Chapter 1 Chapter 1

My Alpha mate Damon had been keeping an Omega mistress, and he even allowed her to birth two half-breed Omega pups. He thought he had hidden it perfectly, but I had discovered his secret long ago. I never imagined that the Alpha who once swore to the Moon Goddess that he would protect me with his life would betray me with another woman behind my back. I cried and threatened him that if he didn't break things off with that woman, I would get rid of their pups and make him regret it for the rest of his life. But I had done absolutely nothing, their pups disappeared. Damon cruelly locked me in a silver cage. When the moonlight touched my skin, I would shift uncontrollably. My massive wolf body was pierced again and again by the spiked silver bars, tearing through flesh and muscle. He stood there with Serena, looking down at my pathetic state from above. "Damon, is this what you call loving me? Saying I'm your only Luna?" My hysterical questioning was met with nothing but Damon's cold indifference. "Aria! Why are you so vicious? Serena has always been kind and never harmed you or the pup. Tell me where my pups with Serena are, and I'll let you go!" I curled up in agony, my blood pooling on the ground beneath me. If not for the strong life force of our werewolf bloodline, I would have died long ago. "No... Damon, I didn't do anything to her pups. I was just bluffing..." In his rage, Damon made the cage contract even more. The spikes drove deeper into my body. "Do you really think I will still believe you?" But how could I admit to something I never did? "I really didn't..." I struggled to lift my head, only to catch the smug satisfaction in Serena's eyes. "Damon, I don't think she'll talk like this. I'm so worried about our son... A mother always cares most about her own pups... Maybe..." I couldn't hear her words clearly, but I could see the undisguised malice in her eyes. "No! Damon! Whatever you want to do, come at me! Don't touch our son! He's your son too..." Damon's gaze held no warmth as he looked at me. "So what? If you don't hand over my son with Serena today, I'll make sure you and your son die together!" I struggled desperately, only to see another identical silver cage being carried over beside mine. Inside lay Lucas, me and Damon’s little pup. I couldn't imagine what torment my little boy had endured. His clothes were torn to shreds, his white pajamas stained crimson with blood. Damon lifted my chin with the tip of his shoe. "Well? Still won't talk?""I really didn't do anything! Damon! Our son is weak, he can't handle this kind of torture. Please let him go... I'm begging you..." My pleas only seemed like stubborn defiance to him. I watched helplessly as the silver cage holding my son grew smaller and smaller, the spikes growing sharper and more deadly. "Mommy... it hurts..." My son looked at me with pleading eyes, but I was powerless to help him. I had only wanted to vent my anger with empty words. I never intended to actually harm anyone. But now I had doomed my own precious son, my little treasure... Overwhelming regret crashed over me like a tidal wave. "The pups has been found! Where?" A pack member rushed to Damon carrying a blood-covered pup. "In... in Aria's bedroom closet. One is here, the other little one has always been afraid of the dark, probably fainted from fear..." I thought that finding the pup would make him release me and my son, but Damon's next words sounded like they came from hell itself. "Lock them both up! Without my permission, don't let them out!""No!" My helpless cry echoed as I watched their retreating figures disappear into the distance.

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

The silver bars burned through my palms like acid as I pried at the cage with desperate strength. Each touch seared my flesh, but I didn't care. Nothing mattered except reaching my son. When I finally created an opening large enough to pull him through, my hands were ribbons of torn flesh and bone. But the sight that greeted me made my injuries meaningless. Blood. So much blood pooled beneath the tiny cage that it looked like a crimson lake. And in the center lay my little boy, his small body pale as winter snow. "No, no, no..." I whispered, gathering him into my arms. His skin was ice cold against my chest. "Please, baby, please wake up." I pressed my ear to his chest, listening desperately for any sound of life. Silence. This had to be a nightmare. Just this morning he'd been tugging at my skirt, begging me to make his favorite pancakes. His bright laughter had filled our home. Now he lay motionless in my arms, his little fingers already stiff. I stumbled through the pack grounds, clutching his body against me. Pack members stepped aside when they saw me coming, their faces a mixture of pity and fear. No one offered to help. No one dared. The pack witch lived in a cottage at the edge of our territory. I burst through her door without knocking, my son still cradled in my bleeding arms. "Healer Morgan, please!" I begged, laying him on her examination table. "Please, you have to save him!" The elderly woman approached slowly, her experienced eyes taking in the scene. She placed a gentle hand on my son's forehead, then checked his wrist for a pulse. "Child..." she said softly. "Fix him!" I screamed. "Use your magic! Use whatever you have to!""Aria." Her voice was firm but kind. "This little one was weak from birth. The silver