Chapter 4
771words
It had been almost ten years since I'd last seen her. As the Luna of her pack, she was as radiant and powerful as ever.
I forced a smile, hiding my bandaged right hand behind my back.
Before I could speak, she pulled me into a tight embrace.
"You're too thin."
My mother's eyes were red. She could smell the lingering scent of grief and pain on me.
She kept brushing at my clothes, wiping away dust that wasn't there, as if trying to erase all the misery I'd brought with me from the Blackwood Pack.
Finally, she turned away, wiping a tear from her eye.
Seeing her like that, I felt my own throat tighten, my nose stinging as I fought back tears.
When she first married my stepfather and became the New Moon Luna, she had sent me countless messages, begging me to come live with her.
But I had just confirmed my fated bond with Jacob back then.
My only focus was on earning the acceptance of the Blackwood elders, so I always said no.
And now here I was, right back where I could have started.
My mother's sharp wolf senses immediately noticed the hand I was hiding.
Her face filled with pain as she pulled it forward.
The poorly cleaned glass fragments and clumsy bandage made her gasp.
"If I had known you were suffering so much over there, I would have started a war between our packs to drag you home!"
A wave of sorrow washed over me, but I still managed a smile to reassure her.
"It's okay, Mom. I'm not going back. I'm going to stay by your side and help you run the pack now."
Hearing this, a look of relief finally spread across her face. She grabbed my luggage with one hand and took mine with the other.
On the way, she told me all about her life with my stepfather, the former Alpha of the New Moon Pack.
"Your stepfather left the entire Alpha position to you. From now on, it'll be just us two, and we'll make the New Moon Pack greater than ever before."
My stepfather had owned several mines and multinational corporations.
Just as my mom said, even if I did nothing, the inheritance was enough to ensure our pack's prosperity for generations.
I wasn't drunk on this sudden power.
I was just happy that my mother had found true happiness after leaving my weak-willed father.
Instead of taking me to the main estate, my mom had the driver take us to the pack's best medical center.
After the doctors treated my hand, my mom saw the hideous scars on my back from my fall down the stairs.
Tears instantly streamed down her face.
The scrapes had healed into new skin, but because of the deep soul trauma, the healing was slow and uneven, leaving the scars looking terrifying.
As I was pushed, I had instinctively grabbed the railing, but I still tumbled all the way from the second floor to the first.
My back had slammed against every single step, and the marks were still there.
My mom knew I had been hospitalized, but she didn't know it was because the rejection had nearly shattered my soul, leaving me to fight for my life in the ICU for a month.
I could try to hide it, but I knew she could find out easily if she investigated.
So I told her everything that had happened at the Blackwood Pack.
By the end, my mother was sobbing, holding my head in her hands and whispering.
"My child, you've suffered so much."
That one sentence shattered all my defenses.
All the pain and humiliation I had suppressed for a decade erupted at once.
Tears streamed down my face. I was supposed to be a grown she-wolf, but in my mother's arms, I cried like a lost pup.
After a full check-up, the pack doctor told me my body was recovering well, with no major long-term damage.
The scars on my back would just need time and herbal remedies to fade.
My mother finally let out a long, shaky breath of relief.
Back at her home, I slept straight through until morning.
I hadn't slept that peacefully since before I was hospitalized.
When I walked into the living room, I heard my mom on a secure line, her voice sharp with anger.
"How dare you contact me?!"
I paused as Jacob's furious voice came through the mind-link, loud and clear.
