. "I did promise him, Astra. Shall we go to the amusement park together, all five of us?"

Before I could even answer, Dexter plopped onto the floor and started wailing again. "I don't want them to come! I only want Mommy and Daddy Theron to take me there!"

For once, Theron's expression hardened. He sternly warned, "Enough. They're my mate and pup, so don't ever speak like that again."

Dexter's cries were abruptly cut off.

Lyana's smug smile froze on her face. She shot me a glare, grabbed Dexter's hand, and started sobbing as she headed for the door.

"You're right… Poor Dexter doesn't have a father, so here he is, overstaying his welcome in someone else's home.

"I'll pack our bags right now. We're leaving!"

Theron looked troubled. "Don't be ridiculous. You don't have any family in the Silverfrost pack, so where would you even go if you leave?"

He wanted to go after her, but hesitated and stopped to look at me first.

I gave him a considerate nod. "Go ahead. She's your widowed sister-in-law, so it's only right that you take care of her."

Relieved, Theron immediately reassured me. "Thank you, honey. I'll just take Dexter to the park for a bit. You know he doesn't have a father…"

I didn't say a word and just watched him walk away. He'd completely forgotten that he'd never once taken Cayden to an amusement park either.

…

Once Cayden was asleep, I headed to the pack hospital to retrieve his Bloodline Fading medical examination report.

In this life, I'd had him checked early. If I could get him back to the Azuremoon pack for treatment, I was sure we could save his wolf.

Then, I made a secret detour to the apothecary at the black market and bought a bottle of mate bond dissolution potion.

To treat Cayden's illness as soon as possible, I had no choice but to do this.

My perfect plan was to slip the potion into Theron's coffee or water tomorrow, then take Cayden away and leave, never coming back.

But when I returned to the pack house, I saw Cayden kneeling in the snow-covered yard, shivering uncontrollably.

I could hear Lyana and Dexter's laughter coming from inside the house, along with Theron's gentle talking voice.

It felt like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over me. My hands and feet were cold as I rushed forward and threw myself over Cayden.

"Cayden! Why are you kneeling here? You're sick, and you can't be in the cold!"

When Cayden saw me, he finally broke down in aggrieved tears. "Mommy, I didn't break Dexter's pony figurine. Please trust me…"

With that, he fainted weakly in my arms.

The moment he closed his eyes, my world felt like it was turning to ash.

"Astra, where have you been?"

Theron opened the door and started walking towards me.

When I looked up at him, my eyes burned with pure rage.

"Why'd you do this? Cayden's your son!" I screamed as tears streamed uncontrollably down my face.

Cayden was my bottom line, and no one was allowed to hurt him.

When Theron saw my tears, he froze in place.

Lyana stepped out from behind him and pretended to sympathetically say, "Astra, we weren't even mad that Cayden broke Dexter's toy, but he shouldn't have lied. You know that the Silverfrost pack can't have an heir who's always lying."

The hesitation on Theron's face vanished. He looked at me with clear disapproval and said, "This is just a small punishment, Astra. You shouldn't coddle him too much."

Ignoring his chiding, I lifted Cayden onto my back in silence and coldly said, "If anything happens to my son, none of you will get away with it."

Again, Theron was stunned into silence.