Chapter 1 1

My mate, Alpha Damien, skipped our daughter's birthday. For the third time. All for his Omega mistress.

My son, Noah, thought his father never came home because he was disgusted with him, an omega cursed with soul-sickness.

He jumped from the attic window. Gone forever.

I held his broken body, his last words echoing in my head.

"I hope in my next life, I can be a strong Alpha. I won't disappoint Dad again."

At that moment, my wolf shattered.

I screamed for him through our mind link, but he slammed the door in my face, again and again.

"Clara's daughter is sick! A Fading Soul attack. I have to be here for her. Leave me alone!"

He severed the link coldly.

After Noah's funeral, I calmly accepted all his excuses.

Then, before the entire pack, I began the Rejection.

To sever our mate bond. Forever.

He only broke when he realized he was about to lose me for good.

He cried.

He pleaded that we were fated mates. That he never should have betrayed me.

Chapter 1

"Mommy, when is Daddy coming home?"

My daughter's voice tightened like a fist around my heart.

The birthday cake had been sitting on the table for three hours. Untouched.

My husband, Alpha Damien, had sworn he wouldn't miss Rori's birthday.

After all, Rori was his precious heir, the most promising new Alpha of her generation.

"He'll be back," I said.

But then my phone screen lit up.

A new post on the pack's social feed. From Clara.

It was a cozy selfie. Clara, smiling sweetly.

Damien, his gaze on her soft and gentle.

And in his arms, a sleeping little girl, Chloe.

"My dear Alpha, the most caring partner. Only his scent can calm my baby Chloe down."

My eyes burned as I stared at the screen. The picture was a knife in my gut.

Today was my daughter's birthday, but I had no right to demand he come home.

After all, he was with a sick child. A helpless woman who'd lost her wolf.

And me?

I was just his mate.

The one who'd shamed him with an Omega son.

Yesterday, as Damien was rushing to change his clothes, I reminded him, "Tomorrow is Rori's birthday."

"I'll try to make it back." He didn't even look up.

Try.

The same casual cruelty he always showed Noah.

Our son. The boy labeled an Omega at birth. The ultimate humiliation for Alpha Damien

Earlier, Noah had run downstairs, clutching Damien's jacket. "Mommy, is Daddy really coming home today?"

"Yes, sweetie." Another lie.

He held that jacket like it was sacred.

It was the only way he could feel close to his father.

My children still craved his love, even when he pushed them away.

The silence snapped me back to reality.

It was too quiet.

Where was Noah? He should have been here by now, storybook in hand, ready for me to read him to sleep.

I went upstairs to check on him. My sweet boy.

The moment I pushed his door open, my wolf went wild.

The attic window gaped open, spilling cold wind into the room.

Damien's jacket lay on the floor, folded perfectly. A final offering.

Next to it was a crayon drawing in his childish scrawl. A picture of the four of us.

"Mommy, I'm sorry. I hope in my next life, I can be a strong Alpha. Then Daddy won't be disappointed in me anymore."

Then, a sickening thud from outside.

A pain that wasn't mine shot through my chest.

I ran downstairs like a madwoman.

There, in the moonlight, I saw his small body.

My son, lying in a pool of blood, his eyes still looking up at the moon.

"No... no, no, no..."

As I knelt beside him, my White Moon Wolf howled in despair.

My wolf shattered.

I closed my eyes and reached for Damien with the last of my strength.

"Damien... our son..."

A wall of ice slammed down in my mind. He'd locked me out.

"Something happened to Noah... He's..."

His voice cut through the bond, cold and sharp. "Chloe's Fading Soul is acting up. I can't leave her. For once in your life, Seraphina, handle it!"

Then, the link was severed.

I opened my eyes and looked at my son's cold body in my arms.

My Alpha chose another's child over his own.

And our son, the Omega he called a disgrace, was gone forever.

"Mommy?" Rori appeared at the door, her eyes fixed on the blood.

She fell to her knees beside me, crying. Her small hand stroked Noah's face. "Mommy, what's wrong with Noah? Is he sleeping? Why is there so much blood?"