Rosalie
The car overturned once. Then again. After that, everything blurred into fragments of metal, sky, and desperate screams.
What stayed with me most wasn’t the sight, but the sound—Julian crying from the back seat, the horrifying crunch of steel as the vehicle plunged over the cliff, and my own voice breaking as I screamed for him.
“Julian!”
The world spun violently. My head struck something hard. Glass exploded around us. The seatbelt dug painfully into my shoulder while gravity dragged us downward without mercy.
There were four of us inside the car. Vivian was behind the wheel, I sat beside her in the front passenger seat. In the back sat the two boys—my son, Julian, and Aiden, Vivian’s six-year-old child.
Then everything went black.
**
When consciousness returned, the air was sharp with antiseptic and blood. A white ceiling hovered above me, lights too bright and unfocused. My body felt as if it had been dismantled and put back together incorrectly. My ears wouldn’t stop ringing.
Even breathing hurt.
“Julian…” I rasped.
No response.
I tried to lift myself, but pain tore through my ribs and forced me back down. A nurse hurried over immediately.
“Ma’am, please, you need to lie still—”
“My son,” I said, barely able to form the words. My throat burned. “Where is my son? Julian. He was with me in the car.”
The hesitation in her expression made my stomach drop before she even spoke.
“He’s in critical condition,” she said quietly. “The doctors are doing everything they can.”
Critical condition.
It felt unreal. Julian had been talking just minutes earlier. He had been holding his teddy bear, laughing softly, telling me he wanted ice cream after we got home.
“Take me to him,” I demanded.
“You also require treatment, ma’am—”
“I don’t care,” I snapped, my voice breaking. “Fix him. Do whatever it takes. Just save my son.”
The staff exchanged uneasy glances.
“The cost of treatment…” one of them began carefully. “It could run into the millions.”
“I’ll pay,” I answered instantly. I was Luna of Winterfang Pack. Alpha Cedric Ashbourne’s mate. Money was never supposed to be an obstacle.
“Please,” I pleaded. “Just save him.”
They left quickly after that. Once the room quieted, another thought struck me like ice.
“Vivian,” I said weakly. “And Aiden… where are they?”
“Oh,” the nurse replied, almost indifferent. “They were transferred.”
“Transferred?”
“Yes. To a larger hospital in the capital. An Alpha arranged it—Alpha Cedric.”
My breath caught.
“My husband… transferred them?”
“Yes. He appeared extremely anxious when the woman regained consciousness. She was crying and insisted she and her son be moved immediately.”
My hands tightened around the sheets.
“And me?” I whispered. “And my son?”
The nurse frowned slightly. “I’m not certain, ma’am.”
Something cold and heavy settled in my chest. He left us behind? His own son… and his Luna?
With shaking hands, I grabbed my phone and called Alpha Cedric. He answered on the third ring.
“What is it?” His voice was clipped, irritated.
“Alpha,” I exhaled in relief, forcing strength into my voice. “Julian is in critical condition. They need surgery right away. It will cost millions but—”
“Enough, Rosalie,” he cut in sharply.
I froze. “What?”
“I’ve already heard everything from Vivian,” he continued, anger rising in his tone. “You were drunk and insisted on driving. You put them all in danger. Aiden is covered in bandages. Vivian is injured because of you.”
My eyes widened in disbelief. “That’s not true—”
“Don’t lie to me.”
His breathing was heavy, controlled rage spilling through the line.
“And millions?” he scoffed. “So you can waste more money on alcohol? I’m suspending your access. Don’t ask me for a single cent. Learn your lesson.”
My chest tightened painfully. “But our son—”
The call ended.
I stared at the screen in disbelief.
Disconnected.
I tried calling again. And again. And again.
Until a cold automated message informed me my number had been blocked.
Blocked.
I sat there on the hospital bed, staring at the lifeless phone in my hands, while somewhere inside the same building my child fought for his life alone.
I begged the hospital after that. I told them I would find the money. I begged them to operate first, to believe me, to wait—but time does not pause for a mother’s desperation.