poisoning, the blood loss... can't you see? He's been gone for hours." The words hit me like physical blows. I sank to my knees beside the table. "No, you're wrong. He was fine yesterday. He was laughing and playing and...""I'm so sorry." Healer Morgan covered my son with a clean white cloth. "There's nothing anyone can do now." I knew she was right. Deep down, I'd known the moment I saw him in that cage. But admitting it felt like dying myself. I spent three days preparing my son's body for burial. Pack tradition dictated that family members handle the funeral rites, but I was completely alone. Damon never came. I dug the grave myself in our family plot, my wounded hands reopening with each shovel of dirt. The physical pain was a welcome distraction from the emptiness in my chest. Other pack members watched from a distance but didn't approach. They whispered among themselves, but I caught enough words to understand. "Cursed...""...brought this on herself...""...should have known better than to threaten an Alpha's mistress..." I carved his headstone with my own claws, spelling out his name and the dates of his short life. Five years. My precious boy had only lived five years. For two weeks after the burial, I moved through our house like a ghost. I couldn't bear to enter his room, couldn't face his toys or his tiny clothes. I barely ate, barely slept. Every night I replayed those final moments in my mind. If only I'd been stronger. If only I'd been faster at opening that cage. If only I'd never threatened Serena's children in the first place. The guilt was eating me alive from the inside. Then, without warning, Damon returned. He slammed through the front door like nothing had happened, tracking mud across the floors I'd once kept spotless for our family. "Aria!" His voice boomed through the house. "Enough of this ridiculous sulking!" I looked up from where I sat curled in my son's favorite chair, still wearing the same bloodstained clothes from two weeks ago. "Is this supposed to be some kind of performance?" Damon's eyes were cold as winter steel. "This pathetic grieving mother act?" I stared at him in disbelief. "Act?""You brought this on yourself!" He pointed an accusing finger at me. "If you hadn't sent someone to kidnap those two poor children and traumatize him, none of this would have happened!""Kidnap?" The word came out as a croak. "I never—""Don't lie to me! Ethan told me everything. How your people hurt him and her sister， then locked him in that dark closet. He's only six years old, Aria! The poor child can't sleep anymore. He wakes up screaming every night!" Six years old. The number echoed in my head like a death knell. My son had been five. Only five when his father murdered him. "You're talking about Serena's son," I said slowly, the realization hitting me. "You actually believe I would hurt children?""You threatened them!" Damon's face flushed red with anger. "You said you'd make me regret it! Did you think I'd forgotten?" I tried to speak, to explain, but my throat had closed up completely. The grief and shock made it impossible to form words. "Serena is a good woman," Damon continued, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. "Kind and gentle, unlike you. I won't allow you to hurt her anymore!" He spun to face me, his Alpha authority radiating from every pore. "From today forward, Serena and her pups will live in this house. Ethan may be mixed-blood, but he's still my son, my heir. I won't let him suffer on the streets because of your jealousy!""Our son is dead," I whispered. "What did you say?""Our son is dead!" The words erupted from me like a primal scream. "While you were playing happy family with your mistress, your real son was dying in agony!" Damon's face went blank. "That's impossible. I would have been told—""By who? You disappeared for two weeks! I buried him alone!" For just a moment, uncertainty flickered in his eyes. Then his expression hardened again. "You're lying. Trying to manipulate me with guilt. Our son is fine. He's probably hiding because he's afraid of you." The casual dismissal of our child's death broke something inside me. "You know what, Damon? You're right. Serena should move in. Give her my room too while you're at it." His pupils contracted to pinpoints—I recognized the sign of his impending rage. "Don't test me, Aria! What Alpha doesn't have multiple lovers? I've been more faithful to you than most! One mistress is nothing!""One mistress?" I laughed bitterly. "Is that supposed to make me grateful?""You'll always be my primary mate," he said, as if offering me a great gift. "Serena could never replace you. She knows her place." I thought about the young woman I'd been ten years ago when we first met. How Damon's eyes had shone with adoration as he promised to love only me forever. "You swore an oath," I said quietly. "You said loyalty was a wolf's nature.""I've been loyal! Keeping one Omega on the side isn't betrayal—it's practically expected!" Before I could respond, the front door opened again. Serena entered with her chin ducked submissively, but I caught the flash of triumph in her eyes. "Damon, I'm sorry to interrupt," she said in a voice like honey. "But if Aria doesn't want us here, perhaps Ethan and I should find somewhere else to stay..." She had a small overnight bag in one hand and held her pups hand with the other. Clearly, she'd been listening outside the door, waiting for the perfect moment to make