Chapter 2

Past memories suddenly flashed across my mind, beyond my control.

Three years ago, to conceive a pup, I lost count of how many fertility injections I endured, how many bowls of bitter, astringent herbal medicine I forced myself to drink.

Back then, Wesley would feel sorry for me, feeding me candies and sweets while reassuring me that it would help with the bitterness.

On the day that the pup arrived, he gathered the finest doctors of the entire pack. I endured eight long hours of labor. My body was torn apart by wave after wave of searing pain, so intense I felt as if I were being split in two.

Outside the delivery room, I heard his voice. Hoarse, trembling, stripped of his usual authority.

"I don't need the pup, I just want my mate to survive. I beg you. Please save her."

12 hours later, Brett arrived in this world.

What I thought would be the beginning of a happy life, instead, my life was turned upside down.

Brett's constant crying, my mother's old condition relapsing, leaving her bedridden, and Wesley cutting back time with me to deal with the pack's affairs.

I was crushed.

I was diagnosed with post-partum depression.

Wesley shouldered everything for me. He looked after me, Brett, and my mother. At the same time, dealing with the pack's affairs.

Gradually, I began to catch glimpses, in unguarded moments, of the exhaustion and helplessness hidden deep in his eyes when he looked at me.

When I returned to my senses, I suddenly remembered that the next day was our mating bond anniversary.

I thought that he would have brought Brett home. However, even until the next day, he was nowhere to be found.

Somehow, in a daze, I checked Rowena's social media.

A minute ago, she uploaded a video, tagged at the clinic. In the video, she was lying in another werewolf's broad chest. On his hand was the same wedding ring as mine.

Brett was quietly sleeping next to them.

The video shook. She was pulled into his arms.

"I'm so tired I can barely catch a breather. Rowena, only with you by my side, I can relax a little."

Turns out, it wasn't only the pack that thought that I was a burden. Even Wesley thought so, too.

Tears fell onto the back of my hand, the pain almost crushing me.

Don't worry, Wesley. Soon, I won't be a bother to you anymore. Once I'm gone, everything will be better.

The pain from the Wolfsbane crashed onto me like waves. I bit my lips so hard it started bleeding.

Right at this moment, I had a call from the clinic informing me of my mother's death.

Stumbling and fumbling, I rushed over to the clinic. My body was trembling so hard I could barely stand.

The doctor said with a regretful sigh, "Your mother was doing well, but we don't know why her heart suddenly just gave out. We used the best medicine, but we still couldn't bring her back."

"Impossible! You must be wrong!" I cried, unable to come to terms with the fact that my mother was dead.

While breaking down in tears, I called Wesley over and over again.

He once promised me that he would always pick up my calls. But what I got in return was the automated response.

The final time I tried calling, his phone was completely switched off.

My body turned ice cold. My blood froze.

I was no longer his priority, was I?

At that moment, my mother's phone rang. It was the alarm that I set for her to take her medicine.

I went to switch off the alarm only to see the final messages that she saw on her screen.

"The Alpha already hates Maggie. I will soon be the next Luna. You'd better get your daughter to step aside. If not, she'll regret it."

As if afraid my mother wouldn't believe the message, she even sent a photo.

In the photo, Rowena and Wesley were cuddled together in a flirtatious pose. Anyone who saw it would think that they were kissing.

This was the culprit that caused my mother to die suddenly.

My vision went black, and I completely passed out.