Chapter 3
My mother, Mara Whitmore, returned before Damien could say another word.
Lila was in her arms, looking tired from her checkup, but the moment she saw my face, her small eyes searched mine.
"Mom?" I forced my expression to soften.
"I'm fine, sweetheart."
The lie tasted bitter on my tongue as my burning palm, aching heart, and restless wolf all reminded me of everything I had just learned, while Lila looked past me toward Damien and then Selene, her brow furrowing in confusion.
"Why is Daddy with her?" Damien's expression changed.
"Lila, go with your grandmother."
"No." My daughter slipped from my mother's arms and walked toward me.
"Why were you yelling?" I crouched in front of her.
"Mommy wasn't yelling." Lila looked at Damien.
"Then why did Daddy make Mommy cry?"
Silence fell over the corridor. Damien's jaw tightened.
"Your mother misunderstood something."
Lila's eyes narrowed.
Even at five years old, she had inherited the Silvercrest instincts that made it difficult to hide the truth from her.
She could hear the faintest heartbeats, sense fear in the air, and instinctively know when someone was lying.
"You're lying, Daddy."
Damien stared at her.
"Lila."
"You made Mommy cry."
Her small voice trembled, but she didn't look away. My mother stepped forward.
"Damien, enough."
He turned toward her.
"This is between Elena and me."
"No," my mother said coldly. "It stopped being between the two of you when you brought another woman into this family."
Selene lowered her eyes.
"I'm sorry." My mother gave her a sharp look.
"Don't." Selene swallowed.
"I never wanted to hurt Elena."
"Yet you are carrying her husband's child."
Selene placed both hands over her stomach.
"I know-" Her voice became softer.
"I know I made a terrible mistake."
I stared at her.
A mistake?
She had known exactly what she was doing.
She had spent five months carrying Damien's child while I remained beside him, believing my marriage was still real.
Selene looked at me.
"I'm sorry, Elena."
There was something almost convincing in her expression.
Almost. Then her gaze dropped toward Lila.
"But I hope you won't punish the baby for the choices the adults made."
My stomach tightened as she reached for my daughter, and I immediately stepped between them.
"Don't touch her."
Selene stopped. Her expression faltered.
"I only wanted to introduce myself."
"You don't need to."
"But soon..." She hesitated, then gave me a small, apologetic smile. "Lila will have a little brother or sister."
My wolf growled.
The sound was low enough that only another werewolf would have noticed it. Damien's eyes flicked toward me, his Alpha instincts immediately catching the warning beneath my skin.
Selene continued before I could answer.
"I hope she can accept the baby."
Lila stared at her.
"You're having Daddy's baby?" Selene nodded.
"Yes, sweetheart."
I felt my blood run cold when she called my daughter sweetheart, as though Lila already belonged here, as though Selene had already claimed a place in my family.
Lila's small wolf stirred, responding to the unfamiliar female's scent. I felt it through the bond between mother and daughter, a faint pulse of confusion and unease.
Damien stepped toward Selene.
"That's enough."
But he didn't tell her to leave. Instead, he placed a protective hand on Selene's shoulder, and Lila watched him before slowly looking back at me.
"Mommy..." I reached for her hand.
"It's okay."
It wasn't. Nothing about this was okay. My mother stepped forward again.
"Damien, how dare you stand there and protect her after what you've done?"
Damien's expression hardened.
"I won't allow anyone to threaten Selene."
My mother laughed bitterly.
"Threaten her? Elena is your wife."
"Not for much longer if she continues behaving like this."
The words were so cold that even my wolf fell silent, and when my mother looked at me, I could see the question in her eyes.
What are you going to do? For years, I had asked myself the same question.
What would happen if I left Damien?
Where would I go?
What would happen to Lila?
What would the Silvercrest elders say?
Would they strip me of my position as Luna?
Would they use my separation from Damien as another excuse to deny Lila her place?
Would they question the bloodline of Damien's firstborn simply because her parents were no longer mated?
Those fears had kept me silent for years, but not anymore, because when I looked at Damien standing beside Selene as though his choice had already been made, his hand still resting on her shoulder and his eyes holding no regret or apology, I realized I had spent years fighting for a man who had already stopped fighting for me.
My wolf lifted its head.
I wasn't afraid of what would happen after I walked away. I was afraid of what would happen if I stayed.
I took Lila's hand and looked directly at Damien.
"Damien." He raised an eyebrow.
"What?" He snapped.
My voice was calm. Too calm.
"We're getting a divorce."
The corridor fell unnaturally still as my mother froze, Selene stared at me in disbelief, and Damien’s expression finally changed.
"You don't mean that."
"I do."
"You'll regret it." He said almost a warning. I stared at him as I tightened my fingers around Lila's hand.
"No." I looked at Selene. Then back at him.
"The only thing I'll regret is waiting this long."
Damien's face darkened.
"Elena, think carefully."
"Trust me, I have."
My daughter leaned against my side, and when I looked down at her, I knew she was the reason I had stayed and the reason I had to leave, because I couldn't keep teaching her that love meant enduring betrayal.
And I couldn't allow anyone to convince her that being a daughter made her less worthy of inheriting the Silvercrest throne.
She was Damien's firstborn.
The first heir of his blood.
The child who carried the Silvercrest wolf.
And no matter what Damien decided, that bloodline would not disappear simply because he wanted another child to take her place.
Damien could choose Selene, the child she carried, and even try to erase Lila from the clan's future, but he would never erase my daughter from her rightful place as long as I was alive.
I lifted my eyes to him.
"This marriage is over, Alpha."