I lost my hearing after saving my husband, Alpha Benedict, years ago. But who would have thought that the alpha who once claimed he fell in love with me at first sight would treat me like I was nothing the moment I went deaf?

He neglected me, abandoned me, but he left me one precious gift—our son, Dione.

Until the only beautiful thing in our marriage was taken from me.

New Year came, and I miraculously regained my hearing… only to be met not with my husband’s sweet voice, but with the sound of betrayal.

“Our marriage is fake.”

He faked our marriage.

“I pushed your son down the cliff.”

And his mistress killed my child.

When all hope was gone, I ran away—broken, grieving, alone.

But fate is cruel. His ending was on his knees, begging me for forgiveness.

But I will never forgive him—not in this lifetime, not even in death.

Alliana’s POV

The first thing I heard in five years was the sound of fireworks.

A sharp crack split the sky, loud and bright. I froze where I stood in the middle of the Snowstorm Pack’s banquet hall. The chandeliers shimmered above me, music echoed through the walls, and laughter filled the air. Everything was loud. Too loud. My ears rang, and my heart raced as if it was trying to catch up with the world I had been shut out from.

Today is January 1st. The first day of the year.

The day my hearing came back.

“Mommy!” my son, Dione, tugged on my dress, but I couldn’t look at him yet. The sounds overwhelmed me. The clinking of glasses. The wolves toasting. The orchestra tuning another song. Even the rustle of my dress against my skin felt too clear.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

Five years ago, I lost all of this. Five years ago, my world went quiet.

I remember that night too clearly. I was in the same car as Alpha Benedict because he offered to drive me home to Crownfest Pack after the Alpha Gathering. He told me he fell in love at first sight. That he wanted to see me again. That he should bring me home to meet his parents.

I was young. I believed him.

But on our way back, rogues attacked. His car crashed into the side of the mountain. I shielded him with my body as the vehicle flipped, and something sharp struck my head.

When reinforcements came, it was already too late for me.

I survived, but I woke up in a world without sound.

A silent world I was never prepared for.

Snowstorm Pack sent a message to my parents right after that. They offered to make me Alpha Benedict’s fiancée — repayment for saving their heir.

My parents agreed immediately.

I thought Benedict wanted it too. I thought he chose me. I thought he remembered that night before the attack, when he looked at me like I was someone special.

But I was wrong.

He only sent the engagement letter because his parents forced him to. Because he owed me his life. Because he needed to repay his debt.

Not because he wanted me.

My life as his Luna wasn’t easy. Not at all.

I couldn’t hear, and the maids bullied me for it. They isolated me, mocked me behind my back, shoved chores onto me even though I was their Luna. I understood the words from their lips, even without sound. I learned to read expressions, movements, the curve of their mouths.

“It’s easy to bully the deaf Luna,” they would whisper.

And Alpha Benedict… he never stopped them. He never defended me. He barely looked at me unless tradition demanded it. Even when I stood beside him during ceremonies, his eyes were somewhere else. Always elsewhere.

Then one night, he got drunk. Really drunk.

And for the first time, he touched me like a real husband.

We spent the night tangled in sheets. I thought it meant something.

A month later, I found out I was pregnant.

When my son, Dione, was born, I thought maybe this was my second chance. Maybe Alpha Benedict would look at me differently. Maybe he’d see me not as a burden, not as a debt, but as the mother of his child.

But nothing changed.

For five years, I tried to love him. For five years, I endured everything for the sake of our son. For five years, I hoped he would finally look at me like he looked at me that night long ago.

And now… now that I can hear again, I thought maybe today would be different. Maybe he would be happy for me. Maybe he would smile at me for once.

That was what I hoped.

“Mommy?” Dione tugged again. His eyes — the same eyes as his father — blinked at me with worry. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m okay,” I whispered, my voice shaking as the band resumed playing. “I can hear again, baby. Mommy can hear again.”

His face brightened. “Really?! Daddy will be happy!”

I smiled. A weak smile. “Yes… maybe.”

But I didn’t wait.

