Ex Begs Back-After Letting Another Wolf Claim My Kid

"You're not my dad! Get your hands off me!" Ivy's shriek slices through the moonlit clearing, her tiny fists battering the forearm wrapped around her waist.

"Let go! " She twists violently

"My dad said you'd slink back, that you're a feral! A rogue with a hunger for cubs!"

My pup thrashes, her tiny fists swinging, her teeth sinking into my arm.

Blood trickles down, but I don't let go.

I can't let go.

I only get one day a year to see her, and every eight with her is worth the pain.

Ten years.

Ten damn years, and not a single day passes without me aching for her.

I don't blame her for hating me.

To her, I'm just a lowly wolf slaving for the Blake pack, a sinner in their eyes.

The pack's whispers follow me like a shadow-tales that me and my dad, Douglas, schemed to seduce the Blake she-wolf and her pup, all for their fortune.

It's a filthy lie, but lies stick like mud in this pack.

"You think you're slick, don't you?" Andrew Blake's roar shakes the pines

"Your dad went after my mom, and now she's dead, my dad's a husk, and you're happy with that?"

My fists clench at my sides, nails biting into my palms as I fight the surge of primal fury his presence stirs. "Andrew, it wasn't-"

"Save it! " He lunges forward, chest heaving.

"Your dad went after my mom, and now she's dead, my dad's a husk, and you're happy with that?"

Veronica, his sister, kneels by their father Kenneth's bedside, her eyes red from crying, glaring at me with a hatred that could burn through steel.

No matter how I plead, how I swear it's not true, she sees only a wolf who betrayed her pack.

They want to tear me apart, me and my dad, but then the healer drops a bombshell: Veronica's carrying my pup.

I beg her, tears streaming, to keep our pup. "

It's not the pup's fault," I say, my voice breaking. She looks at me like I'm dirt, then points to the eight-story window.

"Jump," she says.

"You jump, I'll keep the pup."

So I jump.

Break my rib in the fall, but I survive.

The day Ivy's born, I'm racing to the hospital, blood pouring that nearly ends me.

I'm barely conscious on the operating table when Veronica storms in, cradling our pup, her eyes cold as ice.

"Your dad killed my mom," she says.

"He turned my dad into a vegetable. You want this pup? Fine. She'll be the Blake pack's princess, but you? She'll never know you. You'll feel what it's like to lose family."

From that day, I've slaved for the Blake pack, doing the lowest, dirtiest work to stay near my pup and my dad, who's still trapped in that hospital bed, a shell of the wolf he was.

The torment never stops, each day a fresh hell.

But Veronica keeps her word-she doesn't take her hate for me out on Ivy.

Seeing my pup thrive, even if she doesn't know me, it's the only thing keeping me going.

If my dad did wrong, the suffering I've endured should've paid that debt ten times over.

I've been scraping together cash in secret.

One more month, and I'll have the papers to get me and Dad out of here, away from this pack's claws.

"Mom!" Ivy's voice snaps me back.

The door swings open, and Veronica glides in, her dress flowing like she's royalty.

"What are you doing here?" she snarls.

"Who let you in?"

I drop my gaze, unable to meet hers.

"It's my day to see her," I mumble.

"Her? You think a wolf like you deserves a pup?"

She's been drinking-her breath reeks of whiskey.

She grabs the back of my neck, her grip like iron, and drags me upstairs.

The door flies open, and she flings me to the floor.

My forehead slams into the bedpost, and pain blooms, blood pooling under the skin.

I glance up, cautious.

Kenneth lies in the bed, hooked to machines, the heart monitor beeping steadily.

Veronica's voice is venom.

"Look at him. Ten years, thanks to you and your dad. And you think you get to play happy family with your pup?"

"What about us?" she says, her voice shaking with rage.

"How do we get our family back?"

Her fist clenches, veins bulging.

I'm pale, practically begging.

"Veronica, please-listen." My voice cracks as she steps back. "My dad's no killer. He'd never break the truce. You know him."

Dad worked his tail off for decades, loyal as they come.

I can't believe he'd chase a mated she-wolf.

But Veronica laughs, a cold, bitter sound.

"You're still peddling that lie?" Veronica's laugh is a snarl, eyes flaring.

"My mom's car. Your dad half-dressed in the front seat. You gonna claim the moon framed him too?"

I open my mouth, but I've got no proof, so I bite my lip, silent.

Andrew bursts in, shouting.

"How dare you show your face here!" His snarl splits the air, and he shoves me-hard-sending me crashing into the oak. My shoulder throbs, but I bare my canines, hackles rising.​

"Get out!" He advances, fists clenched, eyes blazing like embers. "My dad's got enough of your kind stinking up his territory. One whiff of your bloodline, and he'll tear you to shreds. Go. "

He spins on Veronica, canines bared. "Why let this wolf linger? His sire-why waste healer's tonics on him? Let the pair rot. Die."​

Andrew and I once ran as brothers.

"Die?" Veronica's laugh is a low growl, eyes flaring.

"Too kind. I want them breathing. Want his dad whimpering through each moonrise, his son tasting shame with every howl. Suffering? It's their penance. Daily. Forever."