Chapter 2
That morning, I helped Lucas tie on his trial cloak.
“Mom, do you think I can beat Noah today?”
“Of course,” I said, kneeling to straighten the knot. “You’re my proud little wolf.”
He giggled, threw his arms around me, then bolted toward the trial field with wild joy.
It was the last time I heard him laugh.
“Fire! West side! Evacuate now!”
A scream cut through the training grounds like a blade. I turned in time to see smoke curling up from the resting huts for the younglings.
“Lucas is still in there!” I shouted, breaking into a sprint.
Guards blocked my path. “Alpha’s orders! No one enters—”
“Move!” I growled. “That’s my son!”
I shoved past them and ran straight into the fire.
Flames licked at my skin. The acrid scent of scorched fur and timber clawed at my throat. I dropped low, crawling through smoke, calling out:
“Lucas! Where are you?!”
“Mom…” a faint voice replied from under a fallen beam.
I tore the debris aside and found him curled up, shielding his head, trembling.
“I’m here,” I whispered, scooping him into my arms.
Behind me, I sensed it—Alpha presence, overwhelming, cold.
I turned. Alpha Alex.
“He’s injured,” I said. “He needs help—”
Alpha Alex didn’t even look at me. His gaze swept past us… to a boy crouching behind a stone pillar.
Noah.
Without hesitation, Alpha Alex walked over and picked him up.
He gave me one look—flat, indifferent.
“Save him. Only him. If Lucas dies, it’s your fault. And you’ll be punished for it—fifty lashes, stripped of rank, cast out.”
I froze.
“You disobey, you die,” he said, and walked away.
Lucas tugged my collar weakly. “Mom… does Dad… not like me?”
“No, baby. He just… didn’t see you—”
“But I called him…”
I ran from the fire with him in my arms. But his warmth was already fading.
The next day, the pack held Lucas’s funeral.
When I approached, two guards stopped me.
“You’re not allowed in.”
“Why?!”
“Alpha’s orders,” one sneered. “You killed him, didn’t you? Go cry somewhere else.”
I stood outside the stone wall, watching the flames consume the offering pyre.
Ash drifted onto my palms like frozen snow.
Later, I sat alone.
Someone placed a silver tray in front of me.
A cup of murky tea. And a note.
“Drink it. Let it be your apology. —Omega Isabella.”
I sniffed the tea. Bitter. Laced with Droproot—poison for she-wolves, cripples fertility.
I raised the cup, pretended to drink… then poured it at my feet.
She was mocking me. Again.
“You have proof Alpha Alex left Lucas to die?” Beta Victor asked me in a whisper.
“I hid a crystal recorder near the trial field. The footage should show everything.”
“Where is it?”
“In my room.”
But when we arrived, the device was already smashed into pieces.
I rushed to the elder court.
Chloe sat on the terrace, sipping tea.
“I want to report Alpha Alex,” I said. “He abandoned Lucas in the fire.”
Her face twisted. “You’re delusional. He’s our Alpha.”
“He’s a murderer.”
She slapped me across the face.
“You cursed wretch. You killed my grandson!”
Blood dripped from my lip. I said nothing.
She stood, voice cold. “Get out. Never show your face again.”
At dusk, Shadow wolf Daniel found me.
“I read the autopsy,” he said. “Lucas didn’t die from burns.”
My heart stopped.
“He suffocated. Called for help until his voice gave out. No one came.”
I sank to the ground.
“I won’t let this go,” I said.
“I’ll help you.”
“You’d risk exile?”
He looked at me, serious. “If you want truth, I’m with you.”
Before we could move, a shout broke the stillness.
“Noah’s gone!”
I turned—only to see him running toward me.
“Aunt Luna Evelyn,” he panted. “I found this in my mom’s room…”
He slipped a folded parchment into my hand. A fire insurance agreement.
Signed before the incident.
Before I could react, guards burst in.
“Stealing from the Alpha?!” one snarled.
Noah shoved me away. “Run!”
But they caught him. Slammed him to the ground. Blood spilled from his nose.
The document was torn to shreds.
He looked at me through swollen eyes.
That was when I realized—
He wasn’t innocent.
He was Omega Isabella’s child in every way. Trained. Loyal. Poisoned.
He’d known everything.
He came not to help—but to frame me.
I stood among them, covered in ash, heart burning.
No one believed me.
No one mourned my son.
But I knew one thing.
They burned my future.
I’ll burn everything they hold dear.