I wanted to tell Alpha Benedict myself. I handed Dione to the nanny he trusted most and quietly slipped out of the hall. The fireworks outside continued bursting like flowers of fire. My ears throbbed, but I forced myself to walk.

I entered the Alpha’s pack house, climbed the stairs, and headed toward the veranda on the second floor.

That was when I heard it.

A woman’s voice. Familiar. Soft. Too familiar.

“When are you going to end your marriage with her, Alpha? I’ve been waiting for five years now. How long do I have to wait?”

My heart stilled.

Hannah. The omega who always served him. The woman always beside him during meetings. The woman everyone whispered about but never dared confront.

Benedict’s footsteps moved closer. “Just a little while,” he said, voice low. “I planned everything perfectly. I can’t break the bond with her immediately because of that accidental child.” A faint chuckle escaped him — cold and sharp. “But if I set her up to her own doom, she will naturally be kicked out of our way.”

My breath caught.

Set me up? Break our marriage?

“What…?” My throat tightened painfully.

Hannah sighed softly, as if she was the victim. “It’s been so hard, Alpha. Watching her walk around like she belongs here. I hate seeing her wear your mark. I hate that she has your child.”

“She won’t have my child for long.” His tone was ice. “Once I push through with the plan, everything will fall into place. Just wait a little more.”

Something inside me shattered.

I gripped the railing, trying not to collapse. The sky outside glowed with fireworks, but all I felt was cold.

Then Benedict spoke again, voice dripping with disgust.

“Fuck. I shouldn’t have associated myself with her five years ago. If I knew she would turn into a deaf person, I wouldn’t even bat an eye at her. She ruined my life. She’s a thorn on my side. And now I can’t cast her away immediately because of her pack reputation — and because she seduced me into having that child.”

I felt something sharp stab through my chest.

Seduce him? Me?

I took a step back, my breath trembling. My palm covered my mouth as if that could stop the pain spilling from my heart.

Five years ago, he told me he fell in love at first sight. Five years ago, he held my hand at the gathering. Five years ago, he insisted on bringing me home himself.

And five years ago, I saved his life… at the cost of my hearing.

All of that… All of it…

Was nothing?

I swallowed the sob that rose in my throat.

Not even the fireworks could drown the sound of my heart breaking.

After five years of silence… The first thing I heard from him… Was that he wanted to get rid of me.

My legs trembled. My eyes blurred.

I stepped backward, but the floor seemed to tilt under me. The world suddenly felt too loud, every sound sharp like knives.

I pressed my palm against my left ear, the one that had been silent for five years, as if it could block the sound.

But I couldn’t block anything anymore.

I could hear everything now. Including the truth. Including the lies I believed. Including the man I saved… destroying me with every word.

Benedict never loved me. He never wanted me. He never wanted our child.

Alliana’s POV

My head felt like it was splitting open.

The first thing I saw when I woke up was the empty bottle on the bedside table. I groaned and pressed my palm against my forehead. My mouth tasted bitter, and every part of my body felt heavy. I never drank. Not even during banquets. But last night… last night I needed something, anything, to numb the pain of hearing Alpha Benedict’s true thoughts.

I squeezed my eyes shut. It hurt to even breathe. A soft whimper broke through my pounding headache.

My eyes flew open.

“Dione?” I whispered, forcing myself to sit up.

He was curled beside me, tiny body shaking in his sleep. His brows were furrowed, his lips trembling as if he was trapped in a nightmare. Tears were stuck on his lashes.

My heart tightened instantly. “Baby…”

I reached out and touched his hand, it was burning. Not warm. Not feverish. Burning.

“Dione!” I gasped.

His little fingers twitched weakly. He wasn’t fully waking up. He only shook his head, crying in his sleep.

Panic shot through my chest like lightning.

No. No, no, no. This wasn’t normal. He had gotten sick before, but never like this. Never this hot.

I pulled him into my arms, my body trembling. “It’s okay, baby. Mommy’s here. Mommy will get medicine. Just hold on, okay?”

But his head fell against my shoulder, limp.

