Chapter 4After I Lost Our Child, My Mate and Adopted Daughter Betrayed Me

On my second day back at the den, Ryan asked me to help care for the newborn pups.

Holding a pup's soft little body, I couldn't stop the tears.

A year had passed and the pack was full of children I didn't know.

If my baby had lived, he would have been nearly a year old by then.

One of Nina's friends snatched the bottle from my hand and took the pup from my arms, her face twisted with disgust.

"You can't even manage a feeding. A worthless she-wolf like you should be banished from the pack."

I bit down hard on my lip, refusing to let my tears fall. "Do you know who I am? This pack would never banish me."

She burst out laughing as if I had told the funniest joke in the world. "Of course I know who you are. You're barren and useless. What could you possibly contribute to this pack?"

It cut deep, because every word of it was true.

A year ago, I had been one of the pillars of the pack, helping newcomers settle in and resolving territorial disputes.

Now Ryan had taken my place completely.

I searched for Ryan and found him standing behind Nina, watching her work with open admiration.

When her brow creased, he would stroke her hair gently and tell her to take her time.

Once her frown eased, he straightened and announced, "Nina closed a major deal, so we'll celebrate in the private dining hall tonight, and everyone is invited!"

Excited howls went up all around.

Looking at the two of them ringed by the pack, I lowered my head and laughed bitterly.

In the dining hall, the long black stone table was laden with wine and platters of smoky roasted meat.

Nina offered me a glass of wine. When I did not reach for it, she spilled it all over herself.

She shrieked, and the glass shattered on the floor, drawing every eye in the room.

At that exact moment, Ryan approached.

She instantly put on a wounded expression. "I'm sorry, Mom. I won't bother you anymore."

Ryan walked straight past me, seized her arm, and snapped, "Vera is upset. Why did you have to provoke her? Go change your clothes. Are you trying to embarrass yourself?"

From start to finish, he never once looked at me.

After that, as if determined to prove that she had won Ryan's love, Nina made a sport of tormenting me.

She planted silver needles on my chair, spiked my coffee with wolfsbane, and locked me in a storage room for an entire day.

Whenever I confronted Ryan, Nina would redden her eyes and offer a few pleading words, and he would brush the entire matter aside.

Her behavior only grew more brazen.

This time, when she deliberately flung foul-smelling animal entrails all over me, I lost control and slapped her.

Covering her face, she ran into Ryan's office. "I know Mom hates me. I'll kill myself right now!"

With that she ran out crying.

Ryan chased her downstairs, and when he looked back at me there was angry yellow light in his eyes.

I stood before the floor-to-ceiling window in the lounge and watched Ryan soothe Nina as she sobbed in his arms.

I watched for a long time as something inside my chest shattered without a sound.

Until then, I had felt hurt and grief. Now, all of it drained away.

If Ryan had chosen another she-wolf, then I would let them have each other. Every privilege he had enjoyed as my mate would vanish with me. Suddenly, immense Alpha pressure flooded the room behind me, its power as noble and biting as snowbound peaks.

My brother, the great Alpha of the northern pack, stood behind me. I had not even heard him arrive.

"Vera, do you see everything clearly now?"