It was a car accident, caused by my Alpha’s childhood sweetheart, that shattered my world. That day marked the beginning of my battle, my personal cavalry.

Because of that accident, my son died. Even when I begged Alpha Archer to cover the hospital fees to save him, he refused.

Allison had lied to him. She told him it was I who was driving that day, that my son hadn’t been hurt compared to her own. And Alpha Archer… he cared more for Allison and Wallace, her son, than for his very own heir.

My son died. And with him, a part of my soul. The moment he believed her lies, he lost me forever.

Alpha Archer—the Alpha I had eloped with to escape marrying the monster of the Northern Pack—turned out to be far worse than the one I had fled.

I ended up full circle, divorced, and standing in the aisle for a wedding that should have taken place years ago.

This time, I was marrying the formidable Alpha of the Northern Pack, the “monster” I was so scared of in the past.

But then… why, in the middle of the ceremony, did Alpha Archer come running, shouting my name, claiming me as his?

Freya

The car flipped once. Twice. And then everything became sky and metal and screaming.

I remember the sound more than anything else. Liam’s cry from the backseat. The sickening crunch of steel as we went over the cliff. My own voice shouting his name.

“Liam!”

The world turned upside down. My head slammed against something hard. Glass shattered. The seatbelt cut into my shoulder as gravity dragged us down.

There were four of us in the car. Allison was driving, and I was in the passenger seat. In the back were the boys. My son, Liam. And beside him, Wallace, Allison’s six-year-old.

And then darkness swallowed me whole.

---

When I opened my eyes, everything smelled like antiseptic and blood. White ceiling. Blurry lights. My body felt like it had been torn apart and stitched back together wrong. My ears rang.

My first breath hurt.

“Liam,” I croaked. No one answered.

I tried to sit up, but pain shot through my ribs.

A nurse rushed to my side. “Ma’am, please lie down—”

“My son,” I whispered. My throat burned. “Where is my son? Liam. He was in the car.”

The nurse hesitated. That hesitation shattered something inside me.

“He’s in critical condition,” she finally said softly. “The doctors are doing everything they can.”

Critical condition. The words didn’t make sense. Liam had been talking just minutes before the accident. He had been hugging his teddy bear, telling me he wanted ice cream when we got home.

“Take me to him,” I demanded.

“Ma’am, you also need treatment—”

“I don’t care.” My voice cracked. “I don’t care if my body hurts. Save my son. Do whatever you need to do.”

They exchanged looks.

“The medical costs…” one of the staff started carefully. “It may reach millions.”

“I’ll pay.” The answer came out without hesitation. I was Luna of Snowfield Pack. Alpha Archer Harlan’s mate. Money was never supposed to be a problem.

“Just save him,” I begged. “Please.”

They rushed off again. Only when the room quieted did another thought hit me.

“Allison,” I said weakly. “And Wallace. The other two passengers. Where are they?”

“Oh,” the nurse replied, almost casually. “They were transferred.”

“Transferred?”

“Yes. To a bigger hospital in the capital. An Alpha arranged it. Alpha Archer.”

My heart stopped. My husband.

“He… he transferred them?” I asked.

“Yes. He seemed very panicked when the woman woke up. She was crying and begged him to transfer her and her son immediately.”

My fingers curled into the bedsheet.

“And me?” I whispered. “And my son?”

The nurse frowned slightly. “I’m not sure, ma’am.”

Something heavy formed in my throat. He forgot us? His own son, and his very own Luna.

I grabbed my phone with trembling hands and called Alpha Archer. He picked up on the third ring.

“What?” His voice was cold. Irritated.

“Alpha,” I breathed in relief. “Liam is in critical condition. They need to operate. It’ll cost millions but—”

“Don’t fool me, Freya.” His voice sliced through me.

“What?” I was taken aback.

“I already heard the truth from Allison,” he continued, his tone rising. “You were drunk when you insisted on driving. You endangered their lives. Wallace is covered in bandages. Allison is injured because of you.”

My eyes widened. “I didn’t—”

“Don’t even deny it.”

I could hear him breathing hard on the other end.

“And millions?” he sneered. “You just want to spend money again on alcohol, do you? I’ll suspend your accounts. Don’t even think of asking me for a cent. Learn your lesson.”

My chest felt like it was collapsing. “But our son—”

The line went dead. I stared at the screen.

Call ended. I called again. And again. And again.

Until a cold automated voice informed me that my number had been blocked. Blocked.

I sat there on that hospital bed, staring at my useless phone, while somewhere in this building my son was fighting for his life.

I begged the hospital. I begged them to operate first, that I would find the money. I begged them to believe me. But time does not stop for a mother’s tears.