her entrance. "Absolutely not!" Damon strode over and took the bag from her. "This is your home now. No one is going to drive you away." Serena's son—Ethan—immediately ran to the coffee table where I kept a small wooden box. Before I could react, he'd opened it and dumped the contents onto the floor. My son's baby teeth scattered across the hardwood like fallen stars. "Don't touch those!" I lunged forward, desperate to protect the only physical reminders I had left. But it was too late. Ethan's shoe had already crushed one of the tiny teeth into powder. Both children started wailing immediately. Serena scooped up her son with practiced ease, crocodile tears streaming down her face. "I know you hate me," she sobbed to Damon. "But please don't let her hurt my baby. He's been through enough trauma already.""Damon, she tried to grab Ethan!" Serena's voice rose to a hysterical pitch. "Right in front of you! What will she do when you're not here to protect us?" I was still on my hands and knees, frantically gathering the remaining teeth. One was missing entirely, ground to dust under a six-year-old's foot. The last physical piece of my son. Gone. Damon moved to the wall where he kept his disciplinary tools. The silver-spiked whip was traditionally used only on rogue wolves or criminals. Never on a mate. Never on the mother of his child. "You need to learn your place," he said, his voice deadly calm. "I've been too lenient with you. Too forgiving." The first lash caught me across the cheek, splitting the skin to the bone. Silver burned like liquid fire, ensuring the wound would never heal properly. The second strike landed across my shoulder, tearing through fabric and flesh alike. "This is what happens when you threaten my family," Damon growled, raising the whip again. "Remember this lesson, Aria. There won't be a next time."

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Blood from my face dripped onto the hardwood floor as I crawled on my hands and knees, ignoring the searing pain across my cheek. My fingers frantically searched every corner, every shadow, every crack between the floorboards. "Where are they?" I whispered desperately. "Please, they have to be here somewhere." Those tiny white teeth were all I had left of my son. Five precious baby teeth that he'd proudly given me over the years, each one carefully wrapped in tissue paper and stored in that wooden box. "Mommy, look! The tooth fairy is going to come tonight!" he'd said just six months ago when his last molar came loose. Instead of leaving it under his pillow, he'd insisted I keep it with the others. "So we can always be together, even when I'm grown up," he'd explained with the innocent wisdom only children possess. Now four of those teeth lay scattered somewhere in this room, and one had been ground to powder under Ethan's careless foot. I found one near the couch leg, another behind the armchair. But the third and fourth remained missing, lost in the chaos of children's tears and adult cruelty. My hands shook as I clutched the two teeth I'd recovered. Such tiny things to carry so much love, so much memory. My son was dead, murdered by his own father's negligence, and I couldn't even keep his final gifts safe. The pain that had been building in my chest for weeks finally found its voice. I threw back my head and released a sound that came from the deepest part of my soul—a howl that carried all the grief, rage, and heartbreak of a mother who'd lost everything. It echoed through the house, raw and primal and utterly heartbroken. "Oh, for crying out loud," Damon's voice cut through my anguish like a blade. "What theatrical performance is this supposed to be?" I looked up at him through tears, still clutching those two precious teeth. Serena stood beside him, her hand possessively on his arm. The satisfaction in her eyes was barely concealed now that she'd gotten what she wanted. "Damon," she said in that sickeningly sweet voice, "I think she's having some kind of breakdown. Maybe she's upset because she sees how much you care about me and the children now?""Is that it, Aria?" Damon's voice dripped with disgust. "All this drama because you're jealous? Because you can't stand that I have other people in my life who actually matter?""You like being the center of attention so much? You like crying and making scenes?" He gestured dismissively at my tear-stained face. "Then go ahead! Cry all you want! See if anyone cares!" My throat closed up. How could I explain that these weren't tears of jealousy but of devastating loss? How could I make him understand that our son was gone forever? "You know what your problem is, Aria? You can't even raise a child properly. Look at yourself—on the floor like an animal, making those disgusting noises." Damon pulled Serena and her children closer, creating a perfect tableau of family happiness. "From now on, our son will be raised by Serena. At least she knows how to behave like a civilized person instead of some wild beast." Our son. He kept talking about our son as if the boy was still alive. As if he hadn't died screaming in agony while his father played house with another woman. "Stop embarrassing me in front of my guests," Damon continued coldly. "This is their home now." I looked around at what had once been our family home. The furniture I'd chosen, the pictures I'd hung, the warm colors I'd painted to make it welcoming for our son. Now it felt like a stranger's