I swallowed the scream forming in my throat.

I placed him gently down, wrapped him in a blanket, and ran out of the room. My feet stumbled on the steps because of my hangover, but I forced myself forward. The clinic was just three buildings away.

I needed to get him medicine. I needed to get him help. Nothing else mattered.

But then—she appeared. Hannah.

She stepped into my path with a fake, gentle smile on her lips. A smile I once thought was harmless. A smile I now knew hid poison.

“Move,” I snapped, trying to walk past her. “Dione is sick. I need to get to the clinic.”

She blocked me again. “Oh? Sick?” She looked at her maids. She didn’t know I can already hear.

“Please. Move. I don’t have time,” I said as I tried to walk towards the direction of the clinic again.

Instead of moving, she smirked. Then she lifted her phone and typed something.

She turned the screen to me. [Jump off the pond first]

I froze.

My stomach twisted. “What…?”

She tilted her head, still smiling like she was talking to a child. [Did you read it?] She typed.

I let out a shaky laugh. “This isn’t funny. My son is sick.”

She didn’t laugh. She typed again, slowly, and showed me. [Jump now]

My throat went dry. Her eyes glittered with amusement.

Behind her, I saw her men, two pack guards, step forward, blocking the clinic entrance.

“Hannah,” I whispered, breath shaking. “Please. I’m begging you. Let me get my son medicine. He’s burning up. He needs it.”

She shrugged as if it was nothing. [Then jump.] I saw those words on her phone.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear her hair out. I wanted to drag her to the ground and make her feel the fear I felt.

But Dione… Dione needed me. Dione needed medicine. My child’s life was more important than my pride.

I clenched my jaw, my eyes burning with hate. “Fine.”

A satisfied smile stretched across her lips.

I turned and walked toward the pond near the clinic. Snowdust covered the stone path. Winter had only started a few days ago, and the water below the small bridge was freezing.

The wind was cruel. The world was cold.

And Hannah laughed behind me.

I stepped onto the bridge, gripping the railing once, just once, before I forced myself to jump.

The cold hit me like a wall.

The shock tore the breath from my lungs. My body froze instantly. It felt like needles stabbed through every inch of my skin. I kicked upward, gasping, my teeth chattering uncontrollably as I climbed out onto the concrete.

Water dripped from my dress. My hair stuck to my face. My bones shook.

Hannah’s laughter echoed. The maids around her giggled, covering their mouths.

“Look at her,” one whispered. “The stupid Luna.”

“She’s so gullible,” another said.

“No wonder Alpha hates her.”

I stared at them for one long, painful second.

Then I walked past them without a word.

I was drenched and freezing, but I pushed open the clinic door, grabbed the needed medicine with trembling hands, and ran back to my son.

When I held Dione again, he whimpered and buried his face in my chest. “Mommy…”

My heart shattered. “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”

I fed him the medicine, wiped his sweat, and wrapped him in two blankets. His breathing steadied slowly, but mine didn’t.

This pack wasn’t safe. Not for me. Not for my son.

I finally understood how deep the danger was. I needed to get out. I needed to leave. I needed to save my child.

By evening, I finally changed out of my wet clothes. My body was cold, my throat sore. I felt dizzy and nauseous, but I didn’t have time to rest.

A maid knocked on my door. “Luna Alliana, Alpha Benedict requests your presence for dinner.”

I kissed Dione’s forehead one more time before heading to the dining hall.

The moment I entered, the warm smell of roasted meat filled the air. But all I felt was disgust.

Hannah was already seated beside Benedict. She always was. She poured soup into his bowl, smiled at him softly, brushed invisible lint off his shoulder.

And Benedict let her. As if she were the Luna. As if I didn’t exist.

I sat in my usual spot, three seats away from them, far enough that they thought I couldn’t hear. For five years, they talked freely in front of me, thinking I was deaf.

Tonight, I heard everything.

“So,” Hannah said casually, taking a sip of her wine, “how will you explain to the elders that your marriage to her was fake?”

