The art therapy studio suddenly became terrifyingly quiet.
Other clients and staff stopped what they were doing, curiously watching the scene.
The air was thick with a mix of different emotional scents.
“The pack house?” I sneered. “Which pack house?”
“Mommy, come back with us!” Maya tugged at my hand, her eyes no longer holding their previous willfulness, but filled with longing and pleading.
The little wolf cub’s eyes even glinted with gold.
“We’ll never make you angry again!”
“Yeah, Mommy,” Mason chimed in urgently, his little wolf tail wagging nervously. “We kicked Aunt Isabella out! Dad said you’ll be our only mommy from now on!”
My expression flickered.
I crouched down, meeting the two cubs‘ eyes.
“I’m not going back with you. Because not everything can be fixed with an apology.”
1/2
Chapter 12
+25 Bonus
“Why?” Maya’s tears burst forth. The little wolf cub’s pain made her scent tremble. “Doesn’t Mommy love us anymore?”
That question was like a blunt knife twisting in my heart.
I opened my mouth, a bitter smile on my face as I asked,
“Didn’t you two push me down the stairs with your own hands?”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want me as your mom, that you only wanted Isabella to be your mom? Weren’t those your own words?”
“I thought, even if I wasn’t a perfect mother, I always did my best to take care of you, to love you. I even learned how to soothe a little wolf cub’s nature, how to look after your emotions on a full moon night.”
“I don’t know why it all ended up like this.”
The two cubs flushed red, too ashamed to speak, their little wolf ears pressed flat in shame.
But Mason still didn’t want to give up, pleading again,
“Mommy, we were just kids before… I know I was wrong now. Please, please forgive us,
okay?”
Before I could speak, Sophie suddenly said timidly,
“Auntie Aria…” Her small hand clutched my clothes tightly, her big, pretty eyes filled with tears. “Are you leaving?”
Gabriel bent down and picked up his niece, soothing her gently. “Sophie, don’t be afraid. Auntie won’t leave you. Wherever she chooses to go, we have to respect her choice.”
“Besides, even if Aria isn’t here, she’ll still come visit Sophie often.”
Ethan watched this, a nameless anger burning in his chest, his wolf roaring with jealousy.
Who did this strange wolf think he was, using such an intimate tone?
Why was he holding a cub and standing by my side, as if they were the family?
Even worse, he had a faint trace of my scent on him, meaning they’d been close!
“Aria,” he stepped forward, his voice low, his Alpha pressure instantly released. “Stop being stubborn. The cubs need you.”
“As their mother, don’t you want to raise your own flesh and blood? Are you going to raise someone else’s cub instead?”
“Me, stubborn… They need me?” I stood up, my eyes flashing with a coldness Ethan had never seen, even a glint of the gold unique to an angry wolf.
“Did they need me when they pushed me down the stairs?”
“Did they need me when they told everyone they hated me?”
“Did they need me when they called Isabella ‘Mommy“?”
