Chapter 2

Before I could reply and tell him he isn't getting any apology from Jenna, his moonstone shone, and he quickly cornered himself, whispering through his mindlink.

“What? Pack’s temple owner refused Leo’s entry?”

“Don't worry, I’m coming. The entire staff will be fired for this. No one can forbid Leo if he wants anything!” He roared.

A smile of irony appeared on my lips. The Blood Moon Pack’s sacred temple had an absolute law. No children allowed– to stop the disturbance among ancestral souls.

Once, Jenna pleaded to pay respect to her grandparents. After her continuous insistence, I had taken her outside the temple and asked her to pay her respects from outside. But when Lucian heard the news, he got furious.

That night, he made our four-year-old child stand on her knees the entire night under heavy rain.

Jenna could not hold it and fainted in the morning. She remained sick for a whole month, and Lucian refused to give her allowance for her medication as her punishment.

It was my herbs and nourishing soup that had kept her alive.

Now, watching how easily he allowed Leo’s entry into the temple, my heart ached for my dead child.

Lucian turned to me, “I have something urgent to take care of. Have the apology letters on my desk by tomorrow morning. Both yours and Jenna’s."

He turned on his heel and walked out, slamming the heavy mahogany door of Jenna’s bedroom behind him.

I stood in the dim light of my dead daughter's room. I didn't cry. The bond was gone, leaving a gaping, cauterized crater where my heart used to be.

Carefully, I packed Jenna’s small wooden horse, her favorite hand-stitched doll, and the tiny velvet ribbon she loved to wear in her hair. I laid them neatly beside her cold, still body hidden beneath the heavy quilts of my bed in the servant-quarter wing—the place he had relegated us to under the guise of "building character."

I remember how these cheap toys were once so difficult to have for Jenna because Lucian needed a long written letter to describe why it was necessary to buy them and what role they would play in Jenna’s development. On the other hand, he would toss around all the expensive toys in Leo’s lap just because he wanted them.

His explanation– Leo is pitiful because his father died.

The next morning, I didn't write an apology. Instead, I walked to the pack school's administrative office because one of Jenna’s friends had called me last night to ask how Jenna was doing. After I disclosed the news of Jenna’s death, she insisted I check Jenna’s pack school’s logs.

I didn't ask for permission. I didn't fill out a requisition slip. I simply walked into the archivist’s room, shoved the elderly clerk aside, and pulled the incident logs for the past month.

What I found made the blood in my veins turn to liquid fire.

Jenna hadn't just contracted Ash Fever by chance.

Two weeks prior, Chloe’s son, Leo, had pushed Jenna into the stagnant, forgotten northern marshlands—the known breeding ground for Ash-spores—after she refused to hand over her wooden horse to him. When Jenna came back shivering and soaked, Chloe had threatened her, telling the four-year-old that if she told Lucian, her mother would be banished from the pack forever.

Even worse, the school healer had documented the initial signs of black-vein rot eight days ago and submitted an urgent medical appeal to the Alpha's office.

It was stamped: REJECTED – Alpha Lucian. Reason: Minor exaggerated illness. Prioritize Sanctuary access for Leo’s post-exam recovery.

He knew. He had signed the rejection himself.

I didn't storm into the main hall. I walked with slow, deliberate steps, holding the stamped document in my right hand.

Lucian was sitting at the head of the long oak table, surrounded by pack elders. Chloe sat to his right, wearing a silk dress lined with silver thread—an item that required five council approvals, yet somehow had been granted to her overnight. She was peeling apples for her son, who sat proudly beside her.

The guards at the door moved to stop me, but the sheer, icy pressure radiating from me made them hesitate. I looked like a specter of vengeance, pale, silent, and hollowed out.

"Lyla," Lucian snapped, his brows darkening as he stood up. "I told you to stay in your quarters until you had the letters prepared. You are disrupting official pack business."

I walked right up to the table, ignoring the gasps of the elders, and slapped the stamped medical appeal onto the wood right in front of him.

"You knew." My voice was flat, devoid of rage, stripped of all warmth. "Eight days ago. Jenna’s school healer reported the Ash Fever. You personally stamped the rejection to save the Sanctuary waters for Leo’s bath."

Chloe gasped softly, leaning into Lucian’s side. "Lyla, please... Leo had worked so hard for his exams. He was exhausted. You shouldn't make false accusations just because you're bitter..."

Lucian didn't even pick up the paper. He glanced at it briefly, his face settling into that familiar, dismissive condescension.

"Is this what you’re throwing a tantrum about?" Lucian sneered, resting his hands on the table.

"Leo was under extreme stress after losing his father. A dip in the Sanctuary pool restored his spirit. Jenna had a mild fever; children get sick all the time, Lyla. The healer was being overly cautious, as usual."

"She had black-vein rot, Lucian," I said, my tone as cold as marble. "Leo pushed her into the northern marshland. Chloe threatened her to keep her quiet."

Chloe let out a choked sob, placing a trembling hand over her chest. "Lucian, I would never! Leo is just a boy—he wouldn't push anyone! She's lying to frame us!"

“I have evidence!” I yelled.

Lucian’s Alpha aura flared out, heavy and suffocating, aimed straight at me to force me to my knees. But without the mate bond to anchor his aura to my soul, the pressure rolled off me like water on glass. I didn't even flinch.

A flash of genuine surprise flickered in Lucian’s eyes when I remained standing, but he quickly masked it with irritation.

"Enough!" Lucian barked. "So the children had a minor scuffle in the woods—it isn't a big deal! Boys will be boys, Lyla. You are blowing a simple childhood disagreement completely out of proportion to satisfy your toxic jealousy of Chloe.”