That night, Liam went into cardiac arrest.

I wasn’t even allowed inside the ICU when it happened. I only saw the line on the monitor when it straightened.

Flat. Still. Silent.

My son didn’t make it.

“You can claim the body once the bill is settled, ma’am. I’m very sorry. It’s hospital policy.”

The words echoed around me. Body. They were talking about my Liam like he was a package waiting for pickup.

“I just need to see him,” I whispered.

“I’m sorry.”

All I had left was his teddy bear. The small brown one he had clung to even when they wheeled him away. I pressed it to my chest.

He was still warm in my memory. He couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t.

I left the hospital that afternoon and went straight back to Snowfield Pack. The mansion looked the same as always. Tall. Imposing. Cold.

I found Alpha Archer outside, leaning against a pillar, cigarette between his fingers. He didn’t look like a man who had just lost his son.

I walked toward him slowly.

“Alpha.” He didn’t even glance at me at first.

“I need my cards back,” I said. My voice was hoarse. “Please. I need to pay the hospital.”

“For what?” he asked flatly.

“For Liam.” My lips trembled. “Our son.”

He let out a sharp laugh.

“Stop the act, Freya.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Allison told me Liam wasn’t even badly hurt,” he snapped. “But Wallace? He has bandages all over his body. If you want my money to buy alcohol again, don’t even dream about getting a penny.”

“I wasn’t drunk!” I cried. “Allison was driving!”

“You endangered a child’s life!” he roared, stepping closer. “Don’t fucking lie to me, Freya.”

“Our child,” I whispered.

He didn’t respond to that.

I dropped to my knees in front of him. I, the Luna of Snowfield Pack, knelt on the cold stone ground.

“Please,” I begged. “Just lend me the money. I’ll pay you back. I swear. I just need to bring Liam home.”

He looked down at me like I was something disgusting stuck to his shoe. Before he could answer, his phone rang.

“Allison,” the screen lit up. He answered immediately and put it on speaker as he walked away from me.

“Alpha…” Allison’s voice came through, weak and trembling. “I’m still in pain. Wallace is crying. His wounds hurt so much…”

My nails dug into my palms. Lies.

Allison was barely scratched when I last saw her because of the safety measures of the car for the driver.

“Don’t worry,” Alpha Archer said softly, a tone he hadn’t used on me in years. “I’ll be there soon.”

The call ended.

I felt something inside me turn cold.

Allison had lied. She was the one driving, but she had insisted that I was the one behind the wheels. And Liam… my Liam had internal injuries. The kind you couldn’t see with the naked eye. Allison must have thought her son was more injured just because she couldn’t see Liam’s wounds!

But Alpha Archer never asked. He never listened. He believed his childhood sweetheart over his own mate.

I should have known. From the very beginning. I ran away from my own pack to marry him. Left my parents. Cut ties with everyone who loved me.

Now I had no one to ask for help. No one except the family I abandoned. If that was the only way to bring my son home, then I would crawl back to them.

That night, I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Liam’s face. Heard his laughter. The way he called me Mommy. The silence of our room suffocated me.

So I drank. Glass after glass after glass. If Alpha Archer thought I was a drunk, then maybe I should become one.

The alcohol burned my throat, but it didn’t numb the pain. Nothing could. I drank to the point when I couldn’t even remember when I passed out.

When I woke up, my head was pounding.

My arms felt heavy. Too heavy. I tried to move and realized I couldn’t.

When my vision cleared, that was when I realized what was truly happening. Straps. Leather straps around my wrists, my ankles, and over my body.

“What—”

I blinked and looked around. Unfamiliar faces in white uniforms. People in white coats holding me down.

My heart began to race. “What are you doing?” I shouted, struggling. “Let me go!”

The door opened, and Alpha Archer walked in. Behind him was Allison. She looked perfectly fine. No bandages. No visible injuries. Just pale and fragile-looking, as usual.

“A-Alpha?” My voice cracked. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Freya

The people in white weren’t hospital staff. They weren’t doctors. They were from a rehabilitation center. I realized it when I saw the logo stitched on their uniforms and heard one of them whisper, “Careful, she’s resisting.”

Resisting? Of course I was resisting.

“She’s an alcohol addict to the point of endangering people’s lives,” Archer said flatly behind me. “Rehabilitate her until she gets better.”

His voice carried authority. Finality. Like he was signing a document, not deciding my fate.

“No!” I screamed, thrashing against the straps binding my wrists. “I’m not an alcoholic! I only drank because Liam—”

My voice cracked before I could finish. Before I could say Liam died. Allison stepped forward right on cue.

