1

"Don't you ever tell me what to do. You're not my boss," Lucy sneered, baring her fangs at me.

"Come on, baby. Let's not create a scene now. We are in front of your entire school," I said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Isn't she your mother?" The girl beside Lucy asked, and I struggled to maintain my smile.

"An omega like her can never be my mother. She's just a helpless maid, the Alpha brought in to take care of his pup," Lucy said through gritted teeth, and my smile faltered. “I'm thirteen now and do not need her help.”

A lump formed in my throat as I turned my back against her and headed straight to the packhouse.

Lucy was graduating from middle school today, and my only crime was trying to pull up her graduation gown to cover her exposed cleavage.

I pressed my lips together, swallowing the shame and hurt as I thought of how I had been taking care of Lucy for the past nine years. Her mother, the luna, had been rejected by the Alpha and sent out of the pack for an unforgivable crime, leaving a four-year-old pup behind.

Then, I was just a nineteen-year-old living with her sick grandmother until the day she came to me saying, "My sweet child, the Alpha seeks for a mother for his pup until she's thirteen."

At first, I didn't understand where my grandmother was heading with the conversation until she dropped the bombshell. "He chose you, and you have to accept the offer. We need his money to settle our debts and get me treated," she coughed, gripping her chest. Her condition was getting worse.

Left with no choice, I accepted the offer and got married to the Alpha in order to raise his pup, who now detested me after hearing false rumours of how I was the reason her father rejected her mother.

During the take of a family portrait a few months ago, I had worn the previous Luna's dress and got insulted by Lucy.

"Are you trying to take my mother's identity?" Snarled Lucy. I tried to explain, but she shut me up, saying, "You'll never be like her. You're just a measly omega."

I heaved a sigh, snapping out of my trance as I arrived at the packhouse and walked into my room.

Lucy was thirteen now. Maybe it was high time I left.

Just as I lay on the bed, my room door flew open. Quickly, I sat up as Alpha Ken marched in with hardened eyes.

"What did you do to Lucy?" He asked, anger oozing out of his skin.

"Nothing," I responded with a slight frown.

"Liar!" Lucy's voice pierced the air as she materialized beside Ken. Mascara streaked down her cheeks, and her dress was torn.

My brows fused into a deep frown. "The moon goddess, what happened to you?" Concern was etched to my voice.

"Stop pretending like you didn't embarrass me in front of the entire school by ripping my dress apart," Lucy sobbed, sniffing a snort back in.

Shock waves zapped through me, and I widened my eyes.

"You're supposed to be protecting my child. How dare you?!" Ken bellowed with veins bulging out of his temples.

"I didn't do–" I tried to speak, but Lucy wailed dramatically, burying her face into her father's arms.

"Ask her to apologise to me, dad," She said, looking up at him from over her wet lashes.

"Apologise to the future Alpha right away," Ken ordered. I tried to protest, but his icy stare made my stomach churn in fear.

"My apologies," I muttered, glancing at the floor as I was under the influence of the Alpha's aura.

After that, he trudged out of the room, leaving Lucy and I.

Mischief and disgust glistened in her eyes.

"You better have my graduation cake ready by the time I'm out of the shower," she hissed before leaving my room.

***

“Are you sure you want to break the mate bond?” The head of the mate bond council, elder Logan asked as I stood before them.

I had made up my mind to break the mate bond binding Ken and I together after what Lucy did. I had baked her the cake like she instructed only for her to smash it against the floor.

She yelled unkind words like, “Filthy and lazy omega. You can't even bake a simple cake. Why does my father still have you around?!”

It ripped my heart apart to see the child I had raised this mean to me.

“Sameen?” Elder Logan called, halting my train of thoughts.

Gulping down the lump in my throat with a foggy vision caused by tears, I answered, “Yes. I no longer want to have anything to do with Ken or Lucy.”

“Are you sure about that?” Another elder asked.

I nodded with utmost certainty. After all, Ken paid no regard to me. He only looked at me when he needed some place to warm his member. Whenever he wasn't horny, we lived like flatmates.

“What about the little girl?” One of the she-wolf elders asked, and I turned my head in her direction.

“She detests and wants me gone,” I answered. “Plus, she's not so little anymore.”

Silence enveloped us for a few seconds, while my heart thumped in my chest.

“Why don't you go back to the packhouse and think it through for two to three days before you come back for the mate bond termination papers,” advised elder Logan.

After my meeting with the elders, I returned back to the packhouse with heaviness in my heart. My eyes wandered around the place, skimming past furniture and landing on a large picture of Lucy, Ken and I when Lucy was four years old. Things were good then.

A pang of pain squeezed my heart, and I looked away to prevent more grief from hitting me. I wished grandmother was alive so I could cry on her thighs, and she'd read stories from her journal to calm me down.

“Why don't we get her journal from our room and hold the locket she made for us against your chest?” My wolf suggested.

Taking the west wing, I dragged myself towards my bedroom, but halted a few steps away from the door when I noticed that it was slightly ajar