My hands froze around my spoon. My head snapped in her direction before I could stop myself.

Her eyes narrowed.

Shit.

I immediately grabbed a dish near her side of the table, pretending that was the reason I turned my head so fast. I forced a small, polite smile.

She didn’t say anything else. She didn’t suspect. I exhaled slowly.

Benedict leaned back in his chair, voice calm. “I’m the Alpha. Everything goes my way. And deceiving Alliana with a fake marriage was a minor thing. Her pack wanted repayment. I let her stay here as my Luna for five years. Isn’t that enough gratitude?”

My vision blurred. My marriage… Fake?

Five years… fake?

Now I understood why no real ceremony happened. Why no elder official ever came. Why the mark he gave me was weak, almost incomplete.

I thought it was because I was deaf. I thought it was because he didn’t want to pressure me.

But it was all fake. A performance. A show.

And I was the fool who played my role too well.

I gripped the edge of the table to keep myself steady. I couldn’t break down here. Not in front of them.

I finished dinner in silence, ignoring the chatter between Benedict and Hannah. I didn’t taste any of the food. It felt like dust in my mouth.

When it was finally over, I ran to my room.

But when I opened the door— Empty.

Dione wasn’t there.

My heart stopped. My lungs froze.

“Dione?!” I shouted, running to the bathroom, then the balcony, then under the blankets. “Dione? Baby?! Dione!”

He wasn’t anywhere. Panic seized my chest. I ran down the hall, grabbing the nearest maid. “Where is my son?! Did you see Dione?!”

She shook her head quickly, frightened.

Then Hannah appeared at the end of the hallway, holding a notepad as if she had been waiting for me.

She walked toward me slowly, her smile calm, almost bored. She flipped the notepad around.

[Your child was very sick. I sent him to the hospital.]

My blood ran cold.

“You… what?” My voice cracked.

She flipped another page.

[You weren’t here. Someone had to take responsibility.]

I didn’t believe her. I didn’t trust her. I didn’t trust anything in this place anymore.

But Dione was sick. And if there was even 1% chance he really was taken to the hospital, I had to go.

I didn’t waste another second. I ran.

Out of the pack house. Down the frozen path.

Past the guards who didn’t even look at me.

My lungs burned. My legs shook. My heart pounded.

“Please,” I whispered to myself, tears stinging my eyes. “Please be okay. Please be there.”

Because if they touched him— If they harmed him— I would burn this entire pack to the ground.

Alliana’s POV

The moment I reached the hospital entrance, I didn’t stop running. My breath came out in harsh clouds of white. The winter air stabbed my lungs, but I didn’t care. My heart was pounding too hard, too fast, as if it was trying to break out of my chest.

“Dione… please be okay…”

I pushed open the hospital doors and rushed down the bright hallway, searching for my son’s scent, soft, warm, sweet like morning bread. I followed it straight to the children’s ward, but two Snowstorm warriors blocked the door.

I froze. “I… I need to go inside. My son—my son is in there.”

They didn’t move.

Instead, one of them lifted a small whiteboard and showed me the words written there, [Luna Alliana is not allowed inside.]

My stomach twisted. “What? What do you mean not allowed? He’s my son!”

The guard kept his face emotionless.

[You are not permitted. Orders from Alpha Benedict.]

“No—no, please,” I whispered, stepping closer. “He needs me. Dione needs his mother. Please let me in.”

They didn’t budge. The second warrior lifted his hand and made a gesture.

[Stay back.]

Then he pushed me away when I tried to reach for the door. The shove wasn’t gentle—I stumbled and hit the wall with my shoulder.

“Please!” My voice cracked painfully. “He’s only three! He’s sick! He must be terrified—I have to be with him. Please, I’m begging you!”

They didn’t look at me.

The first guard simply wrote again, [He is being cared for. Step away.]

“I am his mother,” I choked. Tears blurred my vision. “How can you keep a mother away from her child?”

But they didn’t answer. I pressed my forehead against the cold wall, swallowing a sob. How cruel could this pack get? How cruel could Alpha Benedict become?