She covered her mouth and let out a trembling sob. “Freya… please. This is for your own good.”

“You’re lying!” I shouted at her. “You were the one driving that night! You—”

“Don’t stress her,” one of the rehab personnel muttered.

Allison walked closer to me, tears sliding down her cheeks so perfectly it almost impressed me.

“I suggested this to Alpha Archer for you too,” she said softly, as if she was offering me mercy. “Think about your son. He wouldn’t want an alcoholic mother, right?”

Her words stabbed deeper than any blade.

I struggled harder. “You fucking liar! I am not an alcoholic! You were driving! You killed—”

The needle pierced my arm before I could finish. Cold liquid rushed into my veins.

My body grew heavy. My vision blurred. The last thing I saw was Allison clutching Archer’s arm while he watched me with nothing but disappointment.

---

When I woke up, the walls were white. Not hospital white, but sterile, empty, and suffocating white.

The window had bars. The door locked from the outside. I was in a rehabilitation center. Trapped.

The first thing I asked was for my phone. But they refused. The second thing I asked was to make a call. They refused that too.

“Alpha Archer arranged everything,” a nurse told me carefully. “You’re not allowed outside contact for now.”

For now.

They spoke like I was a danger to society. Like I was some drunk lunatic who had to be contained.

Meanwhile, while I was stuck there, my son’s body was still in the hospital. Unclaimed. No funeral. No proper goodbye. And I was locked up because my husband believed another woman over me.

The first few days, I screamed. I argued. I demanded they release me. But every outburst was documented. Every raised voice written down as “aggressive behavior.”

I learned quickly. Silence was safer. But silence didn’t mean surrender. If anything, the anger kept me alive.

At night, when the facility grew quiet, I lay awake staring at the ceiling. I would imagine Liam’s small hands reaching for me. I would remember how he used to crawl into my bed when he had nightmares.

And then I would remember the flat line. The anger would rise again, steady and burning.

They thought this place would break me. They were wrong. It was shaping me into something else. Something colder.

A few days later, I was allowed a visitor. I wasn’t expecting anyone.

When they led me to the small visitation room, my heart nearly stopped when I saw her.

Lyra. The nurse from the hospital. She rushed to me the moment the guard stepped back.

“Freya,” she whispered, eyes filled with tears. “I’m so sorry.”

Seeing someone who knew the truth nearly shattered the wall I had built around myself.

“Lyra,” I breathed. “Please. Tell me. My son…”

Her eyes fell.

“They still haven’t released him,” she said softly. “The bill…”

I swallowed the pain. “Help me,” I begged, grabbing her hands across the table. “Please don’t let Alpha Archer or Allison go near Liam’s body. They don’t deserve to mourn him. They don’t deserve to touch him.”

Lyra started crying too. “I won’t let them,” she promised. “I’ll do what I can.”

“Please,” I whispered. “He’s all I have left.”

She squeezed my hands before the guard signaled time was up. As she walked away, I held onto that small thread of hope. At least someone was on my side.

A week later, Alpha Archer came. They informed me an Alpha was visiting, and the entire staff straightened their backs like royalty had arrived.

When he entered the room, he looked irritated. Impatient.

“Where’s my son?” he demanded immediately.

My son. Now he was yours?

The words burned my tongue, but I swallowed them. If I lost control, they would extend my stay here. So I said nothing.

He stepped closer to the table. “Freya, where is Liam?”

I looked at him calmly.

“You have no right to hide him from me,” he continued, anger building in his voice. “Did you send him to Crescent Pack? To your parents? Did you hide him there?”

Crescent Pack. My parents. The pack I abandoned for him.

“Did you fucking hide him there?” he growled.

I lifted my eyes to meet his. “Why don’t you ask Allison?” I replied evenly. “She seems to know everything. And you believe everything she says.”

His jaw clenched. For a moment, I thought he might grab me. Instead, he slammed his hand on the table and stormed out.

Not long after, Allison came. She brought Wallace with her. He looked perfectly fine. No bandages. No visible injuries. Not even a limp.

Allison sat across from me with that same fragile expression.

“Poor you,” she said softly. “I told you before, you should have lessened your alcohol intake.”

She was trying to provoke me. I knew it. I kept my hands folded on the table.I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

Wallace climbed onto the chair beside her, swinging his legs. That was when I saw it. The teddy bear in his arms. Brown. Worn. Stitched slightly at one ear.

My breath caught. On the small patch near its paw was embroidered a name. Liam.

My body moved before my mind could stop it.

I stood up so abruptly the chair screeched against the floor. I reached across the table and grabbed the bear.

