“Elena.”

Victoria’s voice was like ice, each syllable laced with the authority of her rank.

Adrian’s mother, the former Luna of the Blackwood pack, stood elegantly behind me.

She walked toward the broken medal, her gaze filled with disgust.

“You shouldn’t have brought this mutt to defile our sacred gathering.”

With a disdainful kick, she sent the broken medal flying toward a trash can in the corner of the garden. “We don’t welcome things of inferior blood here.”

“No!” Gale let out a heart-wrenching scream.

He stumbled toward the trash can, his small hands digging frantically through the filth. “That’s mine… I trained for three months for that…”

His voice was choked with sobs, tears streaming down his face.

I saw the bandage on his arm begin to soak with fresh blood.

For that medal, he had trained late into the night, refusing to stop even when he was hurt.

After every session, he would ask me, “Mommy, will Dad be proud of me?”

And I always said, “Of course, baby. Dad will see how amazing you are.”

“He is your grandson!” I screamed at Victoria, my voice raw.

“I have no such embarrassing grandson,” Victoria scoffed. “A half-blood, worthy of the Blackwood name? Don’t make me laugh.”

“Please…” Gale cried, pulling the broken pieces from the trash. “It’s my most precious thing… Please don’t throw it away…”

Seeing my eight-year-old son kneeling by the garbage, my heart felt like it was being ripped from my chest.

The royal blood I had suppressed for eight years began to boil, a powerful Alpha aura leaking from me, raw and uncontrolled.

“Gale, don’t cry. Come to Mommy.” I tried to go to him, but Victoria blocked my path.

“Elena, control your whelp.”

“Poor little thing,” Sophia cooed, walking up to me.

“Still daydreaming.” She suddenly gave me a hard shove.

I stumbled back, my spine slamming against the sharp edge of the stone steps.

A searing pain shot through me.

“Mommy!” Seeing me hurt, Gale dropped the broken medal and ran toward me without a second thought. “Mommy, are you okay?”

He was already weak from Adrian shoving him into the pillar.

He was running so fast now that his little face was flushed red.

“I’m okay, baby, I’m okay…” I reached out for him.

But Gale’s foot slipped.

Time seemed to stand still.

I saw his small body falling toward the stone steps, I saw the terror in his eyes, and I heard my own desperate scream.

“NO—”

A sickening CRACK echoed as his head slammed into the sharp corner of a step.

Blood gushed out instantly, staining the white stone red.

“Gale!” I scrambled to him and pulled him into my arms.

My hands were immediately covered in warm blood.

“It’s okay, baby, Mommy’s here…” But there was so much blood.

His little face was turning pale as paper.

“Adrian! Call the pack doctor!” I screamed, my voice thick with tears.

Adrian just stood there, watching it all unfold with a detached expression.

“Stop the act, Elena.”

Act?

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Your son is bleeding!” I shrieked hysterically.

“He’s a werewolf. He has regenerative abilities. He’s not going to die,” Adrian’s voice was chillingly calm. “Did you really think a stunt like this would win you any sympathy?”

Regenerative ability?

Gale had never shifted, never awakened his wolf.

He didn’t have strong regenerative abilities!

I didn’t have time to explain.

I tried to pick Gale up and run, but two pack warriors blocked my way.

“Get out of my way! He needs a doctor!”

“Ma’am, please calm down,” one of them said, his face a blank mask. “Don’t disturb the ceremony.”

I looked back at Adrian.

He was kneeling in front of Sophia, gently fixing a strand of her hair that the wind had misplaced.

He was completely ignoring his dying son.

“Mommy…” Gale’s voice was a faint whisper.

He struggled to lift his small hand, still clutching the broken pieces of his medal.

Blood dripped from between his fingers, stark and horrifying in the moonlight.

He tried to open his eyes, looking at me with confusion and hurt.

“Mommy… I just wanted Dad… to see I was strong…”

With those words, his eyes fluttered shut, his small body going limp.

The small body in my arms was growing colder.