That night, Julian went into cardiac arrest.
I wasn’t allowed inside the ICU. I only saw it happen from beyond the glass—the monitor line flattening into an endless, merciless line.
No pulse. No rhythm. No sound.
My son was gone.
“You may claim the body once the bill is settled, ma’am. We’re sorry. It is hospital policy.”
The words echoed hollowly in my ears.
Body.
They spoke of Julian as if he were an item to be collected.
“I just need to see him,” I whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
All they gave me was his teddy bear—the small brown one he had refused to let go of even when they took him away. I held it tightly against my chest.
In my mind, he was still warm. Still laughing. Still mine.
He couldn’t be gone.
Not him.
I left the hospital that afternoon and returned to Winterfang Pack. The estate stood as it always did—tall, cold, and unwelcoming, as if nothing inside its walls had ever changed.
Alpha Cedric was outside, leaning against a pillar with a cigarette between his fingers. He looked untouched by grief.
I walked toward him slowly.
“Alpha,” I called.
He didn’t even look at me.
“I need my access cards back,” I said, my voice rough. “Please. I need to pay the hospital.”
“For what?” he replied flatly.
“For Julian.” My lips trembled. “Our son.”
A short, humorless laugh escaped him.
“Stop pretending, Rosalie.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Vivian told me Julian wasn’t seriously injured,” he said sharply. “But Aiden is covered in wounds. If you’re going to use my money for alcohol again, don’t expect a single coin.”
“I wasn’t drunk!” I shouted. “Vivian was the one driving!”
“You endangered a child,” he snapped, stepping closer. “Don’t lie to me.”
“Our child,” I whispered.
He ignored it.
My knees hit the cold ground before I even realized I had moved. The Luna of Winterfang Pack knelt before him without dignity, without pride—only desperation.
“Please,” I begged. “I’ll pay you back. I swear. Just let me save Julian.”
He looked down at me as if I were something beneath contempt.
Before he could answer, his phone rang.
“Vivian.”
He answered immediately, switching it to speaker as he walked away.
“Alpha…” Vivian’s voice came through weak and trembling. “I’m still hurting… and Aiden is crying. His injuries are so painful…”
My fingers curled tightly into my palms.
Lies.
When I last saw her, she had barely a scratch—protected by the car’s safety system for the driver.
“Don’t worry,” Alpha Cedric said gently, a softness he had never once used with me. “I’ll be there soon.”
The call ended.
Something inside me went still.
Vivian had twisted everything. She had been the one driving, yet she made it sound like I was responsible. And Julian—my Julian—had internal injuries that couldn’t be seen on the surface. She likely assumed Aiden was worse off simply because his wounds were visible.
But Cedric never questioned it. Never investigated. He chose her words over mine.
I should have understood earlier.
I had abandoned my family, my parents, and everything familiar just to be with him. Now, there was no one left to turn to.
Except the people I once left behind.
If that was the only way to save my son, I would crawl back to them.
That night, sleep never came. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Julian’s face, heard his laughter, the way he called me “Mommy.” The silence of the room pressed in on me until I couldn’t breathe.
So I drank.
One glass. Then another. And another.
If Cedric already believed I was a drunk, then perhaps I might as well become one.
The alcohol burned, but it dulled nothing. Not grief. Not fear. Not guilt. I drank until time itself disappeared.
When I finally woke, my head throbbed violently.
My arms felt wrong—too heavy, too restrained. I tried to move and couldn’t.
When my vision cleared, I saw them.
Straps. Leather restraints around my wrists, ankles, and torso.
“What…?”
I looked around wildly. White coats. Medical uniforms. Hands holding me down.
Panic surged through me. “What are you doing? Let me go!”
The door opened.
Alpha Cedric stepped inside.
Behind him stood Vivian.
She looked untouched. Uninjured. Calm. As if nothing had ever happened.
“Al…Alpha?” My voice cracked. “What is the meaning of this?”