“That’s mine,” Wallace whined, immediately bursting into tears.

“No,” I said, my voice shaking. “This belonged to Liam. This is my son’s.”

Allison’s eyes widened in fake shock. “Freya, what are you doing? Give that back to Wallace!”

“It’s Liam’s!” I cried. “It was his favorite!”

The last thing he held. The last thing he touched.

Allison stood up, trying to pull it from my hands. “Are you insane? He’s just a child!”

Footsteps thundered behind us. It was Alpha Archer. He was also there… he came with them. Like a freaking family.

“What’s happening?” he demanded.

Wallace ran to him crying. “Daddy! She took my bear!”

Allison quickly stepped beside Alpha Archer, wrapping an arm around Wallace.

“Freya just grabbed it from him,” she said tearfully. “He’s traumatized enough.”

The Alpha turned to me, fury blazing in his eyes. “It’s just a damn bear,” he snapped.

“It’s Liam’s,” I whispered. “It was his.”

“I gave Wallace Liam’s toys,” Alpha Archer said coldly. “You were hiding him anyway. The toys were just cluttering the packhouse.”

Cluttering. My son’s belongings were clutter.

Something inside me exploded. “Those were Liam’s!” I shouted. “You had no right!”

I wanted to scream that it was the last memory I had of him. That he died holding it. But the words wouldn’t come out.

Suddenly, Allison reached for the bear again. “Give it back,” she hissed quietly, her tears gone.

I tightened my grip. “No.”

That was when Alpha Archer lost his patience.

“For Goddess’ sake,” he muttered, stepping forward. He grabbed the teddy bear himself, trying to pull it away from both of us.

For a split second, the three of us were tugging at it.

Then I heard it. A ripping sound. The fabric tore down the middle. The stuffing spilled out like white snow. The bear snapped in half.

Everything went silent. I stared at the two pieces in Alpha Archer’s hands.

My heart felt exactly the same. Torn open. Empty.

Wallace cried louder. Allison gasped dramatically, and Alpha Archer looked annoyed.

But all I saw was my son’s name, now separated by a jagged tear. That was the last thing Liam ever held. And now even that was destroyed.

Freya

They released me after two weeks. It was supposed to be a month, but it seemed like Alpha Archer changed his mind. I knew he was behind my release.

The head therapist called it “remarkable progress.” I called it influence. Archer’s influence.

When I walked out of the rehabilitation center, the winter air felt strange against my skin. Like I had been buried underground and was only now resurfacing.

The Alpha was waiting beside his car. He looked tired. Not grieving. Just tired.

For a moment, we simply stared at each other. Two people who used to be loving mates. Two strangers connected by a bond that felt more like a chain now.

“I’ll drive,” he said.

I nodded and got into the passenger seat. The silence inside the car was heavy. I could feel him glancing at me every now and then, probably assessing if I looked “stable” enough.

After a few minutes, he cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry about the fight,” he said, eyes still on the road. “Things were… chaotic.”

Chaotic. That was the word he chose for our son’s death.

My fingers tightened around the torn half of the teddy bear I kept inside my coat pocket.

“We can bring Liam home now,” he continued. “If he’s in Crescent Pack.”

My head turned slowly toward him. “But Liam’s de—”

The car system beeped, and because of that I wasn’t able to finish what was I saying.

Incoming call: Allison.

He answered immediately. The call connected to the car speakers.

“Alpha, please!” Allison’s voice came through, shaking and frantic. “Wallace collapsed again! I’m really worried! What am I going to do?”

Alpha Archer’s entire posture changed.

“Calm down, Alli,” he said gently. “I’m on my way. I’ll be there soon.”

He made a sharp turn without even asking me. We drove straight to the hospital. Of course we did.

When we arrived, Allison was already outside the emergency entrance, crying into her hands. The moment she saw us, she ran forward.

But she didn’t go to Alpha Archer first.

Instead, she went to me.

“Where is Liam?” she demanded, grabbing my arms. “Where the heck is he?”

I stared at her. I couldn’t understand why she was acting this way.

“What’s going on, Alli? Calm down,” Alpha Archer said, stepping between us. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed. After a few minutes, she lifted her head, eyes red.

“Wallace needs a bone marrow transplant,” she said, voice trembling. “His Alpha blood is very rare. The doctors said it’s hard to find a match.”

Archer stiffened. “I’ll get tested.”

And he did. We waited in a private room while doctors took his sample. Then Allison’s. Neither matched.

When the doctor came back shaking his head, Allison broke down again.

“We really need Liam!” she cried hysterically.

Her hands clutched Alpha Archer’s shirt.

“He’s his brother! They’re half siblings! He has to match!”