house. Everything was wrong. Everything was broken. And no one cared except me. I struggled to my feet, my legs shaky from emotional exhaustion. From the chain around my neck, I pulled out the small silver pendant that marked my identity within the pack hierarchy. Few people knew what it really meant. Even fewer knew about the bloodline it represented. I moved to the desk in the corner and pulled out a piece of paper. My hands trembled as I picked up the pen. "I am Aria Blackwood," I wrote carefully. "Elder Magnus, someone has murdered a Child of the Moon. The signs were there from birth—the silver eyes, the crescent birthmark, the unusual strength. My son carried the old blood, and now he is dead by silver poisoning in a cage of torment." I paused, letting the full weight of those words sink in. The Council of Elders had been waiting decades for another Child of the Moon to be born. They believed such a child would bring great fortune to our people. Instead, that child had been killed by his own father out of jealousy and rage. "Justice must be served," I finished writing. "The old laws demand it." I folded the letter carefully and walked to the bookshelf. Behind the largest volume was a hidden compartment that connected to the pack's messenger system. Within hours, this letter would reach the Elder Council. They would come. And when they did, Damon would learn the true cost of his actions. I began gathering my son's belongings—his clothes, his toys, the blanket he'd slept with every night. Each item felt like holding a piece of his soul. When I opened the bedroom door to leave, I found Serena standing in the middle of the living room, hands on her hips, surveying everything like a conquering queen. "Finally packing up your junk?" she said with a cold smile. "Honestly, Aria, your decorating taste is absolutely horrible. All these warm colors and family photos—so nauseating and sentimental." She gestured around dismissively. "Don't worry, I'll have this place redecorated properly once you're gone. Somewhere more... sophisticated. More fitting for an Alpha's real family." I didn't take the bait. I had bigger concerns than her petty insults. But as I walked toward the front door, Serena suddenly let out a sharp gasp. I turned just in time to see her slap herself hard across the face, hard enough to leave a red handprint on her cheek. Before I could react, she threw herself sideways into the coffee table. The corner caught her forehead, opening up a gash that immediately began bleeding. "Damon!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Help me! She's trying to kill me!" Footsteps thundered down the stairs. Damon appeared like an avenging angel, his eyes blazing with protective fury. "What the hell happened?" he demanded, rushing to Serena's side. "She attacked me!" Serena sobbed, pointing a shaking finger at me. "I was just trying to help her pack, and she went crazy! She said I didn't deserve to live in her house!""Aria!" Damon's voice was pure rage. "Didn't I warn you what would happen if you touched her again?""I never—""Are you looking for death?" His Alpha power rolled off him in waves, making my knees buckle. Even I couldn't withstand the full force of an enraged Alpha. His backhand caught me across the jaw, sending me flying into the wall. I crashed to the floor, my ribs screaming in protest. Blood filled my mouth. I could taste copper and feel something loose in my jaw. "Mommy! Mommy!" Ethan and his sister came running from their room, their faces full of manufactured terror. "It's that evil woman again!" the little girl shrieked, pointing at me with dramatic flair. "First she hurt Ethan, now she hurt you!""Why won't she just die?" Ethan added with shocking viciousness for a six-year-old. "Why doesn't she just go away and die so we can be happy?" The casual cruelty in their young voices was somehow worse than Damon's violence. These children had been taught to hate me, trained to see me as their enemy. Damon watched the whole scene with cold satisfaction. Only after his "children" had finished their performance did he speak. "Now, now," he said mildly. "She's still your stepmother. You shouldn't talk to family that way." Family. What a joke. Did a woman who'd lost her own child even deserve that title anymore? "Damon," I said quietly, spitting blood onto his clean floor. "You killed our son. Do you want to kill me too?" His face twisted with annoyance. "Stop with the ridiculous lies. You're fine, aren't you? Standing right here, breathing, talking. And our son is perfectly safe upstairs." He truly believed it. Or maybe he just needed to believe it to live with himself. I said nothing more. There was no point. I picked up my bag and headed for the door. But Serena's children weren't finished with their show. They rushed at me like little animals, clawing and biting at my arms. "Don't let her leave!" Ethan screamed. "She'll come back and hurt us!" In the chaos of their attack, papers scattered from my bag across the floor. One sheet of paper landed face-up right at Damon's feet. Ethan's sister picked it up, her young voice reading the words aloud with perfect clarity. "Peaceful Rest Cemetery... Payment for burial plot... For: Lucas Blackwood..." Her voice trailed off as she realized what she was reading. The room went completely silent. Damon's eyes locked onto me with an intensity that made my blood freeze. "Aria," he said slowly, his voice deadly quiet. "Who died?"