Just then, footsteps echoed down the hall. Alpha Benedict and Hannah.

I spun toward them immediately.

“Please,” I said, wiping my tears. “Please let me in. I want to see Dione. He needs me. He’s sick, Alpha. You can’t keep me out.”

He didn’t even look bothered. He only raised his hands and used sign language, slowly, as if explaining something reasonable, [He needs physicians, Alliana. Not you. Don’t cause trouble.]

I shook my head. “You can’t be serious! He’s three! He needs comfort, warmth, he needs his mother! How can you be so heartless?”

Benedict’s expression didn’t change. Hannah slipped her hand through his arm and looked at me with false sympathy.

“You’ll only get in the way,” she said softly. “Just be patient.”

“I’m his mother!” My voice broke, louder this time.

“Enough,” Benedict said sharply. He turned to the guards. “Keep her out. No matter what.”

Then he and Hannah entered the room.

And the door shut right in my face.

I stood there frozen, staring at the door, unable to breathe for a moment. The sound of the latch locking echoed like a slap to my chest.

I sank to the floor, my hands trembling violently.

If I lost him… If anything happened to Dione… I would rather die.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I hugged my knees. The hallway felt too bright, too cold. Nurses passed by, glancing but never stopping. Nobody dared help the Luna. The fake Luna.

My breathing grew shaky. I felt helpless, useless, powerless.

Minutes passed. Maybe hours.

I didn’t know anymore. Time was slipping away, and all I could think was—

Please, let my baby be safe.

I leaned my back against the wall, trying to steady myself.

Then… I heard it. The soft click of the door. Not all the way closed. It was slightly ajar.

My body went rigid.

Voices drifted from inside the room. I hesitated for half a second… and then I leaned closer, just enough to hear what they were saying.

Hannah’s voice was the first I heard.

“So the Snowstorm wolves will attack Crownfest Pack without warning? Anytime now?”

My blood turned to ice.

Attack… Crownfest? My pack?

I pressed my hand over my mouth, holding in a gasp.

“Yes,” Benedict replied. His tone was cold, serious. “They stole the weapon shipment meant for us. Crownfest Pack took advantage of my father’s kindness and tried to hide it. That’s treason.”

“That’s why you plan to attack them?” Hannah asked.

“Of course,” Benedict said. “They betrayed us. This week, we’ll strike.” His voice dropped even lower, darker. “I will see the fall of the proud Crownfest Pack soon.”

My heart plummeted.

No. No, this can’t be happening. Crownfest Pack would never steal weapons. Never.

My father was an honorable Alpha. My brother was a respected one. My mother had always taught us that a pack’s honor mattered more than anything.

Snowstorm… must have been tricked. Or they misunderstood something. Or someone framed my pack—

My hands shook violently.

They were going to be attacked. This week.

“A good thing she’s too stupid to notice anything,” Hannah laughed softly. “Even if she finds out, she can’t do anything.”

Benedict chuckled. “She won’t find out. She believes everything we tell her.”

I bit my lip so hard it bled.

Everything was falling apart. My son was sick. And my pack was in danger.

I needed to warn them.

I stumbled away from the door and ran to the end of the hallway. I grabbed my phone and dialed my mother.

The call rang.

Once. Twice. Three times. No answer.

I tried my father. No response.

My brother. Still nothing.

My stomach twisted painfully. “Come on… please… please answer…”

I dialed again. Nothing.

Why weren’t they answering? Did something already happen? Was the pack already under attack? Were they hurt?

My legs felt weak. I pressed my back against the wall for support. My mind raced, dizzy and frantic.

I needed to go home. I needed to get to Crownfest Pack. I needed to stop this. I needed to warn them.

But— Dione. My son was inside that room. Feverish. Sick. Vulnerable. And Benedict’s pack would never let me take him.

My hands covered my face. “What do I do…? What do I do…?”

For the first time in years, I felt truly trapped.

Like a wolf caught in a hunter’s snare.

Dione needed me. My family needed me.

But I only had one body. One life. One heart.

And it was being torn in two.