My ears rang. Half siblings.

I froze. “What did you just say?” I wished mg ears were joking with me, but no.

Allison’s breathing became uneven. “Years ago… the day before your wedding… we slept together.”

The words fell into the room like poison.

“That’s when Wallace was conceived,” she continued. No shame. No hesitation. “He’s your son as well, Alpha.”

The world tilted slightly. The day before our wedding. I remembered that day vividly. Alpha Archer had been distant, saying he had pack matters to settle. I had been nervous, excited, overwhelmed. While he had been in her bed.

Alpha Archer grabbed Allison’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that Wallace is my son?”

He looked… worried. Not angry, betrayed, but worried..

“Because you were married!” she cried. “You had a son with Freya! How could I ruin that?”

Ruin that. My chest felt hollow.

Allison suddenly turned to me, eyes desperate. “Your son… they’re half siblings! For sure Liam’s bone marrow is compatible with Wallace! Bring your son here, Freya! Please!”

I looked at her. Really looked at her. At the woman who lied about the accident. Who watched me get dragged to rehab. Who took my son’s toys. Who slept with my mate before our wedding. Who caused so much misunderstanding to the point where Alpha Archer had to freeze my accounts, not being able to pay the hospital to operate on my son.

And I realized something terrifying. I didn’t feel sympathy. Maybe that made me a monster. Maybe grief had carved out the soft parts of me. But I had already buried my child in my heart.

“Liam’s dead,” I whispered.

The words were quiet. But both of them heard. Allison’s face twisted.

“Don’t fucking lie!” she screamed. “You just don’t want to donate! You want my son to die! Because he threatens Liam’s heir position to the Alpha throne, right? Because Wallace is older! Because my son is also Alpha Archer’s son!”

Archer’s expression hardened.

“Freya, stop this,” he said coldly. “I know you’re hiding Liam because you don’t want to help Wallace. That’s how selfish you are.”

Selfish. The word echoed in my head. I wished I was, if only I was.

“I watched my son flatline,” I said, my voice barely audible. “I begged you for money to save him.”

“Enough,” Archer snapped. “Enough of your fucking lies.”

---

When Wallace’s condition worsened again, Alpha Archer stopped arguing with me.

He stepped outside and began making calls.

I watched him through the glass wall of the corridor. Watched him contact other Alphas. Other packs. Territories far beyond Snowfield.

His voice was urgent. Powerful.

Within hours, he secured a compatible donor.

Hours. It had taken him only hours to do something he never even tried to do for Liam. For our son.

The irony was suffocating.

They rushed Wallace into surgery. Meanwhile, Allison clung to Alpha Archer the entire time.

I stood alone in the corridor. No one asked how I was. No one cared.

And I made another promise that night. He would never mourn Liam. Not while he refused to believe he was gone. I would never give him that closure.

I was staring blankly at the opposite wall of the hospital corridor when I heard soft footsteps.

“Freya.”

I turned slowly. Lyra. She looked hesitant. Worried.

“How are you?” she asked gently.

How was I? I had no answer.

She shifted uncomfortably, like she was carrying something heavy.

“There’s… something I need to tell you,” she said.

“Just say it,” I replied.

She closed her eyes briefly before handing me a folded document. “I wanted to give this to you earlier,” she said. “But before I could… Liam already…”

Her voice broke. “I couldn’t add more pain to you.”

My hands trembled as I opened the paper. It was my medical report. From the night of the accident.

I scanned the words. Head trauma. Rib fractures. Internal bleeding. And then I saw it.

Miscarriage. Eight weeks pregnant.

The letters blurred. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

I had been pregnant. I didn’t even know.

On the day of the accident, I lost not just Liam. But another child. Another life. Another piece of me.

Lyra’s voice sounded distant. “I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t cry. The tears wouldn’t come. It felt like I had passed the point of devastation and entered something colder. Quieter.

How fucked up was my life?

My mate betrayed me before our wedding. He believed his mistress over me. He let our son die. He locked me away. And I lost another child without even knowing they existed.

I folded the paper carefully. My hands were steady. Too steady. Without hesitation, I took out my phone.

Lyra looked confused. “Freya?”

I dialed a number I hadn’t called in years.

“My office,” a calm male voice answered.

“This is Freya Harlan,” I said evenly. “I need you to process my divorce.”

There was a pause. “From Alpha Archer?”

“Yes.”

“Are you certain?”

I looked through the glass wall at Alpha Archer holding Allison’s hand while they waited for news about Wallace. I thought of Liam. Of the tiny heartbeat I never got to hear.

“I’m divorcing Alpha Archer,” I repeated.