Alpha’s Regret After Our Pup Died

I was once the Alpha's adopted daughter, but I took the fall for the man I loved and spent three years in the Pack prison. Then I had his pup before we were ever mated.

This was the ninety-ninth time I'd asked for a mating ceremony. He swept his arm across the desk and sent everything crashing to the floor.

"You really think you deserve to be mated to me? You've done time. You're nothing."

"I've been too good to you. You've forgotten your place."

But he was the one who'd promised. He said once I had the baby, we'd have the ceremony and be mates.

He slammed the door on his way out. He didn't come home for three months. He cut me off completely. The power and water were shut off.

My pup Lily had a fever that wouldn't break. I had no choice. I carried her to Pack headquarters to find him, and that's when I heard him talking to Serena.

"Babe, when are you finally going to leave that trashy Ivy? We're the ones who actually went through the ceremony. We're the real mates."

His voice went all soft and indulgent, and it made my skin crawl. "I want to cut ties with her too. It's her fault — she couldn't give me a son."

"She's done time. How could she ever be worthy of me?"

But he seemed to have forgotten — the reason I was locked up in the first place was because I took the fall for him.

I barged into Zane's office. Serena scrambled off his lap the second she saw me.

When Zane saw it was me, his face was pure irritation.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long breath, then hissed through clenched teeth, "Who said you could come to Pack HQ? Look at yourself — you're a mess. Don't you have any self-respect?"

I held my sick child tight against my chest. The accusation on my tongue came out as a weak explanation instead.

"I called you, but you didn't pick up. Zane, our daughter is sick. I had no other choice, so I came here to find you."

He slapped me across the face, then pointed at the office door and snarled under his breath.

"Get out. I give you two thousand a month. If you'd been less wasteful, how would you not have enough to take the pup to a healer?"

Two thousand a month, and it had to cover every expense in the house. Not a single cent of that money was ever spent on me.

Tears poured down my face. My knees buckled and I dropped to the floor in front of him.

"Say whatever you want about me, but please — save our daughter first. I can't afford the healer's fees anymore."

He struck me again, then put his arm around Serena's waist and walked out of the office.

All he said was: "You reap what you sow."

I sat in his office holding my child, crying for a long time.

My tears dripped onto Lily's small hand. She struggled to open her eyes, her voice scratchy, and called out, "Mama."

That one word pulled me back to reality. Right — I still had to save Lily.

I carried my daughter and walked on foot to the Whitmore Pack House. I wasn't their biological daughter, but they'd raised me for twenty years. That had to count for something.

They wouldn't even let me through the door.

"You're not even a real Whitmore. Why should we lend you money?"

Catherine's words hit me hard. I called out in disbelief, "Mom."

She glanced at me with irritation.

"You're a fraud. Serena is our real daughter."

My voice shook. "Mom, I'm your daughter too."

The way she looked at me — there was disgust in her eyes. She turned and walked into the living room, then came back holding a glass of water. I reached out eagerly to take it.

Of course. No matter whether I was her biological daughter or not, she still loved me.

The next second, she threw the water in my face. It soaked my child too.

Before Serena came back, Catherine had loved Lily — her granddaughter — more than anyone.